了不起的盖茨比（路过威尔逊汽修厂）

    “We’ve got enough to get us to town,” said Tom.

     "我们有足够的汽油开到城里。"汤姆说。

    “But there’s a garage right here,” objected Jordan. “I don’t want to get stalled in this baking heat.” Tom threw on both brakes impatiently, and we slid to an abrupt dusty stop under Wilson’s sign. After a moment the proprietor emerged from the interior of his establishment and gazed hollow-eyed at the car.

Stall：[stɔːl] (使)熄火，抛锚。Proprietor：[prəˈpraɪətə(r)] 业主;所有人。hollow-eyed：眼窝凹陷的。

     "但是这里就有一家汽修厂，"乔丹不同意，"我可不要在这种大热天抛锚。"

　　汤姆不耐烦地把两个刹车都猛踩了，车子扬起一阵尘土，突然停在威尔逊的招牌下。过了一会儿，汽修厂主从车厂里现身，用他那凹陷的眼睛盯着看我们的车子。

　　“Let’s have some gas!” cried Tom roughly. “What do you think we stopped for—to admire the view?”

     "给我们加点油！"汤姆粗暴地叫道，"你以为我们干吗停下来--欣赏风景吗？"

　　“I’m sick,” said Wilson without moving. “Been sick all day.”

     "我病了，"威尔逊站立住了，"病了一整天了。"

　　“What’s the matter?”

     "怎么啦？"

　　“I’m all run down.”

     "我身体都垮了。"

　　“Well, shall I help myself?” Tom demanded. “You sounded well enough on the phone.”

     "这么说我得自己动手吗？"汤姆逼问道，"你刚才在电话里听着还挺精神。"

　　With an effort Wilson left the shade and support of the doorway and, breathing hard, unscrewed the cap of the tank. In the sunlight his face was green.

    威尔逊吃力地走出阴凉处，不再倚靠着门口的支撑物，喘着大气地拧下油箱的盖子。在炽烈的阳光下，他的脸色发青。

　　“I didn’t mean to interrupt your lunch,” he said. “But I need money pretty bad, and I was wondering what you were going to do with your old car.”

    "我并非故意在午饭时打扰你，"他说，"可是我真的很需要钱，因此我想知道你打算怎么处理那辆旧车。"

　　“How do you like this one?” inquired Tom. “I bought it last week.”

     "你觉得这辆怎么样？"汤姆问，"我上星期才买的。"

　　“It’s a nice yellow one,” said Wilson, as he strained at the handle.

     "好漂亮的黄车。"威尔逊说，一面费劲地打着油。

　　“Like to buy it?”

     "想买吗？"

   “Big chance,” Wilson smiled faintly. “No, but I could make some money on the other.”

     "大好机会，"威尔逊微微一笑，"不想这个，可是我可以在那辆车上赚点钱。"

　　“What do you want money for, all of a sudden?”

     "你要钱干什么，这么急迫？"

　　“I’ve been here too long. I want to get away. My wife and I want to go West.”

    "我在这儿住得太久了。我想离开这里。我老婆和我想搬到西部去。"

　　“Your wife does,” exclaimed Tom, startled.

    "你老婆想去。"汤姆吃惊地叫道。

　　“She’s been talking about it for ten years.” He rested for a moment against the pump, shading his eyes. “And now she’s going whether she wants to or not. I’m going to get her away.”

     "这事她已谈论了十年。"他在油泵上靠了一会儿，遮住刺眼的阳光，"现在她真的要去了，不管她想不想。我要带她离开这里。"

The coupe flashed by us with a flurry of dust and the flash of a waving hand.

coupe ：['kuːpeɪ] (通常斜背的)双门小汽车。 Flurry：[ˈflʌri] 一阵忙乱(或激动、兴奋等);小阵雪(或雨等)。

    小轿车从我们身边一闪而过，扬起了一阵尘土，车上有人迅速地挥了挥手。

　　“What do I owe you?” demanded Tom harshly.

    "我该付你多少钱？"汤姆严厉地问。

　　“I just got wised up to something funny the last two days,” remarked Wilson. “That’s why I want to get away. That’s why I been bothering you about the car.”

     "就在前两天我才发现了一点蹊跷的事，"威尔逊说，"它就是我想要离开这里的原因，也是我打扰你，问你那辆车的原因。"

　　“What do I owe you?”

     "我该付你多少钱？"

　　“Dollar twenty.”

     "一块两。"

     The relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse me and I had a bad moment there before I realized that so far his suspicions hadn’t alighted on Tom. He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick. I stared at him and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before—and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well. Wilson was so sick that he looked guilty, unforgivably guilty—as if he had just got some poor girl with child.

Relentless：不停的;持续强烈的。

Alight：[əˈlaɪt]  （鸟或昆虫）飞落，降落。

    持续袭来的酷烈热浪渐渐搞得我头昏眼花，我难受了一会儿，才意识到威尔逊的疑心还没落到汤姆身上。他发现了茉特尔背着他在另外一个世界里过着私生活，这事如同晴天霹雳，最终导致他的身体患病了。我盯着他看，又看看汤姆。不到一个小时以前，汤姆也有了同样的发现--因此我发现人与人之间的差异，无论是智力上还是种族方面的差异，都远不如病人和健康的人之间的差异那么巨大。威尔逊病得那么严重，看上去好像犯了罪，犯了不可饶恕的罪--仿佛他刚刚把一个可怜女孩的肚子搞大了。

　　“I’ll let you have that car,” said Tom. “I’ll send it over tomorrow afternoon.”

     "我把那辆车卖给你了，"汤姆说，"明天下午给你送来。"

     That locality was always vaguely disquieting, even in the broad glare of afternoon, and now I turned my head as though I had been warned of something behind. Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil, but I perceived, after a moment, that other eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twenty feet away.

Vigil：值夜；守夜（祈祷）；（夜间的）静默抗议。

    那一带地方总是隐隐约约有种令人不安的氛围，甚至在下午耀眼的阳光里也一样，仿佛警示我背后有某种东西，因此我转过头去。在灰堆上方，T·J·埃克尔堡大夫的巨眼在守望着，但是过了一会儿，我却感觉还有另外一双眼睛，在不到二十英尺以外的地方，聚精会神地注视着我们。

     In one of the windows over the garage the curtains had been moved aside a little, and Myrtle Wilson was peering down at the car. So engrossed was she that she had no consciousness of being observed, and one emotion after another crept into her face like objects into a slowly developing picture. Her expression was curiously familiar—it was an expression I had often seen on women’s faces, but on Myrtle Wilson’s face it seemed purposeless and inexplicable until I realized that her eyes, wide with jealous terror, were fixed not on Tom, but on Jordan Baker, whom she took to be his wife.

Engrossed：[ɪnˈɡrəʊst] 全神贯注的;聚精会神的。

    在车行上方的一扇窗户里，窗帘拉开了一点，茉特尔·威尔逊正在向下窥视着这辆车子。她那样全神贯注，因此她并未发觉有人也在观察她，一种又一种的情绪在她脸上流露出来，好像物体出现在一张慢慢显影的照片上。她的表情熟悉得有点蹊跷--这是我时常在女人脸上看到的表情，可是在茉特尔·威尔逊的脸上，这表情却好像无甚意义，也难以解释，直到我发现她那两只睁得大大的眼睛充满着妒火，并不是盯在汤姆身上，而是盯在乔丹·贝克身上——她以为乔丹是汤姆的妻子。

     There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind, and as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his control. Instinct made him step on the accelerator with the double purpose of overtaking Daisy and leaving Wilson behind, and we sped along toward storia at fifty miles an hour, until, among the spidery girders of the elevated, we came in sight of the easy-going blue coupe.

Precipitate：[prɪˈsɪpɪteɪt]  使（通常指不好的事件或形势）突然发生；加速。Girder：[ˈɡɜːdə(r)] (桥梁或建筑物的)大梁，桁架。Elevate：（土地、建筑等）高出周围的，高架的。

    一个头脑简单的人一旦慌乱起来，那么是任何慌乱都比不了的。等到驾车离开之时，汤姆正焦心恐慌。他的妻子和情妇，直到一小时前还是安安稳稳、不可侵犯的，现在却忽然从他的掌控下溜走了。本能促使他猛踩油门，以达到赶上黛西和把威尔逊抛在身后的双重目的。我们以五十英里的时速，朝着阿斯托里亚一路飞驰。直到在高架铁路蜘蛛网似的钢架中间，我们才看见那辆悠然而行的蓝色小轿车。