了不起的盖茨比第七章（比洛克西是谁）

    “Those big movies around Fiftieth Street are cool,” suggested Jordan. “I love New York on summer afternoons when every one’s away. There’s something very sensuous about it—overripe, as if all sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into your hands.”

Sensuous：[ˈsenʃuəs] 愉悦感官的;肉感的;性感的。

    "五十号街附近那些大电影院很凉快，"乔丹提议说，"我爱夏日午后的纽约，人都跑光了，感觉非常性感--熟透了，仿佛各种奇特的果实都会落到你手里。"

　　The word “sensuous” had the effect of further disquieting Tom, but before he could invent a protest the coupe came to a stop, and Daisy signaled us to draw up alongside.

    "性感"这个词使汤姆更加不安，但他还没来得及找出反对的说辞，小轿车已经停了下来，黛西打着手势叫我们开过去，停在旁边。

　　“Where are we going?” she cried.

     "我们去哪儿？"她喊道。

　　“How about the movies?”

     "去看电影怎么样？"

　　“It’s so hot,” she complained. “You go. We’ll ride around and meet you after.” With an effort her wit rose faintly, “We’ll meet you on some corner. I’ll be the man smoking two cigarettes.”

     "太热了，"她抱怨道，"你们去吧。我们在附近开车兜兜风，过会儿再找你们。"她又勉强讲了两句俏皮话。"我们在某个街角和你们会面。那个抽着两根香烟的男人就是我。"

　　“We can’t argue about it here,” Tom said impatiently, as a truck gave out a cursing whistle behind us. “You follow me to the south side of Central Park, in front of the Plaza.”

     "我们别在这里争论，"汤姆不耐烦地说，因为我们后面有一辆卡车在猛按喇叭，"你们跟我开到中央公园南边，广场饭店前面。"

　　Several times he turned his head and looked back for their car, and if the traffic delayed them he slowed up until they came into sight. I think he was afraid they would dart down a side street and out of his life forever.

    有好几次他转过头寻找他们的车，如果路上的车流延误了他们，他就放慢速度，直到他们重新出现在视野里。我想他害怕他们会冲进一条小巷，从此永远驶出他的生命。

    But they didn’t. And we all took the less explicable step of engaging the parlor of a suite in the Plaza Hotel.

Parlor：客厅；起居室；休息（接待，会客）室。

    可是他们并没有。然后我们大家做了件更莫名其妙的事情--在广场饭店订了一间套房的会客厅。

    The prolonged and tumultuous argument that ended by herding us into that room eludes me, though I have a sharp physical memory that, in the course of it, my underwear kept climbing like a damp snake around my legs and intermittent beads of sweat raced cool across my back. The notion originated with Daisy’s suggestion that we hire five bath-rooms and take cold baths, and then assumed more tangible form as “a place to have a mint julep.” Each of us said over and over that it was a “crazy idea.”—we all talked at once to a baffled clerk and thought, or pretended to think, that we were being very funny. . . .

Tumultuous：[tjuːˈmʌltʃuəs] 嘈杂的;喧嚣的。Intermittent：[ˌɪntəˈmɪtənt] 断断续续的;间歇的。Tangible：[ˈtændʒəbl] 有形的;实际的;真实的。mint julep：[ˌmɪnt ˈdʒuːlɪp] 薄荷冰酒(用波旁威士忌、碎冰、糖和薄荷调制而成)。Baffled：[ˈbæfld] 使困惑;难住。  

     那场喧嚣、无休止的争论，以我们被赶进那间客厅去而告终，我现在也弄不清是怎么回事了，虽然我清清楚楚记得，在这个过程中，我的内裤像一条湿漉漉的蛇一直顺着我的腿往上爬，同时我的后背断断续续地淌下冰冷的汗珠。这个主意起源于黛西的建议，她先是提出我们可以租五间浴室去洗冷水澡，然后才给出"去一个喝杯凉薄荷酒的地方"这个更实际的意见。我们每一个人都反复地说这主意“太疯狂了”--我们大家都立刻跑去跟一个左右为难的接待员谈，自认为或者假装认为，我们这样很滑稽……

    The room was large and stifling, and, though it was already four o’clock, opening the windows admitted Only a gust of hot shrubbery from the Park. Daisy went to the mirror and stood with her back to us, fixing her hair.

Stifling：[ˈstaɪflɪŋ] 令人窒息的;极其闷热的。Shrubbery：[ˈʃrʌbəri] 灌木丛。Gust：[ɡʌst] 一阵强风;一阵狂风。

    那间房子又大又闷，虽然已经是下午四点了，但打开窗户还是只吹进一股从公园里的灌木丛刮来的热风。黛西走到镜子面前，背对我们站着，整理她的头发。

    “It’s a swell suite,” whispered Jordan respectfully, and every one laughed.

Swell：极好的;了不起的;非常棒的。

    "这个套间真高级。"乔丹充满敬意地低声说，引得大家都笑了起来。

　　“Open another window,” commanded Daisy, without turning around.

     "把另一扇窗户也打开。"黛西指挥道，连头也不回。

　　“There aren’t any more.”

     "没有别的窗户了。"

　　“Well, we’d better telephone for an axe——”

    "那么我们最好打电话要把斧头……"

“The thing to do is to forget about the heat,” said Tom impatiently. “You make it ten times worse by crabbing about it.”

Crab：螃蟹；抱怨；破坏等。

     "我们要做的就是是忘掉炎热，"汤姆不耐烦地说，"像你这样抱怨只会难受十倍。"

　　He unrolled the bottle of whiskey from the towel and put it on the table.

    他打开毛巾包裹着的那瓶威士忌，把它放在桌上。

　　“Why not let her alone, old sport?” remarked Gatsby. “You’re the one that wanted to come to town.”

    "何不让她随意呢，老兄？"盖茨比说，"是你自己要进城来的。"

　　There was a moment of silence. The telephone book slipped from its nail and splashed to the floor, whereupon Jordan whispered, “Excuse me.”—but this time no one laughed.

    沉默了一会。电话簿从钉子上掉下来，啪的一声摔到地上，乔丹马上低声道："不好意思。"但是这一次没人笑了。

　　“I’ll pick it up,” I offered.

    "我去捡起来。"我说。

　　“I’ve got it.” Gatsby examined the parted string, muttered “Hum!” in an interested way, and tossed the book on a chair.

     "我捡起来了。"盖茨比仔细查看断裂的绳子，表示感兴趣地"哼"了一声，然后把电话簿往椅子上一扔。

　　“That’s a great expression of yours, isn’t it?” said Tom sharply.

     "那是你得意的口头掸，是吧？"汤姆尖锐地说。

　　“What is?”

     "什么？"

　　“All this ‘old sport’ business. Where’d you pick that up?”

     "张口闭口都是'老兄'。你是从哪里学来的？"

　　“Now see here, Tom,” said Daisy, turning around from the mirror, “if you’re going to make personal remarks I won’t stay here a minute. Call up and order some ice for the mint julep.”

     "你听着，汤姆，"黛西说，一面从镜子前面转过身来，"如果你打算进行人身攻击，那我在这儿一分钟都不会多待。打个电话要点冰来做薄荷酒吧。"

   As Tom took up the receiver the compressed heat exploded into sound and we were listening to the portentous chords of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March from the ballroom below.

Portentous：[pɔːˈtentəs]预示(坏事)的;先兆的。

    汤姆一拿起话筒，压抑的炙热里突然爆发出声音，这时我们听到门德尔松的《婚礼进行曲》，这充满不详的管弦乐是从楼下舞厅传上来。

   “Imagine marrying anybody in this heat!” cried Jordan dismally.

Dismally：沉闷地；阴暗地。

     "这么热竟还有人结婚！"乔丹苦恼地喊道。

　　“Still—I was married in the middle of June,” Daisy remembered, “Louisville in June! Somebody fainted. Who was it fainted, Tom?”

     "尽管如此—但我就是在六月中旬结婚的，"黛西回忆道，"六月的路易斯维尔！还有有一个人昏倒了。是谁昏倒来着，汤姆？"

　　“Biloxi,” he answered shortly.

     "比洛克西。"他简短地回道。

　　“A man named Biloxi. ‘blocks’ Biloxi, and he made boxes—that’s a fact—and he was from Biloxi, Tennessee.”

     "一个姓'比洛克西'的人。'木头人'毕洛克西，他是做盒子的—是真的--他来自田纳西州毕洛克西①市。"

①木头人、盒子在原文里都和毕洛克西谐音。比洛克西与其说是一个人，不如说是一个由不同的碎片组成的混合体，每一个碎片都是由汤姆的客人模糊的记忆造成的。即使那样，他也不是一个完整的人，因为我们永远无法了解他的全部情况。更让人困惑的是，尼克提到了他曾经认识的一位来自孟菲斯的比尔·比洛克西，这让事情变得更加复杂。

但有一件事我们知道，比洛克西和盖茨比本人一样是神秘的，盖茨比的整个身份也是由零碎传闻组成的。田纳西州并不存在名叫比洛克西的地方。比洛克西是美国密西西比州的一个城市。

   “They carried him into my house,” appended Jordan, “because we lived just two doors from the church. And he stayed three weeks, until Daddy told him he had to get out. The day after he left Daddy died.” After a moment she added as if she might have sounded irreverent, “There wasn’t any connection.”

Appended：[əˈpendɪd] (在文章后面)附加，增补。Irreverent：不敬的;不恭的。

     "他们把他带到我家里去了，"乔丹补充说，"因为我们住的地方和教堂就隔着两户人家。他一住就住了三个星期，直到爸爸下了逐客令。他走后第二天，爸爸就死了。"过了一会儿，为了听起来恭敬些，她又加了一句话，"这两件事井没有什么关联。"

　　“I used to know a Bill Biloxi from Memphis,” I remarked.

     "我以前也认识一个孟菲斯①人，叫比尔·毕洛克西。"我说。

①孟菲斯（Memphis），田纳西州的城市。

    “That was his cousin. I knew his whole family history before he left. He gave me an aluminum putter that I use to-day.”

Aluminum：[əˈljʊmɪnəm] 铝。putter ：[ˈpʌtər] 轻击球杆。

     "那是他堂兄弟。他走以前，我把他的家族史都弄清楚了。他送了我一根铝制的高尔夫球推杆，我到今天还在用呢。"

　　The music had died down as the ceremony began and now a long cheer floated in at the window, followed by intermittent cries of “Yea-ea-ea!” and finally by a burst of jazz as the dancing began.

    婚礼仪式一开始，音乐就渐渐停了，此刻从窗外飘来一阵久久的欢呼声，接着又是断断续续"好啊--好--啊"的叫喊声，最后爵士乐激昂奏响，舞会开始了。

　“We’re getting old,” said Daisy. “If we were young we’d rise and dance.”

    "我们都老了，"黛西说，"如果我们还年轻，就起来跳舞了。"

　 “Remember Biloxi,” Jordan warned her. “Where’d you know him, Tom?”

    "想想比洛克西。"乔丹警告她，"你是在哪儿认识他的，汤姆？"

　 “Biloxi?” He concentrated with an effort. “I didn’t know him. He was a friend of Daisy’s.”

     "比洛克西？"他定神想了一会，"我不认识他。他是黛西的朋友。"

　　“He was not,” she denied. “I’d never seen him before. He came down in the private car.”

     "他不是，"她否认道，"我先前从来没见过他。他是坐你的私家车来的。"

　　“Well, he said he knew you. He said he was raised in Louisville. Asa Bird brought him around at the last minute and asked if we had room for him.”

     "对啊，他说他认识你。他说他是在路易斯维尔长大的。阿莎·伯德在最后一分钟才搭载他，还问我们是否有地方让他坐。"

　　Jordan smiled.

    乔丹笑了一笑。

  “He was probably bumming his way home. He told me he was president of your class at Yale.”

Bum：提出要;乞讨;使不安;使灰心。

   "他多半想免费搭车回家。他告诉我他在耶鲁是你们的班长。"

　　Tom and I looked at each other blankly.

    汤姆和我彼此茫然地对看。

　　“Biloxi?”

    "比洛克西？"

　　“First place, we didn’t have any president——”

    "首先，我们压根儿没有班长……"