了不起的盖茨比第7章-4（盖茨比守夜）

     The Buchanans’ house floated suddenly toward us through the dark rustling trees. Tom stopped beside the porch and looked up at the second floor, where two windows bloomed with light among the vines.

rustling:瑟瑟声;沙沙声;偷窃牲口

    布坎农家的房子忽然在窸窸窣窣的幽暗树林中浮现在我们面前。汤姆在门廊旁边停下，抬头望望二楼，那里有两扇窗户在葡萄藤的掩映下亮着辉煌的灯光。　　

   “Daisy’s home,” he said. As we got out of the car he glanced at me and frowned slightly.

     "黛西到家了。"他说，我们下车时，他看了我一眼，又微微皱皱眉头。

　　“I ought to have dropped you in West Egg, Nick. There’s nothing we can do to-night.”

     "我应当在西卵让你下车的，尼克。今晚我们没有什么事可做了。"

　　A change had come over him, and he spoke gravely, and with decision. As we walked across the moonlight gravel to the porch he disposed of the situation in a few brisk phrases.

    他身上起了变化，他说话很严肃，而已很果断。当我们穿过满地月光的石子道走向门廊时，他三言两语很利索地处理了眼前的情况。

　　“I’ll telephone for a taxi to take you home, and while you’re waiting you and Jordan better go in the kitchen and have them get you some supper—if you want any.” He opened the door. “Come in.”

    "我去打个电话叫一辆出租车送你回家。你等车的时候，你和乔丹最好到厨房去，让他们给你们做点晚饭--要是你们想吃话。"他推开了大门，"进来吧。"

　“No,thanks. But I’d be glad if you’d order me the taxi. I’ll wait outside.” 

    “不了，谢谢，麻烦你帮我叫辆出租车就好，我在外面等。”　　        Jordan put her hand on my arm.

    乔丹把她的手放在我胳臂上。

　　“Won’t you come in, Nick?”

   “你不进来吗，尼克？”　　“No, thanks.”

     "不了，谢谢。"

　　I was feeling a little sick and I wanted to be alone. But Jordan lingered for a moment more.

    我心里难受，想一个人待着，但乔丹还流连了一会。

　“It’s only half-past nine,” she said.

       "现在才九点半。"她说。

　　I’d be damned if I’d go in; I’d had enough of all of them for one day, and suddenly that included Jordan too. She must have seen something of this in my expression, for she turned abruptly away and ran up the porch steps into the house. I sat down for a few minutes with my head in my hands, until I heard the phone taken up inside and the butler’s voice calling a taxi. Then I walked slowly down the drive away from the house, intending to wait by the gate.

    说什么我也不想进去了。一天下来，我已经受够他们所有人了，这一刻也忽然包括了乔丹。她一定在我的表情中多少看出了一点迹象，因为她猛地掉转身，跑上门廊的台阶走进屋子里去了。我两手抱着头坐了几分钟，直到我听见屋子里有人打电话，接着是男管家叫出租车的声音，我便慢慢走下车道，远离这座宅邸，准备到大门口去等车。　　

         I hadn’t gone twenty yards when I heard my name and Gatsby stepped from between two bushes into the path. I must have felt pretty weird by that time, because I could think of nothing except the luminosity of his pink suit under the moon.

  我走了还不到二十米，就听到有人叫我的名字，跟着盖茨比从两丛灌木丛中间走出来，来到小路上。我当时一定已经神志恍惚了，因为我脑子里什么都想不到，除了他那套粉红色衣服在月光下闪闪发光。

　　“What are you doing?” I inquired.

        "你在干什么？"我问道。

　　“Just standing here, old sport.”

      “就是站在这儿，老兄。"

       Somehow, that seemed a despicable occupation. For all I knew he was going to rob the house in a moment; I wouldn’t have been surprised to see sinister faces, the faces of ‘Wolfshiem’s people,’ behind him in the dark shrubbery.

Despicable：令人厌恶的;可鄙的;卑鄙的。

不知为什么，这好像是一种可耻的行径，就好比他马上就要抢劫这座宅邸。假设在他身后阴暗的灌木丛里，我看见一张张阴险的面孔，那是 “沃尔夫西恩的人”才有的面孔，我也不会惊讶。　　

   “Did you see any trouble on the road?” he asked after a minute.

     “你有没有看到路上出了什么事故？”他过了一会问道。

　　“Yes.”

       "看见了。"

　　He hesitated.

       他迟疑了一下。

　　“Was she killed?”

       "她死了吗？"

　　“Yes.”

        "死了。"

　　“I thought so; I told Daisy I thought so. It’s better that the shock should all come at once. She stood it pretty well.”

    "我料想到了，也告诉了黛西我的猜测。一下子来了这么多打击，倒好过断断续续地受罪。她表现得挺坚强。"

　　He spoke as if Daisy’s reaction was the only thing that mattered.

    他说得好像黛西的反应是唯一要紧的事情。

　“I got to West Egg by a side road,” he went on, “and left the car in my garage. I don’t think anybody saw us, but of course I can’t be sure.”

     "我从一条小路开回西卵去，"他接着说，"车子也停在我的车库里。我想没有人看到过我们，但我也不能肯定。"

　　I disliked him so much by this time that I didn’t find it necessary to tell him he was wrong.

    到这会儿，我对他已经十分厌恶了，因此我觉得没有必要告诉他，是他想错了。

　　“Who was the woman?” he inquired.

    "那个女人是谁？"他问。

　　“Her name was Wilson. Her husband owns the garage. How the devil did it happen?”

    "她姓威尔逊。她丈夫是那家汽修厂的老板。这事到底怎么发生的？"

　　“Well, I tried to swing the wheel——” He broke off, and suddenly I guessed at the truth.

    "呃，我想把方向盘扳过来的……"他突然打住，而我也瞬间猜到了真相。

　　“Was Daisy driving?”

     "是黛西在开车吗？"

　　“Yes,” he said after a moment, “but of course I’ll say I was. You see, when we left New York she was very nervous and she thought it would steady her to drive—and this woman rushed out at us just as we were passing a car coming the other way. It all happened in a minute, but it seemed to me that she wanted to speak to us, thought we were somebody she knew. Well, first Daisy turned away from the woman toward the other car, and then she lost her nerve and turned back. The second my hand reached the wheel I felt the shock—it must have killed her instantly.”

       "是的，"他顿了一会儿才说，"不过当然我会说是我在开。是这样的：我们离开纽约的时候，她情绪非常紧张，她以为开车子可以使她镇定下来--后来这个女人向我们冲了出来，正好迎面来了一辆车子跟我们错身而过。前后不到一分钟的事。我觉得她想跟我们说话，以为我们是她认识的人。呃，黛西为了避开那女人，先是把车子转向那辆车子，接着她惊慌失措又转了回来。我抓住方向盘的一瞬间就感觉到了那股震动——那女人一定当场就被撞死了。”　　

   “It ripped her open——”

    "把她撞开了花……"

     “Don’t tell me, old sport.” He winced. “Anyhow—Daisy stepped on it. I tried to make her stop, but she couldn’t, so I pulled on the emergency brake. Then she fell over into my lap and I drove on.

      Winced：(因痛苦或尴尬)龇牙咧嘴，皱眉蹙额。

    "别告诉我，老兄。"他皱了一下眉，"反正当时黛西拼命踩油门。我试图让她停下来，但她停不下来，我就拉上了应急刹车。接着她就晕倒在我膝盖上，我才接过来向前开。"

　　“She’ll be all right to-morrow,” he said presently. “I’m just going to wait here and see if he tries to bother her about that unpleasantness this afternoon. She’s locked herself into her room, and if he tries any brutality she’s going to turn the light out and on again.”

    "明天她就会好的，"他顿了一会儿，他说，"我就在这儿等着，看他会不会拿今天下午的不愉快找她麻烦。她把自己锁在她那屋里，假如他有什么暴力举动，她就会把灯关掉然后再打开。"

　　“He won’t touch her,’ I said. “He’s not thinking about her.”

    "他不会动她的，"我说，"他现在想的不是她。"

　　“I don’t trust him, old sport.”

    "我不信任他，老兄。"

　　“How long are you going to wait?”

    "你准备等多久！"

　　“All night, if necessary. Anyhow, till they all go to bed.”

    "整整一夜，如果有必要的话。至少，等到他们都去睡觉。"

　　A new point of view occurred to me. Suppose Tom found out that Daisy had been driving. He might think he saw a connection in it—he might think anything. I looked at the house; there were two or three bright windows down-stairs and the pink glow from Daisy’s room on the second floor.

   我忽然有一个新猜测。假定汤姆发现开车的是黛西，他或许会认为事出有因--他会胡乱臆测的。我看向那房子。楼下有两三扇亮堂堂的窗户，还有二楼黛西房里透着粉色的光。

　　“You wait here,” I said. “I’ll see if there’s any sign of a commotion.”

     "你在这儿等着，"我说，"我去看看房里有没有吵闹的迹象。"

　　I walked back along the border of the lawn, traversed the gravel softly, and tiptoed up the veranda steps. The drawing-room curtains were open, and I saw that the room was empty. Crossing the porch where we had dined that June night three months before, I came to a small rectangle of light which I guessed was the pantry window. The blind was drawn, but I found a rift at the sill. 

Rectangle：长方形;矩形。Pantry：食品贮藏室;食品贮藏柜。 Sill： 窗台;窗沿。Rift：分裂;分歧;严重不和。

    我沿着草坪边缘走了回去，轻轻跨过碎石路，然后踮起脚尖走上游廊的台阶。客厅的窗帘是拉开的，我看见厅里没有人。我走过一座阳台——三个月前那个六月的晚上，我们在这个阳台吃过晚餐——走到一小片长方形的灯光下，我猜那是食品间的窗户。遮帘拉了下来，但我在窗台上找到了一道缝隙。

　　Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table, with a plate of cold fried chicken between them, and two bottles of ale. He was talking intently across the table at her, and in his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own. Once in a while she looked up at him and nodded in agreement.

    黛西和汤姆正面对面地坐在厨房的桌子两边，两人之间摆着一盘凉炸鸡，还有两瓶麦芽酒。汤姆正隔着桌子聚精会神地跟黛西说话，说到情急处，他一手覆在黛西的手上。黛西不时抬起头来看看他，认同似的频频点头。

　　They weren’t happy, and neither of them had touched the chicken or the ale—and yet they weren’t unhappy either. There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture, and anybody would have said that they were conspiring together.

    他们并不愉快，两人都没动那盘鸡肉和麦芽酒--但气氛也不压抑。这个画面清楚地显示一种很自然的亲密气氛，谁见了都会说他们是在共同密谋着什么。

　　As I tiptoed from the porch I heard my taxi feeling its way along the dark road toward the house. Gatsby was waiting where I had left him in the drive.

    当我踮起脚尖离开阳台时，我听见出租车正摸索着幽暗的道路向宅子而来。盖茨比还在我刚才与他分开的车道上等着。

　　“Is it all quiet up there?” he asked anxiously.

    "楼上一直都安静吗？"他焦急地问。

　　“Yes, it’s all quiet.” I hesitated. “You’d better come home and get some sleep.”

     "是的，完全没动静。"我犹疑了一下，"你最好也回家去睡觉吧。"

　　He shook his head.

       他摇了摇头。

　　“I want to wait here till Daisy goes to bed. Good night, old sport.”

     "我要在这儿一直等到黛西上床睡觉。晚安，老兄。"

　　He put his hands in his coat pockets and turned back eagerly to his scrutiny of the house, as though my presence marred the sacredness of the vigil. So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight—watching over nothing.

    他把双手插在外套口袋里，热切地转身去监视那座宅子，仿佛我的在场玷污他神圣的守望。于是我走开了，留他站在月光下——无意义地空守着。