《了不起的盖茨比》摘抄。

词句非常非常精彩，一个需要细细揣摩的故事。

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

风景

The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sundials and brick walks and burning gardens - finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold and wide open to the warm windy afternoon.

草坪从海滩起步，直奔大门，足足有四分之一英里，一路跨过日晷、砖径和火红的花园——最后跑到房子跟前，仿佛借助于奔跑的势头，爽性变成绿油油的常春藤，沿着墙往上爬。房子正面有一溜法国式的落地长窗，此刻在夕照中金光闪闪，迎着午后的暖风敞开着。

A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea.

一阵清风吹过屋子里，把窗帘从一头吹进来，又从另一头吹出去，好像一面面白旗，吹向天花板上糖花蛋糕似的装饰，然后轻轻拂过绛色地毯，留下一阵阴影，有如风吹过海面。

The late afternoon sky bloomed in the window for a moment like the blue honey of the Mediterranean.

窗外，天空在夕照中显得格外柔和，像蔚蓝的地中海一样。

Roaring noon.

炎热的中午。

⭐The day agreed upon was pouring rain.

我们约定的那天大雨倾盆。

The rain was still falling, but the darkness had parted in the west, and there was a pink and golden billow of foamy clouds above the sea.

雨还在下，可是西方的乌云已经拨开，海湾上空翻滚着粉红色和金色的云霞。

It was dark here in front; only the bright door sent ten square feet of light volleying out into the soft black morning.

前面这里很暗；只有敞开的门向幽暗的黎明射出十平方英尺的亮光。

Now it was a cool night with that mysterious excitement in it which comes at the two changes of the year. The quiet lights in the houses were burning out into the darkness and there was a stir and bustle among the stars.

那是一个凉爽的夜晚，那是一年两度季节变换的时刻，空气中洋溢着那种神秘的兴奋。家家户户宁静的灯火仿佛在向外面的黑暗吟唱，天上的星星中间仿佛也有繁忙的活动。

The next day was broiling.

酷热难当。

On the green Sound, stagnant in the heat, one small sail crawled slowly toward the fresher sea.

在绿色的海湾上，海水在酷热中停滞不动，一条小帆船慢慢向比较新鲜的海水移动。

A silver curve of the moon hovered already in the western sky.

一弯银月已经悬在西天。

Wilson’s glazed eyes turned out to the ashheaps, where small gray clouds took on fantastic shape and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind.

威尔逊呆滞的眼睛转向外面的灰堆，那上面小朵的灰云呈现出离奇古怪的形状，在黎明的微风中飞来飞去。

场景

Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips, the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch, open toward the sunset, where four candles flickered on the table in the diminished wind.

两位女郎袅袅婷婷地、懒洋洋地，手轻轻搭在腰上，在我们前面走上了玫瑰色的阳台。阳台迎着落日，餐桌上有四支蜡烛在微弱的风里闪烁不定。

The bar is in full swing and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside until the air is alive with chatter and laughter.

酒吧那边生意兴隆，同时一盘盘鸡尾酒传送到外面花园里的每个角落，到后来整个空气里充满了欢声笑语。

The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun.

大地蹒跚着离开太阳，电灯显得更亮。

Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word.

笑声每时每刻都变得越来越容易，毫无节制地倾泻出来。

A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby's house, making the night fine as before and surviving the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host.

一轮明月正照在盖茨比别墅的上面，使夜色跟先前一样美好。明月依旧，而欢声笑语已经从仍然光辉灿烂的花园里消失了。一股突然的空虚此刻好像从那些窗户和巨大的门里流出来，使主人的形象处于完全的孤立之中。

From the ballroom beneath, muffled and suffocating chords were drifting up on hot waves of air.

从下面的舞厅里，低沉而闷人的乐声随着一阵阵热气飘了上来。

神态

For a moment the last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her glowing face; her voice compelled me forward breathlessly as I listened—then the glow faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret like children leaving a pleasant street at dusk.

有一会儿工夫夕阳的余辉温情脉脉地照在她那红艳发光的脸上。她的声音使我身不由主地凑上前去屏息倾听——然后光彩逐渐消逝，每一道光都依依不舍地离开了她，就像孩子们在黄昏时刻离开一条愉快的街道那样。

But there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smoldering.

但是她有一种显而易见的活力，仿佛全身的神经都在燃烧。

She looked out at me with a bright ecstatic smile.

她满面春风、心花怒放地看着我。

My own face had now assumed a deep tropical burn.

我自己的脸也涨得通红，像被热带的太阳晒过那样。

Daisy’s face was smeared with tears.

她脸上满是泪水。

Tom’s arrogant eyes roamed the crowd.

他傲慢的眼睛往人群中一扫。

In the sunlight his face was green.

他脸色铁青。

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.

她那样全神贯注，因此丝毫不觉察有人在观察。许多种情感鱼贯似地流露到她的脸上，仿佛正被冲洗着的相纸一点一点地显示出物景那样。

The same half-knowing, half-bewildered look came back into his faded eyes.

和先前一样的那种半清醒半迷糊的表情又回到了他无神的眼睛里。

情绪

Turbulent emotions possessed her.

她心潮澎湃。

The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain.

她那悠扬的歌声在雨中听了让人沉醉。

He had passed visibly through two states and was entering upon a third. After his embarrassment and his unreasoning joy he was consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock.

显而易见，他已经历了两种精神状态，现在正进入第三种。他起初局促不安，继而大喜若狂，目前又由于她出现在眼前感到过分惊异而不能自持了。这件事他长年朝思暮想，梦寐以求，简直是咬紧了牙关期待着，感情强烈到不可思议的程度。此刻，由于反作用，他像一架发条上得太紧的时钟一样精疲力竭了。

I couldn’t sleep all night; a fog-horn was groaning incessantly on the Sound, and I tossed half-sick between grotesque reality and savage, frightening dreams.

我整夜没睡；雾笛声一个劲儿在桑德海湾上凄恻地鸣响，我辗转反侧，像生了病一样，理不清哪些是狰狞的现实，哪些是可怕的梦魇。

And all the time something within her was crying for a decision.

在这期间她内心深处渴望做出一个决定。

He was on the point of collapse.

他快要崩溃了。

His eyes leaked continuously with excitement.

他激动得眼泪不停地往下流。

After a little while Mr. Gatz opened the door and came out, his mouth ajar, his face flushed slightly, his eyes leaking isolated and unpunctual.

过了一会他打开门走出来，嘴巴张着，脸微微有点红，眼睛里断断续续洒下几滴泪水。

Happy

I am paralyzed with happiness.

我被幸福冲昏头脑。

She cried ecstatically.

她欣喜若狂。

He waited, looking at me with suppressed eagerness.

他眼巴巴地看着我。

Excitement was generating on the air.

空气中洋溢着兴奋的情绪。

When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes.

他一看见我们，那对浅蓝色的眼睛就流露出一线暗淡的希望。

Sad

She cried to beat the band.

她嚎啕大哭。

Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily.

突然，黛西发出了很不自然的声音，一下子把头埋进衬衫里，嚎啕大哭起来。

She sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds.

她呜咽着说，声音在厚厚的衣服堆里闷哑了。

The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.

他的话深深刺痛盖茨比的心。

Shocked

A thrill passed over all of us.

我们都感到十分震惊。

My incredulity was submerged in fascination now.

我的怀疑此刻已经化为惊奇。

Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic.

他感到惊慌失措，心里像油煎一样。

He sprang to his feet, vivid with excitement.

他猛地跳起来，激动异常。

heavy with dejection

沮丧。

Puzzled

At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes.

在大都市迷人的黄昏里，我有时感到一种难以排遣的寂寞。

I felt a sinking in my heart.

我心里有一种无名的惆怅。

Angry

His temper cracked a little.

他有点冒火。

语言

Daisy leaned forward again, her voice glowing and singing.

她的声音像唱歌一样抑扬动听。

But a stirring warmth flowed from her, as if her heart was trying to come out to you concealed in one of those breathless, thrilling words.

但是却洋溢着一种动人的激情，仿佛她的心就藏在那些气喘吁吁的、激动人心的话语里，想向你倾诉一番。

The murmur trembled on the verge of coherence, sank down, mounted excitedly, and then ceased altogether.

话语忽高忽低，最后完全终止。

…cried Daisy with tense gayety.

她欢乐地大叫。

Again a sort of apology arose to my lips.

道歉的话涌上嘴边。

"Hello!" I roared, advancing toward her.

“哈啰！”我大喊一声，向她走去。

A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement.

一个警句开始在我耳中令人兴奋地激动鸣响。

For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man’s, as though there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air.

一会儿的工夫，有一句话快到了嘴边，我的两片嘴唇像哑巴一样张开，仿佛除了一丝受惊的空气之外还有别的什么在上面挣扎着要出来。

“You must be crazy!” exclaimed Tom automatically.

“你肯定疯了！”他脱口而出。

…said Gatsby, with a touch of panic.

有点慌张地说。

Tom’s words suddenly leaned down over Gatsby.

他突然对盖茨比破口大骂。

I ejaculated an unrestrained” Huh!”

我忍不住叫了一声。

思考

Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.

每当你觉得想要批评什么人的时候，你切要记着，这个世界上的人并非都具备你拥有的条件。

But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked out on the wash-stand and the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor. Each night he added the pattern of his fancies until drowsiness closed down upon some vivid scene with an obvious embrace. for a while these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination; they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing.

但是他的内心却经常处于激荡不安之中。夜晚躺在床上的时候，各种离奇怪诞的幻想纷至沓来。一个绚丽得无法形容的宇宙展现在他脑海里，这时小钟在洗脸架上滴答地响着，月亮用水一般的光浸泡着他乱七八糟扔在地上的衣服。每夜他都给他那些幻想的图案添枝加叶，一直等到昏沉的睡意降落在一个生动的场面之上，使他忘记了一切。有一阵子这些幻梦为他的想象力提供了一个发泄的途径：它们令人满意地暗示现实是不真实的，它们表明世界的磐石是牢牢地建立在仙女的翅膀上的。

"If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home across the bay," said Gatsby. "You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock."

“要不是有雾，我们可以看见海湾对面你家的房子，”盖茨比说，“你家码头的尽头总有一盏通宵不灭的绿灯。”

Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.

然而我们这排黄澄澄的窗户高踞在城市的上空，一定给暮色苍茫的街道上一位观望的过客增添了一点人生的秘密，同时我也可以看到他，一面在仰望一面在寻思。我既身在其中又身在其外，对人生的千变万化既感到陶醉，同时又感到厌恶。

There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.

世界上只有被追求者和追求者，忙碌者和疲惫者。

⭐"I wouldn't ask too much of her," I ventured. "You can't repeat the past."

"Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!"

“我看对她不宜要求过高，”我冒昧地说，“你不能重温旧梦的。”

“不能重温旧梦？”他大不以为然地喊道，“哪儿的话，我当然能够！”

"Her voice is full of money".

“她声音里充满了金钱的味道”

They were gone, without a word, snapped out, made accidental, isolated, like ghosts, even for pity.

他们俩走掉了，一句话也没说，一转眼就消失了，变得无足轻重，孤零零的，像一对鬼影，甚至和我们的怜悯都隔绝了。

Before me stretched the portentous, menacing road of a new decade.

在我面前展现出一条新的十年的凶多吉少、咄咄逼人的道路。

⭐He left feeling that if he had searched harder, he might have found her—that he was leaving her behind.

他离开的时候觉得，假使他更努力地去找的话，他也许可以找到她的——而现在他却留下她走了。

⭐⭐The track curved and now it was going away from the sun, which as it sank lower, seemed to spread itself in benediction over the vanishing city where she had drawn her breath. He stretched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she had made lovely for him. But it was all going by too fast now for his blurred eyes and he knew that he had lost that part of it, the freshest and the best, forever.

铁轨拐了一个弯，现在是背着太阳走，西沉的太阳光芒四射，似乎为这个慢慢消逝的、她曾生活过的城市祝福。他绝望地伸出手去,仿佛只想抓住一缕轻烟，从那个因为她而使他认为是最可爱的地方留下一个碎片。但是在他模糊的泪眼前面一切都跑得太快了,他知道他已经失去了其中的那一部分，最新鲜最美好的部分永远失去了。

⭐"They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together." I've always been glad I said that. It was the only compline I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end. First he nodded politely, and then his face broke into that radiant and understanding smile, as if we’d been in ecstatic cahoots on that face all the time. His gorgeous pink rag of a suit made a bright spot of color against the white steps, and I thought of the night when I first came to his ancestral home, three months before. The lawn and drive had been crowded with the faces of those who guessed at his corruption and he had stood on those steps, concealing his incorruptible dream, as he waved them good-bye.

“他们都是烂人，”我隔着草坪大声说，“那帮混蛋全部加起来也没你高贵。”

我总是很高兴我说出了那句话。那是我对他仅有的恭维，因为我自始至终是看他不顺眼的。他先是礼貌地点点头，随即脸上绽放出那种灿烂而会意的笑容，仿佛这是我们多年以来心照不宣的事实。他那套华丽的粉红色西装在白色台阶的映衬下格外醒目，我想起了三个月前初次拜访这座古旧大宅的那个夜晚。当时草坪和车道上挤满了人，暗地里猜测他的为人是多么的龌龊——而他就站在这些台阶之上，隐藏着他纯洁的梦想，挥手向他们道别。

景语

And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had the familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.

转眼间阳光明媚，葱葱绿叶忽而长满了千树万树，就如同快进电影让一切骤然绽放。我又产生了那个熟悉的信念：人生随着夏天的来临又重获了新的生机。

The shadow of a tree fell abruptly across the dew and ghostly birds began to sing among the blue leaves. There was a slow, pleasant movement in the air, scarcely a wind, promising a cool, lovely day.

一棵树的影子突然横投在露水上，同时幽灵般的鸟儿在蓝色的树叶中开始歌唱。空气中有一种慢慢的愉快的动静，还说不上是风，预示着凉爽宜人的天气。

翻译

I know he was below me.

我知道他配不上我。

But he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe.

他连给我提鞋都不配。

I want to get roaring drunk.

酩酊大醉。

Drunk as a monkey.

酩酊大醉。

He began to throw mean looks in my direction.

他给我使脸色。

I outstay my welcome.

我呆得太久而不受欢迎。

I won’t impose myself on you any longer.

我不会再缠着你。

He did things without so much as a shiver.

他连哆嗦都没有/若无其事。

I got my hands full.

我忙得不可开交。

At arm’s length.

保持安全距离。

Cause a row.

制造纠纷。

Leave sb in the lurch.

在某人要帮助时候不管不顾。

Be dead broke.

身无分文。

一盏绿灯。

逆水行舟。