"He becomes very sentimental sometimes ,"explained Gatsby ."This is one of his sentimental days .He's quite a character around New York --a denizen of Broadway."
他有時會變得很傷感，蓋茨比解釋道，今天又是他傷感的日子。他在紐約是個人物--百老匯的地頭蛇。
"Who is he anyhow --an actor ?"
他到底是什麼人？是演員嗎？
"No".
不是
"A dentist ?"
牙科醫生？
"Meyer Wolfshiem ? No ,he's a gambler ."Gatsby hesitated ,then added coolly :"He's the man who fixed the World's Series back in 1919".
邁爾.沃爾夫山姆？不是，他是個賭棍。蓋茨比猶疑了一下，然後若無其事地補充道，他就是一九一九年那年非法操作世界棒球聯賽的那個人。
"Fixed the World's Series ? I repeated .
非法操縱世界棒球聯賽？我重複了一遍。
The idea staggered me .I remembered of course that the World's Series had been fixed in 1919 but if I had thought of it at all I would have thought of it as a thing that merely happened ,the end of some inevitable chain .It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people -- with the single mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe .
居然有這種事，我聽了發愣。我當然記得世界棒球聯賽在一九一九年被人非法操縱，可是即使我想到過這種事，我也會以為那隻不過是一件發生了的事情，是一連串必然事件的後果。我從來沒料到一個人可以愚弄五千萬人，就像一個撬開保險箱的賊那樣專心致志。
"How did he happen to do that ?" I asked after a minute .
他怎麼會幹那個的？我過了一分鐘才問道。
"He just saw the opportunity ."
他只過是看中了機會。
"Why isn't he in jail ?"
他怎麼沒坐牢呢？
"They can't get him ,old sport .He's a smart man ."
他們逮不住他，老兄。他是個非常精明的人。
I insisted on paying the check .As the waiter brought my change I caught sight of Tom Buchanan across the crowded room .
我搶著付了帳。服務員把找的錢送來時，我看到了湯姆.布坎農在擁擠的餐廳的那一邊。
"Come along with me for a minute ," I said ." I've got to say hello to someone ."
跟我來一下，我說，我得同一個人打個招呼。
When he saw Tom jumped up and took half a dozen steps in our direction .
湯姆一看見我們就跳了起來，朝我們的方向邁了五六步。
"Where've you been?"he demanded eagerly ."Daisy's furious because you haven't called up ."
你這一陣去哪兒了？他急切地問道，黛西氣死了，因為你不打電話來。
"This is Mr.Gatsby ,Mr.Buchanan."
這位是蓋茨比先生，布坎農先生。
"They shook hands briefly and a strained ,unfamiliar look of embarrassment came over Gatsby's face .
他們隨意握了握手，蓋茨比臉上忽然流露出一種不自然的、不常見的窘迫表情。
"How've you been ,anyhow ?" demanded Tom of me .How'd you happen to come us this far to eat ?"
你近來到底怎麼樣？湯姆問我，你怎麼會跑這麼遠到這兒來吃飯？
"I've been having lunch with Mr.Gatsby ."
我是和蓋茨比先生一道來吃午飯的。
I turned toward Mr.Gatsby ,but he was no longer there .
我轉身去看蓋茨比先生，但他已經不在那兒了。
One October day in nineteen-seventeen--(said Jordan Baker that afternoon ,sitting up very straight on a straight chair in the tea-garden at the Plaza Hotel )--I was walking along from one place to another half on the sidewalks and half on the lawns. I was happier on the lawns because I had on shoes from England with rubber nobs on the soles that bit into the soft ground .I had on a new plaid skirt also that blew a little in the wind and whenever this happened the red ,white and blue banners in front of all the houses stretched out stiff and said tut-tut-tut-tut in a disapproving way .
一九一七年十月裡有一天－－（那天下午喬丹.貝克講起了那件事，當時她挺直地坐在廣場飯店工作室裡一張挺直的椅子上。）－－我正在從一個地方向另一個地方走去，一半走在人行道上，一半走在草坪上。我更喜歡草坪，因為我穿了一雙英國鞋，鞋底有會在軟綿綿的地面留下印痕的橡皮疙瘩。我還穿了一條新的能隨風微微揚起的方格呢裙子，每當裙子隨風揚起來，所有人家門前的紅、白、藍三色旗就都挺得筆直，並且發了嘖－－嘖－－嘖－嘖的聲音，好像很不以為然似的。
The largest of the banners and the largest of the lawns belonged to Daisy Fay's house .She was just eighteen ,two years older than me ,and by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville .She dressed in white ,and had a little white roadster and all day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young offices from Camp Taylor demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night ,"anyways ,for an hour !"
幾面最大的旗子和幾片最大的草坪都是屬於黛西.費伊家的。她剛剛十八歲，比我大兩歲，是路易斯維爾所有小姐中最出風頭的一個。她穿的是白衣服，開的是一輛白色小跑車，她家電話一天到晚響個不停，泰勒營那些興奮的青年軍官一個個都要求那天晚上獨佔刀的全部時間。至少，給一個鐘頭吧！
When I came opposite her house that morning her white roadster was beside the curb ,and she was sitting in it with a lieutenant I had never seen before .They were so engrossed in each other that she didn't see me until I was five feet away .
那天早上我從她家門口路過時，她的白色跑車停在路邊，她跟一位我以前從未見過的中尉同坐在車上。他們倆彼此聊得全神貫注，一直到我走到五步之內她才看見我。
"Hello Jordan ,"she called unexpectedly ."Please come here ."
哈囉，喬丹，她出其不意地順喊道，請你過來。
I was flattered that she wanted to speak to me ,because of all the older girls I admired her most .She asked me if I was going to the Red Cross and make bandages . I was .Well ,then ,would I tell them that she couldn't come that day ? The officer looked at Daisy while she was speaking ,in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at sometime ,and because it seemed romantic to me I have remembered the incident ever since .His name was Jay Gatsby and I didn't lay eyes on him agai for over four years --even after I'd met him on Long Island I didn't realize it was the same man .
她要跟我說話，我覺得很光彩，因為在所有年紀比我大的女孩當中，我最崇拜的就是她。她問到我是否到紅十字會做繃帶。我說是的。她說，可否請我告訴他們說這天她不能來了？黛西說話的時候，那位軍官盯住她看，每一個姑娘都巴望人家有時會用這種神態來看自己。我覺得那非常浪漫，所以我後來一直記得這個情節。他的名字叫傑伊.蓋茨比，從那以後一隔四年多，我一直沒有再見過他--就連我在長島遇到他以後，我也不知道原來就是同一個人。
That was nineten-seventeen .By the next year I had a few beaux myself ,and I began to play in tournaments ,so I didn't see Daisy very often .She went with a slightly older crowd --when she went with anyone at all .Wild rumors were circulating about her --how her mother had found her packing her bag one winter night to go to New York and say goodbye to a soldier who was going overseas .She wasn't on speaking terms with her famil for several weeks .After that she didn't play around with the soldiers any more but only with a few flat-footed .short-sighted young men in town who couldn't get into the army at all .
那是一九一七年。到了第二年，我自己也有幾個男朋友，同時我開始參加比賽，因此我就不常見到黛西。她來往的是一幫比我年紀稍大一點的朋友--如果她還跟任何人來往的話。關於她的荒唐謠言到處傳播--說什麼有一個冬天夜晚她母親發現她在收拾行裝，準備到紐約去跟一個正要到海外去的軍人告別。家裡人有效地阻止了她，可是事後她有好幾個星期不跟家裡人講話。從那以後她就是再跟軍人一起玩了，只跟城裡幾根本不能參軍的平腳近視的青年來往。
By the next autume she was gay again ,gay as ever .She had a debut after the Armistice ,and in February she was presumably engaged to a man from New Orleans .In June she married Tom Buchanan of Chicago with more pomp and circumstance than Louisville ever knew before .He came down with a hundred people in four private cars and hired a whole floor ot the Seelbach Hotel ,and the day before the wedding he gave her a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars .
等到第二天秋天，她又活躍起來，和以前一樣活躍。停戰以後她參加了一次初進社交界的舞會，據說二月裡她跟新奧爾良市來的一個人訂了婚。六月裡她就跟芝加哥的湯姆.布坎農結了婚，婚禮之隆重豪華是路易斯維爾前所未聞的。他和一百位客人包了四節車廂一同南來，在莫爾巴赫飯店租了整個一層樓，在婚禮的前一天他送了她串估值三十五萬美無的珍珠。
I was bridesmaid .I came into her room half an hour before the bridal dinner ,and found her lying on her bed as lovely as the June night in her flowered dress --and as drunk as a monkey .She had a bottle of sauterne in one hand and a letter in the other .
我是伴娘之一，在舉行婚禮前夕送別新娘的宴會之前半個小時，我走進她的屋子，發現她躺在床上，穿著繡花的衣裳，像那個六月的夜晚一樣美。她像猴子一樣喝得爛醉，一手拿著一瓶葡萄酒，一手捏著一封信。
"Gratulate me ",she muttered .Never had a drink before but oh ,how I do enjoy it ."
恭…喜我，她含混不清地咕噥著說，從來沒喝過酒，啊，今天喝得可真痛快。
"What's the matter ,Daisy ?"
怎麼回事，黛西？
I was scared ,I can tell you ; I'd never seen a girl like that before .
我嚇壞了，真的，我從來沒見過一個女孩子醉成這副模樣。
"Here ,dearis."She groped around in a waste-basket she had with her on the bed and pulled out the string of pearls .Take 'em downstarirs and give 'em back to whoever they belong to .Tell'em all Daisy change 'her mine .Say 'Daisy's change 'her mine !"
喏 ，心肝寶貝。她在拿到床上的廢紙簍裡亂摸了一會兒，掏出了那串珍珠，把這個拿下樓去，是誰的東西就還給誰。告訴大家，黛西改變主意了。就說“黛西改變主意了”！
She began to cry --she cried and cried .I rushed out and found her mother's maid and we locked the door and got her into a cold bath .She wouldn't let go of the letter .She took it into the tub with her and squeezed it up into a wet ball ,and only let me leave it in the soap dish when she saw that it was coming to pieces like snow .
她哭了起來－－她哭了又哭。我跑出去，找到她母親的帖身女傭，然後我們鎖上了門，讓她洗個冷水澡。她死死捏住那封信不放。她把信帶到澡盆裡去，捏成溼淋淋的一團，直到她看見它碎得像雪花一樣，才讓我拿過去放在肥皂碟裡。
But she didn't say snother word .We gave her spirits of ammonia and put ice on her forehead and hooked her back into her dress and half an hour later when we walked out of the room the pearls were around her neck and the incident was over .Next day at five o'clock she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver and started off on a three months' trip to the South Seas .
可是她一句話也沒有再說。我們讓她聞阿摩尼亞精，把冰放在好腦門上，然後又替她把衣裳穿好。半小時後我們走出房間，那串珍珠套在她脖子上，這聲風波就過去了。第二天下午五點鐘，她沒事兒似的跟湯姆.布坎農結了婚，然後動身到南太平洋去做三個月的旅行。
I saw them in Santa Barbara when they came back and I thought I'd never seen a girl so mad about her husband .If he left the room for a minute she'd look around uneasily and say "Where's Tom gone ?and wear the most abstracted expression until she saw him coming in the door .She used to sit on the sand with his head in her lap by the hour rubbing her fingers over his eyes and looking at him with unfathomable delight .It was touching to see them together --it made you laugh in a hushed ,fascinated way .That was in August .A week after I left Santa Barbara Tom ran into a wagon on the Ventura road one night and ripped a front wheel off his car .The girl who was with him got into the papers too because her arm was broken --she was one of the chambermaids in the Santa Barbara Hotel .
他們回來以後，我在聖巴巴拉見到了他們，我覺得我從來沒見過一個女孩那麼迷戀丈夫的。如果他離開屋子一會兒工夫，她就會惴惴不安地四下張望，嘴裡說：湯姆上哪兒去啦？同時臉上顯出一副神情恍惚的樣子，直到她看見從門口走進來。她往往坐在沙灘上，一坐個把鐘頭，讓他把頭擱在她膝蓋上，一面用手指輕輕按摩他的眼睛，一面無限欣喜地看著他。看著他們倆在一起那種情景真使你感動－－使你入迷，使你莞爾而笑。那是八月裡的事。我離開聖巴巴拉一個星期以後，湯姆一天夜晚在凡圖拉公路上與一輛貨車相撞，把他車上的前輪撞掉了一隻。跟他同車的姑娘也上了報，因為她的胳膊撞斷了－－她是聖巴巴拉飯店裡一個收拾房間的女傭。
The next April Daisy had her little girl and they went to France for a year .I saw them one spring in Cannes and later in Deauville and then they came back to Chicago to settle down .Daisy was popular in Chicago ,as you know .They moved with a fast crowd ,all of them young and rich and wild ,but she came out with an absolutely perfect reputation .Perhaps because she doesn't drink .It's great advantage not to drink among hard-drinking people ,You can hold your tongue and ,moreover ,you can time any little irregularity of your own so that everybody else is so blind that they don't see or care .Parhaps Daisy never went in for amour at all --and yet there's something in that voice of hers ----
第二年四月黛西生了她那個小女兒，隨後他們到法國去待了一年。有一個春天我在戛納見到他們，後來又在多維爾見過，再後來他們就回芝加哥定居了。黛西在芝加哥很出風頭，這是你知道的。他們和一幫花天酒地的人來往，個個都是又年輕又有錢又放蕩的，但是她的名聲卻始終清清白白。也許因為她不喝酒的緣故。在愛喝酒的人中間而自己不喝酒，那是很佔便宜的。你可以守口如瓶，而且，你可以為你自己的小動作選擇時機，等到別人都喝得爛醉要麼看不見要麼不理會的時候再搞。也許黛西從來不有搞什麼 桃色事件－－然而她那聲音裡卻有點兒什麼異樣的地方－－－
Well, about six weeks ago ,she heard the name Gatsby for the first time in years .It was when I asked you --do you remember ? if you knew Gatsby in West Egg .After you had gone home she came into my room and woke me up ,and said "What Gatsby?"and when I described him --I was half asleep --she said in the strangest voice that it must be the man she used to know .It wasn't until then that I connected this Gatsby with the officer in her white car .
後來，大約六個星期以前，她多年來第一次聽到了蓋茨比這個名字。就是那次我問你－－你還記得嗎－－你認識不認識西卵的蓋茨比。你回家之後，她到我屋裡來把我推醒，問我：哪個姓蓋茨比的？我把他形容了一番－－我半睡半醒－－她用最古怪的聲音說，那一定是她過去認識的那個人。直到那時我才把這個蓋茨比跟當年坐在她白色跑車裡的那個軍官聯繫起來。
When Jordan Baker had finished telling all this we had left the Plaza for half an hour and were driving in a Victoria through Central Park .The sun had gone down behind the tall apartments of the movie stars in the West Fifties and the clear voices of girls ,already gathered like crickets on the grass ,rose through the hot twilight :
等到喬丹.貝克把上面這些都講完，我們離開了廣場飯店已經有半個鐘頭，兩人乘著一輛敞篷馬車穿過中央公園。太陽已經落在西城五十幾號街那一帶電影明星們居住的公寓大樓後面，這時兒童像草地上的蟋蟀一樣聚在一起，他們清脆的聲音在悶熱的黃昏中歌唱：
I'm the Sheik of Araby,
我是阿拉伯的酋長，
At night when you're asleep ,
今夜當你睡意正濃，
Into your tent I'll creep--
我將爬進你的帳篷－－
"It was a strange coincidence ,"I said .
真是奇怪的巧合。我說。
"But it wasn't a coincidence at all ."
但這根本不是什麼巧合。
"Why not ?"
為什麼不是？
"Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay ."
蓋茨比買下那座房子，就是因為這樣一來黛西就住在海灣對面嘛。
Then it had not been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night .He came alive to me ,delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor.
這麼說來，六月裡那個夜晚他所向往的不單單是天上的星斗了。蓋茨比在我眼中有了生命，忽然之間從他那子宮般的毫無目的豪華里分娩了出來。
"He wants to know --"continued Jordan"--if you'll invite Daisy to your house some afternoon and then let him come over ."
他想知道，喬丹繼續說，你肯不肯哪一天下午請黛西到你住處來，然後讓他過來坐一坐。
The modesty of the demand shook me .He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths so that he could "come over some afternoon to a stranger's garden .
這個要求如此微不足道，真使我震驚。他居然等了五年，又買一座大廈，在那裡把星光施與來來往往的飛蛾--為的是哪個下午他可以到一個陌生人的花園裡坐一坐。
"Did I have to know all this before he could ask such a little thing?
我非得先知道這一切，然後他才能託我這點小事嗎？
"He's afraid .He's waited so long .He thought you might be offended .You see he's a regular tough underneath it all ."
他害怕，他等得太久了。他想你也許會見怪。儘管如此，他其實是非常執著的。
Something worried me .
我還是放不小心。
"Why didn't he ask you to arrange a meeting ?"
他為什麼不請你安排一次見面呢？
He wants her to see his house ,she explained .And your house is right next door .
他要讓她看看他的房子，她解釋道，你的房子又剛好在緊隔壁。
"Oh!"
哦！
"I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties ,some night ,went on Jordan ,but she never did .Then he began asking people casually if they knew her ,and I was the first one he found .It eas that night he sent for me at his dance ,and you should have heard the elaborate way he worked up to it .Of course ,I immediately suggested a lunchon in New York --and I thought he'd go mad :
我想他大概指望哪天晚上她會翩然而至，光臨一次他的宴會，喬丹繼續說，但是她始終沒有來過。後來他就開始有意無意地問人家是否認識她，而我是他找到的第一個人。就是在舞會上他派有去請我的那一晚，可惜你沒聽到他是怎樣煞費苦心、轉彎抹角才說到了正題。我自然馬上建議在紐約吃一頓午餐--不料他急得像要發瘋：
"I don't want to do anything out of the way !he kept saying .I want to see her right next door .
我可不要做什麼不對頭的事情！他一再說，我只要在隔壁見見她。
"When I said you were a particular friend of Tom's he started to abandon the whole idea .He doesn't know very much about Tom ,though he says he's read a Chicago paper for years just on the chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy's name ."
後來我說你是湯姆的好朋友，他又想完全打消這個主意。他對湯姆的情況不太瞭解，雖然他說他有好幾年天天看一份芝加哥報紙，希望碰巧可以看到黛西的名字。
It was dark now ,and as we dipped under a little bridge I put my arm around Jordan's golden shoulder and drew her toward me and asked her to dinner .Suddenly I wasn't thinking of Daisy and Gatsby any more but of this clean ,hard limited person who dealt in universal skepticism and who leaned back jauntily just within the circle of my arm .A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement :"There are only the pursued ,the pursuing ,the busy and the tired ."
這時天黑了，我們的馬車走到一座小橋下面，我伸出胳臂摟住喬丹金黃色的肩膀，把她拉到我身邊，請她一起吃晚飯。忽然之間，我想的已經不是黛西和蓋茨比，而是這個乾淨、結實、智力有限的人，她對世間的一切都抱懷疑態度，她怪精神地往後靠在我伸出的胳臂上。一個警句開始在我耳中令人興奮地激動鳴響：世界上只有被追求者和追求者，忙碌的人和疲倦的人。
"And Daisy ought to have something in her life ,"murmured Jordan to me .
黛西生活裡也應當有點安慰，喬丹喃喃地對我說。
"Does she want to see Gatsby ?"
她願意見蓋茨比嗎？
"She's not to know about it .Gatsby doesn't want her to know .You're just supposed to invite her to tea ."
事先是不讓她知道的。蓋茨比不要她知道。你只是請她來喝茶。
We passed a barrier of dark trees ,and then the facade of Fifty-ninth Street ,a block of delicate pale light ,beamed down into the park ,Unlike Gatsby and Tom Buchanan ,I had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs ,and so I drew up the girl beside me ,tightening my arms .Her wan ,scornful mouth smiled ,and so I drew her up again closer ,this time to my face .
我們經過了一排黑黝黝的樹，然後五十九號街的高樓裡，一片柔和的燈光照到下面公園裡來。跟蓋茨比和湯姆.布坎農不一樣，我的眼前沒有什麼情人的面容沿著陰暗的簷口和耀眼的招牌縹緲浮動，於是我把身邊這個女孩子拉得更近一點，同時胳臂摟得更緊。她那張蒼白、輕藐的嘴嫣然一笑，於是我把她拉得更緊一點，這次一直拉到貼著我的臉。
