《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter I》第8节
He had changed since his New Haven years. Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty, with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body—he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage—a cruel body. His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked—and there were men at New Haven who had hated his guts. “Now, don’t think my opinion on these matters is final,” he seemed to say, “just because I’m stronger and more of a man than you are.” We were in the same senior society, and while we were never intimate I always had the impression that he approved of me and wanted me to like him with some harsh, defiant wistfulness of his own.
注释摘要
尼克用了一大段文字给汤姆·布坎农画了一幅肖像，每一笔都带着刺。我们可以逐层来看。 先说字面信息。尼克在耶鲁就认识汤姆，但眼前的汤姆已经和三年前不一样了。三十岁，稻草色头发，身体结实，嘴巴线条很硬，一脸瞧不起人的神气。那双发亮的、傲慢的眼睛牢牢占据了他的整张脸，让他看起来总像是在咄咄逼人地往前倾。他穿着骑马装，这种衣服本来带点女性化的花哨，但完全遮不住那具身…