《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter II》第14节
Catherine leaned close to me and whispered in my ear: “Neither of them can stand the person they’re married to.” “Can’t they?” “Can’t stand them.” She looked at Myrtle and then at Tom. “What I say is, why go on living with them if they can’t stand them? If I was them I’d get a divorce and get married to each other right away.” “Doesn’t she like Wilson either?” The answer to this was unexpected. It came from Myrtle, who had overheard the question, and it was violent and obscene. “You see,” cried Catherine triumphantly. She lowered her voice again. “It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart. She’s a Catholic, and they don’t believe in divorce.” Daisy was not a Catholic, and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie. “When they do get married,” continued Catherine, “they’re going West to live for a while until it blows over.” “It’d be more discreet to go to Europe.” “Oh, do you like Europe?” she exclaimed surprisingly. “I just got back from Monte Carlo.” “Really.” “Just last year. I went over there with another girl.” “Stay long?” “No, we just went to Monte Carlo and back. We went by way of Marseilles. We had over twelve hundred dollars when we started, but we got gyped out of it all in two days in the private rooms. We had an awful time getting back, I can tell you. God, how I hated that town!”
注释摘要
这一小段对话发生在纽约那间拥挤不堪的公寓里，表面上只是几个喝得半醉的人在说悄悄话，但菲茨杰拉德通过几个细节让它变成了透视人物处境和叙事者立场的关键窗口。 先看凯瑟琳对尼克说的那句悄悄话。她说汤姆和默特尔“都受不了自己嫁娶的那个人”，用的是“can't stand”，这个短语很口语化，带着一种不耐烦的生理厌恶感。但更值得注意的是她的语调——她在这件事上表现出…