《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter II》第17节
Myrtle pulled her chair close to mine, and suddenly her warm breath poured over me the story of her first meeting with Tom. “It was on the two little seats facing each other that are always the last ones left on the train. I was going up to New York to see my sister and spend the night. He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him, but every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement over his head. When we came into the station he was next to me, and his white shirtfront pressed against my arm, and so I told him I’d have to call a policeman, but he knew I lied. I was so excited that when I got into a taxi with him I didn’t hardly know I wasn’t getting into a subway train. All I kept thinking about, over and over, was ‘You can’t live forever; you can’t live forever.’ ” She turned to Mrs. McKee and the room rang full of her artificial laughter. “My dear,” she cried, “I’m going to give you this dress as soon as I’m through with it. I’ve got to get another one tomorrow. I’m going to make a list of all the things I’ve got to get. A massage and a wave, and a collar for the dog, and one of those cute little ashtrays where you touch a spring, and a wreath with a black silk bow for mother’s grave that’ll last all summer. I got to write down a list so I won’t forget all the things I got to do.”
注释摘要
这一节里，梅朵把椅子拉近尼克，开始讲述她与汤姆初遇的场景。字面上，这是她在这个闷热公寓里唯一一次近乎真诚的片刻——她用“温热的气息”向尼克倾泻这段回忆：在火车上那两排总是最后剩下的面对面座位上，她看上了穿着晚礼服和漆皮鞋的汤姆，假装看广告来掩饰目光，在车站时他白衬衫的前襟压着她的手臂，她说要叫警察但知道自己在撒谎，坐上出租车时兴奋得几乎以为是在坐地铁，脑子…