《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter III》第8节
“Let’s get out,” whispered Jordan, after a somehow wasteful and inappropriate half-hour; “this is much too polite for me.” We got up, and she explained that we were going to find the host: I had never met him, she said, and it was making me uneasy. The undergraduate nodded in a cynical, melancholy way. The bar, where we glanced first, was crowded, but Gatsby was not there. She couldn’t find him from the top of the steps, and he wasn’t on the veranda. On a chance we tried an important-looking door, and walked into a high Gothic library, panelled with carved English oak, and probably transported complete from some ruin overseas. A stout, middle-aged man, with enormous owl-eyed spectacles, was sitting somewhat drunk on the edge of a great table, staring with unsteady concentration at the shelves of books. As we entered he wheeled excitedly around and examined Jordan from head to foot. “What do you think?” he demanded impetuously. “About what?” He waved his hand toward the bookshelves. “About that. As a matter of fact you needn’t bother to ascertain. I ascertained. They’re real.” “The books?” He nodded. “Absolutely real—have pages and everything. I thought they’d be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of fact, they’re absolutely real. Pages and—Here! Lemme show you.”
注释摘要
这一段写得极精彩，在一个看似漫不经心的转场里埋下了全书最核心的一台戏。我们先看字面。 乔丹在跟东卵那帮人坐了半小时后，悄悄对尼克说“我们走吧”，理由是“这对我来说太客气了”——这话本身就反讽得厉害。她是东卵人，却嫌东卵的派对“太有礼貌”。接着她替尼克找了个很体面的借口：你还没见过主人，这让你不安。旁听的那个大学生点了点头，表情是“cynical, mela…