《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter IV》第6节
So he was aware of the bizarre accusations that flavoured conversation in his halls. “I’ll tell you God’s truth.” His right hand suddenly ordered divine retribution to stand by. “I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West—all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition.” He looked at me sideways—and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying. He hurried the phrase “educated at Oxford,” or swallowed it, or choked on it, as though it had bothered him before. And with this doubt, his whole statement fell to pieces, and I wondered if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him, after all. “What part of the Middle West?” I inquired casually. “San Francisco.” “I see.” “My family all died and I came into a good deal of money.” His voice was solemn, as if the memory of that sudden extinction of a clan still haunted him. For a moment I suspected that he was pulling my leg, but a glance at him convinced me otherwise. “After that I lived like a young rajah in all the capitals of Europe—Paris, Venice, Rome—collecting jewels, chiefly rubies, hunting big game, painting a little, things for myself only, and trying to forget something very sad that had happened to me long ago.”
注释摘要
我们先看尼克在这一段开头告诉我们的信息：盖茨比知道自己宅子里那些流言蜚语。尼克用的短语是“the bizarre accusations that flavoured conversation in his halls”，这里“flavoured”一词极妙——谣言像调味料一样渗入了大厅里的每一场交谈。换句话说，在西卵那座夜夜笙歌的宅子里，关于主人身世的荒诞…