《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter V》第1节
When I came home to West Egg that night I was afraid for a moment that my house was on fire. Two o’clock and the whole corner of the peninsula was blazing with light, which fell unreal on the shrubbery and made thin elongating glints upon the roadside wires. Turning a corner, I saw that it was Gatsby’s house, lit from tower to cellar. At first I thought it was another party, a wild rout that had resolved itself into “hide-and-go-seek” or “sardines-in-the-box” with all the house thrown open to the game. But there wasn’t a sound. Only wind in the trees, which blew the wires and made the lights go off and on again as if the house had winked into the darkness. As my taxi groaned away I saw Gatsby walking toward me across his lawn. “Your place looks like the World’s Fair,” I said. “Does it?” He turned his eyes toward it absently. “I have been glancing into some of the rooms. Let’s go to Coney Island, old sport. In my car.” “It’s too late.” “Well, suppose we take a plunge in the swimming pool? I haven’t made use of it all summer.” “I’ve got to go to bed.”
注释摘要
尼克回到家已是凌晨两点。开篇第一句写他担心自己的房子着火了，这是叙述者的一个小小玩笑，也是菲茨杰拉德切入场景的方式——先说感受，再揭示真相。整个半岛的角落都烧在光里，这个“烧”字延续了开头的错觉，而光落在灌木丛上被形容为 unreal，这个词在小说里分量很重，直译是“不真实”，暗示这片光亮不像人间之物，有一种舞台布景般虚幻的质感。路边电线上那些“thin …