《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter V》第4节
“Don’t bring Tom,” I warned her. “What?” “Don’t bring Tom.” “Who is ‘Tom’?” she asked innocently. The day agreed upon was pouring rain. At eleven o’clock a man in a raincoat, dragging a lawn-mower, tapped at my front door and said that Mr. Gatsby had sent him over to cut my grass. This reminded me that I had forgotten to tell my Finn to come back, so I drove into West Egg Village to search for her among soggy whitewashed alleys and to buy some cups and lemons and flowers. The flowers were unnecessary, for at two o’clock a greenhouse arrived from Gatsby’s, with innumerable receptacles to contain it. An hour later the front door opened nervously, and Gatsby in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-coloured tie, hurried in. He was pale, and there were dark signs of sleeplessness beneath his eyes. “Is everything all right?” he asked immediately. “The grass looks fine, if that’s what you mean.” “What grass?” he inquired blankly. “Oh, the grass in the yard.” He looked out the window at it, but, judging from his expression, I don’t believe he saw a thing. “Looks very good,” he remarked vaguely. “One of the papers said they thought the rain would stop about four. I think it was The Journal. Have you got everything you need in the shape of—of tea?”
注释摘要
这一段最耐人寻味的是黛西那句假装天真的“Who is ‘Tom’?”。她当然知道谁是汤姆——那是她丈夫。这个小小的表演透露出黛西性格中某种轻浮的逃避倾向，她似乎在用一种社交场合的俏皮口吻消解尼克警告的严肃性。这是尼克第一次直接干预她的婚姻，而她的反应不是追问原因，而是用一个近乎调情的玩笑带过。菲茨杰拉德只用了”she asked innocently”这一…