《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter V》第9节
He followed me wildly into the kitchen, closed the door, and whispered: “Oh, God!” in a miserable way. “What’s the matter?” “This is a terrible mistake,” he said, shaking his head from side to side, “a terrible, terrible mistake.” “You’re just embarrassed, that’s all,” and luckily I added: “Daisy’s embarrassed too.” “She’s embarrassed?” he repeated incredulously. “Just as much as you are.” “Don’t talk so loud.” “You’re acting like a little boy,” I broke out impatiently. “Not only that, but you’re rude. Daisy’s sitting in there all alone.” He raised his hand to stop my words, looked at me with unforgettable reproach, and, opening the door cautiously, went back into the other room. I walked out the back way—just as Gatsby had when he had made his nervous circuit of the house half an hour before—and ran for a huge black knotted tree, whose massed leaves made a fabric against the rain. Once more it was pouring, and my irregular lawn, well-shaved by Gatsby’s gardener, abounded in small muddy swamps and prehistoric marshes. There was nothing to look at from under the tree except Gatsby’s enormous house, so I stared at it, like Kant at his church steeple, for half an hour. A brewer had built it early in the “period” craze, a decade before, and there was a story that he’d agreed to pay five years’ taxes on all the neighbouring cottages if the owners would have their roofs thatched with straw. Perhaps their refusal took the heart out of his plan to Found a Family—he went into an immediate decline. His children sold his house with the black wreath still on the door. Americans, while willing, even eager, to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry.
注释摘要
这段文字是整部小说中最富戏剧性的片段之一，它将一场重逢后的巨大情感风暴压缩进了厨房这个狭小的空间里。表面看，是盖茨比拉着尼克躲进厨房，精神崩溃地说这一切都是个可怕的错误。尼克则像哄一个惊慌失措的孩子一样，试图用“你只是太尴尬了”和“黛西也尴尬”来稳住他。紧接着尼克失去了耐心，直接训斥盖茨比“举止像个小男孩”而且“很没礼貌”，把黛西一个人晾在那里。这番话起到…