《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter VI》第8节
This included me. Mr. Sloane got to his feet. “Come along,” he said—but to her only. “I mean it,” she insisted. “I’d love to have you. Lots of room.” Gatsby looked at me questioningly. He wanted to go and he didn’t see that Mr. Sloane had determined he shouldn’t. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to,” I said. “Well, you come,” she urged, concentrating on Gatsby. Mr. Sloane murmured something close to her ear. “We won’t be late if we start now,” she insisted aloud. “I haven’t got a horse,” said Gatsby. “I used to ride in the army, but I’ve never bought a horse. I’ll have to follow you in my car. Excuse me for just a minute.” The rest of us walked out on the porch, where Sloane and the lady began an impassioned conversation aside. “My God, I believe the man’s coming,” said Tom. “Doesn’t he know she doesn’t want him?” “She says she does want him.” “She has a big dinner party and he won’t know a soul there.” He frowned. “I wonder where in the devil he met Daisy. By God, I may be old-fashioned in my ideas, but women run around too much these days to suit me. They meet all kinds of crazy fish.”
注释摘要
这一小段是《了不起的盖茨比》里社交尴尬最密集的一刻，字面上其实很简单：那位穿棕色骑装的女人突如其来地发出晚餐邀请，“你们俩都来”，尼克立刻意识到自己也包含在内。斯隆先生站了起来，说了句“来吧”，但他的对象只是那女人一个人，这是菲茨杰拉德叙述中非常关键的一句：他站起来，但只对她说话。接着那女人再次强调她是真心的，说自己乐意请客，家里地方大得很。盖茨比朝尼克投…