《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter VII》第17节
The room was large and stifling, and, though it was already four o’clock, opening the windows admitted only a gust of hot shrubbery from the Park. Daisy went to the mirror and stood with her back to us, fixing her hair. “It’s a swell suite,” whispered Jordan respectfully, and everyone laughed. “Open another window,” commanded Daisy, without turning around. “There aren’t any more.” “Well, we’d better telephone for an axe—” “The thing to do is to forget about the heat,” said Tom impatiently. “You make it ten times worse by crabbing about it.” He unrolled the bottle of whisky from the towel and put it on the table. “Why not let her alone, old sport?” remarked Gatsby. “You’re the one that wanted to come to town.” There was a moment of silence. The telephone book slipped from its nail and splashed to the floor, whereupon Jordan whispered, “Excuse me”—but this time no one laughed. “I’ll pick it up,” I offered. “I’ve got it.” Gatsby examined the parted string, muttered “Hum!” in an interested way, and tossed the book on a chair. “That’s a great expression of yours, isn’t it?” said Tom sharply. “What is?” “All this ‘old sport’ business. Where’d you pick that up?”
注释摘要
这一节一开头，尼克就用两种感官把读者摁进了广场酒店那间套房——视觉上的“大”（large）和体感上的“窒息”（stifling）。这是下午四点钟，窗外的公园非但没有送来凉意，反而灌进一股滚烫的灌木气味（a gust of hot shrubbery）。菲茨杰拉德在此建立了一个封闭、无处可逃的热力学空间，而这整个场景的情感走向也将如此：热不是背景，是压力的同…