《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter VII》第26节
“Who are you, anyhow?” broke out Tom. “You’re one of that bunch that hangs around with Meyer Wolfshiem—that much I happen to know. I’ve made a little investigation into your affairs—and I’ll carry it further tomorrow.” “You can suit yourself about that, old sport,” said Gatsby steadily. “I found out what your ‘drugstores’ were.” He turned to us and spoke rapidly. “He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drugstores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong.” “What about it?” said Gatsby politely. “I guess your friend Walter Chase wasn’t too proud to come in on it.” “And you left him in the lurch, didn’t you? You let him go to jail for a month over in New Jersey. God! You ought to hear Walter on the subject of you.” “He came to us dead broke. He was very glad to pick up some money, old sport.” “Don’t you call me ‘old sport’!” cried Tom. Gatsby said nothing. “Walter could have you up on the betting laws too, but Wolfshiem scared him into shutting his mouth.”
注释摘要
汤姆的这段话，是整个午后冲突第一次明火执仗的对决。此前他虽然一直在挑衅，但始终披着一层体面人的薄纱，现在是直接撕掉了。这句话的核心进攻方向，不是情感，而是阶级。“Who are you, anyhow?”——这个“anyhow”用得极其傲慢，意思是“我不管你怎么装，你本质上到底是个什么东西”。紧接着他抛出的指控，表面上是犯罪线索，实际上是一套完整的阶级贬低…