《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter VIII》第5节
------------------------------------------------------------------------ He did extraordinarily well in the war. He was a captain before he went to the front, and following the Argonne battles he got his majority and the command of the divisional machine-guns. After the armistice he tried frantically to get home, but some complication or misunderstanding sent him to Oxford instead. He was worried now—there was a quality of nervous despair in Daisy’s letters. She didn’t see why he couldn’t come. She was feeling the pressure of the world outside, and she wanted to see him and feel his presence beside her and be reassured that she was doing the right thing after all. For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes. All night the saxophones wailed the hopeless comment of the “Beale Street Blues” while a hundred pairs of golden and silver slippers shuffled the shining dust. At the grey tea hour there were always rooms that throbbed incessantly with this low, sweet fever, while fresh faces drifted here and there like rose petals blown by the sad horns around the floor.
注释摘要
这一段是盖茨比故事的转折点，尼克转述了盖茨比在战争中和战后的经历。字面上，盖茨比在战场上表现得极为出色，他从上前线前的上尉，在阿尔贡战役后晋升至少校，还指挥了师属机枪部队。停战后，他拼命想回国，却因为某种复杂情况或误会，被送到了牛津。与此同时，黛西的信里透出一种神经质的绝望，她不明白他为什么回不来。黛西正感受着外部世界的压力，想要见到盖茨比，从他身上获得安…