《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter VIII》第8节
He left feeling that if he had searched harder, he might have found her—that he was leaving her behind. The day-coach—he was penniless now—was hot. He went out to the open vestibule and sat down on a folding-chair, and the station slid away and the backs of unfamiliar buildings moved by. Then out into the spring fields, where a yellow trolley raced them for a minute with people in it who might once have seen the pale magic of her face along the casual street. The track curved and now it was going away from the sun, which, as it sank lower, seemed to spread itself in benediction over the vanishing city where she had drawn her breath. He stretched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she had made lovely for him. But it was all going by too fast now for his blurred eyes and he knew that he had lost that part of it, the freshest and the best, forever. It was nine o’clock when we finished breakfast and went out on the porch. The night had made a sharp difference in the weather and there was an autumn flavour in the air. The gardener, the last one of Gatsby’s former servants, came to the foot of the steps.
注释摘要
这段文字是尼克转述盖茨比对他讲述的往事，发生在盖茨比从法国回到美国、用尽最后一笔军饷跑到路易斯维尔去寻找黛西之后。他在那座城市徒劳地走了一周，走遍了他们曾经一起走过的地方，最终不得不离开。字面上，这段写的是一个穷困潦倒的年轻军人坐在闷热的白昼硬座车厢里，从路易斯维尔离去。他恍惚间觉得自己如果当初找得再狠一点，也许就能找到黛西，所以感觉像是把她遗留在了身后。…