《了不起的盖茨比·Chapter IX》第8节
“The funeral’s tomorrow,” I said. “Three o’clock, here at the house. I wish you’d tell anybody who’d be interested.” “Oh, I will,” he broke out hastily. “Of course I’m not likely to see anybody, but if I do.” His tone made me suspicious. “Of course you’ll be there yourself.” “Well, I’ll certainly try. What I called up about is—” “Wait a minute,” I interrupted. “How about saying you’ll come?” “Well, the fact is—the truth of the matter is that I’m staying with some people up here in Greenwich, and they rather expect me to be with them tomorrow. In fact, there’s a sort of picnic or something. Of course I’ll do my best to get away.” I ejaculated an unrestrained “Huh!” and he must have heard me, for he went on nervously: “What I called up about was a pair of shoes I left there. I wonder if it’d be too much trouble to have the butler send them on. You see, they’re tennis shoes, and I’m sort of helpless without them. My address is care of B. F.—” I didn’t hear the rest of the name, because I hung up the receiver. After that I felt a certain shame for Gatsby—one gentleman to whom I telephoned implied that he had got what he deserved. However, that was my fault, for he was one of those who used to sneer most bitterly at Gatsby on the courage of Gatsby’s liquor, and I should have known better than to call him.
注释摘要
这一节是一通电话，也是一场小小的道德审判。尼克正在为盖茨比操办葬礼，他打电话给一个叫克利普斯普林格的人，想让对方来参加。电话里的对话，把人与人之间那种微妙的推诿、虚伪和彻底的冷漠写得淋漓尽致。 字面上，尼克告知葬礼时间，还希望对方通知其他可能感兴趣的人。克利普斯普林格立刻应承，但加了一句“当然我也不大可能见到什么人，不过要是见到的话”——这句话一出口，他的…