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She looked at me and laughed pointlessly。 Then she flounced over to the dog； kissed it with ecstasy； and swept into the kitchen； implying that a dozen chefs awaited her orders there。 她看看我，忽然莫名其妙地笑了起来。接着她蹦蹦跳跳跑到小狗跟前，欢天喜地地亲亲它，然后又大摇大摆地走进厨房，那神气就好似那里只有十几个大厨师在听候她的吩咐。
“I’ve done some nice things out on Long Island；” asserted Mr。 McKee。 〃我在长岛那边拍过几张好的。〃麦基光生断言。
Tom looked at him blankly。 汤姆茫然地看看他。
“Two of them we have framed downstairs。” 〃有两幅我们配了镜框挂在楼下。〃
“Two what？” demanded Tom。 〃两幅什么？〃汤姆追问。
“Two studies。 One of them I call MONTAUK POINT—THE GULLS； and the other I call MONTAUK POINT—THE SEA。” 〃两幅习作。其中一幅我称之为《蒙涛角…海鸥》，另一幅叫《蒙涛角大海》。〃
The sister Catherine sat down beside me on the couch。 那位名叫凯瑟琳的妹妹在沙发上我的身边坐下。
“Do you live down on Long Island； too？” she inquired。 〃你也住在长岛那边吗？〃她问我。
“I live at West Egg。” 〃我住在西卵。〃
“Really？ I was down there at a party about a month ago。 At a man named Gatsby’s。 Do you know him？” 〃是吗？我到那儿参加过一次聚会，大约一个月以前。在一个姓盖茨比的人的家里。你认识他吗？〃
“I live next door to him。” 〃我就住在他隔壁〃
“Well； they say he’s a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm’s。 That’s where all his money es from。” 〃噢，人家说他是德国威廉皇帝的侄儿，或者什么别的亲戚，他的钱都是那么来的。〃
“Really？” 〃真的吗？〃
She nodded。 她点了点头。
“I’m scared of him。 I’d hate to have him get anything on me。” 〃我害怕他。我可不愿意落到他手里。〃
This absorbing information about my neighbor was interrupted by Mrs。 McKee’s pointing suddenly at Catherine： 关于我邻居的这段引人人胜的报道，由于麦基太太突然伸手指着凯瑟琳而被打断了。
“Chester； I think you could do something with HER；” she broke out； but Mr。 McKee only nodded in a bored way； and turned his attention to Tom。 〃切斯特，我觉得你满可以给她拍一张好的。〃她大声嚷嚷，可是麦基先生光是懒洋洋地点了点头，把注意力又转向汤姆。
“I’d like to do more work on Long Island； if I could get the entry。 All I ask is that they should give me a start。” 〃我很想在长岛多搞点业劼？要是有人介绍的话。我唯一的要求就是他们帮我开个头。〃
“Ask Myrtle；” said Tom； breaking into a short shout of laughter as Mrs。 Wilson entered with a tray。 “She’ll give you a letter of introduction； won’t you Myrtle？” 〃问茉特尔好了。〃汤姆哈哈一笑说，正好威尔逊太太端了个托盘走了进来，〃她可以给你写封介绍信，是不是，茉特尔？〃
“Do what？” she asked； startled。 〃干什么？〃她吃惊地问道。
“You’ll give McKee a letter of introduction to your husband； so he can do some studies of him。” His lips moved silently for a moment as he invented。 “GEORGE B。 WILSON AT THE GASOLINE PUMP； or something like that。” 〃你给麦基写一封介绍信去见你丈夫，他就可以给他拍几张特写。〃他嘴唇不出声地动了一会儿，接着胡诌道，《乔治？B？威尔逊在油泵前》，或者诸如此类的玩意。〃
Catherine leaned close to me and whispered in my ear： “Neither of them can stand the person they’re married to。” 凯瑟琳凑到我耳边，跟我小声说：〃他们俩谁都受个了自己的那口子。〃
“Can’t they？” 〃是吗？〃
“Can’t STAND them。” She looked at Myrtle and then at Tom。 “What I say is； why go on living with them if they can’t stand them？ If I was them I’d get a divorce and get married to each other right away。” 〃受不了。〃她先看看茉特尔，又看看汤姆。〃依我说，既然受不了，何必还在一起过下去呢？要是我，我就离婚，然后马上重新结婚。〃
“Doesn’t she like Wilson either？” 〃她也不喜欢威尔逊吗？〃
The answer to this was unexpected。 It came from Myrtle； who had overheard the question； and it was violent and obscene。 对这个问题的答复是出乎意外的。它来自茉特尔，因为她凑巧听见了问题，而她讲的话是义粗暴又不于净的。
“You see；” cried Catherine triumphantly。 She lowered her voice again。 “It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart。 She’s a Catholic； and they don’t believe in divorce。” 〃你瞧，〃凯瑟琳得意洋洋地大声说，她又压低了嗓门，〃使他们不能结婚的其实是他老婆。她是天主教徒，那些人是不赞成离婚的。〃
Daisy was not a Catholic； and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie。 黛西并不是天主教徒，因此这个煞费苦心的谎言使我有点震惊。
“When they do get married；” continued Catherine； “they’re going West to live for a while until it blows over。” 〃哪天他们结了婚，〃凯瑟琳接着说，〃他们准备到西部去住一些时候，等风波过去再回来。〃
“It’d be more discreet to go to Europe。” 〃更稳妥的办法是到欧洲去。〃
“Oh； do you like Europe？” she exclaimed surprisingly。 “I just got back from Monte Carlo。” 〃哦，你喜欢欧洲吗？〃她出其不意地叫了起来，〃我刚从蒙的卡罗①回来。〃 ①世界著名的赌城。
“Really？” 〃真的吗？〃
“Just last year。 I went over there with another girl。” “Stay long？” 〃就在去年，我和另外一个姑娘一起去的。〃〃待了很久吗？〃
“No； we just went to Monte Carlo and back。 We went by way of Marseilles。 We had over twelve hundred dollars when we started； but we got gypped out of it all in two days in the private rooms。 We had an awful time getting back； I can tell you。 God； how I hated that town！” 〃没有，我们只去了蒙的卡罗就回来了。我们是取道马赛去的。我们动身的时候带了一千二百多美元，可是两天之内就在赌场小房间里让人骗光了。我们在回来路上吃的苦头可不少，我对你说吧。天哪，我恨死那城市了。〃
The late afternoon sky bloomed in the window for a moment like the blue honey of the Mediterranean—then the shrill voice of Mrs。 McKee called me back into the room。 窗外，天空在夕照中显得格外柔和，像蔚蓝的地中海一样。这时麦基太太尖锐的声音把我唤回到屋子里来。
“I almost made a mistake； too；” she declared vigorously。 “I almost married a little kyke who’d been after me for years。 I knew he was below me。 Everybody kept saying to me： ‘Lucille； that man’s ‘way below you！’ But if I hadn’t met Chester； he’d of got me sure。” 〃我差点也犯了错误，〃她精神抖擞地大声说，〃我差点嫁给了一个追了我好几年的犹太小子。我知道他配不上我。大家都对我说：'露西尔，那个人比你差远了。'可是，如果我没碰上切斯特，他保险会把我搞到手的。〃
“Yes； but listen；” said Myrtle Wilson； nodding her head up and down； “at least you didn’t marry him。” 〃不错，可是你听我说，〃茉特尔？威尔逊说，一面不停地摇头晃脑，〃好在你井设嫁给他啊。〃
“I know I didn’t。” 〃我知道我没嫁给他。〃
“Well； I married him；” said Myrtle； ambiguously。 “And that’s the difference between your case and mine。” 〃但是，我可嫁给了他，〃茉特尔含糊其词地说，〃这就是你的情况和我的情况不同的地方。〃
“Why did you； Myrtle？” demanded Catherine。 “Nobody forced you to。” 〃你为什么嫁给他呢，茉特尔？〃凯瑟琳质问道，〃也没有人强迫你。〃
Myrtle considered。 茉特尔考虑了一会儿。
“I married him because I thought he was a gentleman；” she said finally。 “I thought he knew something about breeding； but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe。” 〃我嫁给了他，是因为我以为他是个上等人，〃她最后说，〃我以为他还有点教养，不料他连舔我的鞋都不配。〃
“You were crazy about him for a while；” said Catherine。 〃你有一阵子爱他爱得发疯。〃凯瑟琳说。
“Crazy about him！” cried Myrtle incredulously。 “Who said I was crazy about him？ I never was any more crazy about him than I was about that man there。” 〃爱他爱得发疯！〃茉特尔不相信地喊道，〃谁说我爱他爱得发疯啦？我从来没爱过他，就像我没爱过那个人一样。〃
She pointed suddenly at me； and every one looked at me accusingly。 I tried to show by my expression that I had played no part in her past。 她突然指着我，于是大家都用责备的目光看着我。我竭力做出一副样子表示我并没指望什么人爱我。
“The only CRAZY I was was when I married him。 I knew right away I made a mistake。 He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in； and never even told me about it； and the man came after it one day when he was out。 ‘oh； is that your suit？’ I said。 ‘this is the first I ever heard about it。’ But I gave it to him and then I lay down and cried to beat the band all afternoon。” 〃我于的唯一发疯的事是跟他结了婚。我马上就知道我犯了错误。他借了人家一套做客的衣服穿着结婚，还从来不告诉我，后来有一天他不在家，那人来讨还衣服。'哦，这套衣服是你的吗？'我说，'这还是我头一回听说哩。'但是我把衣服给了他，然后我躺到床上，号陶大哭，整整哭了一下午。〃
“She really ought to