The Great Gatsby — Page 91

「他想让她看看他的房子，」她解释道。「而你的房子就在隔壁。」

"He wants her to see his house," she explained. "And your house is right next door."

「哦！」

"Oh!"

「我想他有时候期望她某天夜里会不知不觉地溜进他的某个派对，」乔丹继续说，「但她从来没有来过。」

"I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night," went on Jordan, "but she never did."

「后来他开始漫不经心地问人们是否认识她，而我是他找到的第一个人。」

"Then he began asking people casually if they knew her, and I was the first one he found."

「就是那天晚上他在舞会上派人来找我，你真应该听听他是怎样费尽心思地绕来绕去才说到正题的。」

"It was that night he sent for me at his dance, and you should have heard the elaborate way he worked up to it."

「当然，我立刻建议在纽约共进午餐——我以为他会发疯：」

"Of course, I immediately suggested a luncheon in New York—and I thought he'd go mad:"

「'我不想做任何出格的事！'他一直说。'我想在紧邻隔壁见到她。'」

"'I don't want to do anything out of the way!' he kept saying. 'I want to see her right next door.'"

「当我说你是汤姆的一位特别的朋友时，他开始打算放弃整个计划。」

"When I said you were a particular friend of Tom's, he started to abandon the whole idea."

「他对汤姆了解不多，尽管他说他多年来一直读一份芝加哥报纸，就是为了有机会瞥见黛西的名字。」

"He doesn't know very much about Tom, though he says he's read a Chicago paper for years just on the chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy's name."

天色已经暗下来了，当我们俯身穿过一座小桥时，我把手臂搂在乔丹金色的肩膀上，把她拉向我，请她共进晚餐。

It was dark now, and as we dipped under a little bridge I put my arm around Jordan's golden shoulder and drew her toward me and asked her to dinner.

突然间，我脑子里想的不再是黛西和盖茨比，而是眼前这个干净、冷静、处事有限度的人——她以普遍的怀疑态度待人处世，此刻正潇洒地向后靠在我的臂弯里。

Suddenly I wasn't thinking of Daisy and Gatsby any more, but of this clean, hard, limited person, who dealt in universal scepticism, and who leaned back jauntily just within the circle of my arm.