The Great Gatsby — Page 101
一个啤酒商在十年前"复古风"盛行时建造了这座房子，据说他曾答应替附近所有农舍的主人缴纳五年的税款，条件是这些主人愿意用茅草重新铺盖屋顶。
A brewer had built it early in the "period" craze, a decade before, and there was a story that he'd agreed to pay five years' taxes on all the neighbouring cottages if the owners would have their roofs thatched with straw.
也许正是邻居们的拒绝让他建立家族根基的计划彻底失去了动力——他随即一蹶不振。
Perhaps their refusal took the heart out of his plan to Found a Family—he went into an immediate decline.
他的孩子们卖掉了他的房子，门上的黑色花圈还挂着。
His children sold his house with the black wreath still on the door.
美国人虽然甘愿、甚至渴望成为农奴，却始终不肯以农民自居。
Americans, while willing, even eager, to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry.
半小时后，阳光重新照耀，杂货商的汽车拐进了盖茨比的车道，送来了他仆人晚餐所需的原材料——我确信他自己一口都不会吃。
After half an hour, the sun shone again, and the grocer's automobile rounded Gatsby's drive with the raw material for his servants' dinner—I felt sure he wouldn't eat a spoonful.
一个女佣开始打开楼上的窗户，在每扇窗前短暂现身，又从中间那扇大飘窗探出身子，若有所思地朝花园里吐了口痰。
A maid began opening the upper windows of his house, appeared momentarily in each, and, leaning from the large central bay, spat meditatively into the garden.
是时候回去了。
It was time I went back.
雨还在下的时候，那雨声仿佛是他们低语的呢喃，时而随着情感的涌动而微微起伏高涨。
While the rain continued it had seemed like the murmur of their voices, rising and swelling a little now and then with gusts of emotion.
但在这新的寂静中，我感到屋子里面也随之沉默了下来。
But in the new silence I felt that silence had fallen within the house too.
我走了进去——在厨房里制造了各种可能的响动，差一点就把炉子推倒了——但我不相信他们听到了任何声音。
I went in—after making every possible noise in the kitchen, short of pushing over the stove—but I don't believe they heard a sound.
他们分坐在长椅的两端，彼此对望，神情仿佛刚有人提出了一个问题，或者空气中还悬着什么，而一切窘迫的痕迹都已荡然无存。
They were sitting at either end of the couch, looking at each other as if some question had been asked, or was in the air, and every vestige of embarrassment was gone.
Vocabulary
- brewer
- 酿造啤酒或麦酒的人
- period
- 某一特定的时间段或时代
- craze
- 短暂流行的狂热风尚或时尚
- decade
- 十年，一个十年的时间段
- taxes
- 税款，向政府缴纳的费用
- neighbouring
- 邻近的，位于附近的
- cottages
- cottage的复数，乡村小屋
- thatched
- 用茅草或稻草覆盖屋顶的
- straw
- 稻草，农作物收割后的茎秆
- Perhaps
- 也许，表示不确定的可能性
- refusal
- 拒绝，不接受某请求的行为
- immediate
- 立即的，毫不延迟发生的
- decline
- 衰退，逐渐变差的过程
- wreath
- 花圈，圆形装饰用的花环
- willing
- 愿意的，乐于做某事的
- eager
- 热切的，非常渴望做某事
- serfs
- serf的复数，农奴，封建社会的农奴
- obstinate
- 固执的，顽固地坚持己见的
- peasantry
- 农民阶层，社会底层的农民群体
- shone
- shine的过去式，发光或照耀
- grocer
- 杂货店店主，卖食品杂货的人
- automobile
- 汽车，机动车辆
- rounded
- round的过去式，绕过某个弯道
- drive
- 车道，通向房屋的私人道路
- raw
- 原始的，未加工的，基本的
- material
- 材料，用于制作或供应的物料
- servants
- servant的复数，仆人，受雇服务他人的人
- spoonful
- 一勺的量，一匙食物的分量
- maid
- 女佣，从事家务服务的女性
- upper
- 上方的，位置较高的
- momentarily
- 短暂地，仅持续片刻的时间
- leaning
- 身体向前或向外倾斜的动作
- central
- 中央的，位于中心位置的
- bay
- 凸窗，向外突出的窗户结构
- spat
- spit的过去式，吐出口水或液体
- meditatively
- 若有所思地，沉思默想地
- murmur
- 低语，低沉连续的声音或话语
- swelling
- 膨胀，声音或情感不断增大
- gusts
- gust的复数，突然的一阵风或情绪爆发
- emotion
- 情绪，内心的感情或感受
- silence
- 寂静，没有声音的状态
- within
- 在……之内，在某范围或空间内
- noise
- 噪音，杂乱刺耳的声音
- stove
- 炉子，用于烹饪或取暖的装置
- either
- 两者中的任一个，各自一端
- couch
- 沙发，供人坐卧的软质家具
- vestige
- 痕迹，残留的极少量迹象
- embarrassment
- 尴尬，因局促不安而感到窘迫
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