【有声英语文学名著】了不起的盖茨比 第6章(3)
时间:2019-02-24 作者:英语课 分类:有声英语文学名著
英语课
The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Chapter 6 - Part 3
It occurred to me that he had been very slowly bending toward her all evening to attain 1 this proximity 2, and even while I watched I saw him stoop one ultimate degree and kiss at her cheek.
“I like her,” said Daisy, “I think she’s lovely.”
But the rest offended her—and inarguably, because it wasn’t a gesture but an emotion. She was appalled 3 by West Egg, this unprecedented 4 “place.” that Broadway had begotten 5 upon a Long Island fishing village—appalled by its raw vigor 6 that chafed 7 under the old euphemisms 8 and by the too obtrusive 9 fate that herded 10 its inhabitants along a short-cut from nothing to nothing. She saw something awful in the very simplicity 11 she failed to understand.
I sat on the front steps with them while they waited for their car. It was dark here in front; only the bright door sent ten square feet of light volleying out into the soft black morning. Sometimes a shadow moved against a dressing-room blind above, gave way to another shadow, an indefinite procession of shadows, who rouged 12 and powdered in an invisible glass.
“Who is this Gatsby anyhow?” demanded Tom suddenly. “Some big bootlegger?”
“Where’d you hear that?” I inquired.
“I didn’t hear it. I imagined it. A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know.”
“Not Gatsby,” I said shortly.
He was silent for a moment. The pebbles 13 of the drive crunched 14 under his feet.
“Well, he certainly must have strained himself to get this menagerie together.”
A breeze stirred the gray haze 15 of Daisy’s fur collar.
“At least they’re more interesting than the people we know,” she said with an effort.
“You didn’t look so interested.”
“Well, I was.”
Tom laughed and turned to me.
“Did you notice Daisy’s face when that girl asked her to put her under a cold shower?”
Daisy began to sing with the music in a husky, rhythmic 16 whisper, bringing out a meaning in each word that it had never had before and would never have again. When the melody rose, her voice broke up sweetly, following it, in a way contralto voices have, and each change tipped out a little of her warm human magic upon the air.
“Lots of people come who haven’t been invited,” she said suddenly. “That girl hadn’t been invited. They simply force their way in and he’s too polite to object.”
“I’d like to know who he is and what he does,” insisted Tom. “And I think I’ll make a point of finding out.”
“I can tell you right now,” she answered. “He owned some drug-stores, a lot of drug-stores. He built them up himself.”
The dilatory 17 limousine 18 came rolling up the drive.
“Good night, Nick,” said Daisy.
Her glance left me and sought the lighted top of the steps, where THREE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING, a neat, sad little waltz of that year, was drifting out the open door. After all, in the very casualness of Gatsby’s party there were romantic possibilities totally absent from her world. What was it up there in the song that seemed to be calling her back inside? What would happen now in the dim, incalculable hours? Perhaps some unbelievable guest would arrive, a person infinitely 19 rare and to be marvelled 20 at, some authentically 21 radiant young girl who with one fresh glance at Gatsby, one moment of magical encounter, would blot 22 out those five years of unwavering devotion.
I stayed late that night, Gatsby asked me to wait until he was free, and I lingered in the garden until the inevitable 23 swimming party had run up, chilled and exalted 24, from the black beach, until the lights were extinguished in the guest-rooms overhead. When he came down the steps at last the tanned skin was drawn 25 unusually tight on his face, and his eyes were bright and tired.
“She didn’t like it,” he said immediately.
“Of course she did.”
“She didn’t like it,” he insisted. “She didn’t have a good time.”
He was silent, and I guessed at his unutterable depression.
“I feel far away from her,” he said. “It’s hard to make her understand.”
“You mean about the dance?”
“The dance?” He dismissed all the dances he had given with a snap of his fingers. “Old sport, the dance is unimportant.”
He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: “I never loved you.” After she had obliterated 26 four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. One of them was that, after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house—just as if it were five years ago.
“And she doesn’t understand,” he said. “She used to be able to understand. We’d sit for hours——”
He broke off and began to walk up and down a desolate 27 path of fruit rinds and discarded favors and crushed flowers.
“I wouldn’t ask too much of her,” I ventured. “You can’t repeat the past.”
“Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why of course you can!”
He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking 28 here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand.
“I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before,” he said, nodding determinedly 29. “She’ll see.”
He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was. . . .
. . . One autumn night, five years before, they had been walking down the street when the leaves were falling, and they came to a place where there were no trees and the sidewalk was white with moonlight. They stopped here and turned toward each other. Now it was a cool night with that mysterious excitement in it which comes at the two changes of the year. The quiet lights in the houses were humming out into the darkness and there was a stir and bustle 30 among the stars. Out of the corner of his eye Gatsby saw that the blocks of the sidewalks really formed a ladder and mounted to a secret place above the trees—he could climb to it, if he climbed alone, and once there he could suck on the pap of life, gulp 31 down the incomparable milk of wonder.
His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy’s white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed 32 his unutterable visions to her perishable 33 breath, his mind would never romp 34 again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.
Through all he said, even through his appalling 35 sentimentality, I was reminded of something—an elusive 36 rhythm, a fragment of lost words, that I had heard somewhere a long time ago. For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man’s, as though there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air. But they made no sound, and what I had almost remembered was uncommunicable forever.
vt.达到,获得,完成
- I used the scientific method to attain this end. 我用科学的方法来达到这一目的。
- His painstaking to attain his goal in life is praiseworthy. 他为实现人生目标所下的苦功是值得称赞的。
n.接近,邻近
- Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
- Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。
v.使惊骇,使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的;丧胆的
- The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
- They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
adj.无前例的,新奇的
- The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
- A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。
v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 );产生,引起
- The fact that he had begotten a child made him vain. 想起自己也生过孩子,他得意了。 来自辞典例句
- In due course she bore the son begotten on her by Thyestes. 过了一定的时候,她生下了堤厄斯式斯使她怀上的儿子。 来自辞典例句
n.活力,精力,元气
- The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
- She didn't want to be reminded of her beauty or her former vigor.现在,她不愿人们提起她昔日的美丽和以前的精力充沛。
v.擦热(尤指皮肤)( chafe的过去式 );擦痛;发怒;惹怒
- Her wrists chafed where the rope had been. 她的手腕上绳子勒过的地方都磨红了。
- She chafed her cold hands. 她揉搓冰冷的双手使之暖和。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
n.委婉语,委婉说法( euphemism的名词复数 )
- No point is in mincing words or hiding behind euphemisms. 没有必要闪烁其词或者羞羞答答。 来自辞典例句
- No point in mincing words or hiding behind euphemisms. 没必要闪烁其词或者羞羞答答。 来自辞典例句
adj.显眼的;冒失的
- These heaters are less obtrusive and are easy to store away in the summer.这些加热器没那么碍眼,夏天收起来也很方便。
- The factory is an obtrusive eyesore.这工厂很刺眼。
群集,纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 ); 放牧; (使)向…移动
- He herded up his goats. 他把山羊赶拢在一起。
- They herded into the corner. 他们往角落里聚集。
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯
- She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
- The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。
胭脂,口红( rouge的过去式和过去分词 )
- Tigress in a red jacket, her face powdered and rouged, followed him with her eyes. 虎妞穿着红袄,脸上抹着白粉与胭脂,眼睛溜着他。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
- She worked carefully on her penciled her eyebrows and rouged her lips. 她仔细地梳理着头发,描眉,涂口红。
[复数]鹅卵石; 沙砾; 卵石,小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )
- The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
- Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石,以确保排水良好。
v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 );嘎吱作响;(快速大量地)处理信息;数字捣弄
- Our feet crunched on the frozen snow. 我们的脚嘎吱嘎吱地踩在冻雪上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- He closed his jaws on the bones and crunched. 他咬紧骨头,使劲地嚼。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命
n.霾,烟雾;懵懂,迷糊;vi.(over)变模糊
- I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中,我看不见她。
- He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。
adj.有节奏的,有韵律的
- Her breathing became more rhythmic.她的呼吸变得更有规律了。
- Good breathing is slow,rhythmic and deep.健康的呼吸方式缓慢深沉而有节奏。
adj.迟缓的,不慌不忙的
- The boss sacked a dilatory worker yesterday.昨天老板开除了一个凡事都爱拖延的人。
- The dilatory limousine came rolling up the drive.那辆姗姗来迟的大型轿车沿着汽车道开了上来。
n.豪华轿车
- A chauffeur opened the door of the limousine for the grand lady.司机为这个高贵的女士打开了豪华轿车的车门。
- We arrived in fine style in a hired limousine.我们很气派地乘坐出租的豪华汽车到达那里。
adv.无限地,无穷地
- There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
- The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。
v.惊奇,对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 )
- I marvelled that he suddenly left college. 我对他突然离开大学感到惊奇。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- I marvelled at your boldness. 我对你的大胆感到惊奇。 来自《简明英汉词典》
ad.sincerely真诚地
- Gina: And we should give him something 2 authentically Taiwanese. 吉娜:而且我们应该送他有纯正台湾味的东西。
- A loser is one who fails to correspond authentically. 失败者则指那些未能做到诚实可靠的人。
vt.弄脏(用吸墨纸)吸干;n.污点,污渍
- That new factory is a blot on the landscape.那新建的工厂破坏了此地的景色。
- The crime he committed is a blot on his record.他犯的罪是他的履历中的一个污点。
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的
- Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
- The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。
adj.(地位等)高的,崇高的;尊贵的,高尚的
- Their loveliness and holiness in accordance with their exalted station.他们的美丽和圣洁也与他们的崇高地位相称。
- He received respect because he was a person of exalted rank.他因为是个地位崇高的人而受到尊敬。
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
- All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
- Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 );涂去;擦掉;彻底破坏或毁灭
- The building was completely obliterated by the bomb. 炸弹把那座建筑物彻底摧毁了。
- He began to drink, drank himself to intoxication, till he slept obliterated. 他一直喝,喝到他快要迷糊地睡着了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂
- The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
- We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后,我们都觉得万分孤寂。
潜在
- Why are you lurking around outside my house? 你在我房子外面鬼鬼祟祟的,想干什么?
- There is a suspicious man lurking in the shadows. 有一可疑的人躲在阴暗中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
adv.决意地;坚决地,坚定地
- "Don't shove me,'said one of the strikers, determinedly. "I'm not doing anything." “别推我,"其中的一个罢工工人坚决地说,"我可没干什么。” 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
- Dorothy's chin set determinedly as she looked calmly at him. 多萝西平静地看着他,下巴绷得紧紧的,看来是打定主意了。 来自名作英译部分
v.喧扰地忙乱,匆忙,奔忙;n.忙碌;喧闹
- The bustle and din gradually faded to silence as night advanced.随着夜越来越深,喧闹声逐渐沉寂。
- There is a lot of hustle and bustle in the railway station.火车站里非常拥挤。
vt.吞咽,大口地吸(气);vi.哽住;n.吞咽
- She took down the tablets in one gulp.她把那些药片一口吞了下去。
- Don't gulp your food,chew it before you swallow it.吃东西不要狼吞虎咽,要嚼碎了再咽下去。
v.娶,嫁,与…结婚
- The couple eventually wed after three year engagement.这对夫妇在订婚三年后终于结婚了。
- The prince was very determined to wed one of the king's daughters.王子下定决心要娶国王的其中一位女儿。
adj.(尤指食物)易腐的,易坏的
- Many fresh foods are highly perishable.许多新鲜食物都极易腐败。
- Fruits are perishable in transit.水果在运送时容易腐烂。
n.欢闹;v.嬉闹玩笑
- The child went for a romp in the forest.那个孩子去森林快活一把。
- Dogs and little children romped happily in the garden.狗和小孩子们在花园里嬉戏。
adj.骇人听闻的,令人震惊的,可怕的
- The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
- Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。