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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Chapter 3 Part 3

Chapter 3 Part 3

“Don't mention it,” he enjoined me eagerly. “Don't give it another thought, old sport.” The familiar expression held no more familiarity than the hand which reassuringly brushed my shoulder. “And don't forget we're going up in the hydroplane tomorrow morning, at nine o'clock.”

Then the butler, behind his shoulder:

“Philadelphia wants you on the phone, sir.”

“All right, in a minute. Tell them I'll be right there… Good night.”

“Good night.”

“Good night.” He smiled—and suddenly there seemed to be a pleasant significance in having been among the last to go, as if he had desired it all the time. “Good night, old sport… Good night.”

But as I walked down the steps I saw that the evening was not quite over. Fifty feet from the door a dozen headlights illuminated a bizarre and tumultuous scene. In the ditch beside the road, right side up, but violently shorn of one wheel, rested a new coupé which had left Gatsby's drive not two minutes before. The sharp jut of a wall accounted for the detachment of the wheel, which was now getting considerable attention from half a dozen curious chauffeurs. However, as they had left their cars blocking the road, a harsh, discordant din from those in the rear had been audible for some time, and added to the already violent confusion of the scene.

A man in a long duster had dismounted from the wreck and now stood in the middle of the road, looking from the car to the tyre and from the tyre to the observers in a pleasant, puzzled way.

“See!” he explained. “It went in the ditch.”

The fact was infinitely astonishing to him, and I recognized first the unusual quality of wonder, and then the man—it was the late patron of Gatsby's library.

“How'd it happen?”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“I know nothing whatever about mechanics,” he said decisively.

“But how did it happen? Did you run into the wall?”

“Don't ask me,” said Owl Eyes, washing his hands of the whole matter. “I know very little about driving—next to nothing. It happened, and that's all I know.”

“Well, if you're a poor driver you oughtn't to try driving at night.”

“But I wasn't even trying,” he explained indignantly, “I wasn't even trying.”

An awed hush fell upon the bystanders.

“Do you want to commit suicide?”

“You're lucky it was just a wheel! A bad driver and not even trying!”

“You don't understand,” explained the criminal. “I wasn't driving. There's another man in the car.”

The shock that followed this declaration found voice in a sustained “Ah-h-h!” as the door of the coupé swung slowly open. The crowd—it was now a crowd—stepped back involuntarily, and when the door had opened wide there was a ghostly pause. Then, very gradually, part by part, a pale, dangling individual stepped out of the wreck, pawing tentatively at the ground with a large uncertain dancing shoe.

Blinded by the glare of the headlights and confused by the incessant groaning of the horns, the apparition stood swaying for a moment before he perceived the man in the duster.

“Wha's matter?” he inquired calmly. “Did we run outa gas?”

“Look!”

Half a dozen fingers pointed at the amputated wheel—he stared at it for a moment, and then looked upward as though he suspected that it had dropped from the sky.

“It came off,” someone explained.

He nodded.

“At first I din' notice we'd stopped.”

A pause. Then, taking a long breath and straightening his shoulders, he remarked in a determined voice:

“Wonder'ff tell me where there's a gas'line station?”

At least a dozen men, some of them a little better off than he was, explained to him that wheel and car were no longer joined by any physical bond.

“Back out,” he suggested after a moment. “Put her in reverse.”

“But the wheel's off!”

He hesitated.

“No harm in trying,” he said.

The caterwauling horns had reached a crescendo and I turned away and cut across the lawn toward home. I glanced back once. A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby's house, making the night fine as before, and surviving the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell.

Reading over what I have written so far, I see I have given the impression that the events of three nights several weeks apart were all that absorbed me. On the contrary, they were merely casual events in a crowded summer, and, until much later, they absorbed me infinitely less than my personal affairs.

Most of the time I worked. In the early morning the sun threw my shadow westward as I hurried down the white chasms of lower New York to the Probity Trust. I knew the other clerks and young bond-salesmen by their first names, and lunched with them in dark, crowded restaurants on little pig sausages and mashed potatoes and coffee. I even had a short affair with a girl who lived in Jersey City and worked in the accounting department, but her brother began throwing mean looks in my direction, so when she went on her vacation in July I let it blow quietly away.

I took dinner usually at the Yale Club—for some reason it was the gloomiest event of my day—and then I went upstairs to the library and studied investments and securities for a conscientious hour. There were generally a few rioters around, but they never came into the library, so it was a good place to work. After that, if the night was mellow, I strolled down Madison Avenue past the old Murray Hill Hotel, and over 33rd Street to the Pennsylvania Station.

I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove. Sometimes, in my mind, I followed them to their apartments on the corners of hidden streets, and they turned and smiled back at me before they faded through a door into warm darkness. At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others—poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner—young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life.

Again at eight o'clock, when the dark lanes of the Forties were lined five deep with throbbing taxicabs, bound for the theatre district, I felt a sinking in my heart. Forms leaned together in the taxis as they waited, and voices sang, and there was laughter from unheard jokes, and lighted cigarettes made unintelligible circles inside. Imagining that I, too, was hurrying towards gaiety and sharing their intimate excitement, I wished them well.

For a while I lost sight of Jordan Baker, and then in midsummer I found her again. At first I was flattered to go places with her, because she was a golf champion, and everyone knew her name. Then it was something more. I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity. The bored haughty face that she turned to the world concealed something—most affectations conceal something eventually, even though they don't in the beginning—and one day I found what it was. When we were on a house-party together up in Warwick, she left a borrowed car out in the rain with the top down, and then lied about it—and suddenly I remembered the story about her that had eluded me that night at Daisy's. At her first big golf tournament there was a row that nearly reached the newspapers—a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semifinal round. The thing approached the proportions of a scandal—then died away. A caddy retracted his statement, and the only other witness admitted that he might have been mistaken. The incident and the name had remained together in my mind.

Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men, and now I saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible. She was incurably dishonest. She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage and, given this unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard, jaunty body.

It made no difference to me. Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply—I was casually sorry, and then I forgot. It was on that same house-party that we had a curious conversation about driving a car. It started because she passed so close to some workmen that our fender flicked a button on one man's coat.

“You're a rotten driver,” I protested. “Either you ought to be more careful, or you oughtn't to drive at all.”

“I am careful.”

“No, you're not.”

“Well, other people are,” she said lightly.

“What's that got to do with it?”

“They'll keep out of my way,” she insisted. “It takes two to make an accident.”

“Suppose you met somebody just as careless as yourself.”

“I hope I never will,” she answered. “I hate careless people. That's why I like you.”

Her grey, sun-strained eyes stared straight ahead, but she had deliberately shifted our relations, and for a moment I thought I loved her. But I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires, and I knew that first I had to get myself definitely out of that tangle back home. I'd been writing letters once a week and signing them: “Love, Nick,” and all I could think of was how, when that certain girl played tennis, a faint moustache of perspiration appeared on her upper lip. Nevertheless there was a vague understanding that had to be tactfully broken off before I was free.

Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.

Chapter 3 Part 3 Kapitel 3 Teil 3 Capítulo 3 Parte 3 第3章 その3 Rozdział 3 Część 3 Capítulo 3 Parte 3 Глава 3 Часть 3 Bölüm 3 Kısım 3 Розділ 3 Частина 3 第 3 章第 3 部分

“Don't mention it,” he enjoined me eagerly. "Non parlarne", mi ingiunse con impazienza. "Не упоминай об этом, - с нетерпением попросил он. “Don't give it another thought, old sport.” The familiar expression held no more familiarity than the hand which reassuringly brushed my shoulder. "Non pensarci più, vecchio mio". L'espressione familiare non aveva più familiarità della mano che mi sfiorava rassicurante la spalla. “And don't forget we're going up in the hydroplane tomorrow morning, at nine o'clock.”

Then the butler, behind his shoulder:

“Philadelphia wants you on the phone, sir.”

“All right, in a minute. Tell them I'll be right there… Good night.” Dica loro che arrivo subito... Buona notte".

“Good night.”

“Good night.” He smiled—and suddenly there seemed to be a pleasant significance in having been among the last to go, as if he had desired it all the time. "Спокойной ночи". Он улыбнулся - и вдруг ему показалось, что в том, что он ушел одним из последних, есть какая-то приятная значимость, как будто он всегда этого хотел. “Good night, old sport… Good night.” “晚安,老兄……晚安。”

But as I walked down the steps I saw that the evening was not quite over. Ma mentre scendevo i gradini vidi che la serata non era ancora finita. Fifty feet from the door a dozen headlights illuminated a bizarre and tumultuous scene. A cinquanta metri dalla porta una dozzina di fari illuminavano una scena bizzarra e tumultuosa. 离门五十英尺处,十几个头灯照亮了一个奇怪而混乱的场景。 In the ditch beside the road, right side up, but violently shorn of one wheel, rested a new coupé which had left Gatsby's drive not two minutes before. Nel fosso accanto alla strada, a destra, ma violentemente privata di una ruota, riposava una nuova coupé che aveva lasciato il viale di Gatsby non più di due minuti prima. 在路边的沟渠里,停着一辆两分钟前刚离开盖茨比的新轿跑车,正面朝上,但一个轮子被猛烈地削掉了。 The sharp jut of a wall accounted for the detachment of the wheel, which was now getting considerable attention from half a dozen curious chauffeurs. La sporgenza di un muro spiegava il distacco della ruota, che ora stava ricevendo una notevole attenzione da parte di una mezza dozzina di autisti curiosi. Острый выступ стены привел к отсоединению колеса, которое теперь привлекало внимание полудюжины любопытных шоферов. However, as they had left their cars blocking the road, a harsh, discordant din from those in the rear had been audible for some time, and added to the already violent confusion of the scene. Tuttavia, dato che avevano lasciato le loro auto a bloccare la strada, da qualche tempo si sentiva un rumore aspro e discordante da parte di quelli dietro, che si aggiungeva alla già violenta confusione della scena.

A man in a long duster had dismounted from the wreck and now stood in the middle of the road, looking from the car to the tyre and from the tyre to the observers in a pleasant, puzzled way. Un uomo con un lungo spolverino era sceso dal relitto e ora si trovava in mezzo alla strada, guardando dall'auto al pneumatico e dal pneumatico agli osservatori in modo piacevole e perplesso.

“See!” he explained. “It went in the ditch.” "È finito nel fosso".

The fact was infinitely astonishing to him, and I recognized first the unusual quality of wonder, and then the man—it was the late patron of Gatsby's library. Il fatto era infinitamente sorprendente per lui, e io riconobbi prima l'insolita qualità della meraviglia, e poi l'uomo: era il defunto mecenate della biblioteca di Gatsby.

“How'd it happen?” "Come è successo?"

He shrugged his shoulders. Scrollò le spalle.

“I know nothing whatever about mechanics,” he said decisively. "Non so nulla di meccanica", disse con decisione.

“But how did it happen? Did you run into the wall?” Sei finito contro il muro?".

“Don't ask me,” said Owl Eyes, washing his hands of the whole matter. "Non chiederlo a me", disse Occhi di Gufo, lavandosi le mani dell'intera questione. “I know very little about driving—next to nothing. It happened, and that's all I know.”

“Well, if you're a poor driver you oughtn't to try driving at night.” "Beh, se sei un pessimo guidatore non dovresti provare a guidare di notte".

“But I wasn't even trying,” he explained indignantly, “I wasn't even trying.” "Ma non ci stavo nemmeno provando", spiegò indignato, "non ci stavo nemmeno provando".

An awed hush fell upon the bystanders. Gli astanti rimasero ammutoliti. 旁观者肃然起敬。

“Do you want to commit suicide?” "Vuoi suicidarti?". “你想自杀吗?”

“You're lucky it was just a wheel! A bad driver and not even __try__ing!” Un pessimo guidatore e non ci prova nemmeno!".

“You don't understand,” explained the criminal. “I wasn't driving. There's another man in the car.”

The shock that followed this declaration found voice in a sustained “Ah-h-h!” as the door of the coupé swung slowly open. Lo shock che seguì questa dichiarazione trovò voce in un "Ah-h-h!" prolungato, mentre la portiera della coupé si apriva lentamente. 继这个声明之后的震惊在持续的“啊——啊!”中发出声音。轿跑车的车门缓缓打开。 The crowd—it was now a crowd—stepped back involuntarily, and when the door had opened wide there was a ghostly pause. Die Menge - es war jetzt eine Menge - wich unwillkürlich zurück, und als sich die Tür weit geöffnet hatte, gab es eine gespenstische Pause. La folla, che ormai era una folla, indietreggiò involontariamente, e quando la porta si spalancò ci fu una pausa spettrale. Then, very gradually, part by part, a pale, dangling individual stepped out of the wreck, pawing tentatively at the ground with a large uncertain dancing shoe. Dann trat ganz allmählich, Stück für Stück, ein blasses, baumelndes Individuum aus dem Wrack, das mit einem großen, unsicher tanzenden Schuh zaghaft auf den Boden tippte. Poi, molto gradualmente, un po' alla volta, un individuo pallido e ciondolante uscì dal relitto, scalpitando a tentoni sul terreno con una grossa scarpa da ballo incerta.

Blinded by the glare of the headlights and confused by the incessant groaning of the horns, the apparition stood swaying for a moment before he perceived the man in the duster. Geblendet vom grellen Scheinwerferlicht und verwirrt vom unaufhörlichen Hupen, stand die Erscheinung einen Moment lang schwankend da, bevor sie den Mann im Staubwedel wahrnahm. Accecata dal bagliore dei fari e confusa dal brontolio incessante dei clacson, l'apparizione rimase per un attimo a ondeggiare prima di percepire l'uomo con lo spolverino. 被刺眼的车头灯弄瞎了双眼,又被持续不断的喇叭声搞糊涂了,这个幻影站着摇晃了一会儿,然后他才看到那个戴抹布的人。

“Wha's matter?” he inquired calmly. "Was ist los?", erkundigte er sich ruhig. “Did we run outa gas?” "Ist uns das Benzin ausgegangen?" "Abbiamo finito la benzina?"

“Look!”

Half a dozen fingers pointed at the amputated wheel—he stared at it for a moment, and then looked upward as though he suspected that it had dropped from the sky. Ein halbes Dutzend Finger zeigte auf das amputierte Rad - er starrte es einen Moment lang an und blickte dann nach oben, als ob er vermutete, dass es vom Himmel gefallen war. Una mezza dozzina di dita puntarono sulla ruota amputata: lui la fissò per un attimo e poi guardò in alto come se sospettasse che fosse caduta dal cielo.

“It came off,” someone explained. "Es hat sich gelöst", erklärte jemand. "Si è staccato", ha spiegato qualcuno.

He nodded.

“At first I din' notice we'd stopped.” "Zuerst habe ich gar nicht bemerkt, dass wir angehalten haben." "All'inizio non mi ero accorto che ci eravamo fermati". “起初我注意到我们已经停下来了。”

A pause. Then, taking a long breath and straightening his shoulders, he remarked in a determined voice: Dann holte er tief Luft, straffte die Schultern und sagte mit entschlossener Stimme: Poi, facendo un lungo respiro e raddrizzando le spalle, osservò con voce decisa:

“Wonder'ff tell me where there's a gas'line station?” "Kannst du mir sagen, wo es eine Tankstelle gibt?" "Mi dici dove c'è una stazione di servizio?".

At least a dozen men, some of them a little better off than he was, explained to him that wheel and car were no longer joined by any physical bond. Mindestens ein Dutzend Männer, von denen einige etwas besser dran waren als er, erklärten ihm, dass Rad und Auto nicht mehr durch ein physisches Band verbunden seien.

“Back out,” he suggested after a moment. "Steigen Sie aus", schlug er nach einem Moment vor. "Esci", suggerì dopo un attimo. “退出,”片刻后他建议道。 “Put her in reverse.” "Legen Sie den Rückwärtsgang ein." "Mettete la retromarcia".

“But the __wheel__'s off!”

He hesitated. Er zögerte.

“No harm in trying,” he said. "Non c'è niente di male a provarci", ha detto.

The caterwauling horns had reached a crescendo and I turned away and cut across the lawn toward home. Die Hupkonzerte hatten ein Crescendo erreicht, und ich wandte mich ab und ging über den Rasen nach Hause. I clacson caterwauling avevano raggiunto un crescendo e io mi voltai e tagliai il prato verso casa. 喇叭声越来越大,我转身穿过草坪回家。 I glanced back once. Ich habe einmal zurückgeblickt. Mi sono guardato indietro una volta. A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby's house, making the night fine as before, and surviving the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden. Eine Mondscheibe schien über Gatsbys Haus, machte die Nacht so schön wie zuvor und überlebte das Lachen und die Geräusche seines noch immer leuchtenden Gartens. Una cialda di luna splendeva sulla casa di Gatsby, rendendo la notte bella come prima, e sopravvivendo alle risate e al suono del suo giardino ancora luminoso. 一轮圆月照在盖茨比的房子上空,使夜晚和以前一样晴朗,并且在他仍然发光的花园里的笑声和声音中幸存下来。 A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell. Eine plötzliche Leere schien nun aus den Fenstern und den großen Türen zu strömen und die Gestalt des Gastgebers, der auf der Veranda stand und die Hand zum Abschied hob, in völlige Isolation zu versetzen. Un vuoto improvviso sembrava ora scorrere dalle finestre e dalle grandi porte, conferendo un isolamento completo alla figura del padrone di casa, che stava in piedi sul portico, con la mano alzata in un gesto formale di addio.

Reading over what I have written so far, I see I have given the impression that the events of three nights several weeks apart were all that absorbed me. Wenn ich mir meine bisherigen Ausführungen durchlese, stelle ich fest, dass ich den Eindruck erweckt habe, dass die Ereignisse von drei Nächten, die mehrere Wochen auseinander lagen, alles waren, was mich beschäftigt hat. Rileggendo quanto ho scritto finora, vedo che ho dato l'impressione che gli eventi di tre notti a distanza di diverse settimane siano stati tutto ciò che mi ha assorbito. 阅读我迄今为止所写的内容,我发现我给人的印象是,相隔几周的三个晚上发生的事情全都吸引了我。 On the contrary, they were merely casual events in a crowded summer, and, until much later, they absorbed me infinitely less than my personal affairs. Im Gegenteil, es waren nur beiläufige Ereignisse in einem überfüllten Sommer, und bis zu einem viel späteren Zeitpunkt beschäftigten sie mich weit weniger als meine persönlichen Angelegenheiten. Al contrario, erano solo eventi casuali in un'estate affollata e, fino a molto più tardi, mi hanno assorbito infinitamente meno delle mie vicende personali.

Most of the time I worked. In the early morning the sun threw my shadow westward as I hurried down the white chasms of lower New York to the Probity Trust. Am frühen Morgen warf die Sonne meinen Schatten nach Westen, als ich die weißen Abgründe von Lower New York hinunter zur Probity Trust eilte. Al mattino presto il sole proiettava la mia ombra verso ovest mentre mi affrettavo a scendere lungo le bianche voragini della bassa New York per raggiungere il Probity Trust. 清晨,太阳把我的影子投向西边,我匆匆穿过纽约下城的白色峡谷,前往 Probity Trust。 I knew the other clerks and young bond-salesmen by their first names, and lunched with them in dark, crowded restaurants on little pig sausages and mashed potatoes and coffee. Ich kannte die anderen Angestellten und jungen Anleiheverkäufer mit Vornamen und aß mit ihnen in dunklen, überfüllten Restaurants bei Würstchen, Kartoffelbrei und Kaffee zu Mittag. Conoscevo per nome gli altri impiegati e i giovani venditori di obbligazioni e pranzavo con loro in ristoranti bui e affollati con salsicce di maiale, purè di patate e caffè. 我知道其他职员和年轻的债券推销员的名字,和他们一起在黑暗、拥挤的餐馆吃小猪香肠、土豆泥和咖啡共进午餐。 I even had a short affair with a girl who lived in Jersey City and worked in the accounting department, but her brother began throwing mean looks in my direction, so when she went on her vacation in July I let it blow quietly away. Ich hatte sogar eine kurze Affäre mit einem Mädchen, das in Jersey City lebte und in der Buchhaltung arbeitete, aber ihr Bruder fing an, mir gemeine Blicke zuzuwerfen, und als sie im Juli in den Urlaub fuhr, ließ ich es ruhig angehen. Ho anche avuto una breve relazione con una ragazza che viveva a Jersey City e lavorava nel reparto contabilità, ma suo fratello ha iniziato a lanciarmi occhiatacce, così quando è andata in vacanza a luglio ho lasciato che la cosa passasse in sordina. 我什至和一个住在泽西城并在会计部门工作的女孩有过一段短暂的恋情,但她的哥哥开始对我投来刻薄的目光,所以当她 7 月去度假时,我就让它悄悄地烟消云散了。

I took dinner usually at the Yale Club—for some reason it was the gloomiest event of my day—and then I went upstairs to the library and studied investments and securities for a conscientious hour. Ich aß gewöhnlich im Yale Club zu Abend - aus irgendeinem Grund war das das düsterste Ereignis meines Tages - und dann ging ich nach oben in die Bibliothek und studierte eine Stunde lang gewissenhaft Investitionen und Wertpapiere. Di solito cenavo allo Yale Club - per qualche motivo era l'evento più cupo della mia giornata - e poi salivo in biblioteca e studiavo investimenti e titoli per un'ora coscienziosa. There were generally a few rioters around, but they never came into the library, so it was a good place to work. In der Regel gab es ein paar Randalierer, aber die kamen nie in die Bibliothek, so dass es ein guter Arbeitsplatz war. In genere c'erano alcuni rivoltosi in giro, ma non entravano mai in biblioteca, quindi era un buon posto per lavorare. 周围通常会有一些暴徒,但他们从不进图书馆,所以这是一个工作的好地方。 After that, if the night was mellow, I strolled down Madison Avenue past the old Murray Hill Hotel, and over 33rd Street to the Pennsylvania Station. Danach schlenderte ich, wenn die Nacht mild war, die Madison Avenue hinunter, vorbei am alten Murray Hill Hotel und über die 33rd Street zur Pennsylvania Station. Dopo di che, se la serata era tranquilla, passeggiavo lungo Madison Avenue, passando davanti al vecchio Murray Hill Hotel, e sulla 33esima strada fino alla Pennsylvania Station. 在那之后,如果夜色柔和,我会沿着麦迪逊大街漫步,经过老默里山酒店,穿过 33 街到达宾夕法尼亚车站。

I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. Ich begann, New York zu mögen, das rasante, abenteuerliche Gefühl, das es nachts ausstrahlt, und die Befriedigung, die das ständige Flimmern von Männern, Frauen und Maschinen dem ruhelosen Auge bereitet. Cominciava a piacermi New York, la sua sensazione di avventura di notte e la soddisfazione che il continuo sfarfallio di uomini, donne e macchine dà all'occhio inquieto. I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove. Ich spazierte gern die Fifth Avenue entlang und suchte mir romantische Frauen aus der Menge aus und stellte mir vor, dass ich in wenigen Minuten in ihr Leben treten würde, ohne dass es jemand merken oder missbilligen würde. Mi piaceva camminare sulla Fifth Avenue e scegliere tra la folla le donne romantiche, immaginando che tra qualche minuto sarei entrato nella loro vita e che nessuno l'avrebbe mai saputo o disapprovato. Sometimes, in my mind, I followed them to their apartments on the corners of hidden streets, and they turned and smiled back at me before they faded through a door into warm darkness. Manchmal folgte ich ihnen in Gedanken in ihre Wohnungen an den Ecken versteckter Straßen, und sie drehten sich um und lächelten mir zu, bevor sie durch eine Tür in die warme Dunkelheit verschwanden. A volte, nella mia mente, li seguivo nei loro appartamenti agli angoli di strade nascoste, e loro si voltavano e mi sorridevano prima di svanire attraverso una porta nella calda oscurità. At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others—poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner—young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life. In der verwunschenen Dämmerung der Großstadt empfand ich manchmal eine quälende Einsamkeit, und ich spürte sie bei anderen - bei den armen jungen Angestellten, die vor den Fenstern herumlungerten und darauf warteten, dass es Zeit für ein einsames Abendessen im Restaurant war - bei den jungen Angestellten in der Dämmerung, die die ergreifendsten Momente der Nacht und des Lebens vergeudeten. Nell'incantato crepuscolo metropolitano sentivo a volte un'ossessionante solitudine, e la sentivo negli altri - poveri giovani impiegati che bighellonavano davanti alle finestre in attesa dell'ora di una cena solitaria al ristorante - giovani impiegati al crepuscolo, che sprecavano i momenti più toccanti della notte e della vita.

Again at eight o'clock, when the dark lanes of the Forties were lined five deep with throbbing taxicabs, bound for the theatre district, I felt a sinking in my heart. Wiederum um acht Uhr, als die dunklen Gassen der Vierzigerjahre zu fünft von rasenden Taxis gesäumt waren, die zum Theaterviertel fuhren, spürte ich ein Sinken in meinem Herzen. Ancora una volta, alle otto, quando i vicoli bui degli anni Quaranta erano pieni di taxi pulsanti, diretti al quartiere dei teatri, sentii il cuore sprofondare. Forms leaned together in the taxis as they waited, and voices sang, and there was laughter from unheard jokes, and lighted cigarettes made unintelligible circles inside. Formen lehnten sich in den Taxis aneinander, während sie warteten, und Stimmen sangen, und es wurde über ungehörte Witze gelacht, und angezündete Zigaretten machten unverständliche Kreise im Inneren. Le forme si addossavano nei taxi mentre aspettavano, e le voci cantavano, e si rideva di battute non ascoltate, e le sigarette accese facevano cerchi incomprensibili all'interno. Imagining that I, too, was hurrying towards gaiety and sharing their intimate excitement, I wished them well. Ich stellte mir vor, dass auch ich dem Frohsinn entgegeneilte und ihre intime Erregung teilte, und wünschte ihnen alles Gute. Immaginando di correre anch'io verso l'allegria e di condividere la loro intima eccitazione, augurai loro ogni bene.

For a while I lost sight of Jordan Baker, and then in midsummer I found her again. Per un po' persi di vista Jordan Baker, poi a metà estate la ritrovai. 有一段时间我看不见乔丹贝克,然后在仲夏我又找到了她。 At first I was flattered to go places with her, because she was a golf champion, and everyone knew her name. Zuerst fühlte ich mich geschmeichelt, mit ihr auszugehen, weil sie eine Golfmeisterin war und jeder ihren Namen kannte. All'inizio ero lusingato di andare in giro con lei, perché era una campionessa di golf e tutti conoscevano il suo nome. 起初我很荣幸能和她一起去一些地方,因为她是一名高尔夫冠军,而且每个人都知道她的名字。 Then it was something more. I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity. Ich war nicht wirklich verliebt, aber ich spürte eine Art zärtliche Neugierde. Non ero innamorata, ma provavo una sorta di tenera curiosità. The bored haughty face that she turned to the world concealed something—most affectations conceal something eventually, even though they don't in the beginning—and one day I found what it was. Das gelangweilte, hochmütige Gesicht, das sie der Welt zuwandte, verbarg etwas - die meisten Allüren verbergen schließlich etwas, auch wenn sie es anfangs nicht tun - und eines Tages fand ich heraus, was es war. Il volto annoiato e altezzoso che rivolgeva al mondo nascondeva qualcosa - la maggior parte delle affettazioni nascondono qualcosa alla fine, anche se non lo fanno all'inizio - e un giorno ho scoperto cosa fosse. 她向世人展现的那张无聊而傲慢的脸上隐藏着某种东西——大多数矫揉造作最终都会隐藏一些东西,即使它们一开始并没有——有一天我发现了它的真相。 When we were on a house-party together up in Warwick, she left a borrowed car out in the rain with the top down, and then lied about it—and suddenly I remembered the story about her that had eluded me that night at Daisy's. Als wir zusammen auf einer Hausparty in Warwick waren, ließ sie ein geliehenes Auto mit offenem Verdeck im Regen stehen und log dann darüber - und plötzlich erinnerte ich mich an die Geschichte über sie, die mir in jener Nacht bei Daisy entgangen war. Quando eravamo insieme a Warwick per una festa in casa, lasciò un'auto presa in prestito sotto la pioggia con la capote abbassata, e poi mentì al riguardo - e all'improvviso mi ricordai la storia su di lei che mi era sfuggita quella sera da Daisy. 当我们一起在沃里克参加家庭聚会时,她把一辆借来的车顶在雨中,车顶朝下,然后撒了谎——突然我想起了那天晚上在黛西家我没有想到的关于她的故事。 At her first big golf tournament there was a row that nearly reached the newspapers—a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semifinal round. Bei ihrem ersten großen Golfturnier kam es zu einem Streit, der fast bis in die Zeitungen gelangte - mit der Behauptung, sie habe ihren Ball in der Halbfinalrunde aus einer schlechten Lage bewegt. Al suo primo grande torneo di golf c'è stata una polemica che ha rischiato di finire sui giornali: l'accusa di aver spostato la palla da un cattivo lie nel turno di semifinale. 在她的第一场大型高尔夫锦标赛中,一场争吵几乎登上了报纸——有人暗示她在半决赛中将球从一个糟糕的球位移开。 The thing approached the proportions of a scandal—then died away. Die Sache nahm die Ausmaße eines Skandals an und verstummte dann. 这件事接近丑闻的程度——然后就消失了。 A caddy retracted his statement, and the only other witness admitted that he might have been mistaken. Ein Caddy zog seine Aussage zurück, und der einzige andere Zeuge gab zu, dass er sich geirrt haben könnte. Un caddy ha ritrattato la sua dichiarazione e l'unico altro testimone ha ammesso di essersi sbagliato. The incident and the name had remained together in my mind. Der Vorfall und der Name waren mir im Gedächtnis geblieben. L'incidente e il nome erano rimasti insieme nella mia mente.

Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men, and now I saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible. Jordan Baker mied instinktiv kluge, gewitzte Männer, und jetzt sah ich, dass sie sich in einem Flugzeug sicherer fühlte, in dem jede Abweichung von einem Kodex für unmöglich gehalten wurde. Jordan Baker evitava istintivamente gli uomini intelligenti e scaltri, e ora capivo che questo era dovuto al fatto che si sentiva più sicura su un aereo dove qualsiasi divergenza da un codice sarebbe stata ritenuta impossibile. 乔丹·贝克本能地避开了聪明、精明的男人,现在我明白了,这是因为她在一个飞机上感觉更安全,因为在这个飞机上,任何与代码的分歧都被认为是不可能的。 She was incurably dishonest. Sie war unheilbar unehrlich. Era inguaribilmente disonesta. She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage and, given this unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard, jaunty body. Sie konnte es nicht ertragen, benachteiligt zu werden, und da sie das nicht wollte, nahm ich an, dass sie schon in jungen Jahren damit begonnen hatte, sich zu tarnen, um ihr kühles, freches Lächeln zu bewahren und gleichzeitig den Anforderungen ihres harten, schwungvollen Körpers gerecht zu werden. Non era in grado di sopportare di essere in svantaggio e, data questa riluttanza, suppongo che avesse iniziato a trafficare con sotterfugi fin da giovanissima per mantenere quel sorriso freddo e insolente rivolto al mondo e soddisfare al contempo le esigenze del suo corpo duro e sbarazzino. 她无法忍受处于劣势,鉴于这种不甘心,我想她在很小的时候就开始耍花招,以保持对世界的那种冷酷,张狂的微笑,同时又能满足她的要求坚硬、活泼的身体。

It made no difference to me. Für mich machte das keinen Unterschied. Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply—I was casually sorry, and then I forgot. Unehrlichkeit bei einer Frau ist eine Sache, die man nie zutiefst tadelt - es hat mir beiläufig leid getan, und dann habe ich es vergessen. La disonestà in una donna è una cosa che non si rimprovera mai profondamente... Ero casualmente dispiaciuto, e poi me ne sono dimenticato. It was on that same house-party that we had a curious conversation about driving a car. Auf der gleichen Hausparty hatten wir ein seltsames Gespräch über das Autofahren. It started because she passed so close to some workmen that our fender flicked a button on one man's coat. Es begann damit, dass sie so dicht an einigen Arbeitern vorbeifuhr, dass unsere Stoßstange einen Knopf am Mantel des einen Mannes streifte. Il problema è iniziato perché è passata così vicino ad alcuni operai che il nostro parafango ha fatto saltare il bottone del cappotto di un uomo. 它开始是因为她离一些工人太近了,以至于我们的挡泥板弹了一下一个男人外套上的纽扣。

“You're a rotten driver,” I protested. "Sie sind ein schlechter Fahrer", protestierte ich. "Sei un pessimo autista", protestai. “Either you ought to be more careful, or you oughtn't to drive at all.” "Entweder Sie müssen vorsichtiger sein oder Sie sollten gar nicht erst fahren."

“I am careful.”

“No, you're not.”

“Well, other people are,” she said lightly. "Nun, andere Leute schon", sagte sie leichthin. "Beh, altre persone lo fanno", ha detto con leggerezza.

“What's that got to do with it?” "E questo cosa c'entra?".

“They'll keep out of my way,” she insisted. "Si terranno alla larga da me", insistette. “It takes two to make an accident.” "Bisogna essere in due per fare un incidente".

“Suppose you met somebody just as careless as yourself.” "Stell dir vor, du triffst jemanden, der genauso unvorsichtig ist wie du."

“I hope I never will,” she answered. “I hate careless people. That's why I like you.”

Her grey, sun-strained eyes stared straight ahead, but she had deliberately shifted our relations, and for a moment I thought I loved her. Ihre grauen, sonnenstrapazierten Augen starrten geradeaus, aber sie hatte absichtlich unser Verhältnis verschoben, und einen Moment lang dachte ich, ich liebe sie. I suoi occhi grigi e consumati dal sole guardavano dritto davanti a sé, ma aveva deliberatamente spostato i nostri rapporti e per un attimo pensai di amarla. But I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires, and I knew that first I had to get myself definitely out of that tangle back home. Aber ich bin ein Langsamdenker und voller innerer Regeln, die meine Wünsche bremsen, und ich wusste, dass ich mich erst einmal endgültig aus dem Schlamassel zu Hause befreien musste. Ma io sono lenta e piena di regole interiori che agiscono come freni ai miei desideri, e sapevo che prima dovevo uscire definitivamente da quel groviglio a casa. I'd been writing letters once a week and signing them: “Love, Nick,” and all I could think of was how, when that certain girl played tennis, a faint moustache of perspiration appeared on her upper lip. Ich schrieb einmal pro Woche Briefe und unterschrieb sie: "In Liebe, Nick", und alles, woran ich denken konnte, war, dass, wenn dieses bestimmte Mädchen Tennis spielte, ein leichter Schnurrbart aus Schweiß auf ihrer Oberlippe erschien. Scrivevo lettere una volta alla settimana e le firmavo: "Con amore, Nick", e tutto quello che riuscivo a pensare era che, quando quella certa ragazza giocava a tennis, sul suo labbro superiore comparivano dei leggeri baffi di sudore. Nevertheless there was a vague understanding that had to be tactfully broken off before I was free. Dennoch gab es eine vage Übereinkunft, die taktvoll gebrochen werden musste, bevor ich frei war. Ciononostante c'era una vaga intesa che doveva essere interrotta con tatto prima che io fossi libero.

Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known. Jeder verdächtigt sich selbst, mindestens eine der Kardinaltugenden zu besitzen, und das ist meine: Ich bin einer der wenigen ehrlichen Menschen, die ich je gekannt habe. 每个人都怀疑自己至少有一项基本美德,这就是我的:我是我所认识的为数不多的诚实人之一。