声控英乐团|《了不起的盖茨比》——我爱最朴素的生活和最遥远的梦想
菲茨杰拉德(F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896-1940)是美国最著名的作家之一。1920年在出版长篇小说《人间天堂(This Side of Paradise)》之后一举成名。1925年《了不起的盖茨比》问世，奠定了他在美国乃至世界文学史上的不朽地位，成为20年代“爵士时代(Jazz Age)”和“迷惘的一代( Lost Generation)”的代言人。
菲茨杰拉德在《了不起的盖茨比》这部作品中表述了20世纪20年代“大萧条时期”美国上层社会“荒原时代”的精神面，又生动地反映了“美国梦(American Dream)”的破灭。
主人公盖茨比心中也有这样一个“美国梦”，他为人精明，严格律己，善于钻研，在短短数年时间跻身“新贵”行列。而他最想要的，是重新赢得少年时爱人黛西的爱情，即便此时的她早已嫁给了“世族子弟”的汤姆。
残酷的现实是：不管“新贵”的盖茨比多么富有，也不论他如何声称自己曾在牛津学习（他口头总是挂着英国人的词汇—“Old sport”），在美国的上流社会里，“暴发户”和“世族子弟”之间的鸿沟是无论多少金钱也无法弥合的。因此，无论盖茨比举行过多少次纸醉金迷的派对，引来了多少社会名流，在特权阶层里，他始终也是不入流的。
这是一个热闹的尘世，你想要的，不想要的都在里面。
In my younger and and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
在我还年轻、阅历尚浅的那些年里，父亲曾经给过我一句忠告，直到今天，这句话仍在我心间萦绕。
“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
“每当你想批评别人的时候，” 他对我说，“要记住，这世上并不是所有人，都有你拥有的那些优势。”
Gatsby’s notoriety, spread about by the hundreds who had accepted his hospitality and so become authorities on his past, had increased all summer until he fell just short of being news.
整个夏天，盖茨比的名气越来越大，差一点就成了新闻人物，成百上千名接受过他热情款待的客人仿佛都对他的经历了如指掌，于是四处传播。
Contemporary legends such as the “underground pipe-line to Canada.” attached themselves to him, and there was one persistent story that he didn’t live in a house at all, but in a boat that looked like a house and was moved secretly up and down the Long Island shore.
当时的传闻，比如“通往加拿大的地下管道”都跟他扯上了关系。还有一种说法一直在流传，说他根本就不住在屋子里，而是住在一艘船上，那船像屋子一样，悄悄地沿着长岛海岸来回浮动。
Just why these inventions were a source of satisfaction to James Gatz of North Dakota, isn’t easy to say.
为什么这些无中生有的谣言会让北达科他州的詹姆斯·盖茨感到满足，这就不得而知了。
James Gatz - that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career - when he saw Dan Cody’s yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake Superior.
詹姆斯·盖茨——这是他真正的、至少是法律上的名字。他在十七岁那年，在见证他事业开端的那个特殊时刻改掉了自己的名字，当时他看见丹·科迪的游艇在苏必利尔湖最险恶的沙洲上抛锚。
It was James Gatz who had been loafing along the beach that afternoon in a torn green jersey and a pair of canvas pants, but it was already Jay Gatsby who borrowed a rowboat, pulled out to the TUOLOMEE, and informed Cody that a wind might catch him and break him up in half an hour.
那天下午，詹姆斯·盖茨穿着一件破旧的绿色毛线衫和一条帆布裤在沙滩上闲逛，后来他借到一条小船，划到“托洛美号”去通知科迪半小时内可能会有一场大风掀翻她的游艇—这个时候，他已经是杰伊·盖茨比了。
I suppose he’d had the name ready for a long time, even then. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people - his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.
我想他当时早已把名字想好。他的父母是碌碌无为的庄稼人，在他的头脑里，从来没有真正承认过他们是他的父母。
注：图片来源于网络
主播：侯丹
文字整理：侯丹
编辑：吕颖
责编：张晗