经典名著《了不起的盖茨比》阅读片段

《了不起的盖茨比》（The Great Gatsby），出版于1925年，是美国作家弗朗西斯·斯科特·基·菲茨杰拉德所写的一部以20世纪20年代的纽约市及长岛为背景的短篇小说，被视为美国文学“爵士时代”的象征。

它在初出版时并不受欢迎——菲茨杰拉德在世时的总销量只有少于二万四千本。在大萧条以及二战时被忽略，直至20世纪50年代再版时才受到广泛注目。其后的数十年它更成为高中、大学文学课的标准教材。经常有人把它称为20世纪最伟大的英文小说之一[1]。1999年改编为同名歌剧《了不起的盖茨比》演出。

本书有许多中文翻译版本，书名也有许多译法，例如《永恒之恋》，黄淑慎译，1954年。《大哉！盖世比》，王润华、澹莹译，1969年。《大亨小传》，乔治高（高克毅）译，1970年、2001年（增订版）。《大亨──凯士毕》，丁士奇译，1971年。《了不起的盖茨比》，巫宁坤译，2007年。

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
"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."
The Great Gatsby
Chapter 1, opening words.

Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.
The Great Gatsby
Chapter 1, Nick on Gatsby.

[Tom] would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game.
The Great Gatsby
Chapter 1.

In two weeks it'll be the longest day in the year....Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.
The Great Gatsby
Chapter 1.

Civilization's going to pieces. I've gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things... The idea is if we don't look out the white race will be -- will be utterly submerged... It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things.
The Great Gatsby
Chapter 1, Tom.

All right...I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool -- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.
The Great Gatsby
Chapter 1, Daisy on her newborn girl.

I KNOW. I've been everywhere and seen everything and done everything…Sophisticated - God, I'm sophisticated.
The Great Gatsby
Chapter 1, Daisy.

This is a valley of ashes - a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight.
The Great Gatsby
Chapter 2.

He thinks she goes to see her sister in New York. He's so dumb he doesn't know he's alive.
The Great Gatsby
Chapter 2, Tom, on Wilson and his wife Myrtle, with whom Tom is having an affair.

I married him because I thought he was a gentleman...I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe.
The Great Gatsby
Chapter 2, Myrtle on Wilson.