费茨杰拉德与《盖茨比》文选.doc

F. Scott Fitzgerald (18961940) Fitzgerald won the acclaim of one of the great stylists （风格出色）in American literature. T.S. Eliots comment on The Great Gatsby solidified Fitzgeralds literary status: It was the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James (T. S.Eliot, Letter to Scott Fitzgerald in Fitzgerald, The Crack-up 垮掉的, p. 310). In his brief novels, he employed simple, vivid, graceful, precise, smooth and sensitive words and metaphors to present the exact picture of that time and to convey his vision. His skillful manipulation of the general and the specific and his excellent use of the narrator put him in the rank of great stylists.The Great Gatsby (Summary) Young Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, moves from the mid-west to New York to sell bonds （作债券生意）. He takes a house in West Egg, Long Island, where he is soon involved in the lives of his neighbors. He encounters Daisy, his distant cousin, and soon learns that she and Tom Buchanan are not happily married. An attractive young woman, Jordan Baker, becomes his friend. He also learns a lot about the owner of a magnificent mansion, Jay Gatsby, and hears some rumors about him. Nick becomes curious about the mysterious neighbor. One day Nick is invited to one of Gatsbys extravagant parties, and there he meets Gatsby for the first time. Gatsby, in his early thirties, is eager to entertain his guests. Nick learns that Gatsby and Daisy had been in love before her marriage to the influential but unintelligent Tom Buchanan. Gatsby wants Nick and Jordan to bring Daisy and him together again. Under careful arrangement, Gatsbys dream for lost love seems true, though the woman disillusions him.,洁) overlumpy, married woman Tom Buchanan has an affair with a dowdy(衣着不整)，overlumpy (粗笨) married woman named Myrtle Wilson. George Wilson, her husband, a garageman（汽车修理工）, learns of herunfaithfulness and shuts her up in her room. Nick learns gradually of Gatsbys origins. Gatsby was born into a poor family in the mid-west. His true name was Gatz. He had been in the war and distinguished himself. Being too poor, he was jilted (甩掉) by Daisy. Driven by an inner desire for money and lost love, Gatsby engaged himself in bootlegging （走私） and other racketeering activities （非法勾当）, thus accumulating money rapidly. Daisys reunion with Gatsby shocks Tom who has collected some facts against Gatsby. One day Gatsby invites Nick, Jordan, and the Buchanan to the city, where they take a suite (套间) in a hotel. At the hotel Tom and Gatsby publicize （曝光） their disagreement. Tom accuses Gatsby of enticing （引诱）his wife and of engaging in dishonest activities. The quarrel between the two men ends in a gloomy drive back. On the way back, Daisy, accompanied by Gatsby, driving his car, accidentally runs down and kills Myrtle Wilson. Frightened, they run away. Tom takes advantage of the opportunity to put the blame on Gatsby. The enraged husband then shoots Gatsby and himself. No one attends Gatsbys funeral, except Nick and Gatsbys father, who thinks that his son has been a great man. Daisy and Tom reconcile and go for a holiday.Nick, who knows the truth about the death of the Wilsons and of Gatsby, is disgusted at the upper-class life and decides to return to his hometown.Selected Reading I: The Great Gatsby (Chapter Three) There was music from my neighbors house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths (飞蛾)among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide （涨潮）in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft （跳水用的跳台）, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats （摩托艇）slit the waters （破浪驰骋）of the Sound （指Long Island Sound,长岛与康涅提格州之间的海岬地区）, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam（摩托艇拖着滑水板，浪花四溅地在波涛中疾速穿行）. On week-ends his Rolls-Royce （名贵轿车品牌）became an omnibus （接送人的通勤车）, bearing parties （大队人马）to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon （大型轿车）scampered (匆忙奔走) like a brisk yellow bug （疾速飞行的黄虫）to meet all trains （迎接乘坐每一班列车来的客人）. And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra （临时雇佣的） gardener, toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes （板刷子）and hammers and garden-shears （园艺专用剪刀）, repairing the ravages （修复被损坏的）of the night before. Every Friday five crates （木箱）of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York-every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid （堆成小山般的）of pulpless halves （对半切后被榨干果汁）. There was a machine in the kitchen which could extract the juice （榨果汁）of two hundred oranges in half an hour if a little button was pressed two hundred times by a butlers （厨师）thumb. At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers （一群承办宴席的人）came down with several hundred feet of canvas （几百英尺长的搭帐篷用的帆布）and enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsbys enormous garden. On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-doeuvre （摆放着颜色鲜艳的各种冷拼菜肴）, spiced baked hams （切成薄片的咸火腿肉）crowded against salads of harlequin designs （色彩搭配怡人的色拉）and pastry pigs and turkeys （烤猪肉和火鸡）bewitched to a dark gold （烤成诱人的深黄色）. In the main hall a bar with a real brass rail was set up （用一根货真价实的铜栏杆辟出一间酒吧）, and stocked with gins and liquors （杜松子酒和烈性酒）and with cordials （加香料的烈性甜酒）so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another. By seven oclock the orchestra has arrived, no thin five-piece affair （并非是由五种乐器组成的简易乐队）, but a whole pitful （演奏员能坐满一个剧院乐池的）of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos （有双簧管，长号，萨克斯管，中世纪传下来的viols 式提琴，短号和短笛）, and low and high drums （高低音鼓）. The last swimmers have come in from the beach now and are dressing up-stairs; the cars from New York are parked five deep in the drive （许多轿车排成五行）, and already the halls and salons and verandas （阳台）are gaudy （光彩夺目）with primary colors, and hair shorn （女宾的发型）in strange new ways, and shawls beyond the dreams of Castile （女宾的各种披肩的花样款式，是以善织花边和头巾的西班牙Castile地区的能工巧匠做梦都想象不到的） The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside (一巡又一巡的鸡尾酒送到花园里，四处洋溢着酒香), until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot （宾客们互相介绍，招呼，但转眼之间就忘记对方）, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each others names. The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun （太阳冉冉西下时）, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music （轻快的鸡尾酒宴乐曲）, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher （园中大合唱般的交谈声又升高了一个八度）. Laughter is easier minute by minute （大笑声越来越频繁）, spilled with prodigality （人们开始肆无忌惮）, tipped out at a cheerful word（由打趣的话惹起阵阵大笑）. The groups change more swiftly, swell with new arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath; already there are wanderers, confident girls （到处乱窜，自我感觉良好的姑娘们）who weave here and there among the stouter and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment the center of a group （当她们吸引了人们的目光，成为注视的焦点时，便感到十分愉快）, and then, excited with triumph, glide on through （穿行在）the sea-change of faces and voices and color （海浪般不断变幻的）under the constantly changing light （在变换闪烁的灯光下）.Selected Reading II : The Great Gatsby (Chapter Nine) About five oclock our procession of three cars reached the cemetery （墓地）and stopped in a thick drizzle （细雨迷蒙）beside the gate-first a motor hearse, horribly black and wet （最前面的是黑得恐怖的湿淋淋的灵车）, then Mr. Gatz （Gatsby之父） and the minister and I in the limousine （大型轿车）, and a little later four or five servants and the postman from West Egg, in Gatsbys station wagon （招待会时接客人的专用车上载着佣人和邮差）, all wet to the skin. As we started through the gate into the cemetery I heard a car stop and then the sound of someone splashing （在泥水里噼啪走路的声音）after us over the soggy ground （泥泞的道路）. I looked around. It was the with owl-eyed glasses （戴着猫头鹰眼镜的男人）whom I had found marveling over Gatsbys books （赞叹Gatsby的藏书） in the library one night three months before. Id never seen him since then. I dont know how he knew about the funeral, or even his name. The rain poured down his thick glasses, and he took them off and wiped them to see the protecting canvas （覆盖在墓上的防雨帆布）unrolle