30
0北方
作者： F. 斯科特 · 费兹杰拉德
编译：嘉炜
我第一次碰巧在市场街看到他们俩一起走过，我想我这辈子都没有像这样为某一对情侣而感到难过过。尽管我想同样的情况在每一个有军营驻扎的城市都在重演。
厄尔的外表装束，整个就让人浑身不自在，几乎是你所能想象的所有糟糕的方式来呈现的。他的帽子是绿色的，上面插着一根扎眼的羽毛；他的西装以一种怪异的方式开着叉然后又打了一个装饰性的结，这种风尚早已经被全国的广告和电影宣告过时了。显然，他还去了他原先的理发师那里，因为他的头发梳得整整齐齐地贴在他那粉红色的、剃得干干净净的脖子上。他看上去并不光鲜，也说不上困窘，但是每当磨坊镇的舞厅和郊游俱乐部的背景出现时，就会让你兴致全无，或者更确切地说，让艾莉彻底幻灭了。因为她怎么也没有想到现实会是这样；穿上这些衣服，连他那不凡身躯与生俱来的魅力也消失了。起初，他夸耀自己的好工作，直到他能”赚上快钱”，这份工作都会让他们过得不错。不过，从他以自己的方式回到艾莉的世界的那一刻起，他就心知肚明，这是毫无希望的。我不知道艾莉直接说了什么，也不知道她的悲伤和麻木之间哪个更严重，她行动迅速——因为在厄尔到达三天后，我和他一起坐火车去了北方。
“好了，到此为止吧。”厄尔闷闷不乐地说。“她是个很好的女孩，但对我来说，有点不切实际。我想她得嫁个有钱人，这样她也能享有应得的社会地位。这种装腔作势的东西我可欣赏不了。”他沉默了一会儿，喃喃道：“她说过一年后我可以再来看她，但我再也不会回来了。只要你有钱，贵族的那茬子事儿是还不错，只不过——”
“只不过，那不是真实的。”他想把话说完。六个月来，他满心欢喜地生活在这个外省人的社会里，现在看来，他已经沾染那个社会中尽显“矫情、虚伪、做作”的习性。
过了一会儿，他问我：“嘿，你看到我上火车时看到啥了吗?”“两个可爱的女孩儿，都是独自一人。我们去下一车厢请他们吃午饭怎么样？我选穿蓝衣服的那个。”车开到一半时，他突然转过身来，对我说。“说吧，安迪。”他皱着眉头问。“有一件事——你猜她是怎么知道我以前是有轨电车的售票员的？我从没告诉过她。”
“我可不知道。”
I first happened upon them walking down Market Street together, and I don't think I've ever been so sorry for a couple in my life; though I suppose the same situation was repeating itself in every city where there had been camps. Exteriorly Earl had about everything wrong with him that could be imagined. His hat was green, with a radical feather; his suit was slashed and braided in a grotesque fashion that national advertising and the movies have put an end to. Evidently he had been to his old barber, for his hair bloused neatly on his pink, shaved neck. It wasn't as though he had been shiny and poor, but the background of mill-town dance halls and outing clubs flamed out at you--or rather flamed out at Ailie. For she had never quite imagined the reality; in these clothes even the natural grace of that magnificent body had departed. At first he boasted of his fine job; it would get them along all right until he could "see some easy money." But from the moment he came back into her world on its own terms he must have known it was hopeless. I don't know what Ailie said or how much her grief weighed against her stupefaction. She acted quickly--three days after his arrival, Earl and I went North together on the train.
"Well, that's the end of that," he said moodily. "She's a wonderful girl, but too much of a highbrow for me. I guess she's got to marry some rich guy that'll give her a great social position. I can't see that stuck-up sort of thing." And then, later: "She said to come back and see her in a year, but I'll never go back. This aristocrat stuff is all right if you got the money for it, but--"
"But it wasn't real," he meant to finish. The provincial society in which he had moved with so much satisfaction for six months already appeared to him as affected, "dudish" and artificial.
"Say, did you see what I saw getting on the train?" he asked me after a while. "Two wonderful janes, all alone. What do you say we mosey into the next car and ask them to lunch? I'll take the one in blue." Halfway down the car he turned around suddenly. "Say, Andy," he demanded, frowning; "one thing--how do you suppose she knew I used to command a street car? I never told her that."
"Search me."
