“I almost made a mistake, too,” she continued energetically. “I almost married a little kike53 who’d been after me for years. I knew he was below me. But if I hadn’t met Chester, he could be my husband now.”
“Well, I married him,” said Myrtle, ambiguously. “And that’s the difference between your case and mine.”
“Why did you, Myrtle?” asked Catherine. “Nobody forced you to.”
“I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,” she answered. “I thought he knew something about good manners but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe54.”
“You were crazy about him for a while,” said Catherine.
“Crazy about him!” cried Myrtle with anger. “Who said I was crazy about him? I never was any more crazy about him than I was about that man there.”
She pointed suddenly at me, and everyone looked at me accusingly. I tried to show by my expression that I had played no part in her past.
“The only crazy I was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never even told me about it, and the man came to get it back one day when he was out.” She looked around to see who was listening. “ ‘Oh, is that your suit?’ I said. This is the first I ever heard about it. But I gave it to him and then I lay down and cried so much all afternoon.”
“She really ought to get away from him,” told me Catherine. “They’ve been living over that garage for eleven years. And Tom’s the first sweetie she ever had.”
The bottle of whiskey – a second one – was now constantly wanted by all present people, excepting Catherine, who “felt just as good on nothing at all.” Tom rang for the janitor and sent him for some famous sandwiches, which were a complete supper in themselves. I wanted to get out and walk eastward toward the Park through the soft twilight, but each time I tried to go I became involved in some wild argument which pulled me back into my chair.
Myrtle sat close to me, and suddenly her warm breath told me the story of her first meeting with Tom.
“It was on the two little seats facing each other that are always the last ones left on the train.55 I was going up to New York to see my sister and spend the night. He had on a dress suit and leather shoes, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him, but every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement over his head. When we came into the station he was next to me, and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm, and so I told him I’d have to call policeman, but he knew I lied. I was so excited that when I got into a taxi with him I didn’t hardly know I wasn’t getting into a subway train. All I kept thinking about, over and over, was ‘You can’t live forever; you can’t live forever.’ ”
She turned to Mrs. McKee and the room rang full of her artificial laughter.
“My dear,” she cried, “I’m going to give you this dress as soon as I’m tired of it. I’ve got to get another one tomorrow. I’m going to make a list of all the things I’ve got to get. A massage and a hair wave, and a collar for the dog, and a wreath with black silk flowers for mother’s grave that’ll last all summer. I got to write down a list so I won’t forget all the things I got to do.”
It was nine o’clock – then I looked at my watch and found it was ten. Mr. McKee was asleep on a chair with his fists on his lap, like a photograph of an important man. The little dog was sitting on the table looking with blind eyes through the smoke, and from time to time groaning weakly. People disappeared, reappeared, made plans to go somewhere, and then lost each other, searched for each other, found each other a few feet away. Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face, discussing in passionate voices if Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy’s name.
“Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!” shouted Mrs. Wilson. “I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai —”
Making a short skilled movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand56.
Then there were bloody towels upon the bathroom floor, and women’s voices scolding, and a high voice full of pain over all this noise. Mr. McKee awoke from his sleep and went toward the door. When he had gone halfway he turned around and looked at the scene – his wife and Catherine were scolding and calming Myrtle and constantly stumbling here and there among the crowded furniture. They tried to help despairing figure on the couch, who was bleeding fluently. Then Mr. McKee turned and continued on out the door. Taking my hat, I followed.
“Come to lunch some day,” he suggested, as we went down in the elevator.
“Where?”
“Anywhere.”
“All right,” I agreed, “I’ll be glad to.”
…I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands.
“Beauty and the Beast… Loneliness… Old Grocery Horse… Brook’n Bridge57…”
Then I was lying half asleep in the cold lower level of the Pennsylvania Station, staring at the morning Tribune58, and waiting for the four o’clock train.
1. Read the chapter and choose the right answer.
1. Nick first met Tom Buchanan’s mistress because
a) Tom drove him specially to her house to acquaint them.
b) They went to New York by train and it occasionally stopped near her house.
c) She came to Tom’s house.
2. Mr. Wilson wanted
a) to buy one of Tom’s cars.
b) to repair Tom’s car.
c) to sell a car to Tom.
3. How old was Mrs. Wilson?
a) about 25
b) about 30
c) about 35
4. What pet did Mrs. Wilson buy in New York?
a) a puppy
b) a kitten
c) a parrot
5. How many times in his life had Nick been drunk?
a) only one time
b) two times
c) three or four times
6. Chester McKee was
a) a painter.
b) a designer of dresses.
c) a photographer.
7. Why did Myrtle marry Mr. Wilson?
a) because she thought he was rich.
b) because she loved him.
c) because she thought he was a gentleman.
8. Tom and Myrtle first met
a) sitting opposite each other in the train to New York.
b) trying to catch a taxi.
c) getting into a subway train.
9. When Myrtle continued to repeat Daisy’s name Tom
a) shouted at her.
b) slapped her in the cheek.
c) hit her on the nose.
10. Nick ended the party sleeping
a) on Myrtle’s couch.
b) on the bed at the McKees’.
c) on the train station.
2. Practice the pronunciation of these words.
grotesque [grəʊˈtesk]
enormous [ɪˈnɔ:məs]
solemn [ˈsɒləm]
acquaintances [əˈkweɪntənsɪz]
persistent [pəˈsɪstənt]
impatiently [ɪmˈpeɪʃəntlɪ]
sensuously [ˈsensjʊəslɪ]
vitality [vaɪˈtælɪtɪ]
doubtful [ˈdaʊtfʊl]
enthusiastically [ɪnˌθjuːzɪˈæstɪk(ə)lɪ]
indistinctly [ɪndɪˈstɪŋktlɪ]
feminine [ˈfemənən]
languid [ˈlæŋgwəd]
arrogance [ˈærəgəns]
adorable [əˈdɔ:rəbl]
nephew [ˈnevju]
twilight [ˈtwaɪlaɪt]
advertisement [ədˈvε:təsmənt]
artificial [ˌɑ:təˈfɪʃəl]
furniture [ˈfε:rnɪʧə]
tapestried [ˈtæpɪstrɪd]
despair [dɪsˈpεə]
triumphantly [traɪˈʌmfəntlɪ]
elaborateness [ɪˈlæbərɪtnəs]
ambiguously [æmˈbɪgjuəslɪ]
massage [məˈsɑ:ʒ]
wreath [ri:θ]
violent [ˈvaɪələnt]
unconvincingly [ˌʌnkənˈvɪnsɪŋlɪ]
overweight [ˈəʊvərˌweɪt]
bureau [ˈbjʊrəʊ]
frivolous [ˈfrɪvələs]
interior [ɪnˈtɪrɪər]
haughtily [ˈhɔːtɪlɪ]
3. Fill in the blanks with the following adverbs and translate.
Pointlessly, haughtily, endlessly, admiringly, ambiguously, unconvincingly, accusingly, sensuously, intently, imperatively.
1. But above the gray land and the spasms of cheerless dust which move … over it, you notice, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg.
2. “I can’t complain,” answered Wilson … .
3. She was in the middle thirties, and faintly fat, but she carried her overweight body … as some women can.
4. “I want to see you,” said Tom … .
5. “That dog?” He looked at it … .
6. Mrs. Wilson gathered up her dog and other things she bought, and went … in.
7. Mr. McKee viewed her … with his head on one side.
8. “Well, I married him,” said Myrtle, … .
9. She looked at me and laughed … .
10. She pointed suddenly at me, and everyone looked at me … .
4. Fill in the blanks with prepositions.
1. His acquaintances were shocked by the fact that he turned … in popular restaurants with her.
2. His voice faded … and Tom looked impatiently … the garage.
3. We backed … to a gray old man who was selling very recent puppies of a doubtful breed.
4. The living-room was crowded to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it, so that to move about was to stumble continually … .
5. “I just put it … sometimes when I don’t care what I look like.”
6. You have to keep … them all the time.
7. “They’re going West to live for a while until it blows … .”
8. “I almost married a little kike who’d been … me for years.”
9. He had on a dress suit and leather shoes, and I couldn’t keep my eyes … him.
10. Then I was lying half asleep in the cold lower level of the Pennsylvania Station, staring … the morning Tribune.
5. Find in the text the sentences in which the following word combinations are used. Make up your own sentences using them.
To fatten the practice, to sink down, to force somebody, a persistent stare, to slap somebody, a thickish figure, to block out, an immediate vitality, to wet somebody’s lips, a coarse voice, to exchange a frown, discreetly, shrill and languid, the influence of something, a mincing shout, to view somebody intently, to turn somebody’s attention to something, elaborateness, an artificial laughter, passionate voices.
6. Find in the text the English equivalents of the following words and word combinations. Make up your own sentences using them.
Пепел, бесконечно, несуществующий, разводной мост, любовница, любовная связь, знакомые, настаивать, жаловаться, широкие бедра, торопливо, забраться, сомнительная порода, уважительный, впечатляющее высокомерие, отклонить, отчаяние, развод, отвести глаза, завивка, ошейник, скулить, спотыкаться.
7. Put the verbs in brackets into Past Perfect and explain why it is used.
1. She … (change) her dress to a brown figured muslin.
2. When I came back they … (disappear).
3. She … (pluck) her eyebrows and then drew them again.
4. He … just … (shave), for there was a white spot of lather on his cheekbone.
5. She told me with pride that her husband … (photograph) her a hundred and twenty-seven times since they had been married.
6. Mrs. Wilson … (change) her costume some time before.
7. The intense vitality that … (be) so remarkable in the garage turned into impressive arrogance.
8. It came from Myrtle, who … (overhear) the question, and it was violent and rude.
9. I tried to show by my expression that I … (play) no part in her past.
10. When he … (go) halfway he turned around.
8. Who said the following words? Under what circumstances?
1. “Works pretty slow, don’t he?”
2. “I want to get one of those dogs for the apartment.”
3. “I’ll telephone my sister Catherine. People who ought to know say she’s very beautiful.”
4. “If Chester could make a photo of you in that pose I think the result would be something special.”
5. “Really? I was down there at a party about a month ago. At a man named Gatsby’s. Do you know him?”
6. “I’d like to do more work on Long Island, if I could get the entry. All I ask is that they should give me a start.”
7. “Neither of them can stand the person they’re married to.”
8. “I almost married a little kike who’d been after me for years. I knew he was below me. But if I hadn’t met Chester, he could be my husband now.”
9. “Who said I was crazy about him? I never was any more crazy about him than I was about that man there.”
10. “I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai —”
9. Answer the following questions.
1. Where was the valley of ashes? What was special about it? Why did passengers have to stare at it for half an hour?
2. Did Nick want to see Tom’s mistress? Who forced him to? Where did she live?
3. What can you say about Mr. Wilson? Was he a strong successful man?
4. What did Mrs. Wilson buy after coming to New York?
5. Describe Mrs. Wilson’s apartment. Did Myrtle have good taste? Prove it.
6. Whom did Myrtle invite to the party? Tell some words about every guest.
7. How did Mrs. Wilson react to all compliments? Had her behavior changed since the garage?
8. What did Catherine say about the relationships in the Wilson and Buchanan families? Did Myrtle love her husband? Why, in Catherine’s opinion, couldn’t Tom get a divorce? Was it true?
9. How did Tom and Myrtle get acquainted?
10. What happened in the end of the evening? Who did Nick leave with? Where did they go?
10. Tell about the party from the person of:
a) Myrtle Wilson;
b) Catherine;
c) Mr. McKee.
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