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I graduated from New Haven in 1915, just a quarter of a century after my father,
我在一九一五年从纽黑文大学毕业，刚好比我父亲晚了四分之一个世纪的时间，
and a little later I participated in that delayed Teutonic migration known as the Great War.
不久以后我就参加了一场迟来的条顿民族大迁徙——世界大战，
I enjoyed the counter-raid so thoroughly that I came back restless.
我在反攻中感到无穷的乐趣，回来以后就觉得百无聊赖了。
Instead of being the warm centre of the world, the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe --
中西部不再是世界温暖的中心，而倒像是宇宙荒凉的边缘——
so I decided to go East and learn the bond business.
于是我决定到东部去学债券生意。
Everybody I knew was in the bond business, so I supposed it could support one more single man.
我所认识的人个个都是做债券生意的，因此我认为它多养活一个单身汉总不成问题。
All my aunts and uncles talked it over as if they were choosing a prep school for me,
我的叔伯姑姨们商量了一番，俨然像是在为我挑选一所预备学校，
and finally said, “Why -- ye -- es,” with very grave, hesitant faces.
最后才说：“呃……那就……这样”，面容都很严肃而犹疑。
Father agreed to finance me for a year, and after various delays I came East,
父亲答应为我提供一年的费用，然后又几经耽搁我才在一九二二年春天到东部去，
permanently, I thought, in the spring of twenty-two.
我自以为是一去不返了的。
The practical thing was to find rooms in the city, but it was a warm season,
切合实际的办法是在城里找一套房寄宿，但那时已是温暖的季节，
and I had just left a country of wide lawns and friendly trees,
而我又是刚刚离开了一个有宽阔的草坪和宜人的树木的地方，
so when a young man at the office suggested that we take a house together in a commuting town,
因此办公室里一个年轻人提议我们俩到近郊合租一所房子的时候，
it sounded like a great idea.
我觉得这是个不错的主意。
He found the house, a weather-beaten cardboard bungalow at eighty a month,
他找到了房子，那是一座风雨剥蚀的木板平房，月租八十美元，
but at the last minute the firm ordered him to Washington,
可是在最后一分钟公司把他调到华盛顿去了，
and I went out to the country alone.
我也就只好一个人搬到郊外去住。
I had a dog -- at least I had him for a few days until he ran away --
我有一条狗——至少在它跑掉以前我养了它几天——
and an old Dodge and a Finnish woman,
一辆旧道奇汽车和一个芬兰女佣人，
who made my bed and cooked breakfast
她替我收拾床铺，烧早饭，。
and muttered Finnish wisdom to herself over the electric stove.
在电炉上一面做饭，一面嘴里咕哝着芬兰的格言
It was lonely for a day or so until one morning some man,
头几天我感到孤单，直到一天早上有个人，
more recently arrived than I, stopped me on the road.
比起我更是初来乍到的一个人，在路上拦住了我。
“How do you get to West Egg village?” he asked helplessly.
“到西卵村去怎么走啊？”他无助地问我。
I told him.
我告诉了他。
And as I walked on I was lonely no longer.
我再继续往前走的时候，我不再感到孤单了。
I was a guide, a pathfinder, an original settler.
我成了领路人、开拓者、一个移民者中的先驱。
He had casually conferred on me the freedom of the neighborhood.
他无意之中授予了我这一带地方的荣誉市民权。
