The Great Gatsby. Адаптированная книга для чтения на английском языке. Уровень B1

В«You will if you stay in the EastВ».

«Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t worry», he said, glancing at Daisy and then back at me. «I’d be a fool to live anywhere else».

At this point Miss Baker said: «Absolutely!» with such suddenness that I started – it was the first word she uttered since I came into the room. She yawned and stood up.

«I’m stiff», she complained, «I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember».

«Don’t look at me», Daisy said, «I’ve been trying to get you to New York all afternoon».

I enjoyed looking at Miss Baker. She was a slender, small breasted girl, keeping her back straight. Her gray eyes looked back at me with polite curiosity. It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before.

В«You live in West EggВ», she remarked contemptuously. В«I know somebody thereВ».

«I don’t know a single…»

В«You must know GatsbyВ».

В«Gatsby?В» asked Daisy. В«What Gatsby?В»

Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as if he were moving a checker to another square.

The two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch, open toward the sunset.

В«We ought to plan somethingВ», yawned Miss Baker, sitting down at the table as if she were getting into bed.

«All right», said Daisy. «What’ll we plan?» She turned to me helplessly: «What do people plan?»

Before I could answer she looked with a frightened expression at her little finger.

В«Look!В» she complained; В«I hurt itВ».

We all looked – the knuckle was black and blue.

«You did it, Tom», she said accusingly. «That’s what I get for marrying a brute, a great, big, hulking physical specimen ofa…»

«I hate that word hulking», objected Tom crossly, «even in kidding».[14 - Даже в шутку.]

В«HulkingВ», insisted Daisy.

Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, but it was an uneasy talk.

They were here, and they accepted Tom and me, making only a polite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained. They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away. It was sharply different from the West, where an evening was hurried from phase to phase toward its close.

В«You make me feel uncivilized, DaisyВ», I confessed on my second glass of red wine.