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

«It couldn’t be helped![15 - Невозможно было устоять!]» cried Daisy with tense gaiety.

She sat down, glanced at Miss Baker and then at me, and continued: «I looked outdoors for a minute, and it’s very romantic outdoors. There’s a bird on the lawn that I think must be a nightingale. His song is so beautiful!» Her voice sang: «It’s romantic, isn’t it, Tom?»

В«Very romanticВ», he said.

The telephone rang inside, and Daisy shook her head decisively at Tom. Among the broken fragments of the last five minutes at table I was conscious of wanting to look directly at every one, and yet to avoid all eyes.

Tom and Miss Baker, with several feet of twilight between them, strolled back into the library. Trying to look pleasantly interested and a little deaf, I followed Daisy around a chain of connecting verandas to the porch in front. In its deep gloom we sat down side by side on a bamboo bench.

Daisy took her face in her hands, and her eyes moved gradually out into the velvet dusk.

I saw that turbulent emotions possessed her, so I asked what I thought would be some sedative questions about her little girl.

«We don’t know each other very well, Nick», she said suddenly. «Even if we are cousins. You didn’t come to my wedding».

«I wasn’t back from the war».

«That’s true». She hesitated. «Well, I’ve had a very bad time, Nick, and I’m pretty cynical about everything».

Obviously she had reason to be. I waited but she didn’t say any more, and after a moment I returned to the subject of her daughter.

«I suppose she talks, and – eats, and everything».

В«Oh, yesВ». She looked at me absently. В«Listen, Nick; let me tell you what I said when she was born. Would you like to hear?В»

В«Very muchВ».

В«Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an absolutely abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept.

�All right,’ I said, �I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool».

«You see I think everything’s terrible», she went on in a convinced way. «Everybody thinks so – the most advanced people. And I KNOW. I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything». She laughed with thrilling scorn.