烟(外研社双语读库)(txt+pdf+epub+mobi电子书下载)

作者：Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev 屠格涅夫

出版社：外语教学与研究出版社

格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT

烟(外研社双语读库)试读：

I

第一章

On the 10th of August, 1862, at four o'clock in the afternoon, a great number of people were thronging before the well-known konversation in Baden-Baden.

1862年8月10日，下午四点，巴登—巴登著名的“晤谈厅”前，聚集了许多人。

The weather was lovely; everything around—the green trees, the bright houses of the gay city, and the undulating outline of the mountains—everything was in holiday mood, basking in the rays of the kindly sun shine; everything seemed smiling with a sort of blind, confiding delight; and the same glad, vague smile strayed over the human faces, too, old and young, ugly and beautiful alike. Even the blackened and whitened visages of the Parisian demi-monde could not destroy the general impression of bright content and elation, while their many-colored ribbons and feathers and the sparks of gold and steel on their hats and veils involuntarily recalled the intensified brilliance and light fluttering of birds in spring, with their rainbow-tinted wings. But the dry, guttural snapping of the French jargon, heard on all sides could not equal the song of birds, nor be compared with it.

这一天，天朗气清，四周的一切——葱翠的树木、这座欢乐的城市中一幢幢明亮的房舍和高低起伏的群山——全都沐浴在慷慨的阳光中，洋溢着节日的气氛。万物似乎都带着隐约的、信任的微笑。同时，无论是老人还是年轻人，丑陋的还是漂亮的，都流露出同样愉悦和朦胧的微笑。即便是那些浓妆艳裹的巴黎女郎，也无法破坏这明亮而又欢乐的总体印象。镶嵌在她们帽子和面纱上的五颜六色的缎带、羽毛及熠熠闪光的金银饰品，使人不由自主地想起春天里小鸟轻轻扇动的分外炫目的七彩羽翼。可是那随处可以听到的乏味而带明显喉音的法语行话无法取代鸟儿的鸣叫，更别谈与之媲美了。

Everything, however, was going on in its accustomed way. The orchestra in the Pavilion played first a medley from the Traviata, then one of Strauss's waltzes, then "Tell her," a Russian song, adapted for instruments by an obliging conductor. In thegambling saloons, round the green tables, crowded the same familiar figures, with the same dull, greedy, half-stupefied, half-exasperated, wholly rapacious expression, which the gambling fever lends to all, even the most aristocratic, features. The same well-fed and ultra-fashionably dressed Russian landowner from Tambov with wide staring eyes leaned over the table, and with uncomprehending haste, heedless of the cold smiles of the croupiers themselves, at the very instant of the cry "rien ne va plus," laid with perspiring hand golden rings of louis d'or on all the four corners of the roulette, depriving himself by so doing of every possibility of gaining anything, even in case of success. This did not in the least prevent him the same evening from affirming the contrary with disinterested indignation to Prince Kokó, one of the well-known leaders of the aristocratic opposition, the Prince Kokó, who in Paris at the salon of the Princess Mathilde, so happily remarked in the presence of the Emperor: "Madame, le principe de la propriete est profondement ebranle en Russie."

然而，一切都在照常进行着。音乐厅里的管弦乐队首先演奏了《茶花女》的并奏曲，接着是一首施特劳斯的华尔兹舞曲，然后是一首俄国歌曲《告诉她》，为听众着想，贴心的指挥将这首歌改编成由乐器演奏。在几间赌博厅里，绿色赌桌周围挤满了我们熟悉的那同一批人，他们脸上还是带着那种呆滞、贪婪、半惊呆半愤怒的表情。对赌博的痴狂使得所有人都是这副贪婪凶残的嘴脸，即使最具贵族气质的人也不例外。那位体型肥胖、衣着过度时髦的来自坦波夫的俄国地主瞪圆了双眼，趴在赌桌上，不顾赌场总管的冷笑，就在他们喊着“停止下注！”的瞬间，以迅雷不及掩耳的速度，伸出满是汗的手，将赌金撒在轮盘的四个角上。这样一来，即便押中了，也根本不可能赢得一分钱。但这丝毫无碍他当晚带着毫无偏私的愤慨之情跟珂珂公爵唱反调。珂珂公爵是贵族反对派的著名领袖之一，曾在巴黎的玛蒂尔德公主的沙龙里，当着皇帝的面高兴地说：“夫人，俄国的私有制已经彻底动摇了。”

At the Russian tree, à l'arbre Russe, our dear fellow-countrymen and countrywomen were assembled after their wont. They approached haughtily and carelessly in fashionable style, greeted each other with dignity and elegant ease, as befits beings who find themselves at the topmost pinnacle of contemporary culture.

我们亲爱的男同胞和女同胞们仍像往常一样聚集到“俄国树”下。他们打交道时傲慢而随意，但举止入时，问候对方时不失高贵优雅，完全符合他们处于当代文化之巅的身份。

But when they had met and sat down together, they were absolutely at a loss for anything to say to one another, and had to be content with a pitiful interchange of inanities, or with the exceedingly indecent and exceedingly insipid old jokes of a hopelessly stale French wit, once a journalist, a chattering buffoon with Jewish shoes on his paltry little legs, and a contemptible little beard on his mean little visage. He retailed to them, à ces princesrusses, all the sweet absurdities from the old comic almanacs Charivari and Tintamarre, and they, ces princes russes, burst into grateful laughter, as though forced in spite of themselves to recognize the crushing superiority of foreign wit, and their own hopeless incapacity to invent anything amusing. Yet here were almost all the "fine fleur" of our society, "all the high-life and mirrors of fashion."Here was Count X., our incomparable dilettante, a profoundly musical nature; who so divinely recites songs on the piano, but cannot, in fact, take two notes correctly without fumbling at random on the keys, and sings in a style something between that of a poor gypsy singer and a Parisian hairdresser. Here was our enchanting Baron Q., a master in every line: literature, administration, oratory, and card-sharping. Here, too, was Prince Y., the friend of religion and the people, who in the blissful epoch when the spirit-trade was a monopoly, had made himself betimes a huge fortune by the sale of vodka adulterated with belladonna; and the brilliant General O. O., who had achieved the subjugation of something, and the pacification of something else, and who is nevertheless still a nonentity, and does not know what to do with himself. And R. R. the amusing fat man, who regards himself as a great invalid and a great wit, though he is, in fact, as strong as a bull, and as dull as a post... This R. R. is almost the only man in our day who has preserved the traditions of the dandies of the forties, of the epoch of the "Hero of our Times," and the Countess Vorotinsky. He has preserved, too, the special gait with the swing on the heels, and le culte de la pose(it cannot even be put into words in Russian), the unnatural deliberation of movement, the sleepy dignity of expression, the immoyable, offended-lookingcountenance, and the habit of interrupting other people's remarks with a yawn, gazing at his own finger-nails, laughing through his nose, suddenly shifting his hat from the back of his head on to his eyebrows, etc. Here, too, were people in government circles, diplomats, big-wigs with European names, men of wisdom and intellect, who imagine that the Golden Bull was an edict of the Pope, and that the English poor-tax is a tax levied on the poor. And here, too, were the hot-blooded, though tongue-tied, devotees of the dames aux camellias, young society dandies, with superb partings down the back of their heads, and splendid drooping whiskers, dressed in real London costumes, young bucks whom one would fancy there was nothing to hinder from becoming as vulgar as the illustrious French wit above mentioned. But no! our home products are not in fashion it seems; and Countess S., the celebrated arbitress of fashion and grand genre, by spiteful tongues nicknamed "Queen of the Wasps," and "Medusa in a mob-cap," prefers, in the absence of the French wit, to consort with the Italians, Moldavians, American spiritualists, smart secretaries of foreign embassies, and Germans of effeminate, but prematurely circumspect, physiognomy, of whom the place is full. The example of the Countess is followed by the Princess Babette, she in whose arms Chopin died (the ladies in Europe in whose arms he expired are to be reckoned by thousands); and the Princess Annette, who would have been perfectly captivating, if the simple village washerwoman had not suddenly peeped out in her at times, like a smell of cabbage, wafted across the most delicate perfume; and Princess Pachette, to whom the following mischance had occurred: her husband had fallen into a good berth, and all at once, Dieu sait pourpuoi, hehad thrashed the provost and stolen 20,000 rubles of public money; and the laughing Princess Zizi; and the tearful Princess Zozo. They all left their compatriots on one side, and were merciless in their treatment of them. Let us, too, leave them on one side, these charming ladies, and walk away from the renowned tree near which they sit in such costly but somewhat tasteless costumes, and God grant them relief from the boredom consuming them!

但是，一旦见了面坐在一起，他们就会变得完全不知所措，不知该说什么，只能可怜地相互说着一些空洞的话，或者听一位迂腐得无可救药的法国智者讲述极其下流、乏味的老笑话。这位智者曾经是名记者，双腿又瘦又短，穿着一双犹太式鞋子，刻薄的小脸上蓄着令人讨厌的小胡须，俨然一个喋喋不休的小丑。他把老笑话年鉴《沙里瓦里和田达马尔》杂志里所有可笑的荒诞故事转述给这些俄国公爵，而这些俄国公爵们呢，竟然感激得哈哈大笑，仿佛不由自主地被迫承认外国人的智慧具有压倒性优势，而他们自己则不可救药，编造不出有趣的故事。但是，这里几乎聚集了我们社会的所有“精英”，“所有的名门贵族和时尚界楷模”。这里有X伯爵，我们举世无双的业余艺术爱好者，颇具天赋的音乐家。他能用钢琴出色地演奏乐曲，但实际上，如果不在琴键上笨拙地胡乱弹几下，他连两个音符都辨别不对。而且，他唱起歌来，模样就介于拙劣的吉普赛歌手和巴黎的理发师之间。这里还有我们迷人的Q男爵，通晓各个领域，如文学、行政管理、演说、打牌。这里也有Y.亲王，宗教和人民的朋友。他生活在酒垄断贸易的幸福时代，通过出售掺有颠茄的伏特加酒早早地赚了一大笔钱。还有这位英明的O.O.将军。他曾经成功地镇压过一些地方，还平定过一些叛乱，但现在仍是一个无名小卒，不知道该拿自己怎么办才好。还有这位肥胖、有趣的R.R.先生。他认为自己身患重病，其实健壮如牛；他自以为才智过人，实际上愣得像块木头……R.R.先生几乎是当今唯一一个保持着四十年代，即“当代英雄”和沃罗滕斯卡娅伯爵夫人时代的花花公子们的传统的人。他仍然保留着用脚后跟摇摆走路的特殊步伐，依旧“崇尚风采”（俄语中甚至都找不到词来形容这种传统），仍保留着矫揉造作的从容动作、困倦而庄重的表情、刻板愠怒的面容，以及以下习惯：用打哈欠的方式来打断别人的话，盯着自己的手指甲，用鼻子发出冷笑声，突然将帽子从后脑勺拉到眉毛上等等。这里也有一些政府官员、外交家、有欧洲姓氏的大人物和聪慧的学者们。这些学者们猜想，《黄金诏书》是教皇的法令，英国的“济贫税”是向穷人征收的。这里还有尽管缄口不语但热血沸腾地迷恋着烟花女子的人，社交界年轻的花花公子。他们将后脑勺上的头发梳得一丝不苟，蓄着极好的连鬓胡须，穿着道地的伦敦服装。您不禁想到，没有什么能阻止这些年轻的纨绔子弟变得和上文提及的杰出法国智者一样低俗。但是，不！我们的国货似乎没那么时髦。这位S.女伯爵，有名的时尚和风度的仲裁者，被一些毒舌之人称为“黄蜂女王”和“戴睡帽的美杜莎”，如果法国文人不在，她宁愿与意大利人、摩尔多瓦人、美国巫师、外国使馆聪明的秘书们和带有女人气而一本正经的德国人结交，而不愿与同胞交往。效仿伯爵夫人的有芭贝特王妃，肖邦就是在她的怀里死去的（在欧洲，认为肖邦死于自己怀里的女士估计有数千人）。还有埃尼特王妃，本来是可以相当迷人的，如果她没有时不时地表现出乡下洗衣女的愚蠢的话，这就如同最精致的香水中散发出了卷心菜的气味一般。还有一位巴切特王妃，她经历了以下不幸；她的丈夫找到了一份好差事，可天晓得他为何会突然殴打市长，并且盗用两万银卢布的公款。还有爱笑的琪琪王妃和爱哭的柔柔王妃。她们都把同胞搁在一边并且残忍地对待他们。我们也把这些迷人的女士们搁在一边吧，远离这知名的俄国树，坐在它旁边的女士们都穿着极其华贵但有点儿庸俗的衣服。愿上帝能减轻消耗她们的乏味无聊！

II

第二章

A few paces from the "Russian tree," at a little table in front of Weber's coffee-house, there was sitting a good-looking man, about thirty, of medium height, thin and dark, with a manly and pleasant face. He sat bending forward with both arms leaning on his stick, with the calm and simple air of a man to whom the idea had not occurred that any one would notice him or pay any attention to him. His large expressive golden-brown eyes were gazing deliberately about him, sometimes screwed up to keep the sunshine out of them, and then watching fixedly some eccentric figure that passed by him while a childlike smile faintly stirred his fine moustache and lips, and his prominent short chin. He wore a roomy coat of German cut, and a soft gray hat hid half of his high forehead. At the first glance he made the impression of an honest, sensible, rather self-confident young man such as there are many in the world. He seemed to be resting from prolonged labors and to be deriving all the more simple-minded amusement from the scene spread out before him because his thoughts were far away, and because they moved too, those thoughts, in a world utterly unlike that which surrounded him at the moment. He was a Russian; his name was Grigory Mihalovitch Litvinov.

离“俄国树”几步远处、韦伯咖啡屋的小桌前，坐着一位英俊潇洒的男士。他三十岁左右，中等身材，身体削瘦，皮肤黝黑，面容坚毅、讨人喜欢。他身体前倾，双手拄着拐杖，神态沉静安详，从来不会想到有人会注意到他或者关注他。他那双炯炯有神的金褐色大眼睛刻意地注视着四周。有时他会眯起双眼，抵挡阳光，然后又死死地盯着从他身边走过的古怪之人。这时候，孩子般的微笑则会隐约掠过他那整齐的胡子、嘴唇和突出的短下巴。他身着宽大的德国式外衣，灰色的软帽把他高高的额头遮了一半。乍看之下，他给人的印象是他是个诚实、明智、颇有自信的年轻人，而这世上有许多这样的人。他似乎是经过了漫长的工作之后正在休息，从展现在他眼前的景致中汲取所有更加单纯的快乐，因为他的思想在远处，并且那些思想转移到了与他此刻所处的世界迥然不同的一片天地。他是个俄国人。他的名字是格里高利·米哈伊洛维奇·李特维诺夫。

We have to make his acquaintance, and so it will be well to relate in a few words his past, which presents little of much interest or complexity.

我们必须了解他，所以不妨三言两语讲述下他平淡无奇、简简单单的过去。

He was the son of an honest retired official ofplebian extraction, but be(he) was educated, not as one would naturally expect, in the town, but in the country. His mother was of noble family, and had been educated in a government school. She was a good-natured and very enthusiastic creature, not devoid of character, however. Though she was twenty years younger than her husband, she remodelled him, as far as she could, drew him out of the petty official groove into the landowner's way of life, and softened and refined his harsh and stubborn character. Thanks to her, he began to dress with neatness, and to behave with decorum; he came to respect learned men and learning, though, of course, he never took a single book in his hand; he gave up swearing, and tried in every way not to demean himself. He even arrived at walking more quietly and speaking in a subdued voice, mostly of elevated subjects, which cost him no small effort. "Ah! they ought to be flogged, and that's all about it!" he sometimes thought to himself, but aloud he pronounced: "Yes, yes, that's so... of course; it is a great question."Litvinov's mother set her household, too, upon a European footing; she addressed the servants by 'the plural "you" instead of the familiar "thou," and never allowed any one to gorge himself into a state of lethargy at her table. As regards the property belonging to her, neither she nor her husband was capable of looking after it at all. It had been long allowed to run to waste, but there was plenty of land, with all sorts of useful appurtenances, forest-lands and a lake, on which there had once stood a factory, which had been founded by a zealous but unsystematic owner, and had flourished in the hands of a scoundrelly merchant, and gone utterly to ruin under the superintendence of a conscientious German manager. Madame Litvinov was contented so long asshe did not dissipate her fortune or contract debts. Unluckily she could not boast of good health, and she died of consumption in the very year that her son entered the Moscow university. He did not complete his course there owing to circumstances of which the reader will hear more later on, and went back to his provincial home, where he idled away some time without work and without ties, almost without acquaintances. Thanks to the disinclination for active service of the local gentry, who were, however, not so much penetrated by the Western theory of the evils of "absenteeism," as by the home-grown conviction that "one's own shirt is the nearest to one's skin," he was drawn for military service in 1855, and almost died of typhus in the Crimea, where he spent six months in a mud-hut on the shore of the Putrid Sea, without ever seeing a single ally. After that, he served, not of course without unpleasant experiences, on the councils of the nobility, and after being a little time in the country, acquired a passion for farming. He realized that his mother's property, under the indolent and feeble management of his infirm old father, did not yield a tenth of the revenue it might yield, and that in experienced and skillful hands it might be converted into a perfect gold mine. But he realized, too, that experience and skill were just what he lacked—and he went abroad to study agriculture and technology—to learn them from the first rudiments. More than four years he had spent in Mecklenburg, in Silesia, and in Carlsruhe, and he had traveled in Belgium and in England. He had worked conscientiously and accumulated information; he had not acquired it easily; but he had persevered through his difficulties to the end, and now with confidence in himself, in his future, and in his usefulness to his neighbors, perhaps evento the whole countryside, he was preparing to return home, where he was summoned with despairing prayers and entreaties in every letter from his father, now completely bewildered by the emancipation, the redivision of lands, and the terms of redemption—by the new regime in short. But why was he in Baden?

他是一个诚实的、平民出身的退休官员的儿子。人们自然会认为他是在镇上受的教育，但其实不是，他是在乡下上的学。他的母亲出身贵族，曾经就读于官办学校。她是个善良、充满热情的人，但并不缺乏个性。虽然她比丈夫小二十岁，但她竭尽所能地重塑他，把他从琐碎的官员生活中拉进了地主式的生活，使他苛刻固执的性格变得温文尔雅。多亏有她，他开始穿得整齐干净，与人相处彬彬有礼。他开始尊重博学之人，尊重学习。当然了他一本书都没读过，但尽管如此，他不再咒骂了，而是想方设法不做有失身份的事情。他甚至连走路的步子都变轻了，说话的嗓门也变小了，且谈的大多是高尚的话题。他为此作出的努力可不小。“啊！他们真应该被揍一顿，就是这样！”有时候他心里会这么想，但是他会大声地说：“是的，是的，的确是这样……当然，这是个极好的问题。”李特维诺夫的母亲也以欧式方法来经营她的家庭。她对仆人使用“您”这个称呼，而并不是我们熟悉的“你”。而且她从不允许任何人在她的餐桌上狼吞虎咽、吃得昏昏欲睡。至于她名下的那座庄园，她和她的丈夫都根本无力照看。庄园老早就荒废了，但是那里却有广袤的土地，各种有用的配套设施、林地和一个湖泊。一位热心但缺乏组织能力的地主曾在那里建了一个工厂，工厂在一位奸商手里曾兴旺过，但却在一名尽心尽职的德国经理的监管下彻底毁了。只要没有破产或负债，李特维诺夫夫人就心满意足了。不幸的是，她身体不好，就在儿子进入莫斯科大学就读的那一年，她因患肺病去世了。他没有完成学业（原因读者稍后会知道）就回到了家乡，在那里虚度了一段时光，既不工作，又不与人交往，几乎没有相识的人。幸亏当地的乡绅不怎么喜欢服兵役，他们坚持本土“自己的衬衫最贴身”的信念而不怎么信奉“弃权有害”的西方理论，所以李特维诺夫1855年才被拉去服兵役。他差点儿因斑疹伤寒死在在克里米亚。他在克里米亚腐海之滨的一个泥屋呆了六个月，却连一个盟友都没见到。在此之后，他在贵族委员会工作，当然也有些不愉快的经历。在乡下呆了一段时间后，他对农业产生了热情。他意识到，母亲的庄园在身体衰弱的老父亲懈怠无力的经营下，收益还不到本该有的十分之一，但是在有经验的、技术熟练的人手中，它也许会变成一个极好的金矿。但是他也意识到，经验和技术恰恰是他所缺乏的东西。于是他到国外去学习农业和技术——从基础知识学起。他在梅克伦堡、西里西亚、卡尔斯鲁厄生活了四年多并且游览了比利时和英国。他认真地工作，积累知识；掌握这些知识并非易事，但他克服了诸多困难，坚持到了最后。现在他对自己和自己的未来充满了信心，自信能够帮助邻居们，也许甚至还能帮到整个乡村。他正打算回家乡，父亲正用一封封信件召唤着他，信中满是绝望的祈求和哀求。他的父亲现如今正被解放农奴、土地再分配、赎金条款——简而言之就是新政权搞得眼花缭乱。但是，他为什么在巴登呢？

Well, he was in Baden because he was from day to day expecting the arrival there of his cousin and betrothed, Tatyana Petrovna Shestov. He had known her almost from childhood, and had spent the spring and summer with her at Dresden, where she was living with her aunt. He felt sincere love and profound respect for his young kinswoman, and on the conclusion of his dull preparatory labors, when he was preparing to enter on a new field, to begin real, unofficial duties, he proposed to her as a woman dearly loved, a comrade and a friend, to unite her life with his—for happiness and for sorrow, for labor and for rest, "for better, for worse" as the English say. She had consented, and he had returned to Carlsruhe, where his books, papers and properties had been left.

嗯，他在巴登是因为他在日复一日地等待他的表妹，也是他的未婚妻——塔吉娅娜·彼得罗芙娜·舍斯托娃的到来。他几乎是从孩童时代就认识她，还和她在德累斯顿度过了一个春夏，当时她和她姑妈住在一起。他真心地爱着她并且深深地尊重着这位年轻的亲戚。当他完成了枯燥的准备工作，打算开辟一片新天地，开始从事一份实实在在的平民事业的时候，便向他的这位恋人、同志和朋友求婚——把她的生命和他的生命连结起来——休戚与共，风雨同舟，也就是英国人说的“有福同享，有祸同当”。她同意了。后来他回到了卡尔斯鲁厄，因为他的书、文件和他的财产都留在那里。

But why was he at Baden, you ask again?

但是，你又要问了，为什么他在巴登呢？

Well, he was at Baden, because Tatyana's aunt, who had brought her up, Kapitolina Markovna Shestov, an old unmarried lady of fifty-five, a most good-natured, honest, eccentric soul, a free thinker, all aglow with the fire of self-sacrifice and abnegation, an esprit fort(she read Strauss, it is true she concealed the fact from her niece) and a democrat, sworn opponent of aristocracy and fashionable society, could not resist the temptation of gazing for once on this aristocratic society in such a fashionable place as Baden... Kapitolina Markovna wore no crinoline and had her white hair cut in a round crop, but luxury and splendor had a secret fascination for her, and itwas her favorite pastime to rail at them and express her contempt of them. How could one refuse to gratify the good old lady? But Litvinov was so quiet and simple, he gazed so self-confidently about him, because his life lay so clearly mapped out before him, because his career was defined, and because he was proud of this career, and rejoiced in it as the work of his own hands.

好吧，他之所以在巴登，是因为把塔吉娅娜养大的姑妈——卡比托里娜·马尔科芙娜·舍斯托娃的缘故。她是一个老处女，已经五十五岁，非常善良、诚实，很古怪，是个自由思想者，全身闪耀着自我牺牲和否定精神的火花。她是个自由思想家（她读过施特劳斯的作品，的确，她没把这事告诉她的侄女）和民主思想家，誓死反对贵族和上流社会。但她却一次都没能抵制住在像巴登这样时髦地方一睹贵族社交界风采的诱惑……卡比托里娜·马尔科芙娜不穿衬裙，把一头白发剪成了圆形，但是她对奢侈显赫暗暗着迷，但同时她最喜欢的消遣就是责骂和蔑视这种生活。人们怎能拒绝满足这位善良老妇人的愿望呢？但是，李特维诺夫是如此地安静和单纯。他非常自信地环顾四周，因为他的眼前清楚地呈现出他未来生活的画面，因为他的事业已经确定了，因为他为自己的事业感到自豪，为亲手设计了自己的事业而感到高兴。

III

第三章

"Hullo! hullo! here he is!" he suddenly heard a squeaky voice just above his ear, and a plump hand slapped him on the shoulder. He lifted his head, and perceived one of his few Moscow acquaintances, a certain Bambaev, a good-natured but good-for-nothing fellow. He was no longer young, he had a flabby nose and soft cheeks, that looked as if they had been boiled, dishevelled greasy locks, and a fat squat person. Everlastingly short of cash, and everlastingly in raptures over something, Rostislav Bambaev wandered, aimless but exclamatory, over the face of our long-suffering mother-earth. "Well, this is something like a meeting!" he repeated, opening wide his sunken eyes, and drawing down his thick lips, over which the straggling dyed moustaches seemed strangely out of place. "Ah, Baden! All the world runs here like black-beetles! How did you come here, Grisha?"“嘿！嘿！他在这里啊！”他的耳际突然传来又尖又细的声音，一只肥胖的手拍了一下他的肩膀。他抬头，认出是他在莫斯科认识的少数熟人之一：庞巴耶夫。他为人和善，但一无是处。他已不再年轻，鼻子和脸颊都十分松弛，好像被水煮过一样，头发凌乱而油腻，身材矮胖。罗斯季斯拉夫·庞巴耶夫老是缺钱，但总是兴奋不已。他在我们饱受磨难的大地母亲身上漫无目的但不无赞叹地游荡。“啊，真是巧啊！”他反复说道，睁着一双凹陷的大眼睛，撅着厚唇，嘴唇上凌乱的染过色的胡须显得很奇怪，与整张脸格格不入。“啊，巴登！世界上所有的人像蟑螂一样涌到这里来了！您怎么也到这里来了，格里沙？”

There was positively no one in the world Bambaev did not address by his Christian name.

庞巴耶夫对世界上所有的人一律用教名称呼。

"I came here three days ago."“我三天前来的。”

"From where?"“从哪里来？”

"Why do you ask?"“您问这干什么？”

"Why indeed? But stop, stop a minute, Grisha. You are, perhaps, not aware who has just arrived here! Gubaryov himself, in person! That's who's here! He came yesterday from Heidelberg. You know him of course?"“这是什么话？但是，等一下，就等一分钟，格里沙。您也许不知道刚刚谁来了！古巴廖夫他亲自来了！就是他，他在这里！他昨天从海德堡来。您肯定认识他吧？”

"I have heard of him."“我听说过他。”

"Is that all? Upon my word! At once, this very minute we will haul you along to him. Not know a man like that! And by the way here's Voroshilov... Stop a minute, Grisha, perhaps you don't know him either? I have the honor to present you to one another. Both learned men! He's a phoenix, indeed! Kiss each other!”“仅此而已吗？太奇怪了！那我现在、马上拉您去见他。您居然不认识像他那样的人！顺便说一下，沃罗希洛夫也来了……等一下，格里沙,您或许也不认识他吧？我很荣幸介绍你们俩认识。你们都是知识渊博的人！他实在是人中之凤！你们相互亲吻吧！”

And uttering these words, Bambaev turned to a good-looking young man standing near him with a fresh and rosy, but prematurely demure face. Litvinov got up, and, it need hardly be said, did not kiss him, but exchanged a cursory bow with the phoenix, who, to judge from the severity of his demeanor, was not overpleased at this unexpected introduction.

说完，庞巴耶夫转向他身旁站着的一位英俊的年轻人。这个年轻人精神饱满、面色红润，但表情过于严肃。李特维诺夫站起来。不用说，他没有亲吻他，只是向那只凤凰微微鞠了个躬。从对方严肃的神情来看，他似乎也不怎么喜欢这出乎意料的介绍。

"I said a phoenix, and I will not go back from my word," continued Bambaev; "go to Petersburg, to the military school, and look at the golden board; whose name stands first there? The name of Voroshilov, Semyon Yakovlevitch! But, Gubaryov, Gubaryov, my dear fellow! It's to him we must fly! I absolutely worship that man! And I'm not alone, every one's at his feet! Ah, what a work he is writing, O—O—O!..."“我说他是只凤凰，绝不会收回这句话。”庞巴耶夫继续说，“您到彼得斯堡军校的光荣榜上看看，谁的名字居于榜首？是沃罗希洛夫·谢苗·雅科夫列维奇！但是古巴廖夫，古巴廖夫，我亲爱的老兄！他才是我们奋斗的目标！我对他崇拜得五体投地！而且，崇拜他的可不只我一个，每个人都匍匐在他脚下。啊，他正在写一部鸿篇巨著。噢……噢……噢！”

"What is his work about?" inquired Litvinov.“是关于什么的？”李特维诺夫问道。

"About everything, my dear boy, after the style of Buckle, you know... but more profound, more profound…Everything will be solved and made clear in it?"“关于一切，我亲爱的老弟。您知道的，仿效的是巴克尔的风格……但是更加深刻，更加深刻……一切问题都能解决并且阐述清楚？”

"And have you read this work yourself?"“您自己已经读过这部作品了？”

"No, I have not read it, and indeed it's a secret, which must not be spread about; but from Gubaryov one may expect everything, everything! Yes!" Bambaev sighed and clasped his hands. "Ah, if we had two or three intellects like that growing up in Russia, ah, what mightn't we see then, my God! I tell youone thing, Grisha; whatever pursuit you may have been engaged in in these latter days—and I don't even know what your pursuits are in general—whatever your convictions may be—I don't know them either—from him, Gubaryov, you will find something to learn. Unluckily, he is not here for long. We must make the most of him, we must go. To him, to him!”“不，我还没读。这的确是个秘密，不能泄露。但是古巴廖夫能够办到所有的事情，所有的事情，是的！”庞巴耶夫叹了口气，握紧双手。“啊，如果我们俄国也能有两三个他那样的智者，哦，我的天哪！我们就没什么做不到的了！告诉您件事情，格里沙。不管您近来在追求什么——我连您的追求大致是什么也不知道——不管您的信仰是什么——对此我也一无所知——但是，您将在古巴廖夫的身上找到需要您去学习的东西。不幸的是，他不会在这里久留。我们必须充分利用他，我们必须走了。去拜访他，拜访他！”

A passing dandy with reddish curls and a blue ribbon on his low hat, turned round and stared through his eyeglass with a sarcastic smile at Bambaev. Litvinov felt irritated.

一位留着淡红色卷发、低腰礼帽上系着蓝色丝带的花花公子正经过这里。他转过头，透过眼镜盯着庞巴耶夫看，脸上堆着嘲讽的笑容。李特维诺夫感到很恼火。

"What are you shouting for?" he said; "one would think you were hallooing dogs on at a hunt! I have not had dinner yet."“您叫什么叫？”他说，“人们会以为您是在呼喊猎犬去追捕猎物！我还没吃晚饭呢。”

"Well, think of that! we can go at once to Weber's... the three of us... capital! You have the cash to pay for me?" he added in an undertone.“呃，既然这样,我们可以马上去韦伯咖啡馆……我们三个……钱！您有钱给我买单吗？”他低声补充道。

"Yes, yes; only, I really don't know—"“有，有的；只是，我真不知道——”

"Leave off, please; you will thank me for it, and he will be delighted. Ah, heavens!" Bambaev interrupted himself. "It's the finale from Ernani they're playing. How delicious!... A som... mo Carlo... What a fellow I am, though! In tears in a minute. Well, Semyon Yakovlevitch! Voroshilov! shall we go, eh?"Voroshilov, who had remained all the while standing with immovable propriety, still maintaining his former haughty dignity of demeanor, dropped his eyes expressively, frowned, and muttered something between his teeth... but he did not refuse; and Litvinov thought, "Well, we may as well do it, as I've plenty of time on my hands."Bambaev took his arm, but before turning towards the cafe he beckoned to Isabelle the renowned flower-girl of the Jockey Club: he had conceived the idea of buying a bunch of flowersof her. But the aristocratic flower-girl did not stir; and, indeed, what should induce her to approach a gentleman without gloves, in a soiled fustian jacket, streaky cravat, and boots trodden down at heel, whom she had not even seen in Paris? Then Voroshilov in his turn beckoned to her. To him she responded, and he, taking a tiny bunch of violets from her basket, flung her a florin. He thought to astonish her by his munificence, but not an eyelash on her face quivered, and when he had turned away, she pursed up her mouth contemptuously. Voroshilov was dressed very fashionably, even exquisitely, but the experienced eye of the Parisian girl noted at once in his get-up and in his bearing, in his very walk, which showed traces of premature military drill, the absence of genuine, pure-blooded "chic".“请别说了；您会为此感激我的，他也会很高兴的。啊，天哪！”庞巴耶夫打断了自己的话，“他们在演奏《欧那尼》的终曲。多美妙啊！……向伟大的卡尔致敬……但是，瞧我这人！只消一分钟就会流泪。嗨，谢苗·雅科夫列维奇！沃罗希洛夫！我们可以走了吧，嗯？”沃罗希洛夫依旧保持着傲慢而端庄的神情，一动不动地站着。他意味深长地垂下了双眼，皱起了眉毛，喃喃自语着……但是他并没有拒绝。李特维诺夫想道：“好，去就去吧，反正我还有的是时间。”庞巴耶夫挽住他的胳膊，但是在去咖啡馆之前，他跟跑马俱乐部有名的卖花女伊萨贝拉打了个手势：他想向她买束花。不过，那位带有贵族气质的卖花女没搭理他。也是，有什么能诱使她接近这样一位绅士呢？他不仅不戴手套，还穿着件肮脏的棉亚麻混纺粗布短上衣，系着条纹领带，穿着一双脚跟磨损的皮鞋，就是在巴黎她也没见过这种人。于是轮到沃罗希洛夫跟他做了个手势。她走近他，他在她的花篮里挑了一小束紫罗兰并且扔给她一先令。他想凭借他的慷慨令她吃惊，但她连睫毛都没动一下。而且，当他转身离开时，她轻蔑地撅起嘴。沃罗希洛夫穿着入时，甚至说得上精致，但是见多识广的巴黎女郎从他的穿衣打扮、行为举止和他那尽显早年军队训练痕迹的步伐中，马上就注意到他缺乏真正的、纯血统的“气质”。

When they had taken their seats in the principal dining-hall at Weber's, and ordered dinner, our friends fell into conversation. Bambaev discoursed loudly and, hotly upon the immense importance of Gubaryov, but soon he ceased speaking, and, gasping and chewing noisily, drained off glass after glass. Voroshilov ate and drank little, and as it were reluctantly, and after questioning Litvinov as to the nature of his interests, fell to giving expression to his own opinions—not so much on those interests, as on questions of various kinds in general…All at once he warmed up, and set off at a gallop like a spirited horse, boldly and decisively assigning to every syllable, every letter, its due weight, like a confident cadet going up for his "final" examination, with vehement, but inappropriate gestures. At every instant, since no one interrupted him, he became more eloquent, more emphatic; it seemed as though he were reading a dissertation or lecture. The names of the most recent scientificauthorities—with the addition of the dates of the birth or death of each of them—the titles of pamphlets that had only just appeared, and names, names, names... fell in showers together from his tongue, affording himself intense satisfaction, reflected in his glowing eyes. Voroshilov, seemingly, despised everything old, and attached value only to the cream of culture, the latest, most advanced points of science; to mention, however inappropriately, a book of some Doctor Zauerbengel on Pennsylvanian prisons, or yesterday's articles in the Asiatic Journal on the Vedas and Puranas (he pronounced it Journal in the English fashion, though he certainly did not know English) was for him a real joy, a felicity. Litvinov listened and listened to him, and could not make out what could be his special line. At one moment his talk was of the part played by the Celtic race in history; then he was carried away to the ancient world, and discoursed upon the Æginetan marbles, harangued with great warmth on the sculptor living earlier than Phidias, Onetas, who was, however, transformed by him into Jonathan, which lent his whole discourse a half-Biblical, half-American flavor; then he suddenly bounded away to political economy and called Bastiat a fool or a blockhead, "as bad as Adam Smith and all the physiocrats.""Physiocrats," murmured Bambaev after him... "aristocrats?"Among other things Voroshilov called forth an expression of bewilderment on Bambaev's face by criticism, dropped casually in passing, of Macaulay, as an old-fashioned writer, superseded by modem historical science; as for Gneist, he declared he need scarcely refer to him, and he shrugged his shoulders. Bambaev shrugged his shoulders too. "And all this at once, without any inducement, before strangers, in a cafe”—Litvinov reflected, looking at the fair hair,clear eyes, and white teeth of his new acquaintance (he was specially embarrassed by those large sugar-white teeth, and those hands with their inappropriate gesticulations), "and he doesn't once smile; and with it all, he would seem to be a nice lad, and absolutely inexperienced."Voroshilov began to calm down at last, his voice, youthfully resonant and shrill as a young cock's, broke a little... Bambaev seized the opportunity to declaim verses and again nearly burst into tears, which scandalized one table near them, round which was seated an English family, and set another tittering; two Parisian cocottes were dining at this second table with a creature who resembled an ancient baby in a wig. The waiter brought the bill; the friends paid it.

在韦伯咖啡馆的主厅就座并点完餐之后，我们的朋友们便开始聊天了。庞巴耶夫大声、热烈地说着古巴廖夫的重要性有多么巨大，但很快就不说话了，开始一杯接一杯地喝酒，嘴里发出吵闹的喘气和咀嚼声。沃罗希洛夫吃得少、喝得少，好像很不情愿的样子。问完李特维诺夫从事怎样的工作之后，他便开始发表自己的见解——与其说是关于那类工作的见解，不如说是关于各种问题笼统的见解……他马上变得活跃起来，像一匹兴高采烈的骏马驰骋似地侃侃而谈。他就像一位自信的军校学员参加期末考试，说话清晰果断，一字一句不失其应有的分量，虽激情四溢，但手势不当。由于停顿之处都没有人打断他，他变得越来越雄辩，语气变得越来越坚决，仿佛在读一篇论文或发表演讲。最近出现的科学界权威人士的名字，他们每个人的生卒年月和新作品的名称，总之，名字连着名字……从他嘴里倾泻而出，给他带来了巨大的满足感，这一点从他那闪闪发光的眼睛中便可以看出。沃罗希洛夫似乎藐视一切旧事物，仅仅珍视文化精髓和最新最先进的科学观点。尽管很不恰当，但是只要提及某位扎魏尔宾格里博士写的关于宾夕法尼亚监狱的作品或《亚洲杂志》昨天刊登的关于吠陀和往世书的文章（尽管他肯定不懂英语，他还是用英语说出“杂志”这个词），对他而言，就是一种真正的快乐和幸福。李特维诺夫一直听他说着，但仍猜不出他是做哪行的。他一度谈及凯尔特民族在历史上扮演的角色，然后又说到古代世界，继而谈论埃吉纳湾石雕，热情洋溢地大谈费迪亚斯之前的雕刻家奥纳塔斯。但是，奥纳塔斯在他嘴里后来又变成了乔纳森，致使他的整段言论带有半圣经式和半美国式的味道；突然他又跳转到政治经济学，骂巴斯夏是个傻子、笨蛋，“同亚当·斯密和所有的重农主义者一样糟糕。”“重农主义者。”庞巴耶夫接着他轻声说……“是贵族学派吗？”除这些以外，沃罗希洛夫又漫不经心地批评麦考莱是位过气的作家，已经被现代历史学所淘汰。这番言论使得庞巴耶夫一脸困惑的表情。至于海因斯特，他声称只需稍稍提及就够了，于是耸了耸肩。庞巴耶夫也耸了耸肩。“在咖啡馆里，当着陌生人的面，无缘无故地说出这一切，”李特维诺夫看着他刚结识的这位留着浅黄色的头发、有着明亮的眼睛和洁白的牙齿（那白糖似的牙齿和做着不当手势的双手使他感到特别地局促不安）的朋友，心想，“虽然他一次都没笑过，不过尽管如此，他看上去是个善良但毫无经验的的小伙子。”沃罗希洛夫终于开始冷静了下来，他那充满活力、年轻响亮、尖锐得像只公鸡似的嗓音有点儿哑了……庞巴耶夫抓住机会朗诵一首诗，并再一次差点儿热泪盈眶，使得坐在旁边那张桌子上的一家英国人很愤怒。另一张桌上的两个巴黎妓女则窃笑不已，她们正陪着一位头戴假发的老顽童在吃饭。侍者拿来账单，这几位朋友付了钱。

"Well," cried Bambaev, getting heavily up from his chair, "now for a cup of coffee, and quick march. There she is,' our Russia," he added, stopping in the doorway, and pointing almost rapturously with his soft red hand to Voroshilov and Litvinov... "What do you think of her?..."“好了，”庞巴耶夫一边费力地从凳子上站起来一边叫道，“现在，再喝杯咖啡，然后赶紧动身吧。“这就是我们的俄国。”他补充道。他站在门口，兴高采烈地伸出又红又软的手，指着沃罗希洛夫和李特维诺夫……“觉得她怎么样？……”

"Russia, indeed," thought Litvinov; and Voroshilov, whose face had by now regained its concentrated expression, again smiled condescendingly, and gave a little tap with his heels.“的确是俄国。”李特维诺夫心想。沃罗希洛夫的脸上恢复了全神贯注的表情，再一次谦逊地笑了笑，轻扣了下脚后跟。

Within five minutes they were all three mounting the stairs of the hotel where Stepan Nikolaitch Gubaryov was staying…A tail slender lady, in a hat with a short black veil, was coming quickly down the same staircase. Catching sight of Litvinov she turned suddenly round to him, and stopped still as though struck by amazement. Her' face flushed instantaneously, and then as quickly grew pale under its thick lace veil; but Litvinov did not observe her, and the lady, ran down the wide steps more quickly than before.

五分钟之后，他们三个人全都走上了斯捷潘·尼古拉耶维奇·古巴廖夫住的旅馆的楼梯……一位身材苗条、头戴一顶带有短黑面纱的礼帽的女士正迅速走下楼梯。见到李特维诺夫，她突然转向他并停下脚步，像是非常惊讶的样子。在那厚厚的蕾丝面纱下，她的脸一下子变得通红，然后又迅速变得苍白。但是李特维诺夫并没有注意到她，她则用比之前更快的速度跑下宽敞的楼梯。

IV

第四章

"Grigory Litvinov, a brick, a true Russian heart. I commend him to you," cried Bambaev, conducting Litvinov up to a short man of the figure of a country gentleman, with an unbuttoned collar, in a short jacket, gray morning trousers and slippers, standing in the middle of a light, and very well-furnished room; "and this," he added, addressing himself to Litvinov, "is he, the man himself, do you understand? Gubaryov, then, in a word."Litvinov stared with curiosity at "the man himself."He did not at first sight find in him anything out of the common. He saw before him a gentleman of respectable, somewhat dull exterior, with a broad forehead, large eyes, full lips, a big beard, and a thick neck, with a fixed gaze, bent sidelong and downwards. This gentleman simpered, and said, "Mmm... ah... very pleased,..." raised his hand to his own face, and at once turning his back on Litvinov, took a few paces upon the carpet, with a slow and peculiar shuffle, as though he were trying to slink along unseen. Gubaryov had the habit of continually walking up and down, and constantly plucking and combing his beard with the tips of his long hard nails. Besides Gubaryov, there was also in the room a lady of about fifty, in a shabby silk dress, with an excessively mobile face almost as yellow as a lemon, a little black moustache on her upper lip, and eyes which moved so quickly that they seemed as though theywere jumping out of her head; there was too a broad-shouldered man sitting bent up in a corner.“这位是格里高利·李特维诺夫，一位心肠好的、真正的俄国小伙子。我把他介绍给您。”庞巴耶夫叫道，把李特维诺夫带到一位身材矮小的乡绅面前。那位乡绅的衣领敞着，身着一件短上衣和一条灰色睡裤，穿着一双拖鞋，站在明亮的、家具齐全的房间中央。“而这位，”庞巴耶夫又向李特维诺夫补充道，“这就是他本人，知道吗？简言之，这位就是古巴廖夫。”李特维诺夫好奇地盯着“他本人”。乍一看，李特维诺夫并未发现这人有什么特别之处。他看到的是一位受人尊敬的绅士，但他外表有点儿迟钝，宽额头、大眼睛、厚唇、大胡须和粗脖子，眼睛一动不动地向下斜视着。这位绅士傻笑着说：“嗯…… 啊…… 很高兴…… ”他用手拖着腮帮子，然后立刻背对着李特维诺夫，在地毯上缓慢而怪异地拖着脚走了几步，像是想要偷偷地逃走。古巴廖夫习惯不停地来回踱步，并用他那又长又硬的指甲尖不停地捋捋拽拽胡须。除了古巴廖夫，房间里还有一位五十岁左右、穿着破旧的丝质长裙的女士。她的脸像柠檬一样蜡黄，但表情极其丰富，上唇之上长着一层黑黑的汗毛，眼睛转动得很快，像要从头上蹦出来似的。角落里还蹲坐着一位肩膀很宽的男人。

"Well, honored Matrona Semyonovna," began Gubaryov, turning to the lady, and apparently not considering it necessary to introduce Litvinov to her, "what was it you were beginning to tell us?"“嗯，尊敬的玛特辽娜·谢苗诺夫娜，”古巴廖夫对那位女士说，显然认为没有必要把李特维诺夫介绍给她，“您刚才跟我们说什么来着？”

The lady (her name was Matrona Semyonovna Suhantchikov—she was a widow, childless, and not rich, and had been traveling from country to country for two years past) began with peculiar exasperated vehemence:

那位女士（她叫玛特辽娜·谢苗诺夫娜·苏汉契科娃，是个寡妇，没有孩子，并不富裕，这两年来一直周游各国）便开始异常兴高采烈地说：

"Well, so he appears before the prince and says to him: 'Your Excellency,' he says, 'in such an office and such a position as yours, what will it cost you to alleviate my lot? 'You,' he says, 'cannot but respect the purity of my ideas! And is it possible,' he says, 'in these days to persecute a man for his ideas?'And what do you suppose the prince did, that cultivated dignitary in that exalted position?""Why, what did he do?" observed Gubaryov, lighting a cigarette with a meditative air.“于是，他去见亲王并对亲王说：‘阁下，您高高在上，身居要职，改善我的命运岂不是轻而易举的事？‘您，’他说，‘得尊敬我纯洁的思想！现在，难道能仅仅因为一个人的思想就迫害他？’你们猜这位地位高贵的且有教养的亲王是怎么做的？”“啊，他怎么做的？”古巴廖夫若有所思地点了根香烟，问道。

The lady drew herself up and held out her bony right hand, with the first finger separated from the rest.

那位女士挺直腰板，伸出她那骨瘦如柴的右手，翘起大拇指。

"He called his groom and said to him, 'Take off that man's coat at once, and keep it yourself. I make you a present of that coat!’”“他叫来他的男仆并对他说：‘马上把那个人的衣服脱下来，归您了。我把那件衣服赏给您了！’”

"And did the groom take it?" asked Bambaev, throwing up his arms.“那个仆人真的把衣服拿走了吗？”庞巴耶夫扬起双手问道。

"He took it and kept it. And that was done by Prince Barnaulov, the well-known rich grandee, invested with special powers, the representative of the government. What is one to expect after that!”“拿了并且把它占为己有。这就是巴尔纳乌洛夫亲王干的事。他是位有钱的显贵，拥有特权，还是政府代表。他就这样，我们还有什么好指望的呢！”

The whole frail person of Madame Suhantchikovwas shaking with indignation, spasms passed over her face, her withered bosom was heaving convulsively under her flat corset; of her eyes it is needless to speak, they were fairly leaping out of her head. But then they were always leaping, whatever she might be talking about.

虚弱的苏汉契科娃女士气得全身发抖，脸上的肌肉一阵痉挛，松弛的胸部在扁平的紧身胸衣下剧烈地起伏，更别说她的双眼了，简直要从她的头上跳出来了。不过不管她说什么，它们总是像要跳出来似的。

"A crying shame, a crying shame!" cried Bambaev. "No punishment could be bad enough!"“太可耻了，太可耻了！”庞巴耶夫叫道，“没有比这更坏的惩罚了！”

"Mmm… Mmm... From top to bottom it's all rotten," observed Gubaryov, without raising his voice, however. "In that case punishment is not... that needs... other measures."“嗯……嗯……这个人全身上下都坏透了。”古巴廖夫说道，但他并没有提高声调。“在那种情况下，惩罚并不能解决问题……需要……用其他的方法。”

"But is it really true?" commented Litvinov.“但这是真的吗？”李特维诺夫问道。

"Is it true?" broke in Madame Suhantchikov. "Why, that one can't even dream of doubting... can't even d—d—d—ream of it."She pronounced these words with such energy that she was fairly shaking with the effort. "I was told of that by a very trustworthy man. And you, Stepan Nikolaitch, know him—Elistratov, Kapiton. He heard it himself from eyewitnesses, spectators of this disgraceful scene."“是真的吗？”苏汉契科娃插话道，“哎呀，那是做梦都毋庸质疑的……连做——做——做梦都想不到。”她如此掷地有声地说出这些话，以至于浑身简直在发抖。“是一个非常可靠的人告诉我的。斯捷潘·尼古拉耶维奇，您认识他的——叶里斯特拉托夫·卡比东。他是听一些目击者说的，他们目睹了这可耻的一幕。”

"What Elistratov?" inquired Gubaryov. "The one who was in Kazan?"“哪个叶里斯特拉托夫？”古巴廖夫问，“就是那个去过喀山的人吗？”

"Yes. I know, Stepan Nikolaitch, a rumor was spread about him that he took bribes there from some contractors or distillers. But then who is it says so? Pelikanov! And how can one believe Pelikanov when every one knows he is simply—a spy!”“是的。我知道斯捷潘·尼古拉耶维奇，有一些关于他的谣言，说他从一些承包商和酿酒商那里收受了贿赂。不过是谁说的呢？别里康诺夫！但既然所有的人都知道他只是一个间谍，我们又怎能相信他呢！”

"No, with your permission, Matrona Semyonovna," interposed Bambaev, "I am friends with Pelikanov, he is not a spy at all."“不，请允许我说，玛特辽娜·谢苗诺夫娜，”庞巴耶夫插话说，“别里康诺夫是我的朋友，他根本不是什么间谍。”

"Yes, yes, that's just what he is, a spy!”“是的，是的，他就是个间谍！”

"But wait a minute, kindly—"“但是等等，请您耐心等会儿——”

"A spy, a spy!" shrieked Madame Suhantchikov.“间谍，间谍！”苏汉契科娃尖叫道。

"No, no, one minute, I tell you what," shrieked Bambaev in his turn.“不，不，听我说。”这次轮到庞巴耶夫尖叫了。

"A spy, a spy," persisted Madame Suhantchikov.“间谍！间谍！”苏汉契科娃坚称。

"No, no! There's Tentelyev now, that's a different matter," roared Bambaev with all the force of his lungs.“不，不是这样的！现在是田捷列耶夫了，那是另一码事了。”庞巴耶夫用尽肺部所有的力气怒吼道。

Madame Suhantchikov was silent for a moment. "I know for a fact about that gentleman," he continued in his ordinary voice, "that when he was summoned before the secret police, he groveled at the feet of the Countess Blazenkrampff and kept whining, 'Save me, intercede for me!'But Pelikanov never demeaned 'himself to baseness like that."

苏汉契科娃沉默了一会儿。“关于这位绅士，我知道一件事情，”他以平常的口吻继续说，“当他被召唤到秘密警察面前时，他跪在勃拉辛克拉普伯爵夫人面前，不住地哀诉：‘救救我，帮我说下情吧！’但别里康诺夫决不会做出‘那种自贬身份的事。’

"Mm... Tentelyev..." muttered Gubaryov, "that... that ought to be noted."Madame Suhantchikov shrugged her shoulders contemptuously.“嗯……田捷列耶夫……”古巴廖夫喃喃自语说，“这个……这个我们应当注意一下。”苏汉契科娃蔑视地耸耸肩。

"They're one worse than another," she said, "but I know a still better story about Tentelyev. He was, as every one knows, a most horrible despot with his serfs, though he gave himself out for an emancipator. Well, he was once at some friend's house in Paris, and suddenly in comes Madame Beecher Stowe—you know, Uncle Tom's Cabin. Tentelyev, who's an awfully pushing fellow, began asking the host to present him; but directly she heard his name. 'What?' she said, 'he presumes to be introduced to the author of Uncle Tom?'And she gave him a slap on the cheek! 'Go away!' she says, 'at once!'And what do you think? Tentelyev took his hat and slunk away, pretty crestfallen.""Come, I think that's exaggerated," observed Bambaev. “'Go away' she certainly did say, that's a fact, but she didn't give him a smack!”“他们一个不如一个，”她说，“但我还知道一个更好的有关田捷列耶夫的故事。众所周知，他对待他的农奴就像一位可怕至极的暴君，可还以解放者自居。田捷列耶夫有一次在巴黎的一位朋友家里，突然比彻·斯托夫人，也就是——您知道的，《汤姆叔叔的小屋》的作者来了。田捷列耶夫这个十分莽撞的家伙想请主人引荐一下，但斯托夫人一听见他的名字就说：‘什么？想认识《汤姆叔叔的小屋》的作者？’她在他的脸上扇了一耳光!‘滚出去！’她说，‘马上!’你们猜怎么样了？田捷列耶夫拿起帽子，相当气馁地溜走了。”“别说了，我觉得那也太夸张了吧。”庞巴耶夫说，“她确实说了‘滚出去’，那是事实，但并没有扇他耳光。”

"She did, she did!" repeated Madame Suhantchikovwith convulsive intensity: "I am not talking idle gossip. And you are friends with men like that!"“扇了！扇了！”苏汉契科娃略带痉挛地反复说道，“我并没有瞎扯。您竟然和那种人做朋友！”

"Excuse me, excuse me, Matrona Semyonovna, I never spoke of Tentelyev as a friend of mine; I was speaking of Pelikanov."“对不起，对不起，玛特辽娜·谢苗诺夫娜！我从没说过田捷列耶夫是我的朋友。我说的是别里康诺夫。”

"Well, if it's not Tentelyev, it's another. Mihnyov, for example."“好吧，如果不是田捷列耶夫，就是另一个人。例如米赫涅夫。”

"What did he do then?" asked Bambaev, already showing signs of alarm. "What? Is it possible you don't know? He exclaimed on the Poznesensky Prospect in the hearing of all the world that all the liberals ought to be in prison; and what's more, an old schoolfellow came to him, a poor man of course, and said, 'Can I come to dinner with you?'And this was his answer. 'No, impossible; I have two counts dining with me to-day... get along with you!’”“他又干什么事啦？”庞巴耶夫问道，显得有点儿惊慌。“什么事？您怎么可能不知道？他在沃滋涅先斯基大街当着世人的面喊叫，所有的自由主义者都应进监狱。更有甚者，他的一位老校友，当然是位穷同学，来找他，问道：‘我能来这里和您一起吃顿饭吗？’下面就是他的回答。‘不，不行，今天我要和两位伯爵一起吃饭。您自己想办法吧！’”

"But that's slander, upon my word!" vociferated Bambaev.“那是诽谤，我敢保证！”庞巴耶夫叫喊着。

"Slander?... slander? In the first place, Prince

V

"You have hit on a fine authority to quote! Why, she and Sarkizov are the greatest scandal-mongers going."“您找到了一位可靠的证人！她和萨尔基佐夫最喜欢到处散播谣言了。”

"I beg your pardon, Sarkizov is a liar, certainly. He filched the very pall of brocade off his dead father's coffin. I will never dispute that; but PraskovyaYakovlovna—there's no comparison! Remember how magnanimously she parted from her husband! But you, I know, are always ready—"“对不起，萨尔基佐夫的确爱说谎。他偷了已故父亲棺材上的锦缎棺罩。这一点我从不怀疑。但是普拉斯科菲娅·雅可夫列夫娜怎能和他相比呢！别忘了，她和丈夫离婚时，她表现得多么宽宏大量啊！但您，我知道，您总是准备——”

"Come, enough, enough, Matrona Semyonovna," said Bambaev, interrupting her, "let us give up this tittletattle, and take a loftier flight. I am not new to the work, you know. Have you read Mlle. de la Quintinie? That's something charming now! And quite in accord with your principles at the same time!”"I never read novels now," was Madame Suhantchikov's dry and sharp reply.“够了，够了。玛特辽娜·谢苗诺夫娜，”庞巴耶夫打断她，“我们不谈论这一无聊的话题了，说个高尚的话题吧。您知道的，我对这个并不陌生。您读过《昆提尼小姐》吗？现在可流行了！同时,它十分符合您的原则！”“我现在再也不读小说了。”苏汉契科娃冷淡而尖锐地回答。

"Why?"“为什么？”

"Because I have not the time now; I have no thoughts now but for one thing, sewing machines."“因为我现在没那时间。我现在什么事情也不想，只想一样东西，缝纫机。”

"What machines?" inquired Litvinov. "Sewing, sewing; all women ought to provide themselves with sewing-machines, and form societies; in that way they will all be enabled to earn their living, and will become independent at once. In no other way can they ever be emancipated. That is an important, most important social question. I had such an argument about it with Boleslav Stadnitsky. Boleslav Stadnitsky is a marvelous nature, but he looks at these things in an awfully frivolous spirit. He does nothing but laugh. Idiot!”“什么机？”李特维诺夫问道。“缝纫机，缝纫机。所有的妇女都应该有缝纫机并且应该形成一个社团。这样一来，她们便能自力更生，马上变得独立。除此之外，她们无法被解放。那是个重要的、极其重要的社会问题。我与鲍列斯拉夫·斯塔特尼茨基争论过这一问题。鲍列斯拉夫·斯塔特尼茨基是个了不起的人，但他对这些问题的看法相当轻率。他只是一笑置之。笨蛋！”

"All will in their due time be called to account, from all it will be exacted," pronounced Gubaryov deliberately, in a tone half-professorial, half-prophetic.“做坏事迟早会遭报应的。”古巴廖夫故意用半教授半预言家的口吻说道。

"Yes, yes," repeated Bambaev, "it will be exacted, precisely so, it will be exacted. But, Stepan Nikolaitch," he added, dropping his voice, "how goes the great work?""I am collecting materials," replied Gubaryov, knitting his brows; and, turning to Litvinov, whose head began to swim from the medley of unfamiliar names,and the frenzy of backbiting, he asked him what subjects he was interested in.“是的，是的，”庞巴耶夫反复说道,“会遭报应的，肯定会遭报应的。但是，斯捷潘·尼古拉耶维奇，”他又低声补充道，“您的大作进展如何？”“我正在收集资料。”古巴廖夫皱着眉回答，然后他转向正被一大堆不熟悉的名字和恣意的诽谤弄得头昏目眩的李特维诺夫，问他是干什么的。

Litvinov satisfied his curiosity. "Ah! to be sure, the natural sciences. That is useful, as training; as training, not as an end in itself. The end at present should be... mm... should be... different. Allow me to ask what views do you hold?"

李特维诺夫满足了他的好奇心。“啊！那肯定是自然科学啦。作为学习，那非常有用；作为学习，而并不是作为目标本身。目前,目标应该是……嗯……应该是……另外一个。请允许我问下，您持的是什么观点？”

"What views?"“什么观点？”

"Yes, that is, more accurately speaking, what are your political views?"“是的，说得更准确些，也就是您的政治观点是什么？”

Litvinov smiled.

李特维诺夫笑了笑。

"Strictly speaking, I have no political views."“严格说来，我没有什么政治观点。”

The broad-shouldered man sitting in the corner raised his head quickly at these words and looked attentively at Litvinov.

听到这番话，坐在角落里的那个宽肩膀的男人迅速抬起头，专注地看着李特维诺夫。

"How is that?" observed Gubaryov with peculiar gentleness. "Have you not yet reflected on the subject, or have you grown weary of it?"“怎么会呢？”古巴廖夫用异常温和的口吻问道，“您是没有思考过这一问题，还是已经厌烦了这一问题？”

"How shall I say? It seems to me that for us Russians, it is too early yet to have political views or to imagine that we have them. Observe that I attribute to the word 'political' the meaning which belongs to it by right, and that—"“怎么说呢？我认为对于我们俄国人来说，拥有政治观点或者想象我们已经有了政治观点，为时过早。注意，我这里‘政治’的含义是指它法律上具有的含义……并且它——”

"Aha! he belongs to the undeveloped," Gubaryov interrupted him, with the same gentleness, and going up to Voroshilov, he asked him: 'Had he read the pamphlet he had given him?'Voroshilov, to Litvinov's astonishment, had not uttered a word ever since his entrance, but had only knitted his brows and rolled his eyes (as a rule he was either speechifying or else perfectly dumb). He flow expanded his chest in soldierly fashion, and with a tap of his heels, nodded assent.“啊！他还属于欠发达人群。”古巴廖夫以同样温和的口吻打断他。他走向沃罗希洛夫并问他是否已经读完了自己给他的小册子。令李特维诺夫吃惊的是，沃罗希洛夫从进门起就一言不发，只是皱着眉，转着眼珠（通常，他不是滔滔不绝就是一声不吭）。他像军人那样挺起胸，轻扣一下脚后跟，点头表示读过了。

"Well, and how was it? Did you like it?"“嗯，那么您觉得它怎么样？您喜欢它吗？”

"As regards the fundamental principles, I liked it; but I did not agree with the inferences.""Mmm... Andrei Ivanitch praised that pamphlet, however. You must expand your doubts to me later."“我喜欢基本的理论，但我不同意结论。”“嗯……但是安德烈·伊凡内奇赞扬这本小册子。稍后您必须向我阐述下您的怀疑。”

"You desire it in writing?"Gubaryov was obviously surprised; he had not expected this; however, after a moment's thought, he replied:“您希望是以书面形式吗？”古巴廖夫显然很吃惊，因为他并没想到他会提这样的问题。然而，想了片刻后,他回答道：

"Yes, in writing. By the way, I will ask you to explain to me your views also... in regard to... in regard to associations."“是的，以书面形式。顺便说一下，我想请您向我解释一下您的观点……关于……关于团体的观点。”

"Associations on Lassalle's system, do you desire, or on the system of Schulze-Delitzsch?""Mmm... on both. For us Russians, you understand, the financial aspect of the matter is specially important. Yes, and the artel... as the germ... All that, one must take note of. One must go deeply into it. And the question, too, of the land to be apportioned to the peasants..."“您想知道的是关于拉萨尔式的团体还是舒尔茨·德里奇式的团体？”“嗯……都想知道。对于我们俄国人来说，您知道的，这一问题的财政方面尤为重要。嗯，还有劳动组合…… 作为开始。所有这些我们都必须注意。必须深入研究。还有农民土地分配的问题……”

"And you, Stepan Nikolaitch, what is your view as to the number of acres suitable?" inquired Voroshilov, with reverential delicacy in his voice. "Mmm... and the commune?" articulated Gubaryov, deep in thought, and biting a tuft of his beard he stared at the table-leg. "The commune!... Do You understand? That is a grand word'! Then what is the significance of these conflagrations? these... these government measures against Sunday-schools, reading-rooms, journals? And the refusal of the peasants to sign the charters regulating their position in the future? And finally, what of what is happening in Poland? Don't you see that... mmm... that we... we have to unite with the people... find out... find out their views—"Suddenly aheavy, almost a wrathful emotion seemed to take possession of Gubaryov; he even grew black in the face and breathed heavily, but still did not raise his eyes, and continued to gnaw at his beard. "Can't you see—"“还有您，斯捷潘·尼古拉耶维奇，您认为几公顷土地才适合呢？沃罗希洛夫以略带敬意的口吻问道。“嗯……还有公社呢？”古巴廖夫说道，一边沉思，一边咬着一缕胡须，眼睛盯着一条桌腿。“公社！……您懂吗？那是一个伟大的词！那么，这几场大火有什么意义呢？这些……政府所采取的这些反对主日学校、阅览室和杂志的措施……这些措施有什么意义呢？农民拒绝在规定他们未来地位的宪章上签字又有什么意义呢？最后，波兰正在发生的事件又有什么意思呢？难道您没看见……嗯……我们……我们必须团结人民……找出……找出他们的观点！”突然,古巴廖夫的脸上似乎被沉重几近愤怒的情绪给控制住了。他脸色发紫，呼吸沉重，但还是没有抬起头，继续咬着胡须。“难道您没看到——”

"Yevseyev is a wretch!"Madame Suhantchikov burst out noisily all of a sudden. Bambaev had been relating something to her in a voice lowered out of respect for their host. Gubaryov turned round swiftly on his heels, and again began limping about the room.“叶夫谢耶夫是个卑鄙小人！”苏哈契科娃女士突然大声叫喊。庞巴耶夫一直对她说着什么，但是出于对主人的尊敬，他一直压低着声音。古巴廖夫用脚跟迅速地转过身，又开始在房间里踱步。

Fresh guests began to arrive; towards the end of the evening a good many people were assembled. Among them came, too, Mr. Yevseyev whom Madame Suhantchikov had vilified so cruelly. She entered into conversation with him very cordially, and asked him to escort her home; there arrived, too, a certain Pishtchalkin, an ideal mediator, one of those men of whom precisely, perhaps, Russia stands in need—a man, that is, narrow, of little information, and no great gifts, but conscientious, patient, and honest; the peasants of his district almost worshiped him, and he regarded himself very respectfully as a creature genuinely deserving of esteem. A few officers, too, were there, escaped for a brief furlough to Europe, and rejoicing—though of course warily, and ever mindful of their colonel in the background of their brains—in the opportunity of dallying a little with intellectual—even rather dangerous—people; two lanky students from Heidelberg came hurrying in, one looked about him very contemptuously, the other giggled spasmodically... both were very ill at ease; after them a Frenchman—a so-called petit jeune homme—poked his nose in; a nasty, silly, pitiful little creature,... who enjoyed some repute among his fellow commis-voyageurs on the theory that Russian countesses hadfallen in love with him; for his own part, his reflections were centered more upon getting a supper gratis; the last to appear was Tit Bindasov, in appearance a rollicking German student, in reality a skinflint, in words a terrorist, by vocation a police-officer, a friend of Russian merchants' wives and Parisian cocottes; bald, toothless, and drunken; he arrived very red. In short, there were a number of people. Remarkable—really remarkable—was the respect with which all these people treated Gubaryov as a preceptor or chief; they laid their ideas before him, and submitted them to his judgment; and he replied by muttering, plucking at his beard, averting his eyes, or by some disconnected, meaningless words, which were at once seized upon as the utterances of the loftiest wisdom Gubaryov himself seldom interposed in the discussions; but the others strained their lungs to the utmost to make up for it. It happened more than once that three or four were shouting for ten minutes together, and all were content and understood. The conversation lasted till after midnight, and was as usual distinguished by the number and variety of the, subjects discussed. Madame Suhantchikov talked about Garibaldi, about a certain Karl Ivanovitch, who had been flogged by the serfs of his own household, about Napoleon III., about women's work, about a merchant, Pleskatchov, who had designedly caused the death of twelve workwomen, and had received a medal for it with the inscription "for public services"; about the proletariat, about the Georgian Prince Tchuktcheulidzov, who had shot his wife with a cannon, and about the future of Russia. Pishtchalkin, too, talked of the future of Russia, and of the spirit monopoly, and ofthe significance of nationalities, and of how he hated above everything what was vulgar. There was an outburst all of a sudden from Voroshilov; in a single breath, almost choking himself, he mentioned Draper, Virchow, Shelgunov, Bichat, Helmholtz, Star, St. Raymund, Johann Müller the physiologist, and Johann Müller the historian—obviously confounding them—Tame, Renan, Shtchapov; and then Thomas Nash, Peele, Greene... "What sort of queer fish may they be?" Bambaev muttered, bewildered, Shakespeare's predecessors having the same relation to him as the ranges of the Alps to Mont Blanc. Voroshilov replied cuttingly, and he, too, touched on the future of Russia. Bambaev also spoke of the future of Russia, and even depicted it in glowing colors: but he was thrown into special raptures over the thought of Russian music, in which he saw something. "Ah! great, indeed!" and in confirmation he began humming a song of Varlamov's, but was soon interrupted by a general shout, "He is singing the Miserere from the Trovatore, and singing it excruciatingly too."One little officer was reviling Russian literature in the midst of the hubbub; another was quoting verses from Sparks; but Tit Bindasov went even further; he declared that all these swindlers ought to have their teeth knocked out,... and that's all about it, but he did not particularize who were the swindlers alluded to. The smoke from the cigars became stifling; all were hot and exhausted, every one was horse, all eyes were growing dim, and the perspiration stood out in drops on every face. Bottles of iced beer were brought in and drunk off instantaneously. "What was I saying?" remarked one; "and with whom was I disputing, and about what?" inquired another. And among all the uproar and the smoke, Gubaryov walked indefatigably up anddown as before, swaying from side to side and twitching at his beard; now listening, turning an ear to some controversy, now putting in a word of his own; and every one was forced to feel that he, Gubaryov, was the source of it all, that he was the master here, and the most eminent personality... Litvinov, towards ten o'clock, began to have a terrible headache, and, taking advantage of a louder outburst of general excitement, went off quietly unobserved. Madame Suhantchikov had recollected a fresh served. Madame Suhantchikov had recollected a fresh act of injustice of Prince Barnaulov; he had all but given orders to have some one's ears bitten off.

新客人开始到来，夜末十分已经聚集了很多人。其中也包括被苏汉契科娃女士无情诋毁过的叶夫谢耶夫先生。她非常友好地与他谈话并请他送她回家。还有位叫比夏尔金的人也来了。他是理想的调停人，也许正是俄国所需要的那种人——鼠目寸光，知识缺乏，才能平庸，但是工作诚诚恳恳，有耐心，为人诚实。他所在的村镇农民几乎都崇拜他，他也懂得自尊自重，认为自己确实值得尊重。人群中还有一些到欧洲来短期休假的官员。他们十分开心有机会能与才智过人却相当危险的人嬉戏，尽管肯定要很小心，还要留心不要将上校抛之脑后。还有两个瘦长的匆匆从海德堡赶来的学生。一位鄙夷地望着四周，另一位则神经质地傻笑……两个人都感到不自在。后来又进来了一位法国人——一个所谓的“小青年”——跑过来插入到其中。他是个卑鄙、愚蠢而又可怜的小东西……由于一位俄国的伯爵夫人爱上了他，他在他的那些“小职员旅客”同伴之间享有一定的名望。她很喜欢他，但对他而言，他只想着怎样获得一份免费的晚餐。最后出现的一位是季特·宾达索夫。他表面上像个无忧无虑的德国学生，实际上却敲诈别人，言语中透露出恐怖分子的面目。他的职业是警察，他还是一些俄国商人妻子和巴黎妓女的朋友。他是个秃顶，没有牙齿，醉醺醺的。刚来的时候满脸通红。总而言之，有许多人。奇怪的是，所有的来宾都很尊敬古巴廖夫，将他视作老师或长官。他们向他诉说自己的想法，并请古巴廖夫评判他们的想法。他则通过喃喃自语，捋胡须，转动眼珠的方式或者用一些不连贯、无意义的话来回答。他们认真地倾听并且把这些话作为至理名言。古巴廖夫自己很少参与讨论，其他人则争得热火朝天。经常发生这种情况：三四个人争论长达十分钟，随后大家都感到满意，还能互相理解。谈话一直持续到午夜，话题和往常一样形形色色。苏汉契科娃女士谈到加里波第，谈到被自己家中的农奴痛打一顿的卡尔·伊凡诺维奇，谈到拿破仑三世，谈到妇女的工作，谈到故意将十二名女工劳累致死却因此获得刻有“为人民服务”勋章的商人普列斯卡切夫，谈到无产阶级，谈到用大炮射击自己妻子的格鲁吉亚公爵丘克切乌里泽夫，还谈到俄国的未来。比夏尔金也说到俄国的未来，酒的垄断问题，民族的意义以及他是多么憎恶一切庸俗的东西。沃罗希洛夫突然变得兴致勃勃，一口气谈到了许多人，差点儿被自己呛到了，有德列别尔、费尔霍夫、谢尔贡诺夫、比沙、盖尔姆戈里茨、斯塔尔、莱蒙特、生理学家约翰·米勒、历史学家约翰·米勒（明显他把他俩弄混了）、泰纳、列纳、夏波夫、托马斯·纳什、比里、格林……“他们是怎样的怪人呢？”庞巴耶夫困惑地喃喃自语，“莎士比亚的前辈同他的关系就像阿尔卑斯和勃朗峰的关系一样。”沃罗希洛夫挖苦地回答，然后又说到了俄国的未来。庞巴耶夫也说到了俄国的未来并且有声有色地描述着。当谈到俄国的音乐时，他变得欣喜若狂，因为他看到了俄国音乐中珍贵的东西。“啊！是的，的确很伟大！”为了证明这一观点，他开始哼瓦尔拉莫夫的歌曲，但是马上被大家的喊叫声打断了：“他唱的是《流浪诗人》中的咏叹调，唱得也很糟。”一位小官员在人潮中辱骂俄国文学，另一位官员则引用《火星报》的诗，但是季特·宾达索夫更过分，宣称这些骗子的牙齿全都要被打掉……这样就太平了，但他并没有具体指出他说的骗子是谁。雪茄散发的烟雾令人窒息，所有人都感到闷热、筋疲力尽，嗓子都沙哑无力，眼睛暗淡无神，脸上大汗淋漓。冰镇酒一拿进来立刻就被人们一饮而尽。这个人问：“我说什么来着？”另一个人则问：“我刚才和谁争执，争执了什么？”在喧嚣和烟雾中，古巴廖夫依旧不知疲倦地在房间里踱步，身体左右摇晃着并捋着胡须。他一会儿聆听人们的争论，一会儿发表自己的观点。每个人都会不由自主地感觉到古巴廖夫是这里所有争论的来源，是这里的主人和最显赫的人物……将近十点，李特维诺夫头疼得厉害，便趁着一阵激动声悄悄溜走了。苏汉契科娃女士又想到一件新鲜事。苏汉契科娃女士想起了巴尔纳乌洛夫公爵刚做出的一件不公正的事，他就差没有下令将某个人的耳朵咬下来。

The fresh night air enfolded Litvinov's flushed face caressingly, the fragrant breeze breathed on his parched lips. "What is it," he thought as he went along the dark avenue, "that I have been present at? Why were they met together? What were they shouting, scolding, and making such a pother about? What was it all for?"Litvinov shrugged his shoulders, and turning into Weber's, he picked up a newspaper and asked for an ice. The newspaper was taken up with a discussion on the Roman question, and the ice turned out to be very nasty. He was already preparing to go home, when suddenly an unknown person in a wide-brimmed hat drew near, and saying in Russian: "I hope I am not in your way?" sat down at his table. Only then, after a closer glance at the stranger, Litvinov recognized him as the broad-shouldered gentleman hidden away in a corner at Gubaryov's, who had stared at him with such attention when the conversation had turned on political views. During the whole evening this gentleman had not once opened his mouth, and now, sitting down near Litvinov, and taking off his hat, he looked at him with an expression of friendliness and some embarrassment.

晚上，新鲜的空气轻柔地抚摩着李特维诺夫通红的脸颊，馨香的清风吹拂着他干渴的双唇。“这是怎么啦，”他走在漆黑的林阴道上，心想，“我为什么会参加聚会呢？他们为什么聚在一起？他们在叫什么，责骂什么，为什么事情吵得这么厉害？到底是为什么呢？”李特维诺夫耸耸肩，走进韦伯咖啡馆，拿起一份报纸，点了份冰激凌。报纸上净是些关于罗马问题的讨论，而冰激凌又很难吃。他正打算回家，突然一位头戴宽边礼帽的陌生男子走近他，用俄语说：“我没打扰您吧？”说完，在他的桌边坐了下来。仔细地端详过这位陌生人之后，李特维诺夫才认出这个宽肩膀的男人正是坐在古巴廖夫家角落里的那个人。谈到政治信仰时，这人曾经聚精会神地盯着他看。整个晚上，这位绅士一言不发，现在却坐在李特维诺夫身旁，摘下帽子，用友好而略带尴尬的眼神看着李特维诺夫。V

第五章

"Mr. Gubaryov, at whose rooms I had the pleasure of meeting you to-day," he began, "did not introduce, me to you; so that, with your leave, I will now introduce myself—Potugin, retired councillor. I was in the department of finances in St. Petersburg. I hope you do not think it strange…I am not in the habit as a rule of making friends so abruptly... but with you..."“今天很荣幸在古巴廖夫先生家里看见您。”他开始说道，“他没有把我介绍给您。所以如果您允许，我想现在自我介绍一下。我叫波图金，是一名退休的理事。我曾在圣彼得堡的财务部工作。我希望您不要见怪……我通常没有这样唐突地交朋友的习惯…… 但是和您……”

Here Potugin grew rather mixed, and he asked the waiter to bring him a little glass of kirsch-wasser. "To give me courage," he added with a smile.

这时，波图金变得相当糊涂了，他叫侍者给他拿来一小杯樱桃白兰地。“壮壮胆。”他微笑着补充道。

Litvinov looked with redoubled interest at the last of all the new persons with whom it had been his lot to be brought into contact that day. His thought was at once, "He is not the same as those."Certainly he was not. There sat before him, drumming with delicate fingers on the edge of the table, a broad-shouldered man, with an ample frame on short legs, a downcast head of curly hair, with very intelligent and very mournful eyes under bushy brows, a thick well-cut mouth, bad teeth, and that purely Russian nose to which is assigned the epithet "potato"; a man of awkward, even odd exterior; at least, he was certainly not of a common type. He was carelessly dressed; his old-fashioned coat hung on him like a sack, and his cravat was, twisted awry. His sudden friendliness, far from striking Litvinov as intrusive, secretly flattered him; it was impossible not to see that it was not a common practice with this man to attachhimself to strangers. He made a curious impression on Litvinov; he awakened in him respect and liking, and a kind of involuntary compassion.’

李特维诺夫以加倍的兴趣盯着今天碰到的最后一张新面孔看，就像是命中注定那天要与他说话似的。他马上想到：“他与那些人不同。”他的确与众不同。坐在他面前、用纤细的手指敲着桌沿的这个人，肩膀宽阔，身材魁梧，双腿很短，留着一头卷发的头低垂着，浓密的眉毛下是一双非常睿智但又非常悲伤的眼睛，厚厚的嘴唇线条分明，牙齿很差，还有一个纯正的俄国式的“土豆鼻”。他看起来有点儿愚钝，连长相都很奇怪，但至少他肯定不是普通人。他衣着随便，身上那件过时的外套就像个麻袋，领带也系得歪歪斜斜的。他突如其来的示好并没有使李特维诺夫感到被冒犯，反而使他暗自感到受宠若惊。您不可能看不出，这个人并不是那种会对陌生人纠缠不休的人。他给李特维诺夫留下了一种奇特的印象，唤醒了他内心深处的尊敬、喜爱和情不自禁的怜悯之情。

"I am not in your way then?" he repeated in a soft, rather languid and faint voice, which was marvelously in keeping with his whole personality.“那么，我没打搅您吧？”波图金以一种温和、相当倦怠的微弱口吻重复说了一遍，与他整个人的个性惊人地一致。

"No, indeed," replied Litvinov; "quite the contrary, I am very glad."“没有，真的没有，”李特维诺夫答道，“恰恰相反，我很高兴。”

"Really? Well, then, I am glad, too. I have heard a great deal about you; I know what you are engaged in, and what your plans are. It's a good work. That's why you were silent this evening."“真的吗？嗯，那么，我也很高兴。我听说了您的很多事情，知道您在从事什么工作，还有您的计划。这是一个好工作。这就是为什么您一整晚一言不发。”

"Yes; you, too, said very little, I fancy," observed Litvinov.“是的，我想，您今晚也没怎么说话。”李特维诺夫说。

Potugin sighed. "The others said enough and to spare. I listened. Well," he added, after a moment's pause, raising his eyebrows with a rather humorous expression, "did you like our building of the Tower of Babel?"

波图金叹了叹气。“其他人说得够多了。我听着呢。”“那么，”沉默了片刻之后，他扬起眉毛，带着诙谐的表情补充道，“您喜欢我们的这种喧嚣场面吗？”

"That's just what it was. You have expressed it capitally. I kept wanting to ask those gentlemen what they were in such a fuss about."“那的确很吵。您说得对极了。我一直想问这些绅士们，他们这样大惊小怪是为了什么。”

Potugin sighed again.

波图金又叹了叹气。

"That's the whole point of it, that they don't know, that themselves. In former days the expression used about them would have been: 'they are the blind instruments of higher ends'; well, nowadays we make use of sharper epithets. And take note that I am not in the least intending to blame them; I will say more, they are all... that is, almost all, excellent people. Of Madame Suhantchikov, for instance, I know for certain much that is good; she gave away the last of her fortune to two poor nieces. Even admitting that the desire of doing something picturesque, of showing herself off, was not without its influence on her, stillyou will agree that it was a remarkable act of self-sacrifice in a woman not herself well-off! Of Mr. Pishtchalkin there is no need to speak, even; the peasants of his district will certainly in time present him with a silver bowl like a pumpkin, and perhaps even a holy picture representing his patron saint, and though he will tell them in his speech of thanks that he does not deserve such an honor, he won't tell the truth there; he does deserve it. Mr. Bambaev, your friend, has a wonderfully good heart; it's true that it's with him as with the poet Yazikov, who they say used to sing the praises of Bacchic revelry, sitting over a book and sipping water; his enthusiasm is completely without a special object, still it is enthusiasm; and Mr. Voroshilov, too, is the most good-natured fellow; like all his sort, all men who've taken the first prizes at school, he's an aide-de-campof the sciences, and he even holds his tongue sententiously, but then he is so young. Yes, yes, they are all excellent people, and when you come to results, there's nothing to show for it; the ingredients are all first-rate, but the dish is not worth eating."Litvinov listened to Potugin with growing astonishment: every phrase, every turn of his slow but self-confident speech betrayed both the power of speaking and the desire to speak.“这就是关键所在，连他们自己都不知道。以前，关于他们的表述应该是‘他们是为实现崇高目标的盲目工具’。那么，现在我们会用一些尖锐的措辞来描述他们。注意了，我丝毫没有要责备他们。恰恰相反，我是说，他们都……几乎全是优秀的人。例如苏汉契科娃女士，我确实知道她有很多优点：她把自己最后的一点儿钱给了两个穷侄女。就算承认她只是想做一些独特之事来炫耀自己，对她自己不无影响，但您还是会认同，对她这样本身并不富裕的女人来说，这是一种崇高的自我牺牲精神！比夏尔金先生就更不必说了。他那个区的农民将来肯定会送给他一个南瓜大小的银碗，或许还会送给他一幅将他刻画成守护神的圣像。尽管在他的致谢词中他会说自己不配拥有此等殊荣，但他并没有说实话。他确实有资格。您的朋友即庞巴耶夫有一颗极其善良的心。他和诗人雅泽科夫一样——听说他只啃书和抿白水喝，但是仍然高度赞扬琼浆玉液——尽管没有什么特别值得高兴的事，庞巴耶夫仍然充满热情。沃罗希洛夫也是个非常和善的人，同其他那些在学校里拿一等奖的伙伴们一样，他是一个科学界的专家，甚至还是言谈简洁明了的人，但他又是如此年轻。是的，是的，他们都是优秀的人才，到头来却一无所成。原料都是一流的，但做出的菜却不值得一吃。”李特维诺夫听波图金说话，越听越吃惊：他的话句句都说得很慢，但却充满自信，显示出他不仅口才好，而且喜欢说话。

Potugin did, in fact, like speaking, and could speak well; but, as a man in whom life had succeeded in wearing away vanity, he waited with philosophic calm for a good opportunity, a meeting with a kindred spirit.

事实上，波图金的确喜欢说话，且说得很好，但是由于他的虚荣心已经被生活所磨蚀，所以他以哲学家的冷静等待着良机，等着遇见一个与自己志趣相投的人。

"Yes, yes," he began again, with the special dejected but not peevish humor peculiar to him, "it is all very strange. And there is something else I want you to note. Let a dozen Englishmen, for example, cometogether, and they will at once begin to talk of the submarine telegraph, or the tax on paper, or a method of tanning rats' skins,—of something, that's to say, practical and definite; a dozen Germans, and of course Schleswig-Holstein and the unity of Germany will be brought on the scene; given a dozen Frenchmen, and the conversation will infallibly turn upon amorous adventures, however much you try to divert them from the subject; but let a dozen Russians meet together, and instantly there springs up the question—you had an opportunity of being convinced of the fact this evening—the question of the significance and the future of Russia, and in terms so general, beginning with creation, without facts or conclusions. They worry and worry away at that unlucky subject, as children chew away at a bit of india-rubber—neither for pleasure nor profit, as the saying is. Well, then, of course the rotten West comes in for its share. It's a curious thing, it beats us at every point, this West—but yet we declare that it's rotten! And if only we had a genuine contempt for it," pursued Potugin, "but that's really all cant and humbug. We can do well enough as far as abuse goes, but the opinion of the West is the only thing we value, the opinion, that's to say, of the Parisian loafers…I know a man—a good fellow, I fancy—the father of a family, and no longer young; he was thrown into deep dejection for some days because in a Parisian restaurant he had asked for une portion de biftek aux pommes de terre, and a real Frenchman thereupon shouted: Garçon! biftek pommes! My friend was ready to die with shame, and after that he shouted everywhere, Biftek pommes! and taught others to do the same. The very cocottes are surprised at the reverential trepidation with which our young barbarians entertheir shameful drawing-rooms. 'Good God!' they are thinking, 'is this really where I am, with no less a person than Anna Deslions herself!'”“是的，是的，”他又以他那特有的、特殊的、沮丧但幸福的滑稽口吻说：“都很奇怪。还有一些事我希望您也注意下。例如：十二个英国人聚到一起，他们会马上开始谈到海底电报、纸税、灰鼠皮加工方法诸如此类的话题，也就是实用而确定的话题；十二个德国人聚到一起当然会谈论石勒苏易格-荷尔斯泰因和德国统一；假如十二个法国人聚到一起，不管您如何力图转移话题，他们肯定还是会说风流韵事；但是假如十二个俄国人聚到一起，马上就会争论一个问题——今晚您已经有机会确信这一事实——关于俄国的重要性和未来的问题，用词笼统，起初很有创造性，但没有事实和结论。他们总是为这个令人不开心的话题担忧，俗话说得好，就像孩子嚼橡皮，既无味又无益。嗯，当然了，他们也会说一说堕落的西欧。真奇怪，西欧在每个方面都比我们略高一筹，可我们还说它堕落！”“要是我们真心蔑视它就好了，”波图金继续说道，“但那真的全都是黑话和谎言。”我们能竭尽所能辱骂西欧，但他们的看法却是我唯一看重的，也就是巴黎那群懒人的看法……我认识一个人——我想他是个好人——一位上了年纪的父亲。他沮丧了好几天，因为在一家巴黎餐厅，他点的是‘一份牛排加土豆。’但是一位地道的法国人叫道：‘伙计！牛排土豆！’我的这位朋友简直就要羞死。从那以后他到处喊‘牛排土豆！’还教其他人也这样说。我们那些野蛮的年轻人进入巴黎妓院可耻的大厅时那种胆战心惊、坐立不安的样子，连妓女们都感到吃惊。‘天哪！'他们想道,‘我真的在这里吗？真的与安娜·黛丝里昂本人在一起吗!'

"Tell me, pray," continued Litvinov, "to what do, you ascribe the influence Gubaryov undoubtedly has over all about him? Is it his talent, his abilities?"“告诉我，”李特维诺夫继续说，“是什么原因让古巴廖夫对周围的人产生毋庸置疑的影响？是他的才华，还是他的能力？”

"No, no; there is nothing of that sort about him..."“不，不，他才没有这两种东西呢…… "

"His personal character is it, then?"“那么就是他的个性了，嗯？”

"Not that either, but he has a strong will. We Slavs, for the most part, as we all know, are badly off for that commodity, and we grovel before it. It is Mr. Gubaryov's will to be a ruler, and every one has recognized him as a ruler. What would you have? The government has freed us from the dependence of serfdom—and many thanks to it! but the habits of slavery are too deeply ingrained in us; we cannot easily be rid of them. We want a master in everything and everywhere; as a rule this master is a living person, sometimes it is some so-called tendency which gains authority over us... At present, for instance, we are all the bondslaves of natural science... Why, owing to what causes, we take this bondage upon us, that is a matter difficult to see into; but such seemingly is our nature. But the great thing is, that we should have a master. Well, here he is amongst us; that means he is ours, and we can afford to despise everything else! Simply slaves! And our pride is slavish, and slavish, too, is our humility. If a new master arises—it's all over with the old one. Then it was Yakov, and now it is Sidor; we box Yakov's ears and kneel to Sidor! Call to mind how many tricks of that sort have been played amongst us! We talk of skepticism as our special characteristic; but even in our skepticism we are not like a free manfighting with a sword, but like a lackey hitting out with his fist, and very likely he is doing even that at his master's bidding. Then, we are a soft people, too; it's not difficult to keep the curb on us. So that's the way Mr. Gubaryov has become a power among us; he has chipped and chipped away at one point, till he has chipped himself into success. People see that he is a man who has a great opinion of himself, who believes in himself, and commands. That's the great thing, that he can command; it follows that he must be right, and we ought to obey him. All our sects, our Onuphrists and Akulinists, were founded exactly in that way. He who holds the rod is the corporal."“也不是，但他有顽强的意志。众所周知，我们斯拉夫人大多数都缺乏这种能力，于是会在它面前卑躬屈膝。古巴廖夫先生想当统治者，于是大家就承认他是个统治者。您还能有什么法子呢？政府已经把我们从农奴制中解放出来——感谢政府啊！但是，奴性已经深深地植根在我们身上，无法轻易地摆脱掉它。我们事事、处处都需要一个统治者。通常这个人是一个活生生的人，有时它就是所谓的对我们具有权威的某种潮流……例如，目前我们都是自然科学的奴仆……哎呀，究竟是什么原因使我们背上这种束缚？这个问题我们很难弄清楚，但这似乎是我们的天性。但重要的是，我们应该有一个主人。嗯，他就在我们中间，也就是说他是我们自己人，所以我们就可以鄙视其他一切事情了！简直是奴隶！奴才式的骄傲，奴才式的谦卑。如果出现新的主人，以前的主人就可以滚蛋了。以前雅可夫是主人，但现在是西道尔：我们现在可以扇雅可夫耳光，却要匍匐在西道尔的脚下！想想，这样的把戏在我们周围不知耍了多少次！我们谈论怀疑主义并把它视为我们的特殊品质。但就算心生怀疑，我们也不会像自由人那样持剑战斗，反而像个狗腿子用拳头击打，而且很有可能还是在主人的命令下才那么做的。所以，我们也很懦弱；控制我们并不难。所以，古巴廖夫就这样成为了我们的主人。他对着一个地方凿啊凿，最终他凿出了自己的成功。大家看到，他自视甚高，而且充满自信，喜欢下命令。最重要的是他会下命令，于是人们认为他肯定是对的，我们应该服从他。我们所有的派系，不管是奥努韦里耶夫派系还是阿库里诺夫派系都是这样形成的。谁拿着棒子，谁就是主人。”

Potugin's cheeks were flushed and his eyes grew dim; but, strange to say, his speech, cruel and even malicious as it was, had no touch of bitterness, but rather of sorrow, genuine and sincere sorrow.

波图金脸颊绯红但目光暗淡。奇怪的是，尽管他的话残忍甚至恶毒，但是并不刻薄，反而带着悲哀，真心实意的悲哀。

"How did you come to know Gubaryov?" asked Litvinov.“您怎么认识古巴廖夫的？”李特维诺夫问道。

"I have known him a long while. And observe, another peculiarity among us; a certain writer, for example, spent his whole life in inveighing in prose and verse against drunkenness, and attacking the system of the drink monopoly, and lo and behold! he went and bought two spirit distilleries and opened a hundred drink-shops—and it made no difference! Any other man might have been wiped off the face of the earth, but he was not even reproached for it. And here is Mr. Gubaryov; he is a Slavophil and a democrat and a socialist and anything you like, but his property has been and is still managed by his brother, a master of the old style, one of those who were famous for their fists. And the very Madame Suhantchikov, who makes Mrs. Beecher Stowe box Tentelyev's ears, is positively in the dust before Gubaryov's feet. Andyou know the only thing he has to back him is that he reads clever books, and always gets at the pith of them. You could see for yourself to-day what sort of gift he has for expression; and thank God, too, that he does talk little, and keeps in his shell. For when he is in good spirits, and lets himself go, then it's more than even I, patient as I am, can stand. He begins by coarse joking and telling filthy anecdotes... yes, really, our majestic Mr. Gubaryov tells filthy anecdotes, and guffaws so revoltingly over them all the time."“我认识他有很长一段时间了。注意，我们中间还有一件很奇特的事情：例如，有位作家花了一辈子的时间在他的散文和诗中猛烈抨击酗酒和售酒垄断制度。但瞧瞧！他却买了两家酿酒厂，开了一百家酒馆——而这一切却无关紧要！如果是别人，人们也许早就让他从地球上消失了，但对他人们却连一句责骂的话都没有。譬如古巴廖夫先生，他既是斯拉夫流派，又是民主人士，还是社会主义者，您想怎么说就怎么说。但他的产业一直是由他的哥哥经营，现在也是。他哥哥是位旧式地主，是出了名的喜欢用拳头解决问题的那种人。再说苏汉契科娃女士，她让斯托夫人扇了田捷列耶夫一巴掌，自己却实实在在地臣服于古巴廖夫。您知道，他唯一的本事就是读过一些文人智者的书，又总是只弄懂这些书的主旨而已。至于他的口才，您今天也亲眼看到了。谢天谢地，他很少说话，还支支吾吾的。当他心情愉悦时，若是放任他尽情地说，就连我这样有耐心的人都忍受不了。他先会说一些粗俗的笑话和下流的奇闻轶事…… 是的，的确,我们高贵的古巴廖夫先生会讲一些下流的奇闻轶事，并且一直发出令人恶心的狂笑。

"Are you so patient?" observed Litvinov. "I should have supposed the contrary. But let me ask your name and your father's name?"“您很有耐心吗？”李特维诺夫问道。“我并不这样认为。我能问一下您和您父亲的姓名吗？”

Potugin sipped a little kirsch-wasser.

波图金抿了一口樱桃酒。

"My name is Sozont... Sozont Ivanitch. They gave me that magnificent name in honor of a kinsman, an archimandrite, to whom I am indebted for nothing else. I am, if I may venture so to express myself, of most reverend stock. And as for your doubts about my patience, they are quite groundless: I am very patient. I served for twenty-two years under the authority of my own uncle, an actual councillor of state, Irinarh Potugin. You don't know him?"“我叫索松特……索松特·伊凡内奇。他们给我取这样高贵的名字是为了纪念一位亲戚。他是个大修道院院长，除此之外我没受过他其他半点恩惠。冒昧说一下，我有教士的血统。至于我的耐心，您的怀疑是毫无根据的，我非常有耐心。我为我的亲叔叔，州议员伊里纳尔赫·波图金工作了二十二年。您不认识他吗？”

"No."“不认识。”

"I congratulate you. No, I am patient. 'But let us return to our first head,' as my esteemed colleague, who was burned alive some centuries ago, the protopope Avvakum, used to say. I am amazed, my dear sir, at my fellow-countrymen. They are all depressed, they all walk with downcast heads, and at the same time they are all filled with hope, and on the smallest excuse they lose their heads and fly off into ecstasies. Look at the Slavophils even, among whom Mr. Gubaryov reckons himself: they are most excellent people, but there is the same mixture of despair andexultation, they, too, live in the future tense. Everything. will be, will be, if you please. In reality, there is nothing done, and Russia for ten whole centuries has created nothing of its own, either in government, in law, in science, in art, or even in handicraft... But wait a little, have patience; it is all coming. And, why is it coming; give us leave to inquire? Why, because we, to be sure, the cultured classes are all worthless; but the people... Oh, the great people! You see that peasant's smock? That is the source that everything is to come from. All the other idols have broken down; let us have faith in the smock-frock. Well, but suppose the smock-frock fails us? No, it will not fail. Read Kohanovsky, and cast your eyes up to heaven! Really, if I were a painter, I would paint a picture of this sort: a cultivated man standing before a peasant, doing him homage: heal me, dear master-peasant, I am perishing of disease; and a peasant doing homage in his turn to the cultivated man: teach me, dear master-gentleman, I am perishing from ignorance. Well, and of course, both are standing still. But what we ought to do is to feel, really humble for a little—not only in words—and to borrow from our elder brothers what they have invented already before us and better than us! Waiter, noch ein Gläschen Kirsch! You mustn't think I'm a drunkard, but alcohol loosens my tongue."“我祝贺您。是的，我很有耐心。但是，我们还是‘言归正传’吧。我那受人尊敬的教友，阿瓦库姆主教（他是在几个世纪以前被活活烧死的）常常这样说：亲爱的先生，我的同胞真令我吃惊。他们个个抑郁消沉，垂头丧气，同时他们又满怀希望，一丁点儿的事情就会使他们会失去理智、得意忘形。再看看斯拉夫流派。古巴廖夫先生就自认为属于这一流派：他们都是优秀的人才，不过他们心里同样夹杂着绝望和欢欣，也总说着将来如何如何。一切都会成功，都会成功，只要您高兴。但实际上却一事无成，整整十个世纪俄国一直都没有创造出属于自己的任何东西，不论是在政府、法律、科学、艺术，哪怕是在是在手工艺上都没什么建树……但是耐心地等一下，一切都会有的。为什么将来会有呢,是为了让我们有时间探寻吗？因为毫无疑问，有文化的阶层都一无所用，但人民……哦，伟大的人民!您看见那个农民的罩衫了吗？那就是万物之源。其他的偶像都被打倒了，让我们相信长罩衫吧。好吧，但是如果长罩衫辜负了我们呢？不，它不会辜负我们的。看一看科汉诺夫斯卡娅的书，将您的目光投向天堂！真的，如果我是名画家，我会画这样一幅图：一个有教养的人站在一位农民的面前，向他敬礼：亲爱的农民，疾病快将我置于死地，救救我吧。那位农民也向那位有教养的回以敬礼：亲爱的绅士，无知在让我走向毁灭，教教我吧。嗯，当然了，两人都站着不动。但我们应该做的是感受，真正谦逊地去感受——不仅仅是在语言上——我们也要向我们的老大哥借鉴他们的方法，他们想出的方法比我们的要更早更好。服务员，再来杯樱桃酒！您千万别认为我是个酒鬼，酒不过能使我畅所欲言罢了。”

"After what you have just said," observed Litvinov with a smile, "I need not even inquire to which party you belong, and what is your opinion about Europe. But let me make one observation to you. You say that we ought to borrow from our elder brothers: but how can we borrow without consideration of the conditions of climate and of soil, the local and national peculiarities? My father, I recollect, orderedfrom Butenop a cast-iron thrashing machine highly recommended; the machine was very good, certainly—but what happened? For five long years it remained useless in the barn, till it was replaced by a wooden American one—far more suitable to our ways and habits, as the American machines are as a rule. One cannot borrow at random, Sozont Ivanitch."“听了您的话，”李特维诺夫微笑着说，“我甚至都没必要问您属于哪一个政党，您对欧洲持什么观点了。但容许我问您个问题。您说我们可以向老大哥们借鉴方法，但我们怎么能不考虑气候、土壤、区域地情况和民族特色就向老大哥们借鉴呢？我记得，我的父亲曾经向布津诺普订购了一台倍受好评的铁质打谷机。当然了，机器是很好，但结果又如何呢？它一直毫无用处地放在谷仓里有五年之久，直到被一台美国产的木质打谷机代替——美国产的机器通常更适合我们，这台打谷机更适合我们的操作方式和生活习惯。但我们不能随意借鉴，索松特·伊凡内奇。”

Potugin lifted his head.

波图金抬起头。

"I did not expect such a criticism as that from you, excellent Grigory Mihalovitch," he began, after a moment's pause. "Who wants to make you borrow at random? Of course you steal what belongs to another man, not because it is some one else's, but because it suits you; so it follows that you consider, you make a selection. And as for results, pray don't let us be unjust to ourselves; there will be originality enough in them by virtue of those very local, climatic, and other conditions which you mention. Only lay good food before it, and the natural stomach will digest it in its own way; and in time, as the organism gains in vigor, it will give it a sauce of its own. Take our language even as an instance. Peter the Great deluged it with thousands of foreign words, Dutch, French, and German; those words expressed ideas with which the Russian people had to be familiarized; without scruple or ceremony Peter poured them wholesale by bucketsful into us. At first, of course, the result was something of a monstrous product; but later there began precisely that process of digestion to which I have alluded. The ideas had been introduced and assimilated; the foreign forms evaporated gradually, and the language found substitutes for them from within itself; and now your humble servant, the most mediocre stylist, will undertake to translate any page you like out of Hegel—yes, indeed, out of Hegel—without making use of a single word not Slavonic. What has happened with the language, one must hope will happen in other departments. It all turns on the question: is it a nature of strong vitality? and our nature—well, it will stand the test; it has gone through greater trials than that. Only nations in a state of nervous debility, feeble nations, need fear for their health and their independence, just as it is only weakminded people who are capable of falling into triumphant rhapsodies over the fact that we are Russians. I am very careful over my health, but I don't go into ecstasies over it: I should be ashamed."“尊敬的格里高利·米哈伊洛维奇，我没想到您会作这样的批评。”在停顿了一会儿之后，他开始说道，“谁想让您随意借鉴了？当然，您窃取他人的东西，并不是因为它是别人的东西，而是因为它适合您。所以它是您深思熟虑后挑选出的。至于结果，请我们自己不要妄自菲薄：正是凭借您所提及的区域、气候和其他条件，它们将显示出足够的独创性。只需摆上好的食物，大自然的胃会按照自己的方式将其消化。时机到来时,随着机体变得更有活力，它自会及时产生自己的味道。就拿我们的语言作为例子吧。彼得大帝引进了数以千计的外来词，包括荷兰语、法语和德语，俄国人民必须熟悉这些词汇的含义。彼得大帝毫不犹豫、随随便便地将它们成批塞进我们的脑子里。当然，起初结果十分可怕，但后来却丝毫不差地出现了我所提到的消化过程。这些概念已经被引进并且吸收了。外来形式逐渐消失，语言从其自身找到了替代外来形式的东西。现在，您谦逊的仆人，这个最平庸的文体学家，将着手翻译您所喜欢的黑格尔的任何一部作品——是的，的确是黑格尔的作品——而不用任何非斯拉夫语词汇。既然语言发生了这种变化，人们肯定就会希望其他方面也发生这种变化。这全部归于一个问题：这是顽强生命力的一种天性吗？嗯，我们的天性将会经受住考验，它已经经历过了比这更巨大的考验。只有神经紧张和体质虚弱的国家才有必要为自己的健康和独立担惊受怕，就好比只有那些意志薄弱的人才会因为我们是俄国人这一事实，才会陷入得意洋洋的赞美之中。我十分在意自己的健康，但并不会为之狂喜:我应该感到羞愧。”

"That is all very true, Sozont Ivanitch," observed Litvinov in his turn; "but why inevitably expose ourselves to such tests? You say yourself that at first the result was monstrous! Well, what if that monstrous product had persisted? Indeed it has persisted, as you know yourself."“您说得都很对，索松特·伊凡内奇。”轮到李特维诺夫评论说，“但我们为什么必须经受这种考验呢？您自己也说起初结果很可怕！那么，如果那种可怕的情形持续下来，又会怎样呢？它的确持续下来了，这您自己是知道的。”

"Only not in the language—and that means a great deal! And it is our people, not I, who have done it; I am not to blame because they are destined to go through a discipline of this kind. 'The Germans have developed in a normal way,' cry the Slavophils, 'let us too have a normal development!'“并非单单在语言上——那可是意义非凡啊！完成这件事的是我们的人民，而不是我。这不能怪我，因为他们命中注定要经历这种考验。‘德国人以正常的方式成长’，斯拉夫派叫喊着说，‘让我们也正常地成长吧!'

But how are you to get it when the very first historical step taken by our race—the summoning of a prince from over the sea to rule over them—is an irregularity, an abnormality, which is repeated in every one of us down to the present day? Each of us, at least once in his life, has certainly said to something foreign, not Russian: 'Come, rule and reign over me!'I am ready, of course, to agree that when we put a foreign substance into our own body we cannot tell for certain what it is we are putting there, bread or poison; yet it is a well-known thing that you can never getfrom bad to good through what is better, but always through a worse state of transition, and poison, too, is useful in medicine.

但既然我们的民族采取的第一个历史性行动就是从国外请来大公统治他们，正常成长又怎么可能呢？这种现象不合法规也有违常理，直到现在这种现象还在我们每个人身上反复上演着。我们每个人，一生之中对非俄国的外来物肯定至少说过一次：‘来吧，来统治并控制我们吧！’当然，我乐于认同这种观点：当我们把异物放进嘴里的时候，我们并不能确切地说出放进嘴里的是什么东西。是面包还是毒药？众所周知，从‘坏’到‘好’并不经历‘更好’这一过程，而是要经过‘更坏’这一过渡阶段。而且，在医学上，毒药也是有用的。

It is only fit for fools or knaves to point with triumph to the poverty of the peasants after the emancipation, and the increase of drunkenness since the abolition of the farming of the spirit-tax... Through worse to better!”

只有傻子和无赖才会得意洋洋地说，解放农奴后农奴会更加贫穷，取消酒税之后酗酒现象更为严重……通过‘更坏’到‘更好’!"

Potugin passed his hand over his face. "You asked me what was my opinion of Europe," he began again: "I admire her, and am devoted to her principles to the last degree, and don't in the least think it necessary to conceal the fact. I have long—no, not long—for some time ceased to be afraid to give full expression to my convictions—and I saw that you, too, had no hesitation in informing Mr. Gubaryov of your own way of thinking. Thank God I have given up paying attention to the ideas and points of view and habits of the man I am conversing with. Really, I know of nothing worse than that quite superfluous cowardice, that cringing desire to be agreeable, by virtue of which you may see an important dignitary among us trying to ingratiate himself with some little student who is quite insignificant in his eyes, positively playing down to him, with all sorts of tricks and devices. Even if we admit that the dignitary may do it out of desire for popularity, what induces us common folk to shuffle and degrade ourselves. Yes, yes, I am a Westerner, I am devoted to Europe: that's to say, speaking more accurately, I am devoted to culture—the culture at which they make fun so wittily among us just now—and to civilization—yes, yes, that is a better word—and I love it with my whole heart and believe in it, and I have no other belief, and never shall have. That word, ci-vi-li-za-tion (Potugin pronounced each syllable with full stress and emphasis), is intelligible, andpure, and holy, and all the other ideals, nationality, glory, or what you like—they smell of blood... Away with them!”

波图金用手摸了下脸。“您问我对欧洲的看法，”他又说，“我钦佩她，至死不渝地忠于她的原则，并且一点也不认为有必要隐瞒这一事实。我早就已经——不对，是不久前，——不再害怕充分表达自己的信仰了——我看到您也毫不犹豫地对古巴廖夫先生表达您的思维方式。谢天谢地！我已不再注意谈话对方的思想、观点和习惯了。真的，我觉得没有比那种多余的懦弱和卑微的讨好更糟糕的东西了。您也许会发现，我们当中的一些高官试图逢迎他们在他们眼中无足轻重的学生，使尽浑身解数贬低自己，哄他们开心。即使我们承认，这些高官这样做是想深得民心，那么是什么诱使我们平民互相推诿和贬低自己呢？是的，是的，我是个西方派，我忠诚于欧洲。说得更准确些，我忠诚于文化——就是刚才他们拿来开玩笑的那种文化——同时我忠诚于文明——没错没错，这个词更妙——我全心全意地爱着它并且相信它，我没有其他信仰，永远都不会有。文明这一词语（波图金把每个音节都发得很清楚，并且都加以强调）既清楚易懂又纯洁神圣，但是其他所有的理念，例如民族性和光荣，或者随便什么您喜欢的——都带有血腥味……让他们全都滚吧！”

"Well, but Russia, Sozont Ivanitch, your country—you love it?"“但是，索松特·伊凡内奇，您的祖国——俄国，您热爱她吗？”

Potugin passed his hand over his face. "I love her passionately and passionately hate her."

波图金摸了下脸。“我深深地爱着她，也深深地恨着她。”

Litvinov shrugged his shoulders. "That's stale, Sozont Ivanitch, that's a commonplace."

李特维诺夫耸耸肩。“那是陈词滥调，索松特·伊凡内奇，那是老生常谈。”

"And what of it? So that's what you're afraid of! A commonplace! I know many excellent commonplaces. Here, for example, Law and Liberty is a well-known commonplace. Why, do you consider it's better as it is with us, lawlessness and bureaucratic tyranny? And, besides, all those phrases by which so many young heads are turned: vile bourgeoisie, souverainete du peuple, right to labor, aren't they commonplaces too? And as for love, inseparable from hate..."“什么意思？所以这就是您所害怕的！老生常谈。我知道很多很好的老生常谈。例如，法律和自由是众所周知的司空见惯的话题。啊，您认为它比我们这里的无秩序状态和官僚暴政要更好吗？除此之外，那些令许多年轻人心醉魂迷的措辞：卑鄙的资产阶级，人民至上和工作权利——不也是些老生常谈吗？至于爱，那是与恨分不开的……”

"Byronism," interposed Litvinov, "the romanticism of the thirties."“拜伦主义，”李特维诺夫插话道，“是三十年代的浪漫主义。”

"Excuse me, you're mistaken; such a mingling of emotions was first mentioned by Catullus, the Roman poet Catullus, two thousand years ago. I have read that, for I know a little Latin, thanks to my clerical origin, if so I may venture to express myself. Yes, indeed, I both love and hate my Russia, my strange, sweet, nasty, precious country. I have left her just now. I want a little fresh air after sitting for twenty years on a clerk's high stool in a government office; I have left Russia, and I am happy and contented here; but I shall soon go back again: I feel that. It's a beautifulland of gardens—but our wild berries will not grow here."“对不起，您弄错了。这种混合的情感最初是由卡图尔提出的，两千年前的罗马诗人卡图尔。因为我知道一点儿拉丁语，所以我读过他的诗。请允许我冒昧地说一下，我出身牧师家庭。的确，我既热爱又憎恨我的祖国，我那陌生、可爱、令人厌恶和珍贵的祖国。我刚离开她。在政府机关工作了二十年，我需要呼吸新鲜空气。我已经离开俄国，在这里我过得很快乐，心满意足。但是，我很快就要回去了，我感觉到了。这是一个花园之乡—但我们的野莓在这里种植不了。”

"You are happy and contented, and I, too, like the place," said Litvinov, "and I came here to study; but that does not prevent me from seeing things like that."“您感到高兴和满足，我也喜欢这个地方。”李特维诺夫说道，“我是来这里学习的，但那并不能阻碍我看到这些东西。”

He pointed to two cocottes who passed by, attended by a little group of members of the Jockey Club, grimacing and lisping, and to the gambling saloon, full to overflowing in spite of the lateness of the hour.

说到这，他指了指两名过路的妓女。她们的身边陪伴着几个跑马俱乐部里的会员，做着鬼脸，咬着舌根，还指着赌博大厅。尽管已经很晚了，可那里还是人满为患。

"And who told you I am blind to that?" Potugin broke in. "But pardon my saying it, your remark reminds me of the triumphant allusions made by our unhappy journalists at the time of the Crimean war, to the defects in the English War Department, exposed in the Times. I am not an optimist myself, and all humanity, all our life, all this comedy with tragic issues presents itself to me in no roseate colors: but why fasten upon the West what is perhaps ingrained in our very human nature? That gambling hall is disgusting, certainly; but is our home-bred card-sharping any lovelier, think you? No, my dear Grigory Mihalovitch, let us be more humble, more retiring. A good pupil sees his master's faults, but he keeps a respectful silence about them; these very faults are of use to him, and set him on the right path. But if nothing will satisfy you but sharpening your teeth on the unlucky West, there goes Prince Kokó at a gallop, he will most likely lose in a quarter of an hour over the green table the hardly earned rent wrung from a hundred and fifty families; his nerves are upset, for I saw him at Marx's to-day turning over a pamphlet of Vaillot... He will be a capital person for you to talk to!”“谁告诉您我对此视而不见的？”波图金插嘴说。“但是，请原谅我这样说，您的话使我想起了在克里米亚战争时期我们那些不幸的记者，他们得意洋洋地暗指出英国陆军的缺点，而这些缺点恰在《泰晤士报》中揭露出来了。我自己并不是一个乐观主义者，整个人类，我们的整个生活，所有的悲喜剧在我看来都不是美好的玫瑰色。但是，为什么非要将注意力集中在西欧那些或许本来就根植于我们人性中的东西呢？赌厅确实令人恶心，可我们本地的诈赌手段又能有多高尚呢，您觉得？不，亲爱的格里高利·米哈伊洛维奇，我们要更加谦逊和谦让些。一个好学生虽然能发现老师的错误，但他会对此恭敬地保持沉默。就算是这些错误，对他来说也是很有用的，能使他走上正途。但是如果没有任何东西能够满足您，只能让您对倒霉的西方进行更尖锐的指责，那么，瞧，珂珂公爵正骑马疾驰而来。他在赌桌上不到十五分钟就输掉了从一百五十户农民那里榨取的租金。他感到心烦意乱，因为我看见他在马克斯那里翻阅维里奥的一本小册子……他将是您主要的谈话对象！”

"But, please, please," said Litvinov hurriedly, seeing that Potugin was getting up from his place, "I knowPrince Kokó very little, and besides, of course, I greatly prefer talking to you.""Thanks very much," Potugin interrupted him, getting up and making a bow; "but I have already had a good deal of conversation with you; that's to say, really, I have talked alone, and you have probably noticed yourself that a man is always as it were ashamed and awkward when he has done all the talking, especially so on a first meeting, as if to show what a fine fellow one is. Good-by for the present. And I repeat I am very glad to have made your acquaintance."“等等，等等，”看到波图金要站起来，李特维诺夫赶紧说，“我和珂珂公爵不是很熟，而且，我当然更想和您说话。”“非常感谢。”波图金打断他并站起来向他鞠躬，并说道，“我已经和您说了很多了。换言之，确实只有我一个人讲话。您也许已经注意到，只有一个人高谈阔论时，往往是多么尴尬和愚蠢啊！尤其是初次见面就更是如此了，好像在炫耀自己多么出众一样。再见。再说一次，很高兴认识您。”

"But wait a minute, Sozont Ivanitch, tell me at least where you live, and whether you intend to remain here long."“但是，等一下，索松特·伊凡内奇，至少告诉我您住在哪里吧，还有您是否打算在这里久留？”

Potugin seemed a little put out.

波图金看起来有点儿生气了。

"I shall remain about a week in Baden. We can meet here though, at Weber's or at Marx's, or else I will come to you."“我将在巴登呆一个星期左右。但我们可以在这里见面，也可以在韦伯或者马克斯那里，或者我也可以来找您。”

"Still I must know your address."“但我还是得知道您住在哪里。”

"Yes. But you see I am not alone."“好吧。但是，您看，我并不是独自一人居住。”

"You are married?" asked Litvinov suddenly.“您结婚了吗？”李特维诺夫突然问。

"No, good heavens!... what an absurd idea! But I have a girl with me..."“没有，天哪！……多么荒谬的想法啊！但有个女孩子和我一起住……”

"Oh!" articulated Litvinov, with a face of studied politeness, as though he would ask pardon, and he dropped his eyes.“哦！”李特维诺夫有礼貌地说，接着低下了头，像是在请求原谅一样。

"She is only six years old," pursued Potugin. "She's an orphan... the daughter of a lady... a good friend of mine. So we had better meet here. Good-by."He pulled his hat over his curly head, and disappeared quickly. Twice there was a glimpse of him under the gas-lamps in the rather meanly lighted road that leads into the Lichtenthaler Allee.“她只有六岁。”波图金继续说，“是个孤儿……一位女士……我的一位好朋友的女儿。所以我们最好在这里见面。再见。”他把帽子戴在他一头卷发的头顶上便迅速离开了。他的背影在通往赫顿泰勒小径那条路的昏暗的汽灯下闪烁了几次就不见了。

VI

第六章

"A strange man!" thought Litvinov, as he turned into the hotel where he was staying; "a strange man! I must see more of him!"He went into his room; a letter on the table caught his eye. "Ah! from Tanya!" he thought, and was overjoyed at once; but the letter was from his country place, from his father. Litvinov broke the thick heraldic seal, and was just setting to work to read it... when he was struck by a strong, very agreeable, and familiar fragrance, and saw in the window a great bunch of fresh heliotrope in a glass of water. Litvinov bent over them not without amazement, touched them, and smelt them... Something seemed to stir in his memory, something very remote... but what, precisely, he could not discover. He rang for the servant and asked him where these flowers had come from. The man replied that they had been brought by a lady who would not give her name, but said that "Herr Zlitenhov" would be sure to guess who she was by the flowers. Again something stirred in Litvinov's memory. He asked the man what the lady looked like, and the servant informed him that she was tall and grandly dressed and had a veil over her face. "A Russian countess most likely," he added.“真是个怪人！”在回住宿旅馆的路上，李特维诺夫想着，“真是个怪人！我一定要再见到他。”他走进房间，看见桌上有封信。“啊！是塔尼娅寄来的！”想到这里，他马上变得欣喜若狂：可是，这封信是家乡的父亲寄来的。李特维诺夫撕下厚厚的章封，正准备读信……突然他闻到一阵浓郁、令人愉快而熟悉的芬芳，然后就看见窗台上的水杯中插着一大束新鲜的向日葵。李特维诺夫吃惊地弯下腰抚摸它们，又闻了闻它们……有什么东西好像勾起了他的记忆，一个很遥远的东西……可究竟是什么，他想不起来。他按铃叫来佣人，问他这些花是从哪里来的。佣人回答说是一位不愿透露姓名的女士拿来的，但她说“李特维诺夫先生”肯定可以凭借这束花猜出她是谁。李特维诺夫又想起了什么。他问佣人这位女士长什么样。佣人告诉他，那位女士身材高挑、衣着华丽、戴着面纱。“很有可能是位俄国伯爵夫人。”他补充道。

"What makes you think that?" asked Litvinov.“为什么会这么认为？”李特维诺夫问道。

"She gave me two guldens," responded the servant with a grin.“因为她给了我两基尔德。”佣人咧嘴笑着回答。

Litvinov dismissed him, and for a long while after lie stood in deep thought before the window; at last,however, with a wave of his hand, he began again upon the letter from the country. His father poured out to him his usual complaints, asserting that no one would take their corn, even for nothing, that the people had got quite out of all habits of obedience, and that probably the end of the world was coming soon. "Fancy," he wrote, among other things, "my last coachman, the Kalmuck boy, do you remember him? has been bewitched, and the fellow would certainly have died, and I should have had none to drive me, but, thank goodness, some kind folks suggested and advised to send the sick man to Ryazan, to a priest, well-known as a master against witchcraft: and his cure has actually succeeded as well as possible, in confirmation of which I lay before you the letter of the good father as a document."Litvinov ran through this document with curiosity. In it was set forth: "that the serving-man Nicanor Dmitriev was beset with a malady which could not be touched by the medical faculty; and this malady was the work of wicked people; but he himself, Nicanor, was the cause of it, since he had not fulfilled his promise to a certain girl, and therefore by the aid of others she had made him unfit for anything, and if I had not appeared to aid him in these circumstances, he would surely have perished utterly, like a worm; but I, trusting in the All-seeing Eye, have become a stay to him in his life; and how I accomplished it, that is a mystery; I beg your excellency not to countenance a girl who has such wicked arts, and even to chide her would be no harm, or she may again work him a mischief."

李特维诺夫让仆人离开，自己站在窗前思索了好一阵子。最后他晃了晃手，重新开始读那封家书。他的父亲像往常一样在信中抱怨，坚称就算把粮食免费送人也没人要，仆人不再服从命令，世界末日也许就要来了。“回想一下，”他顺带写着，“我的最后一位马夫，那个加尔梅克小伙子，您还记得他吗？他被施了魔咒，本来是必死无疑的，这样一来就没有人再替我赶马车了。可谢天谢地，几个心地善良的人建议我把他送到梁赞的一位牧师那里去，这位牧师是一位有名的破解巫术的大师。他实至名归，治好了马夫的病，为了证明这一事件，在此附上牧师的书信作为凭证。”李特维诺夫好奇地浏览了信件。信中写道：“仆人康诺尔·季米特里耶夫所染的是医务人员所不能治愈的疾病。这种疾病是邪恶之人的杰作，而他自己，康诺尔，即是病因所在，因为他没有履行对一位女孩子的承诺。因此这位女子借助他人使康诺尔感到不适。在这种情况下如果我不帮他，他必死无疑，如同蜉蝣。但是，我信任全知之眼，已经将他拯救，至于我是怎样做到的，恕我无法相告。我请求阁下不要支持这样一个会巫术的女子，即使是对她加以斥责也无妨。如若不然，她可能会再次加害于他。”

Litvinov fell to musing over this document; it brought him a whiff of the desert, of the steppes, of the blind darkness of the life moldering there, and it seemed a marvelous thing that he should be readingsuch a letter in Baden, of all places. Meanwhile it had long struck midnight; Litvinov went to bed and put out his light. But he could not get to sleep; the faces he had seen, the talk he had heard, kept coming back and revolving, strangely interwoven and entangled in his burning head, which ached from the fumes of tobacco. Now he seemed to hear Gubaryov's muttering, and fancied his eyes with their dull, persistent stare fastened on the floor; then suddenly those eyes began to glow and leap, and he recognized Madame Suhantchikov, and listened to her shrill voice, and involuntarily repeated after her in a whisper, "she did, she did, slap his face."Then the clumsy figure of Potugin passed before him; and for the tenth, and the twentieth time he went over every word he had uttered; then, like a jack in the box, Voroshilov jumped up in his trim coat, which fitted him like a new uniform; and Pishtchalkin gravely and sagaciously nodded his well-cut and truly well-intentioned head; and then Bindasov bawled and swore, and Bambaev fell into tearful transports... And above all—this scent, this persistent, sweet, heavy scent gave him no rest, and grew more and more powerful in the darkness, and more and more importunately it reminded him of something which still eluded his grasp…The idea occurred to Litvinov that the scent of flowers at night in a bedroom was injurious, and he got up, and groping his way to the nosegay, carried it into the next room; hut(but) even from there the oppressive fragrance penetrated to him on his pillow and under the counterpane, and he tossed in misery from side to side. A slight delirium had already begun to creep over him; already the priest, "the master against witchcraft" had twice run across his road in the guise of a very playful hare with a beard and a pig-tail, and Voroshilov was trillingbefore him, sitting in a huge general's plumed cock-hat like a nightingale in a bush... When suddenly he jumped up in bed, and clasping, his hands, cried, "Can it be she? it can't be!”

面对这一信件，李特维诺夫陷入了沉思。这封信将他带进一片沙漠、干草原抑或是盲目的黑暗之中，生命便在那里孕育。而他什么地方都不选，偏偏选在巴登这种地方读这样的信，似乎太不可思议了。此时早已过了午夜，李特维诺夫上床睡觉，吹灭了蜡烛。但他睡不着。今天见到的人和听到的话一直在脑海中回荡和盘旋，并且这一切都在他那被烟熏得发痛发热的脑袋中奇特地交织在一起。此刻，他似乎听到了古巴廖夫的喃喃自语，想到了他那双无神的一直盯着地板的眼睛。突然这双眼睛变得神采奕奕，瞪得滚圆，他认出了苏汉契科娃女士并听到了她那刺耳的声音，自己也不由自主地低声附和着她说：“打了，她的确打了他一巴掌。”然后波图金愚笨的身影又在他眼前闪过。他不下十次二十次地回想起他说的每一句话；接着，沃罗希洛夫穿着整洁的外套跳了出来，就像从盒子中跳出的一位侍者，那件衣服就像新的制服一样非常适合他；比夏尔金则庄重而睿智地点着那打理得一丝不乱和确实满怀善意的脑袋；然后是宾达索夫的叫喊声和咒骂声，还有激动得热泪盈眶的庞巴耶夫……最重要的是——这股芳香，这股持久、甜蜜而浓郁的芳香使他无法休息，在黑暗中变得越来越浓郁，又使他不断地回想起某件事情，可到底是什么呢，他还是想不起来……李特维诺夫想起，夜晚卧室里的花香对身体有害，于是他起床抹黑寻觅着花束并把它放到隔壁的房间去。但是令人难以忍受的花香又从那里飘到他的枕头和床单里，于是他痛苦地在床上辗转反侧。他开始有点儿精神错乱；那个神父，“对抗巫术的大师”，扮成留着胡子和扎着马尾的调皮兔子，两次阻挡了他的去路；沃罗希洛夫坐在用羽毛装饰的巨大将军帽上啭鸣，就像灌木丛中啁啾的夜莺……他突然从床上跳起来，拍掌大叫道：“不会是她吧？不可能啊！”

But to explain this exclamation of Litvinov's we must beg the indulgent reader to go back a few years with us.

但要解释李特维诺夫的惊叫声，我们必须请求宽容的读者和我们一同回到几年前。

VII

第七章

Early in the fifties, there was living in Moscow, in very straitened circumstances, almost in poverty, the numerous family of the Princes Osinin. These were real princes—not Tartar-Georgians, but pure-blooded descendants of Rurik. Their name is often to be met with in our chronicles under the first grand princes of Moscow, who created a united Russia. They possessed wide acres and many dominions. Many a time they were rewarded for "service and blood and disablement."They sat in the Council of Boyars. One of them even rose to a very high position. But they fell under the ban of the Empire through the plots of enemies "on a charge of witchcraft and evil philtres," and they were ruined "terribly and beyond recall."They were deprived of their rank, and banished to remote parts; the Osinins fell and had never risen again, had never attained to power again. The ban was taken off in time, and they were even reinstated in their Moscow house and belongings, but it was of no avail. Their family was impoverished, "run to seed"; it did not revive under Peter, nor under Catherine; and constantly dwindling and growing humbler, it had by now reckoned private stewards, managers of wine-shops, and ward police-inspectors among its members. The family of Osinins, of whom we have made mention, consisted of a husband and wife and five children. It was living near the Dogs' Place, in a one-storied little wooden house, with a striped portico looking on to the street, green lions on the gates, and all the otherpretensions of nobility, though it could hardly make both ends meet, was constantly in debt at the green-grocer's, and often sitting without firewood or candles in the winter. The prince himself was a dull, indolent man, who had once been a handsome dandy, but had gone to seed completely. More from regard for his wife, who had been a maid-of-honor, than from respect for his name, he had been presented with one of those old-fashioned Moscow posts that have a small salary, a queer-sounding name, and absolutely no duties attached. He never meddled in anything, and did nothing but smoke from morning till night, breathing heavily, and always wrapped in a dressing-gown. His wife was a sickly irritable woman, for ever worried over domestic trifles—over getting her children placed in government schools, and keeping up her Petersburg connections; she could never accustom herself to her position and her remoteness from the Court.

早在五十年代初，莫斯科城住着奥西宁公爵家族。此家族人丁兴旺，但家境十分贫困，简直一贫如洗。他们是真正的公爵——不是鞑靼-格鲁吉亚公爵，而是有着纯正的俄国公爵留里克血统的后代。他们的名字经常可以在最早的几位伟大的创建统一俄国的莫斯科公爵时期的编年史中看到。他们曾拥有广阔的土地和许多自治领土。他们曾多次获得“管理有效，誓死效忠”的荣誉。他们在贵族会议中占有一席之地。其中有一位甚至身居高位。但是由于敌人诋毁他们“宣扬巫术和春药”，他们遭到帝国查禁，遭受“巨大迫害，”一蹶不振。他们被剥夺了头衔，还被放逐到了偏远的地方。奥西宁家族从此以后衰落了下来，再也没能崛起，也无法重获大权了。禁令最终取消了，他们拿回了莫斯科的房子和财产，但这无济于事。这一家族从此困顿、“落败”，在彼得大帝和叶卡捷琳娜时期仍没有恢复元气，境遇每况愈下。目前人们推断，有的家族成员成了私人服务员，有的成了酒店经理，还有的成了警监。在此，我们所要提到的是奥西宁家族中的一对夫妻和五个孩子。他们住在索巴契雅广场附近的小木屋里。小木屋的门廊上绘有斑纹并面朝大街，门上画着绿狮子和其他表明贵族地位的标识，虽然他们几乎已经入不敷出，常常向蔬果商赊东西，冬天也总是干坐家中，买不起木柴和蜡烛。公爵自己是个迟钝而懒惰的人，以前是一个很帅的花花公子，现在却毫无魅力。他在莫斯科的一个政府部门从事一项过时的工作。他获得这一工作与其说是因为他显赫的家族名声，不如说是因为他的妻子曾经是一名女官的缘故。这份工作听着奇怪，薪水很少，完全就是个闲职。他什么事情都不管，一天到晚无所事事，只知道吸烟，总是穿着晨衣沉重地唉声叹气。他的妻子身患疾病、性情暴躁。她整天为家事操劳，为让孩子进入公立学校和为保持她在彼得堡的诸多关系而忧心。她仍不能适应她的现状和远离宫廷的生活。

Litvinov's father had made acquaintance with the Osinins during his residence at Moscow, had had occasion to do them some services, and had once lent them three hundred rubles; and his son often visited them while he was a student; his lodging happened to be at no great distance from their house. But he was not drawn to them simply as near neighbors, nor tempted by their comfortless way of living. He began to be a frequent visitor at their house after he had fallen in love with their eldest daughter Irina.

李特维诺夫的父亲住在莫斯科的时候认识了奥西宁一家，曾经帮过他们并且有一次借给他们三百卢布。他的儿子在上学时常常拜访他们。他的住所恰巧离奥西宁家的房子不怎么远。但他接近他们并不仅仅是因为两家住得近，也不是因为奥西宁一家过着清贫的生活。他开始经常拜访这家人是在他爱上他们家的大女儿伊琳娜后。

She had then completed her seventeenth year; she had only just left school, from which her mother withdrew her through a disagreement with the principal. This disagreement arose from the fact that Irina was to have delivered at a public function some verses in French, complimentary to the curator, and just before the performance her place was filled byanother girl, the daughter of a very rich spirit-contractor. The princess could not stomach this affront; and indeed Irina herself never forgave the principal for this act of injustice; she had been dreaming beforehand of how she would rise before the eyes of every one, attracting universal attention, and would deliver her speech, and how Moscow would talk about her afterwards!... And, indeed, Moscow would have talked about her afterwards. She was a tall, slim girl, with a somewhat hollow chest and narrow unformed shoulders, with a skin of a dead-white, rare at her age, and pure and smooth as china, with thick fair hair; there were darker tresses mingled in a very original way with the light ones. Her features—exquisitely, almost too perfectly, correct—had not yet quite lost the innocent expression that belongs to childhood; the languid curves of her lovely neck, and her smile—half-indifferent, half-weary—betrayed the nervous temperment of a delicate girl; but in the lines of those fine, faintly-smiling lips, of that small, falcon, slightly-narrow nose, there was something wilful and passionate, something dangerous for herself and others. Astounding, really astounding were her eyes, dark gray with greenish lights, languishing, almond-shaped as an Egyptian goddess's, with shining lashes and bold sweep of eyebrow. There was a strange look in those eyes; they seemed looking out intently and thoughtfully—looking out from some unknown depth and distance. At school, Irina had been reputed one of the best pupils for intelligence and abilities, but of uneven temper, fond of power, and headstrong; one class mistress prophesied that her passions would be her ruin—"vos passions vous perdront"; on the other hand, another class-mistress censured her for coldness and want of feeling, and called her "une jeune fillesans coeur."Irina's companions thought her proud and reserved: her brothers and sisters stood a little in awe of her: her mother had no confidence in her: and her father felt ill at ease when she fastened her mysterious eyes upon him. But she inspired a feeling of involuntary respect in both her father and her mother, not so much through her qualities, as from a peculiar, vague sense of expectations which she had, in some undefined way, awakened in them.

那时她刚过十七岁，也刚离开学校。她的母亲与校长发生了争执就把她带回家了。争执源于伊琳娜本将在公众面前用法语读一首诗来赞美督学，可就在表演开始之前，伊琳娜被另一名富有酒商的女儿所代替。公爵夫人忍受不了这一侮辱，伊琳娜自己也的确不能原谅校长这一不公正的行为。她一直梦想着在大家的面前声名大振，吸引全世界的关注。她梦想着发表演说，然后莫斯科的所有人会怎样谈论她……的确，此后莫斯科的人们肯定会谈论她的。她身材高挑，胸部扁平，肩膀还未发育成形，因而还很窄。她有着在她这一年龄少有的灰白色皮肤，就像瓷器一样纯洁和光滑，浓密的金发深浅搭配得当。她那面容——很精致，简直过于精致、端正——还未失去属于少女的天真表情；她倦怠地低下她那可爱的脖子的举动以及她那心不在焉、疲惫无力的微笑都反映出她是个有点儿神经质的纤弱女孩；她微笑着的美丽嘴唇和那小小的略显狭窄的鹰钩鼻有一种任性和激情，一种对自己和他人都有危险的东西。真正令人惊艳的是她那深灰色的眼睛。那闪耀着绿光、含情脉脉、杏仁状的双眼就像埃及女神的眼睛，加上闪闪发亮的眼睫毛和上翘的眉毛，真是风情万种。她眼神怪异，专心的、若有所思的眼神似乎是一泓深不可测的秋水。在学校，伊琳娜被誉为最有才华和能力的学生之一，但她性情不定，喜爱权力，也十分倔强。一位女教师曾预言狂热的激情会毁掉她的未来，而另一方面，另一位女教师则指责她冷酷无情，说她是个“没良心的女孩”。伊琳娜的同伴认为她自大，老谋深算，她的兄弟姐妹都敬畏她，母亲则不信任她。当她用那双神秘的眼睛盯着她的父亲时，他会感到很不舒服。但她能使她的父母对她不由自主地产生尊敬之情。这倒并不是因为她的品质，而是因为她不知道通过什么方式唤醒了他们对她的奇特而模糊的期望。

"You will see, Praskovya Danilovna," said the old prince one day, taking his pipe out of his mouth, "our chit of an Irina will give us all a lift in the world yet."“等着吧，普拉斯科维娅·达尼洛夫娜。”有一天，老公爵边从嘴里拿出烟斗边说，“我们的姑娘伊琳娜会让我们都扬眉吐气的。”

The princess got angry, and told her husband that he made use of "des expressions insupportables"; afterwards, however, she fell to musing over his words, and repeated through her teeth:

公爵夫人十分地生气，指责丈夫说话“毫无根据”。可是事后，她开始思索他说的话，反复说道：

"Well... and it would be a good thing if we did get a lift."Irina enjoyed almost unlimited freedom in her parents' house; they did not spoil her, they even avoided her a little, but they did not thwart her, and that was all she wanted... Sometimes—during some too humiliating scene—when some tradesman would come and keep shouting, to be heard over the whole court, that he was sick of coming after his money, or their own servants would begin abusing their masters to their face, with "fine princes you are, to be sure; you may whistle for your supper, and go hungry to bed"—Irina would not stir a muscle; she would sit unmoved, an evil smile on her dark face; and her smile alone was more bitter to her parents than any reproaches, and they felt themselves guilty—guilty, though guilt less—towards this being on whom had been bestowed, as it seemed, from her very birth, the right to wealth, to luxury, and to homage.“嗯……真能让我们扬眉吐气也是件不错的事情。”伊琳娜在家几乎享有无限的自由。父母并不溺爱她，甚至还躲着她，但他们并不反对她，而这正是她想要的……有时会有一些令人丢脸的场景：某个商人到家里来大喊大叫，声音响彻整个庭院，声称已经厌倦了讨债；或者，他们的仆人会开始当着他们的面咒骂他们，说“你们虽然是公爵，但穷得家徒四壁，饿得直嚷嚷，只能空着肚子睡觉”。此时伊琳娜则无动于衷，一动不动地坐着，阴郁的脸上浮现出邪恶的笑容；对她的父母而言，光是她的冷笑就比任何责备都令人痛苦，好像自己犯了错——尽管没犯错，他们还是觉得对不起她，仿佛她天生就有享受荣华富贵和尊崇的权利。

Litvinov fell in love with Irina from the moment he saw her (he was only three years older than she was), but for a long while he failed to obtain not only a response, but even a hearing. Her manner to him was even overcast with a shade of something like hostility; he did in fact wound her pride, and she concealed the wound, and could never forgive it. He was too young and too modest at that time to understand what might be concealed under this hostile, almost contemptuous severity. Often, forgetful of lectures and exercises, he would sit and sit in the Osinins' cheerless drawing-room, stealthily watching Irina, his heart slowly and painfully throbbing and suffocating him; and she would seem angry or bored, would get up and walk about the room, look coldly at him as though he were a table or chair, shrug her shoulders, and fold her arms. Or for a whole evening, even when talking with Litvinov, she would purposely avoid looking at him, as though denying him even that grace. Or she would at last take up a book and stare at it, not reading, but frowning and biting her lips. Or else she would suddenly ask her father or brother aloud: "What's the German for patience?"He tried to tear himself away from the enchanted circle in which he suffered and struggled impotently like a bird in a trap; he went away from Moscow for a week. He nearly went out of his mind with misery and dulness; he returned quite thin and ill to the Osinins’... Strange to say, Irina, too, had grown perceptibly thinner during those days; her face had grown pale, her cheeks were wan... But she met him with still greater coldness, with almost malignant indifference; as though he had intensified that secret wound he had dealt at her pride... She tortured him in this way for two months. Then everythingwas transformed in one day. It was as though love had broken into flame with the heat, or had dropped down from a storm-cloud. One day—long will he remember that day—he was once more sitting in the Osinins' drawing-room at the window, and was looking mechanically into the street. There was vexation and weariness in his heart, he despised himself, and yet could not move from his place... He thought that if a river ran there under the window, he would throw himself in, with a shudder of fear, but without a regret. Irina placed herself not far from him, and was somehow strangely silent and motionless. For so days now she had not talked to him at all, or to any one else; she kept sitting, leaning on her elbows, though she were in perplexity, and only rarely she looked slowly round. This cold torture was at last more than Litvinov could bear; he got up, and without saying good-bye, he began to look for his hat. "Stay," sounded suddenly, in a soft whisper. Litvinov's heart throbbed, he did not at once recognize Irina's voice in that one word, there was a ring of something that had never been in it before. He lifted his head and was stupefied; Irina was looking fondly—yes, fondly at him. "Stay," she repeated; "don't go. I want to be with you."Her voice sank still lower. "Don't go... I wish it."Understanding nothing, not fully conscious what he was doing, he drew near her, stretched out his hands... She gave him both of hers at once, then smiling, flushing hotly, she turned away, and still smiling, went out of the room. She came back a few minutes later with her youngest sister, looked at him again with the same prolonged tender gaze, and made him sit near her... At first she could say nothing; she only sighed and blushed; then she began, timidly as it were, to question him abouthis pursuits, a thing she had never done before. In the evening of the same day, she tried several times to beg his forgiveness for not having done him justice before, assured him she had now become quite different, astonished him by a sudden outburst of republicanism (he had at that time a positive hero-worship for Robespierre, and did not presume to criticize Marat aloud), and only a week later he knew that she loved him. Yes; he long remembered that first day... but he did not forget those that came after, either—those days, when still forcing himself to doubt, afraid to believe in it, he saw clearly, with transports of rapture, almost of dread, bliss unhoped for coming to life, growing, irresistibly carrying everything before it, reaching him at last. Then followed the radiant moments of first love—moments which are not destined to be, and could not fittingly be, repeated in the same life. Irina became all at once as docile as a lamb, as soft as silk, and boundlessly kind; she began giving lessons to her younger sisters—not on the piano, she was no musician, but in French and English; she read their school-books with them, and looked after the housekeeping; everything was amusing and interesting to her; she would sometimes chatter incessantly, and sometimes sink into speechless tenderness; she made all sorts of plans, and was lost in endless anticipations of what she would do when she was married to Litvinov (they never doubted that their marriage would come to pass), and how together they would... "Work?" prompted Litvinov... "Yes; work," repeated Irina, "and read... but travel before all things."She particularly wanted to leave Moscow as soon as possible, and when Litvinov reminded her that he had not yet finished his course of study at the university, she always replied, after a moment'sthought, that it was quite possible to finish his studies at Berlin or... somewhere or other. Irina was very little reserved in the expression of her feelings, and so her relations with Litvinov did not long remain a secret from the prince and princess. Rejoice they could not; but, taking all circumstances into consideration, they saw no necessity for putting a veto on it at once. Litvinov's fortune was considerable... "But his family, his family!"... protested the princess. "Yes, his family, of course," replied the prince; "but at least he's not quite a plebeian; and, what's the principal point, Irina, you know, will not listen to us. Has there ever been a time when she did not do what she chose? Vous connaissez sa violence! Besides, there is nothing fixed definitely yet."So reasoned the prince, but mentally he added, however: "Madame Litvinov—is that all? I had expected something else."Irina took complete possession of her future fiance, and indeed he himself eagerly surrendered himself into her hands. It was as if he had fallen into a rapid river, and had lost himself... And bitter and sweet it was to him, and he regretted nothing and heeded nothing. To reflect on the significance and the duties of marriage, or whether he, so hopelessly enslaved, could be a good husband, and what sort of wife Irina would make, and whether their relations to one another were what they should be—was more than he could bring himself to. His blood was on fire, he could think of nothing, only—to follow her, be with her, for the future without end, and then—let come what may!

李特维诺夫对伊琳娜一见倾心（他只比她大三岁），但很久他一直没有得到她的回复，甚至连对她诉说衷肠的机会也没有。她对他的态度甚至带有一丝敌意。事实上他的确伤了她的自尊心，她把这一伤口掩藏起来并且永不原谅。那时他太年轻、太羞怯，还难以理解在这种敌视的、近乎轻蔑的严肃之下或许隐藏着什么。李特维诺夫常常忘记上课和写作业，坐在死气沉沉的奥西宁家的客厅里偷偷地盯着伊琳娜；他的心在缓慢而痛苦地跳动着，令他窒息。她总是一副愤怒、无聊的表情，站起来在房间里来回踱步，冷冷地看着他，仿佛他只是一张桌子或一把椅子，然后耸耸肩，抱紧双臂。或者就算一整晚都在和李特维诺夫说话，她也故意不去看他，似乎连这点脸面都不给他。或者她最终会拿起一本书盯着它看，但没读进去，只是皱着眉头咬嘴唇。或者她会突然大声地问她的父亲或弟弟：“‘耐心’用德语怎么说？”他就像落入陷阱的小鸟，痛苦而无力地挣扎着，努力从这被施了魔法的怪圈中抽身；于是他离开莫斯科一周。痛苦和乏味使他几乎发疯。他变得很瘦，病怏怏地回到了奥西宁家……奇怪的是，这几天伊琳娜也明显地变得比过去更消瘦，她脸色苍白，脸颊也凹进去了……但是她对他更加冷淡，几乎怀着一种恶意的冷淡，好像他对她自尊心所造成的秘密伤害因他加深了一样……她用这种方式折磨了他两个月。然后有一天，一切都变了。爱情如火山爆发或暴风雨般猝然而至。某天——他会永远记住这一天——他又坐在奥西宁家客厅的窗前，哀伤地朝街上看去。他的内心感到苦恼和厌倦，他鄙视自己但却离不开这个地方……他想如果窗下流淌着一条河流，他就会跳下去，虽然害怕得发抖，但不会有一丝懊悔。伊琳娜坐在他的不远处，不知怎的，她出奇地沉默，一动不动。这几天她没有跟他说过话，也没跟其他任何人说过话。他一直坐在那里，胳膊肘托着脸，一脸茫然的样子，只是偶尔会慢慢地朝四周看看。李特维诺夫再也忍受不了这种冰冷的折磨。他站起来，没和她告别就开始找他的帽子。“留下来。”忽然传来一声柔和的低语。李特维诺夫的心悸动了一下，仅凭这一个词，他没能马上听出是伊琳娜的声音：这个声音里含有某种之前从未有过的东西。他抬起头，吓呆了，伊琳娜正深情地——是的，深情地看着她。“留下来。”她又说，“别走。我想和您呆在一起。”她的声音变得更加低沉。“别走……我希望您别走。”李特维诺夫什么都没弄懂，也没有充分意识到自己正在做什么，只是走近她并伸出双手……她立刻向他伸出双手并且微笑着，脸颊绯红，然后转过身去，但仍面带微笑，走出了房间。几分钟后，她和她最小的妹妹回来了。她又用那种温柔的眼神久久地看着他，叫他坐在她的身边……起初，她什么都说不出来，只是叹气，脸通红；然后她羞怯地问他的追求，这是她以前从未做过的事。那天晚上，她多次尝试着乞求他原谅她先前对他的不公正对待，并向他保证说她现在变得很不同了。同时她突然对共和主义发表了言论，使他大吃一惊（那时他虽崇拜英雄罗伯斯庇尔，但还不敢大声指责马拉），仅仅一周后他就知道她爱他。是的，他会永远记住那第一天……但他也没忘记接下来的日子——那些天，尽管他强迫自己去怀疑这一切，不敢相信这是真的，但他清楚地、惊喜交加地看到这出乎意料的幸福在他面前萌芽、成长，最后势不可挡地冲破一切来到了他的身边。接下来是灿烂辉煌的初恋时期——这并不是命中注定的，所以不能也不适合在生命中重复出现。伊琳娜马上变得像一只温驯的羔羊，像丝绸般温柔，无比友好。她开始给她的妹妹们上课，并不是钢琴课，她不是音乐家，而是英语和法语课。她和妹妹们一起读她们的课本，还干起了家务活。她觉得一切都很有趣很好玩。她有时候会喋喋不休，有时候又陷入无言的温柔之中。她制定了各种各样的计划，一心幻想着和李特维诺夫结婚之后她要做什么（他们从未怀疑过他们会结婚）以及他们在一起会怎样……“工作呢？”李特维诺夫提醒她……“是的，工作。”伊琳娜重复道，“读书…… 但旅行至上。”她尤其想尽快离开莫斯科。当李特维诺夫提醒她，说他还没有完成大学的学业时，她总是在思索片刻之后才回答，说他完全可以在柏林……或者其他的地方完成学业。伊琳娜很少掩饰自己的情感，因此她和李特维诺夫之间的关系对公爵夫妇来说并不是一个长久的秘密。他们并不是很高兴，但综合考虑所有的情况，他们认为没有必要立刻反对。李特维诺夫有一笔可观的财产……“但是他的家世，家世！”……公爵夫人驳斥说。“是的，当然，他的家世是个问题。”公爵回答道，“但他至少不是个平民，而且最重要的是，您知道伊琳娜不会听我们的。有哪次不是她想做什么就做什么呢？您知道她很倔强！此外，目前什么都还没定呢”公爵这样论述道，然而心里又想到：“李特维诺夫夫人——就这样吗？我期望的可不止这些。”伊琳娜将她未来的未婚夫完完全全地控制在自己的手心里，而他也确实死心塌地地对她低眉折腰。他似乎被卷进了漩涡并且迷失了自我……他感到既痛苦又甜蜜，但他毫不后悔，也没有注意其他事情。至于婚姻的意义与义务，像他这样不可救药地言听计从的人能否当个好丈夫，伊琳娜又会是个什么样的妻子，他俩的关系是否正常——这些他都没有想过。他热血沸腾，只想一件事情——追随着她，和她在一起，走向无尽的未来，然后——要发生什么就尽管来吧！

But in spite of the complete absence of opposition on Litvinov's side, and the wealth of impulsive tenderness on Irina's, they did not get on quite without any misunderstandings and quarrels. One day he ran toher straight from the university in an old coat and ink-stained hands. She rushed to meet him with her accustomed fond welcome; suddenly she stopped short.

但是，尽管李特维诺夫对伊琳娜言听计从，伊琳娜对他也十分地温柔，他们的交往并非没有误解和争吵。一天，他放学后直接跑到她家。他身着旧衣，手上沾满了墨水。她也像往常那样欢喜地跑去欢迎他，但突然停下了。

"You have no gloves," she said abruptly, and added directly after: "Fie! what a student you are!"“您没有戴手套。”她突然说，然后马上补充道：“哼！看您这个学生！”

"You are too particular, Irina," remarked Litvinov. "You are a regular student," she repeated. "Vous n'êtes pas distingue”; and turning her back on him she went out of the room. It is true that an hour later she begged him to forgive her…As a rule she readily censured herself and accused herself to him; but, strange to say, she often almost with tears blamed herself for evil propensities which she had not, and obstinately denied her real defects. Another time he found her in tears, her head in her hands, and her hair in disorder; and when, all in agitation, he asked her the cause of her grief, she pointed with her finger at her own bosom without speaking. Litvinov gave an involuntary shiver. "Consumption!" flashed through his brain, and he seized her hand.“您太挑剔了，伊琳娜。”李特维诺夫评论说。“您是个正规学生。”她反复说道。“您看起来不很文雅。”说完，她便背对着他走出了房间。诚然，一个小时后，她又回来乞求他的原谅……像往常一样，她乐意指责自己，乐意向他道歉，但是说来也奇怪，她经常几乎含泪责怪自己其实并没有的不良嗜好，却固执地否认自己真正的缺点。又有一次，他发现她满含泪水，用手捂着脸，头发乱糟糟的，他心烦地问她为什么伤心，她却一言不发地用手指指着自己的胸口。李特维诺夫不禁打了一个冷战“肺痨！”这一想法在他脑海中一闪而过，然后他抓住了她的手。

"Are you ill, Irina?" he articulated in a shaking voice. (They had already begun on great occasions to call each other by their first names.)"Let me go at once for a doctor."“您病了吗，伊琳娜？”他声音颤抖地问道。（在重大场合他们已经开始直呼其名。）“我马上请医生来。”

But Irina did not let him finish; she stamped with her foot in vexation.

但还没等他说完，伊琳娜就恼火地直跺脚。

"I am perfectly well... but this dress... don't you understand?""What is it?... this dress," he repeated in bewilderment.“我很好……但这裙子……难道您不懂吗？”“懂什么？……裙子？”他困惑不解地反复说道。

"What is it? Why, that I have no other, and that it is old and disgusting, and I am obliged to put on this dress every day... even when you—Grisha—Grigory, come here... You will leave off loving me, at last, seeing me so slovenly!”“懂什么？啊，我没有其他裙子了，这件又旧又恶心，但我还得每天穿它……甚至当您——格里沙——格里高利来的时候……看到我这么邋遢，您最终会不再爱我！”

"For goodness sake, Irina, what are you saying? That dress is very nice... It is dear to me, too, be cause I saw you for the first time in it, darling."“看在上帝的份上，伊琳娜，您在胡说些什么啊？这条裙子很漂亮……它对我来说也很宝贵，亲爱的，因为我初次见您时，您穿的就是这条裙子。”

Irina blushed. "Do not remind me, if you please, Grigory Mihalovitch, that I had no other dress even then."

伊琳娜脸红了。“格里高利·米哈伊洛维奇，请不要提醒我，那时我就没有其他的裙子。”

"But I assure you, Irina Pavlovna, it suits you so exquisitely."“但是我向您保证，伊琳娜·巴甫洛夫娜，您穿这条裙子美极了。”

"No, it is horrid, horrid," she persisted, nervously pulling at her long, soft curls. "Ugh, this poverty, poverty and squalor! How is one to escape this sordidness! How get out of this squalor!"“不，丑死了，丑死了。”她坚持这样说，神经质地拉扯着自己那又长又软的卷发。“唉，贫穷啊，贫穷啊，肮脏啊！怎样才能逃离这种污秽！怎样才能摆脱这种肮脏！”

Litvinov did not know what to say, and slightly turned away from her.

李特维诺夫不知道该说些什么，于是略微离她远一点。

All at once Irina jumped up from her chair, and laid both her hands on his shoulders.

忽然，伊琳娜从椅子上一跃而起，双手放在他的肩膀上。

"But you love me, Grisha? You love me?" she murmured, putting her face close to him, and her eyes, still filled with tears, sparkled with the light of happiness, "You love me, dear, even in this horrid dress?"“您爱我吗，格里沙？您爱我吗？”她咕哝着并把脸靠近他，眼中仍然噙着泪水，但闪烁着幸福的光芒，“亲爱的，即使我穿这条难看的裙子，您还是爱我的，是吗？”

Litvinov flung himself on his knees before her.

李特维诺夫跪在她面前。

"Ah, love me, love me, my sweet, my savior," she whispered, bending over him.“啊，爱我，爱我，亲爱的，我的救星。”她小声地说，一边向他弯下腰。

So the days flew, the weeks passed, and though as yet there had been no formal declaration, though Litvinov still deferred his demand for her hand, not, certainly, at his own desire, but awaiting directions from Irina (she remarked sometimes that they were both ridiculously young, and they must add at least a few weeks more to their years), still everything was moving to a conclusion, and the future as it came nearer grew more and more clearly defined, when suddenly an event occurred, which scattered all their dreams and plans like light roadside dust.

就这样，时光飞逝，尽管没有正式宣布，尽管李特维诺夫迟迟没有向她求婚，当然并不是他想这样，而是他在等伊琳娜的指示（她有时说他们还太年轻幼稚，至少还得等几周直到年龄合适），但是一切正朝着结局进行着，未来不断地向他们靠近并且越来越清楚地呈现在他们的面前。但就在这时忽然发生了一件事，将他们所有的梦想和计划都打散成路边微小的尘埃。

VIII

第八章

That winter the court visited Moscow. One festivity followed another; in its turn came the customary great ball in the Hall of Nobility. The news of this ball, only, it is true, in the form of an announcement in the Political Gazette, reached even the little house in Dogs' Place. The prince was the first to be roused by it; he decided at once that he must not fail to go and take Irina, that it would be unpardonable to let slip the opportunity of seeing their sovereigns, that for the old nobility this constituted indeed a duty in its own way. He defended his opinion with a peculiar warmth, not habitual in him; the princess agreed with him to some extent, and only sighed over the expense; but a resolute opposition was displayed by Irina. "It is not necessary, I will not go," she replied to all her parents' arguments. Her obstinacy reached such proportions that the old prince decided at last to beg Litvinov to try to persuade her, by reminding her among other reasons that it was not proper for a young girl to avoid society, that she ought to "have this experience," that no one ever saw her anywhere, as it was. Litvinov undertook to lay these "reasons" before her. Irina looked steadily and scrutinizingly at him, so steadily and scrutinizingly that he was confused, and then, playing with the ends of her sash, she said calmly:

那年冬天，王室参观了莫斯科。庆贺活动络绎不绝，按照惯例应该轮到在贵族大厅里举办隆重的舞会。舞会的消息只在《警察公报》上以布告的形式公布过，但它还是传到了索巴契雅广场上的这间小房子里。公爵是第一个对此激动不已的人，他马上决定，务必要去并且要带伊琳娜一起去。他认为错失见君主的机会是无法原谅的，因为对于世袭贵族来说，这是他们无法逃避的责任。他一反常态，带着一股奇特的热情为自己的意见辩解。在某种程度上，公爵夫人也同意他的看法，只是长吁短叹这笔开支，但伊琳娜却坚决反对。“没必要去，我不会去的。”父母一再劝她，她都这么回答。她太固执了，以至于老公爵最后只好求李特维诺夫来试着劝劝她，提醒她年轻的女孩不进行社交活动是不合适的，她应该“长长见识”，照这样下去，谁都见不到她。李特维诺夫把这些“理由”一个个地说给她听。伊琳娜久久地看着他，专注地看着他，如此长久，如此专注，以至于让他感到困惑。她弄了一下腰带，冷静地说：

"Do you desire it, you?""Yes... I suppose so," replied Litvinov hesitatingly. "I agree with your papa... Indeed, whyshould you not go... to see the world, and show yourself," he added with a short laugh.“您想要我去？”“是的……我想是的。”李特维诺夫犹豫地回答。“我同意您爸爸的观点……真的，为什么不去呢……去开开眼界，展示一下自己。”他微笑着补充说。

"To show myself," she repeated slowly. "Very well then, I will go... Only remember, it is you yourself who desired it."“展示自己。”她缓慢地重复道，“好吧，我去……只是记住，是您自己想要我去的。”

"That's to say, I—" Litvinov was beginning.“那就是说，我……”李特维诺夫开始说。

"You yourself have desired it," she interposed. "And here is one condition more; you must promise me that you will not be at this ball."“是您自己想要我去的。”她打断了他，说道，“还有一个条件：您必须向我保证您不会参加这次舞会。”

"But why?"“为什么啊？”

"I wish it to be so."“我希望如此。”

Litvinov unclasped his hands. "I submit... but I confess I should so have enjoyed seeing you in all your grandeur, witnessing the sensation you are certain to make... How proud should be of you!" he added with a sigh.

李特维诺夫松开双手。“我同意……但我承认，要是能看到您光彩四溢，亲眼目睹您必定带来的轰动，我会非常高兴……我是如此为您感到骄傲！”他叹了口气补充道。

Irina laughed.

伊琳娜笑了。

"All the grandeur will consist of a white frock, and as for the sensation…Well, any way, I wish it."“您的光芒将少不了一袭白色的舞衣，至于轰动嘛……好吧，不管怎么样，我希望如此。”

"Irina, darling, you seem to be angry?"“亲爱的伊琳娜，您好像生气了？”

Irina laughed again.

伊琳娜又笑了。

"Oh, no! I am not angry. Only, Grisha... (She fastened her eyes on him, and he thought he had never before seen such an expression in them.)"Perhaps, it must be," she added in an undertone.“哦，没有！我没有生气。只是，格里沙……（她双眼紧盯着他，他觉得之前从未见过她这种眼神。）“也许，必须这样。”她压低声音补充了一句。

"But, Irina, you love me, dear?"“但是，亲爱的伊琳娜，您爱我吗？”

"I love you," she answered with almost solemn gravity, and she clasped his hand firmly like a man.“我爱您。”她以几近庄严郑重的口吻回答，然后像男人一样握紧他的一只手。

All the following days Irina was busily occupied over her dress and her coiffure; on the day before the ball she felt unwell, she could not sit still, and twice she burst into tears in solitude; before Litvinov she wore the same uniform smile…She treated him however, with her old tenderness, but carelessly, andwas constantly looking at herself in the glass. On the day of the ball she was silent and pale, but collected. At nine o'clock in the evening Litvinov came to look at her. When she came to meet him in a white tarlatan gown, with a spray of small blue flowers in her slightly raised hair, he almost uttered a cry; she seemed to him so lovely and stately beyond what was natural to her years. "Yes, she has grown up since this morning!" he thought, "and how she holds herself! That's what race does!”Irina stood before him, her hands hanging loose, without smiles or affectation, and looked resolutely, almost boldly, not at him, but away into the distance straight before her.

在接下来的日子里，伊琳娜忙着她的服装和发型。舞会前一天，她感到身体不适，坐立不安，独自一人时，她两次落泪，但在李特维诺夫面前，她保持着一贯的微笑……然而，尽管她对他依旧那么温柔，但她心不在焉，老是照镜子。舞会当日，她一声不吭，脸色苍白，但是泰然自若。晚上九点，李特维诺夫来看她。当她来见他时，她身着白色薄纱礼服，有点隆起的发髻上插着一簇蓝色的小花，他几乎惊叫出来。在他看来，她是那么可爱、端庄，超越了她这一年龄本该有的样子。“是的，从今天早上开始她就长大了！”他想，“她是多么有气质啊！不愧是出身名门望族！”伊琳娜站在他面前，双手散漫地悬垂着，脸上既没有微笑也没有做作的表情。她坚定而近乎大胆地直视远方，而并不是看着他。

"You are just like a princess in a story book," said Litvinov at last. "You are like a warrior before the battle, before victory…You did not allow me to go to this ball," he went on, while she remained motionless as before, not because she was not listening to him, but because she was following another inner voice, "but you will not refuse to accept and take with you these flowers?"“您就像童话故事里的公主。”李特维诺夫终于说道，“您像战争和胜利之前的勇士……您不让我参加舞会，”他继续说着，可她仍像之前一样纹丝不动，不是因为她没有在听他说话，而是她在听内心的另一个声音，“但您不会拒绝接受这束花并把它带到舞会上去吧？”

He offered her a bunch of heliotrope. She looked quickly at Litvinov, stretched out her hand, and suddenly seizing the end of the spray which decorated her hair, she said:

他送给她一束向日葵。她迅速看着李特维诺夫，然后伸出手，突然抓住头上插着的花，说道：

"Do you wish it, Grisha? Only say the word, and I will tear off all this, and stop at home."“您希望如此吗，格里沙？只要您说一声，我就把它扯下来，留在家里。”

Litvinov's heart seemed fairly bursting. Irina's hand had already snatched the spray... "No, no, what for?" he interposed hurriedly, in a rush of generous and magnanimous feeling, "I am not an egoist... Why should I restrict your freedom... when I know that your heart—"

李特维诺夫的心简直要炸开一样。伊琳娜已经在抓头上那簇花了……“别这样，别这样，为什么啊？”他赶紧插话道，心中涌起宽容和慷慨之情，“我并不是一个自我主义者……既然我明白您的心，那我为什么还要限制您的自由呢？”

"Well, don't come near me, you will crush my dress," she said hastily.“那么，别靠近我，您会弄皱我的衣服。”她慌忙说。

Litvinov was disturbed.

李特维诺夫感到不安。

"But you will take the nosegay?" he asked.“不过您会带上这束花是吗？”他问。

"Of course; it is very pretty, and I love that scent. Merci—I shall keep it in memory—"“当然，这花很漂亮，我喜欢这香味。谢谢——我要把它留作纪念——”

"Of your first coming out," observed Litvinov, "your first triumph."“纪念您第一次参加社交活动。”李特维诺夫说，“祝您初战告捷。”

Irina looked over her shoulder at herself in the glass, scarcely bending her figure. "And do I really look so nice? You are not partial?"

伊琳娜略微弯下身子，扭过头照镜子。“我真的很漂亮吗？您不是因为偏心才这么说吧？”

Litvinov overflowed in enthusiastic praises. Irina was already not listening to him, and holding the flowers up to her face, she was again looking away into the distance with her strange, as it were, overshadowed, dilated eyes, and the ends of her delicate ribbons stirred by a faint current of air rose slightly behind her shoulders like wings. The prince made his appearance, his hair well becurled, in a white tie, and a shabby black evening coat, with the medal of nobility on a Vladimir ribbon in his buttonhole. After him came the princess in a china silk dress of antique cut, and with the anxious severity under which mothers try to conceal their agitation, set her daughter to rights behind, that is to say, quite needlessly shook out the folds of her gown. An antiquated hired coach with seats for four, drawn by two shaggy hacks, crawled up to the steps, its wheels grating over the frozen mounds of unswept snow, and a decrepit groom in a most unlikely-looking livery came running out of the passage, and with a sort of desperate courage announced that the carriage was ready... After giving a blessing for the night to the children left at home, and enfolding themselves in their fur wraps, the prince and princess went out to the steps; Irina in a little cloak, too thin and tooshort—how she hated the little cloak at that moment!—followed them in silence. Litvinov escorted them outside, hoping for a last look from Irina, but she took her seat in the carriage without turning her head.

李特维诺夫滔滔不绝地对她说了些赞美的话。伊琳娜已经没有在听他说话，而是拿起花贴在脸颊上，用她那双奇特的、暗淡的、睁得大大的眼睛望着远方。肩膀后的丝带被微风吹起，像翅膀一样飘舞。公爵来了。他的头发很好看地打了卷，系着一条白色领带，穿着一件破旧的黑色晚礼服，胸前戴着贵族勋章，纽扣眼系着符拉基米尔绶带。紧跟着，公爵夫人来了。她穿着剪裁古旧的绸裙，神情肃穆而恳切，通常母亲们都是用这种神情来掩饰内心的激动。她站在女儿身后帮她整理衣服，换言之，是很没有必要地帮她抖了下礼服的褶皱。一辆租来的、带有四人座的过时马车由两匹毛茸茸的老马拉来了，车轮碾着没有清扫的已经上冻的雪堆，发出咯吱声。一位身着极其难看的仆人制服的老马夫跑到走廊来，不顾一切地鼓足勇气说马车准备好了……为留在家里的孩子们作完祷告后，公爵夫妇裹上皮草披肩来到门口的台阶上。伊琳娜则穿着一件小披风，那披风太薄太短了——那一刻，她是多么地讨厌这件小披风啊！——静静地跟着他们。李特维诺夫护送他们上车，希望伊琳娜在离别之前看他最后一眼，但她连头都不回就坐进了马车。

About midnight he walked under the windows of the Hall of Nobility. Countless lights of huge candelabra shone with brilliant radiance through the red curtains; and the whole square, blocked with carriages, was ringing with the insolent, festive, seductive strains of a waltz of Strauss.

将近午夜，他走过贵族大厅的窗下。无数的枝状大烛台通过红色的窗帘发出灿烂的光芒。整个广场停满了马车，回响着斯特劳斯的华尔兹舞曲，旋律带有狂野、欢乐和诱人的韵味。

The next day at one o'clock, Litvinov betook himself to the Osinins’. He found no one at home but the prince, who informed him at once that Irina had a headache, that she was in bed, and would not get up till the evening, that such an indisposition was, however, little to be wondered at after a first ball.

第二天一点钟，李特维诺夫来到奥西宁家。他发现家里除了公爵之外别无他人，公爵立刻告诉他，伊琳娜头痛，在床上休息，要到傍晚才会起床。不过，第一次参加舞会出现这种身体不适不足为怪。

"C'est très naturel, vous savez, dans les jeunes filles," he added in French, somewhat to Litvinov's surprise; the latter observed at the same instant that the prince was not in his dressing-gown as usual, but was wearing a coat. "And besides," continued Osinin, "she may well be a little upset after the events of yesterday!"“您知道吗，这对年轻的女孩来说是很正常的。”他用法语补充道，令李特维诺夫感到有点吃惊。他又观察到公爵没有像往常那样穿着晨衣，而是穿着一件外套。“除此之外，”奥西宁继续说，“出了昨天那样的大事后，她很有可能会有点儿心烦意乱！”

"Events?" muttered Litvinov.“大事？”李特维诺夫喃喃自语。

"Yes, yes, events, events, de vrais evenements. You cannot imagine, Grigory Mihalovitch, quel succès elle a eu! The whole court noticed her! Prince Alexander Fedorovitch said that her place was not here, and that she reminded him of Countess Devonshirse. You know... that... celebrated... And old Blazenkrampf declared in the hearing of all, that Irina was la reine du bal, and desired to be introduced to her; he was introduced to me, too, that's to say, he told me that he remembered me as a hussar, and asked mewhere I was holding office now. Most entertaining man that Count, and such an adorateur du beau sexe! But that's not all; my princess... they gave her no peace either: Natalya Nikitishna herself conversed with: her... what more could we have? Irina danced avec tous les meilleurs cavaliers; they kept bringing them up to me... I positively lost count of them. Would you believe it, they were all flocking about us in crowds; in the mazurka they did nothing but seek her out. One foreign diplomatist, hearing she was a Moscow girl, said to the Tsar: 'Sire,' he said, 'decidement c'est Moscou qui est le centre de votre empire!' and another diplomatist added: 'C'est une vraie revolution, Sire—revelation or revolution...' something of that sort. Yes, yes, it was. I tell you it was something extraordinary.""Well, and Irina Pavlovna herself?" inquired Litvinov, whose hands and feet had grown cold hearing the prince's speech, "did she enjoy herself, did she seem pleased?"“是的，是的，大事，大事，名不虚传的大事。您无法想象，格里高利·米哈伊洛维奇，她真是大获成功！整个王室都注意到她了！亚历山大·费奥得罗维奇公爵说她不该在这里，还说她使他想起了杰冯希尔斯卡娅伯爵夫人。您知道……那位……名媛……老布拉辛格拉姆普则在众人面前宣布：伊琳娜是舞会皇后，他渴望把自己介绍给她，他也被介绍给了我，也就是说，他告诉我他记得我当轻骑兵的样子，还问我现在在哪里任职。这位伯爵非常地有意思，他是如此崇拜女性！但还不止这些。我的公爵夫人……她也得不到片刻安宁，娜塔里娅·尼基季什娜亲自与她说话……我们还能期待什么呢？伊琳娜与所有优秀的男士跳了舞，他们络绎不绝地来到我的面前……我完全数不清有多少人了。您也许不信，他们都围在我们身边。跳玛祖卡舞的时候，他们什么也不做，只是寻找机会请她跳舞。一位外国外交官听说她是莫斯科人后就对陛下说：‘陛下！’他说，‘莫斯科毫无疑问是贵国的中心！’另一位外交官则补充道：‘陛下，这是一场名副其实的革命——一个发现或者一场革命’诸如此类的话。是的，是的，是这样。我跟您说，这事非比寻常。”“那么，伊琳娜·巴甫洛夫娜她怎么样？”李特维诺夫问，听了公爵的话后，他手脚冰冷，“她玩得愉快吗？看起来高兴吗？”

"Of course she enjoyed herself; how could she fail to be pleased? But, as you know, she's not to be seen through at a glance! Every one was saying to me yesterday: it is really surprising! jamais on ne dirait que mademoiselle votre fille est à son premier bal. Count Reisenbach, among the rest... you know him most likely."“当然，她玩得很愉快，怎么会不高兴呢？但是，您也知道，乍一看很难看穿她！昨天每个人都对我说：真是奇怪！怎么也看不出来您女儿竟然是第一次参加舞会。其他人中，列辛巴赫伯爵……您一定认识他。”

"No, I don't know him at all, and have never heard of him."“不，我根本不认识他，也没有听说过他。”

"My wife's cousin."“我妻子的堂兄。”

"I don't know him."“我不认识他。”

"A rich man, a chamberlain, living in Petersburg, in the swim of things; in Livonia every one is in his hands. Hitherto he has neglected us... but there, I don't bear him ill-will for that. J'ai l'humeur facile,comme vous savez. Well, that's the kind of man he is. He sat near Irina, conversed with her for a quarter of an hour, not more, and said afterwards to my princess: 'Ma cousine,' he says, 'votre fille est une perle; c'est une perfection, every one is congratulating me on such a niece...’And afterwards I look around—and he had gone up to a... a very great personage, and was talking, and kept looking at Irina... and the personage was looking at her too..."“他是个有钱人，是一位宫廷大臣，住在彼得堡，是个大红人；里夫兰的一切都在他的掌心里。到目前为止，他一直无视我们……但我并不因此对他怀恨在心。您知道，我性情温顺。嗯，他就是这种人。他坐在伊琳娜旁边，与她交谈了十五分钟，便没有了下文。后来就对我的公爵夫人说：‘堂妹，您女儿是颗明珠啊，完美无瑕，大家都祝贺我有这么一个外甥女……’之后我环顾四周——看见他走向一位……一位大人物并与之交谈，但眼睛一直看着伊琳娜……这位大人物也在看伊琳娜……”

"And so Irina Pavlovna will not appear all day?" Litvinov asked again.“那么，伊琳娜·巴甫洛夫娜今天一天都不会出现了吗？”李特维诺夫又问。

"Quite so; her head aches very badly. She told me to greet you from her, and thank you for your flowers, qu'on a trouve charmant. She needs rest... The princess has gone out on a round of visits... and I myself... you see..."“很有可能，她头疼得厉害。她要我代她向您问好，并且谢谢您的花，大家都说花很漂亮。她需要休息……公爵夫人出去拜访客人了……而我自己……您看……”

The prince cleared his throat, and began to fidget as though he were at a loss what to add further. Litvinov took his hat, and saying he did not want to disturb him, and would call again later to inquire after her health, he went away. A few steps from the Osinins' house he saw an elegant carriage for two persons standing before the police sentry-box. A groom in livery, equally elegant, was bending negligently from the box, and inquiring of the Finnish police-sergeant whereabouts Prince Pavel Vassilyevitch Osinin lived. Litvinov glanced at the carriage; in it sat a middle-aged man of bloated complexion, with a wrinkled and haughty face, a Greek nose, and an evil mouth, muffled in a sable wrap, by all outward signs a very great man indeed.

公爵清了清嗓子，开始烦躁起来，茫然无措的样子，好像不知道能再说些什么。李特维诺夫拿起帽子，说他并不想打扰他，稍后会再来拜访伊琳娜，询问她的健康状况，说完就离开了。离奥西宁家几步之遥，他看见一辆高雅的双人马车停在警察岗亭前面。一位同样高雅的身穿仆人制服的马夫漫不经心地弯腰，向警亭里的芬兰警官询问巴威尔·瓦西里耶维奇·奥西宁公爵的住处。李特维诺夫瞥了一眼马车，看见里面坐着一位满脸得意之色的中年男子。他的脸上布满皱纹，表情傲慢，有着希腊式的鼻子和一张奸邪的嘴，身上裹着一件黑貂披肩。从外表上看，他肯定是个大人物。

IX

第九章

Litvinov did not keep his promise of returning; later; he reflected that it would he better to defer his visit till the following day. When he went into the too familiar drawing-room at about twelve o'clock, he found there the two youngest princesses, Viktorinka and Kleopatrinka. He greeted them, and then inquired, "Was Irina Pavlovna better, and could he see her?"

李特维诺夫并没信守稍后来拜访她的诺言，他思索着最好把他的拜访推迟到第二天。约摸十二点，他走进这个他再熟悉不过的客厅，发现那里只有两位最年幼的公爵小姐，维克托琳卡和克列奥帕特琳卡。他问候她们，然后问道：“伊琳娜·巴甫洛夫娜好些了吗？我可以看她了吗？”

"Irinotchka has gone away with mammy," replied Viktorinka; she lisped a little, but was more forward than her sister.“伊琳诺奇卡和妈妈一起出去了。”维克托里琳卡回答着。她虽然有点口齿不清，但比姐姐胆大。

"How... gone away?" repeated Litvinov, an there was a sort of still shudder in the very bottom of his heart. "Does she not, does she not look after you about this time, and give you your lessons?"“怎么……出门了？”李特维诺夫重复道，内心深处开始轻轻地战栗起来。“她还没有,这个时候她还没有来照顾你们，给你们上课吗？”

"Irinotchka will not give us any lessons any more now," answered Viktorinka. "Not any more now," Kleopatrinka repeated after her.“伊琳诺奇卡现在不会再给我们上课了。”维克托琳卡回答。“再也不会了。”克列奥帕特琳卡重复了妹妹的话。

"Is your papa at home?" asked Litvinov.“你们的爸爸在家吗？”李特维诺夫问。

"Papa is not at home," continued Viktorinka, "and Irinotchka is not well; all night long she was crying and crying..."“爸爸不在家。”维克托琳卡继续说,“伊琳诺奇卡身体不好，整晚一直在哭啊哭……”

"Crying?"“哭？”

"Yes, crying... Yegorovna told me, and her eyes are so red, they are quite in-inflamed..."Litvinov walked twice up and down the room shuddering as though with cold, and went back to his lodging. He experienced a sensation like that which gains possession of a man when he looks down from ahigh tower; everything failed within him, and his head was swimming slowly with a sense of nausea. Dull stupefaction, and thoughts scurrying like mice, vague terror, and the numbness of expectation, and curiosity—strange, almost malignant—and the weight of crushed tears in his heavy laden breast, on his lips the forced empty smile, and a meaningless prayer—addressed to no one... Oh, how bitter it all was, and how hideously degrading! "Irina does not want to see me," was the thought that was incessantly revolving in his brain; "so much is clear; but why is it? What can have happened at that ill-fated ball? And how is such a change possible all at once? So suddenly..."People always see death coming suddenly, but they can never get accustomed to its suddenness, they feel it senseless. "She sends no message for me, does not want to explain herself to me...""Grigory Mihalitch," called a strained voice positively in his ear.“是的，哭了……叶戈罗夫娜告诉我，她的眼睛又红又肿……”李特维诺夫在房间里来回走了两次，好像冷得发抖一样，然后便回到了自己的住处。他产生了一种当人从高塔上向下看时的感觉：身体的各个器官全都停止了运作，头慢慢发晕，恶心得想吐。呆滞的麻木状态，像老鼠一样乱窜的思绪，莫名的恐惧，麻木的等待以及奇异的近乎怀有恶意的好奇心，沉重的胸口上迸出的泪水，唇角边空洞的强颜欢笑和无意义的祷告——这些都无人诉说……啊，这一切是多么令人痛苦，多么可怕，多么耻辱啊！“伊琳娜不想见我。”这一想法不停地盘旋在他脑海之中，“这很明显，但是为什么呢？那个该死的舞会上发生了什么事？怎么可能马上会有这样的变化呢？太突然了……”人们总是看到死亡突然来临，但始终不能适应它的突发性，认为这不合情理。“她没有给我留下任何口信，不想向我解释……”“格里高利·米哈伊洛维奇。”耳边清楚地传来一个紧张的声音。

Litvinov started, and saw before him his servant with a note in his hand. He recognized Irina's writing... Before he had broken the seal, he had a foreknowledge of woe, and bent his head on his breast and hunched his shoulders, as though shrinking from the blow.

李特维诺夫吓了一跳，看见仆人站在他的面前，手里拿着一张纸条。他认出来是伊琳娜的笔迹……在撕掉信的封印之前，他有种不祥的预感，于是便把头低到胸口，缩着肩，一副被人打了一拳而蜷缩起来的样子。

He plucked up courage at last, and tore open the envelope all at once. On a small sheet of notepaper were the following lines: "Forgive me, Grigory Mihalitch. All is over between us; I am going away to Petersburg. I am dreadfully unhappy, but the thing is done. It seems my fate... but no, I do not want to justify myself. My presentiments have been realized. Forgive me, forget me; I am not worthy of you.—Irina. Be magnanimous: do not try to see me."

最后他终于鼓足勇气，立刻撕开信封。在一张小小的信纸上写着以下几句话：“原谅我，格里高利·米哈伊洛维奇。我们之间的一切都结束了，我将离开这里到彼得斯堡去。我不开心得要命，但事已至此。这似乎是我的命……不，我并不想为自己辩解。我的预感应验了。原谅我，忘了我吧，我配不上您。——伊琳娜请您宽宏大量，别来看我。”

Litvinov read these five lines, and slowly dropped on to the sofa, as though some one had dealt him a blow on the breast. He dropped the note, picked it up, read it again, whispered "to Petersburg," and dropped it again; that was all. There even came upon him a sense of peace; he even, with his hands thrown behind him, smoothed the pillow under his head. "Men wounded to death don't fling themselves about," he thought, "as it has come, so it has gone. All this is natural enough: I always expected it..."(He was lying to himself; he had never expected anything like it.)"Crying?... Was she crying?... What was she crying for? Why, she did not love me. But all that is easily understood and in accordance with her character. She—she is not worthy of me... That's it!”(He laughed bitterly.)"She did not know her self what power was latent in her,—weIl, convinced of it in her effect at the ball, was it likely she would stay with an insignificant student?—all that's easily understood."

李维特诺夫读完这五句话后，慢慢地倒在沙发上，就好像有人突然在他的胸口上打了一拳。他丢下信，然后捡起来，又读了一遍，低语着“到彼得堡去。”然后再次把信丢在地上。就这样。他甚至感到平静，甚至反手将头下枕着的枕头弄平。“受伤而死的人就不会挣扎。”他想着，“爱情来得突然去得也突然。这一切都自然得很，我一直预想着……”（他这是自欺欺人，他从来没有预料到这样的事。）“她哭了？……她哭了吗？……她为什么哭？为什么，她不爱我。但是，这一切都很容易理解，也很符合她的性格。她——她配不上我……是这样的！”（他苦笑着。）“以前她不知道自己身上潜在的魅力——但是舞会使她对自己的魅力深信不疑，她还有可能愿意跟一个不足挂齿的学生在一起吗？——这一切都很容易理解。”

But then he remembered her tender words, her smile, and those eyes, those never to be forgotten eyes, which he would never see again, which used to shine and melt at simply meeting his eyes; he recalled one swift, timorous, burning kiss—and suddenly he fell to sobbing, sobbing convulsively, furiously, vindictively; turned over on his face, and choking and stifling with frenzied satisfaction as though thirsting to tear him self to pieces with all around him, he turned his hot face in the sofa pillow, and bit it in his teeth.

但是，接着他又想起她温柔的话语，她的微笑以及那双他永远无法忘怀、也再也看不到的眼睛。那双眼睛曾经只要和他的眼神相遇，就会闪闪发光、深情款款。他还想起那个快速、胆怯而炽热的吻——突然，他开始呜咽，哭得开始痉挛、满腔怒火、满怀恨意；他转过脸去，疯狂的满足感令他阻塞、窒息，好像渴求把自己连同周围的一切都撕成碎片。他将滚烫的脸颊埋进沙发靠垫中并用牙齿咬着它。

Alas! the gentleman whom Litvinov had seen the day before in the carriage was no other than the cousin of the Princess Osinin, the rich chamberlain, Count Reisenbach. Noticing the sensation produced by Irina on certain personages of the highest rank, andinstantaneously reflecting what advantages might mit etwas Accuratesse be derived from the fact, the count made his plan at once like a man of energy and a skillful courtier. He decided to act swiftly, in Napoleonic style. "I will take that original girl into my house," was what he meditated, "in Petersburg; I will make her my heiress, devil take me, of my whole property even; as I have no children. She is my niece, and my countess is dull all alone... It's always more agreeable to have a pretty face in one's drawing-room... Yes, yes;... that's it; es ist eine Idee, es ist eine Idee!”He would have to dazzle, bewilder, and impress the parents. "They've not enough to eat”—the count pursued his reflection when he was in the carriage and on his way to Dogs' Place—"so, I warrant they won't be obstinate. They're not such over-sentimental folks either. I might give them a sum of money down into the bargain. And she? She will consent. Honey is sweet—she had a taste of it last night. It's a whim on my part, granted; let them profit by it,... the fools. I shall say to them one thing and another... and you must decide—otherwise I shall adopt another—an orphan—which would be still more suitable. Yes or no—twenty-four hours I fix for the term—und damit Punctum."

哎！李特维诺夫前天看到的马车里的绅士不是别人，正是奥西宁公爵夫人的堂兄，那个富裕的宫廷大臣列辛巴赫伯爵。伯爵注意到伊琳娜给一些最上层社会的人们留下了深刻的印象，马上想到只要略施小计就可从中得到多大的好处，便立刻想出了一个计划，就像个精力充沛、手段娴熟的追求者。他决定以拿破仑的方式迅速采取行动。“我将那个与众不同的女孩带到我家，”他这样思忖着，“带到彼得斯堡；我要让她做我的继承人，甚至让她继承我的全部财产，说假话就让我天诛地灭，因为我没有子女。她是我的侄女，而且我的夫人一个人也很无聊……客厅里有张漂亮脸蛋总是会令人更开心的……是的，是的……就这样；真是个好办法，是个好办法！”他要让女孩的父母感到眼花缭乱、困惑不解，叫他们动心。“他们连吃都吃不饱。”在去那小房子的路上，伯爵坐在马车里继续想，“所以，我保证他们不会太固执。他们也并不是那种多愁善感的人。我可以给他们一笔钱作为交易。那她呢？她会同意的。蜂蜜是甜的——昨晚她已经尝到了它的味道。就算这是我的一个突发奇想；就让他们借此尝点甜头……这群傻瓜。我还要对他们说一些别的事情……您必须自己决定，否则我将另外领养一个——一个孤儿——或许会更合适。同意还是不同意——二十四小时内给我答案——爽快利落些。”

And with these very words on his lips, the count presented himself before the prince, whom he had forewarned of his visit the evening before at the ball. On the result of this visit it seems hardly worth while to enlarge further. The count was not mistaken in his prognostications: the prince and princess were in fact not obstinate, and accepted the sum of money; and Irina did in fact consent before the allotted term had expired. It was not easy for her to break off her relations with Litvinov; she loved him; and after sendinghim her note, she almost kept her bed, weeping continually, and grew thin and wan. But for all that, a month later the princess carried her off to Petersburg, and established her at the count's; committing her to the care of the countess, a very kind-hearted woman, but with the brain of a hen, and something of a hen's exterior.

带着这些话，伯爵出现在了公爵面前。头天晚上的舞会上，他就曾告诉过公爵自己会来拜访他们。拜访的结果似乎没有必要进一步说明。伯爵的预测一点没错。事实上，公爵夫妇并不固执，他们收下了钱。伊琳娜也确实在截止日期前答应了。对她来说，与李特维诺夫断绝关系并不是件容易的事情。她爱他，在寄给李特维诺夫那封信后，她几乎一直躺在床上，不停地哭泣，变得日益消瘦和苍白。虽然如此，一个月后，公爵夫人还是带着她来到了彼得斯堡，并将她安顿在伯爵家，请伯爵夫人代为照顾。伯爵夫人是一位心地善良的女人，但她的外表有点儿像母鸡，头脑也像母鸡一样简单。

Litvinov threw up the university, and went home to his father in the country. Little by little his wound healed. At first he had no news of Irina, and indeed he avoided all conversation that touched on Petersburg and Petersburg society. Later on, by degrees, rumors—not evil exactly, but curious—began to circulate about her; gossip began to be busy about her. The name of the young Princess Osinin, encircled in splendor, impressed with quite a special stamp, began to be more and more frequently mentioned even in provincial circles. It was pronounced with curiosity, respect, and envy, as men at one time used to mention the name of the Countess Vorotinsky. At last the news came of her marriage. But Litvinov hardly paid attention to these last tidings; he was already betrothed to Tatyana.

李特维诺夫辍学了，回到了乡下父亲的家里。他的伤口一点一点地愈合了。起初，他没有伊琳娜的任何消息。实际上，他回避任何有关彼得斯堡和彼得斯堡社交圈的谈论。后来渐渐地，谣言——确切地说，毫无恶意只是出于好奇——开始传播开来。到处都是有关她的流言蜚语。奥西宁公爵小姐这个被光芒包围着并且带有特殊印记的名字，开始越来越频繁地被提及，即使在乡村地区也是一样。人们怀着好奇、尊敬和嫉妒的心情说出这一名字，就像从前男人说出沃罗蒂斯卡娅伯爵夫人的名字那样。最后她的婚讯传来。但是李特维诺夫几乎没有注意到这最后的消息。他已经同塔吉娅娜订婚了。

Now, the reader can no doubt easily understand exactly what it was Litvinov recalled when he cried, "Can it be she?" and therefore we will return to Baden and take up again the broken thread of our story.

现在，读者无疑不难理解，当李特维诺夫叫道“会是她？”的时候，他心里到底想起了什么。所以我们要回到巴登，把我们中断了的故事继续说下去。

X

第十章

Litvinov fell asleep very late, and did not sleep long; the sun had only just risen when he got out of bed. The summits of dark mountains visible from his windows stood out in misty purple against the clear sky. "How cool it must be there under the trees!" he thought; and he dressed in haste, and looked with indifference at the bouquet which had opened more luxuriantly after the night; he took a stick and set off towards the "Old Castle" on the famous "Cliffs."Invigorating and soothing was the caressing contact of the fresh morning about him. He drew long breaths, and stepped out boldly; the vigorous health of youth was throbbing in every vein; the very earth seemed springy under his light feet. With every step he grew more light-hearted, more happy; he walked in the dewy shade in the thick sand of the little paths, beside the fir-trees that were fringed with the vivid green of the spring shoots at the end of every twig. "How jolly it is!" he kept repeating to himself. Suddenly he heard the sound of familiar voices; he looked ahead and saw Voroshilov and Bambaev coming to meet him. The sight of them jarred upon him; he rushed away like a school-boy avoiding his teacher, and hid him self behind a bush... "My Creator!" he prayed, "mercifully remove my countrymen!"He felt that he would not have grudged any money at the moment if only they did not see him... And

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