On arriving in Moscow by a morning train, Levin had put up at the house of his elder half-brother, Koznishev. —
抵达莫斯科的早晨火车上，列文住在他的哥哥科兹尼谢夫的家里。 —

After changing his clothes he went down to his brother’s study, intending to talk to him at once about the object of his visit, and to ask his advice; —
换好衣服后，他下到哥哥的书房，打算立刻和他谈谈自己来访的目的，并请教他的建议； —

but his brother was not alone. With him there was a well-known professor of philosophy, who had come from Harkov expressly to clear up a difference that had arisen between them on a very important philosophical question. —
但他的哥哥并不是一个人。有一位著名的哲学教授与他在一起，专程从哈尔科夫前来解决他们之间关于一个非常重要的哲学问题的分歧。 —

The professor was carrying on a hot crusade against materialists. —
教授正在进行一场激烈的对抗唯物主义的运动。 —

Sergey Koznishev had been following this crusade with interest, and after reading the professor’s last article, he had written him a letter stating his objections. —
谢尔盖·科兹尼谢夫对这场运动很感兴趣，在阅读完教授的最后一篇文章后，他写了一封信陈述了他的异议。 —

He accused the professor of making too great concessions to the materialists. —
他指责教授对唯物主义作出了太大的让步。 —

And the professor had promptly appeared to argue the matter out. —
而教授已迅速出现来讨论这个问题。 —

The point in discussion was the question then in vogue: —
讨论的焦点是当时流行的问题： —

Is there a line to be drawn between psychological and physiological phenomena in man? and if so, where?
人类心理和生理现象之间是否存在一道界限？如果存在，那么在哪里？

Sergey Ivanovitch met his brother with the smile of chilly friendliness he always had for everyone, and introducing him to the professor, went on with the conversation.
Sergey Ivanovitch以他对每个人都带着一丝冷淡友好的微笑迎接他的兄弟，并把他介绍给这位教授，然后继续谈话。

A little man in spectacles, with a narrow forehead, tore himself from the discussion for an instant to greet Levin, and then went on talking without paying any further attention to him. —
一个佩戴眼镜，额头窄窄的小个子离开了讨论，稍微打个招呼给了Levin，然后继续谈话时没有再理会他。 —

Levin sat down to wait till the professor should go, but he soon began to get interested in the subject under discussion.
Levin坐下等待教授离开，但很快就对讨论的话题产生了兴趣。

Levin had come across the magazine articles about which they were disputing, and had read them, interested in them as a development of the first principles of science, familiar to him as a natural science student at the university. —
Levin曾经在他所读的杂志文章中读到他们正在争论的内容，作为一名大学自然科学专业的学生，他对此非常感兴趣，因为这是自然科学的基本原理的发展。 —

But he had never connected these scientific deductions as to the origin of man as an animal, as to reflex action, biology, and sociology, with those questions as to the meaning of life and death to himself, which had of late been more and more often in his mind.
但是他从来没有将这些关于人类起源、反射动作、生物学和社会学的科学推论与他自己心中越来越频繁出现的有关生死意义的问题联系起来。

As he listened to his brother’s argument with the professor, he noticed that they connected these scientific questions with those spiritual problems, that at times they almost touched on the latter; —
当他听着他兄弟与教授的辩论时，他注意到他们把这些科学问题与那些精神问题联系在一起，有时几乎触及后者； —

but every time they were close upon what seemed to him the chief point, they promptly beat a hasty retreat, and plunged again into a sea of subtle distinctions, reservations, quotations, allusions, and appeals to authorities, and it was with difficulty that he understood what they were talking about.
但每次他们接近他认为的主要问题时，他们都迅速撤退，再次陷入一片微妙的区别、保留、引用、典故和对权威的呼吁之中，他很难明白他们在谈论什么。

“I cannot admit it,” said Sergey Ivanovitch, with his habitual clearness, precision of expression, and elegance of phrase. —
“我不能接受。”谢尔盖·伊万诺维奇以他惯常的清晰、准确的表达和优雅的措辞说道。 —

“I cannot in any case agree with Keiss that my whole conception of the external world has been derived from perceptions. —
“无论如何，我无法同意凯斯的说法，即我的整个外界概念都来自于感知。” —

The most fundamental idea, the idea of existence, has not been received by me through sensation; —
“最基本的观念，存在的观念，并非是通过感觉而得来的。” —

indeed, there is no special sense-organ for the transmission of such an idea.”
“实际上，并不存在着一种专门用于传递这种观念的感觉器官。”

“Yes, but they–Wurt, and Knaust, and Pripasov–would answer that your consciousness of existence is derived from the conjunction of all your sensations, that that consciousness of existence is the result of your sensations. —
“是的，但是他们——沃特、克努斯和普里帕索夫——会回答说你对存在的意识是由所有感觉的结合而来的，这种存在的意识是你感觉的结果。” —

Wurt, indeed, says plainly that, assuming there are no sensations, it follows that there is no idea of existence.”
“沃特甚至明确表示，如果假设没有感觉，那就意味着不存在存在的观念。”

“I maintain the contrary,” began Sergey Ivanovitch.
“我持相反的观点，”谢尔盖·伊万诺维奇开始说道。

But here it seemed to Levin that just as they were close upon the real point of the matter, they were again retreating, and he made up his mind to put a question to the professor.
但是在这里，列宁觉得他们似乎离事情的真正要点很近了，却又再次退缩了，于是他决定向教授提出一个问题。

“According to that, if my senses are annihilated, if my body is dead, I can have no existence of any sort?” he queried.
“根据那样的说法，如果我的感官被消灭，如果我的身体死亡，我就无法存在？”他问道。

The professor, in annoyance, and, as it were, mental suffering at the interruption, looked round at the strange inquirer, more like a bargeman than a philosopher, and turned his eyes upon Sergey Ivanovitch, as though to ask: —
教授感到烦恼并对打断他的人感到不悦，他望向这个奇怪的询问者，看起来更像一个水手而不是一个哲学家，然后转向谢尔盖·伊万诺维奇，似乎在询问：“我该对他说什么？” —

What’s one to say to him? But Sergey Ivanovitch, who had been talking with far less heat and one-sidedness than the professor, and who had sufficient breadth of mind to answer the professor, and at the same time to comprehend the simple and natural point of view from which the question was put, smiled and said:
谢尔盖·伊万诺维奇的态度比教授温和和客观，他有足够的广度能够回答教授的提问，同时也理解问题提问者简单而自然的观点，微笑着说道：“我们现在还没有权力回答这个问题。”

“That question we have no right to answer as yet.”
“我们还没有足够的数据，”教授接着说道，然后继续自己的论述。

“We have not the requisite data,” chimed in the professor, and he went back to his argument. —
“不，”他说道，“我要指出的是，如果像普里帕索夫直接声称的那样，感知是基于感觉的，那么我们必须清楚区分这两个概念。” —

“No,” he said; “I would point out the fact that if, as Pripasov directly asserts, perception is based on sensation, then we are bound to distinguish sharply between these two conceptions.”
列文不再听了，只是等着教授离开。

Levin listened no more, and simply waited for the professor to go.