Princess Betsy drove home from the theater, without waiting for the end of the last act. —
贝琪公主不等待最后一个剧场节目结束就开车回家了。 —

She had only just time to go into her dressing room, sprinkle her long, pale face with powder, rub it, set her dress to rights, and order tea in the big drawing room, when one after another carriages drove up to her huge house in Bolshaia Morskaia. —
她只来得及进入化妆室，撒上粉末，抚平她那长长的苍白脸庞，整理好衣服，在宽敞的大客厅里点了茶，当她刚做完这些，无数马车便接连驶到她的巨大别墅的门前。 —

Her guests stepped out at the wide entrance, and the stout porter, who used to read the newspapers in the mornings behind the glass door, to the edification of the passers-by, noiselessly opened the immense door, letting the visitors pass by him into the house.
她的客人们从宽敞的门口走出，而那个胖胖的门房则无声地打开了巨大的门，让访客们从他身边进入屋内。这个门房平日里喜欢躲在玻璃门后阅读报纸，给过路人提供一种教育。

Almost at the same instant the hostess, with freshly arranged coiffure and freshened face, walked in at one door and her guests at the other door of the drawing room, a large room with dark walls, downy rugs, and a brightly lighted table, gleaming with the light of candles, white cloth, silver samovar, and transparent china tea things.
就在同一时间，女主人换上新的发型，面容也焕然一新地从一扇门走进客厅，而她的客人则从另一扇门走了进来。这间宽敞的客厅墙壁深色，铺满柔软的地毯，明亮的灯光照亮了桌子上摆满了蜡烛、白布、银色的热水壶和透明的中国茶具。

The hostess sat down at the table and took off her gloves. —
女主人坐到桌子旁，脱下手套。 —

Chairs were set with the aid of footmen, moving almost imperceptibly about the room; —
脚夫们悄无声息地布置椅子，四处移动。 —

the party settled itself, divided into two groups: —
宴会的参与者分成两组，安顿下来。 —

one round the samovar near the hostess, the other at the opposite end of the drawing room, round the handsome wife of an ambassador, in black velvet, with sharply defined black eyebrows. —
在寄主附近的茶炉周围，另一组在画室的对面，在一位穿着黑丝绒衣服、有着清晰黑眉的漂亮大使夫人周围。 —

In both groups conversation wavered, as it always does, for the first few minutes, broken up by meetings, greetings, offers of tea, and as it were, feeling about for something to rest upon.
在两个小组中，对话总是在最初的几分钟里摇摆不定，被会面、问候、倒茶的打断，仿佛在寻找着可以停歇的东西。

“She’s exceptionally good as an actress; one can see she’s studied Kaulbach,” said a diplomatic attache in the group round the ambassador’s wife. —
“她作为女演员非常出色；可以看出她学习过考尔巴赫，”一个围在大使夫人周围的外交随员说道。 —

“Did you notice how she fell down?…”
“你有注意到她是怎么摔倒的吗？…”

“Oh, please ,don’t let us talk about Nilsson! —
“哦，请不要让我们再谈论尼尔松！ —

No one can possibly say anything new about her,” said a fat, red-faced, flaxen-headed lady, without eyebrows and chignon, wearing an old silk dress. —
没有人能够对她说出什么新鲜的东西，”一位脸胖、面红、头发金黄、没有眉毛和髻子的女士，穿着旧丝绸裙子，说道。 —

This was Princess Myakaya, noted for her simplicity and the roughness of her manners, and nicknamed enfant terrible. —
这位被称为“顽皮孩子”的米亚卡亚公主以其朴素和粗鲁的行为举止而闻名。 —

Princess Myakaya, sitting in the middle between the two groups, and listening to both, took part in the conversation first of one and then of the other. —
公主米亚卡娅坐在两个团体中间，并先后参与了他们的对话。 —

“Three people have used that very phrase about Kaulbach to me today already, just as though they had made a compact about it. —
“今天已经有三个人对我说起考尔巴赫，就好像他们约好了一样。 —

And I can’t see why they liked that remark so.”
我真不明白他们为什么喜欢那个评论。”

The conversation was cut short by this observation, and a new subject had to be thought of again.
这个观察打断了对话，不得不想一个新话题。

“Do tell me something amusing but not spiteful,” said the ambassador’s wife, a great proficient in the art of that elegant conversation called by the English, small talk. —
“告诉我一些有趣但不刻薄的事情吧，”大使夫人说道，她在那种被英国人称为闲聊的优雅对话方面很在行。 —

She addressed the attache, who was at a loss now what to begin upon.
她对那个秘书使馆官员说，此时他不知从何说起。

“They say that that’s a difficult task, that nothing’s amusing that isn’t spiteful,” he began with a smile. —
“他们说这是个困难的任务，除了刻薄的，没有什么好笑的，”他微笑着开始说道。 —

“But I’ll try. Get me a subject. It all lies in the subject. —
“但是我会尝试的。给我一个话题。一切都取决于话题。 —

If a subject’s given me, it’s easy to spin something round it. —
如果给我一个话题，围绕它发展出有趣的事情就容易了。 —

I often think that the celebrated talkers of the last century would have found it difficult to talk cleverly now. —
我常常想，上个世纪受人称赞的能言之士现在很难聪明地说话。 —

Everything clever is so stale…”
聪明的一切都太陈腐了……

“That has been said long ago,” the ambassador’s wife interrupted him, laughing.
“那早就有人说过了”，大使夫人打断他的话，笑着说。

The conversation began amiably, but just because it was too amiable, it came to a stop again. They had to have recourse to the sure, never-failing topic–gossip.
对话一开始很和谐，但因为过于和谐又再次停滞下来。他们不得不求助于一个确保不会失败的话题——闲言碎语。

“Don’t you think there’s something Louis Quinze about Tushkevitch?” —
“你不觉得图什克维奇有点路易十五的味道吗？” —

he said, glancing towards a handsome, fair-haired young man, standing at the table.
他一边说着，一边瞥了一眼站在桌子旁的一位英俊、金发的年轻人。

“Oh, yes! He’s in the same style as the drawing room and that’s why it is he’s so often here.”
“哦，对！他的品味和客厅一样，所以他经常在这里。”

This conversation was maintained, since it rested on allusions to what could not be talked on in that room–that is to say, of the relations of Tushkevitch with their hostess.
这段对话一直延续着，因为它涉及到了不能在这个房间里谈论的关于图什克维奇和女主人的关系的暗示。

Round the samovar and the hostess the conversation had been meanwhile vacillating in just the same way between three inevitable topics: —
在烧水壶和女主人周围的对话与之前一样，不可避免地在三个话题之间摇摆不定。 —

the latest piece of public news, the theater, and scandal. —
关于最新的公共新闻，剧院以及丑闻。 —

It, too, came finally to rest on the last topic, that is, ill-natured gossip.
最后的话题也转到了恶毒的闲言碎语上。

“Have you heard the Maltishtcheva woman–the mother, not the daughter–has ordered a costume in diable rose color?”
“你听说了吗，玛尔蒂什捷娃女士——指的是母亲，不是女儿——订了一套魔鬼玫瑰色的服装？”

“Nonsense! No, that’s too lovely!”
“胡说！不可能，那太漂亮了！”

“I wonder that with her sense–for she’s not a fool, you know– that she doesn’t see how funny she is.”
“我很奇怪，她明明有见识——因为她可不是傻瓜——为什么她就是看不出她自己有多滑稽。”

Everyone had something to say in censure or ridicule of the luckless Madame Maltishtcheva, and the conversation crackled merrily, like a burning faggot-stack.
大家都对倒霉的玛尔蒂什捷娃夫人有一些指责或嘲笑的话要说，谈话像燃烧的柴堆一样欢快地爆裂着。

The husband of Princess Betsy, a good-natured fat man, an ardent collector of engravings, hearing that his wife had visitors, came into the drawing room before going to his club. —
贝茨公主的丈夫，一位和蔼可亲的胖子，一位热衷于收集版画的人，听说妻子有客人，走进客厅，打算去俱乐部。 —

Stepping noiselessly over the thick rugs, he went up to Princess Myakaya.
他踩在厚重的地毯上无声地走到了米雅卡娅公主面前。

“How did you like Nilsson?” he asked.
“你觉得尼尔森演得怎么样？”他问道。

“Oh, how can you steal upon anyone like that! How you startled me!” she responded. —
“哦，你怎么能这样悄无声息地突然冒出来！你吓了我一跳！”她回答道。 —

“Please don’t talk to me about the opera; you know nothing about music. —
请不要跟我谈论歌剧；你对音乐一无所知。 —

I’d better meet you on your own ground, and talk about your majolica and engravings. —
我最好满足你的利益，谈谈你的马焦利卡和版画。 —

Come now, what treasure have yo been buying lately at the old curiosity shops?”
来吧，你最近在古玩店里买了什么宝贝？

“Would you like me to show you? But you don’t understand such things.”
你想让我给你看吗？但是你不懂这些东西。

“Oh, do show me! I’ve been learning about them at those–what’s their names?. —
哦，给我看看吧！我在那些——叫什么名字来着？的地方学到了一些东西。 —

..the bankers…they’ve some splendid engravings. —
银行家们的地方……他们有一些很棒的版画。 —

They showed them to us.”
他们向我们展示了。

“Why, have you been at the Schuetzburgs?” asked the hostess from the samovar.
那你们去了舒茨堡吗？来自沙摩瓦的女主人问道。

“Yes, ma chere. They asked my husband and me to dinner, and told us the sauce at that dinner cost a hundred pounds,” Princess Myakaya said, speaking loudly, and conscious everyone was listening; —
是的，亲爱的。他们邀请我和我丈夫去吃饭，并告诉我们那顿饭的酱料花了一百镑，米亚卡娅公主大声说道，意识到每个人都在听； —

“and very nasty sauce it was, some green mess. —
那酱料非常难吃，一团绿色的烂东西。 —

We had to ask them, and I made them sauce for eighteen pence, and everybody was very much pleased with it. —
我们不得不询问他们，我给他们做了一份花费了1英镑八先令的酱料，每个人都非常满意。 —

I can’t run to hundred-pound sauces.”
我买不起一百镑的酱料。

“She’s unique!” said the lady of the house.
她很独特！房主夫人说。

“Marvelous!” said someone.
“太棒了！”有人说道。

The sensation produced by Princess Myakaya’s speeches was always unique, and the secret of the sensation she produced lay in the fact that though she spoke not always appropriately, as now, she said simple things with some sense in them. —
玛嘉佳公主的演讲总是产生独特的感觉，她能够通过说一些不总是恰当但有些道理的简单话语来引起这种感觉。 —

In the society in which she lived such plain statements produced the effect of the wittiest epigram. Princess Myakaya could never see why it had that effect, but she knew it had, and took advantage of it.
在她所处的社交圈中，这样直接的陈述会产生最风趣的警句效果。玛嘉佳公主无法理解为什么会产生这样的效果，但她知道这种效果确实存在，并加以利用。

As everyone had been listening while Princess Myakaya spoke, and so the conversation around the ambassador’s wife had dropped, Princess Betsy tried to bring the whole party together, and turned to the ambassador’s wife.
当玛嘉佳公主说话时，每个人都在倾听，所以大家都停下了与大使夫人的对话。贝茜公主试图把整个聚会团结在一起，并转向大使夫人。

“Will you really not have tea? You should come over here by us.”
“你真的不喝茶吗？你应该过来坐我们这边。”

“No, we’re very happy here,” the ambassador’s wife responded with a smile, and she went on with the conversation that had been begun.
“不，我们在这里很开心，”大使夫人微笑着回答，并继续之前的话题。

“It was a very agreeable conversation. They were criticizing the Karenins, husband and wife.
“这是个非常愉快的对话。他们在批评卡列宁夫妇。”

“Anna is quite changed since her stay in Moscow. —
“安娜在莫斯科逗留后变得很不同。” —

There’s something strange about her,” said her friend.
“她有点奇怪，” 她的朋友说。

“The great change is that she brought back with her the shadow of Alexey Vronsky,” said the ambassador’s wife.
“最大的改变是她带回了亚历克谢·弗朗斯基的阴影，” 大使夫人说。

“Well, what of it? There’s a fable of Grimm’s about a man without a shadow, a man who’s lost his shadow. —
“那又怎样？格林童话里有一个关于没有影子的人的寓言，一个失去了影子的人。 —

And that’s his punishment for something. —
这是对他的惩罚，因为某些事情。 —

I never could understand how it was a punishment. —
我从来就弄不明白这是一种惩罚。 —

But a woman must dislike being without a shadow.”
但是一个女人肯定不喜欢没有影子。”

“Yes, but women with a shadow usually come to a bad end,” said Anna’s friend.
“是的，但是有影子的女人通常都有坏结局，” 安娜的朋友说。

“Bad luck to your tongue!” said Princess Myakaya suddenly. —
“你这个舌头太坏了！” 调皮公主突然说道。 —

“Madame Karenina’s a splendid woman. I don’t like her husband, but I like her very much.”
“卡琳娜夫人是个了不起的女人。我不喜欢她的丈夫，但是我很喜欢她。”

“Why don’t you like her husband? He’s such a remarkable man,” said the ambassador’s wife. —
“你为什么不喜欢她的丈夫？他是个非凡的人，” 大使夫人说。 —

“My husband says there are few statesmen like him in Europe.”
“我丈夫告诉我欧洲很少有像他这样的政治家。”

“And my husband tells me just the same, but I don’t believe it,” said Princess Myakaya. —
“我丈夫也对我说这样的话，但我不相信，” 调皮公主说道。 —

“If our husbands didn’t talk to us, we should see the facts as they are. —
“如果我们的丈夫不和我们交谈，我们应该看到真相如何。 —

Alexey Alexandrovitch, to my thinking, is simply a fool. I say it in a whisper. —
“我认为亚历克谢·亚历山德罗维奇只是个傻瓜。我轻声说出来。 —

..but doesn’t it really make everything clear? —
“难道这不是把一切都讲清楚了吗？ —

Before, when I was told to consider him clever, I kept looking for his ability, and thought myself a fool for not seeing it; —
“以前当有人告诉我他很聪明时，我一直在寻找他的才能，还觉得自己是个傻瓜，没有看到它； —

but directly I said, he a fool, though only in a whisper, everything’s explained, isn’t it?”
“但是当我一说他是个傻瓜，即使只是轻声说出来，一切都解释开了，不是吗？

“How spiteful you are today!”
“你今天多么恶毒啊！

“Not a bit. I’d no other way out of it. One of the two had to be a fool. —
“一点也不。我别无选择。其中一个人必须是个傻瓜。 —

And, well, you know one can’t say that of oneself.”
“嗯，而且你知道说自己这样的话是不合适的。”

”‘No one is satisfied with his fortune, and everyone is satisfied with his wit.’ —
“没有人对自己的命运满意，每个人对自己的智慧感到满意。” —

” The attache repeated the French saying.
随员重复了这句法国谚语。

“That’s just it, just it,” Princess Myakaya turned to him. —
“就是这样，就是这样，”米娅卡亚公主转向他。 —

“But the point is that I won’t abandon Anna to your mercies. She’s so nice, so charming. —
“但关键是我不会让安娜沦落到你们的手中。她太好了，太迷人了。” —

How can she help it if they’re all in love with her, and follow her about like shadows?”
难道她有错吗？他们都爱上她了，像影子一样跟在她身后。”

“Oh, I had no idea of blaming her for it,” Anna’s friend said in self-defense.
“哦，我根本不是在责备她，”安娜的朋友自卫道。

“If no one follows us about like a shadow, that’s no proof that we’ve any right to blame her.”
“如果没有人像影子一样跟在我们身后，这并不意味着我们有权责备她。”

And having duly disposed of Anna’s friend, the Princess Myakaya got up, and together with the ambassador’s wife, joined the group at the table, where the conversation was dealing with the king of Prussia.
安娜的朋友被妙卡雅公主婉拒之后，她站起身，与大使夫人一起加入到一桌子的人群中，他们的对话正在讨论普鲁士国王。

“What wicked gossip were you talking over there?” asked Betsy.
“刚才你们在那儿聊了些什么恶毒的闲话？”贝琪问道。

“About the Karenins. The princess gave us a sketch of Alexey Alexandrovitch,” said the ambassador’s wife with a smile, as she sat down at the table.
“关于卡列宁一家。公主向我们描绘了一下阿列克谢·亚历山德罗维奇的情况，”大使夫人笑着说道，她一边坐下来一边说。

“Pity we didn’t hear it!” said Princess Betsy, glancing towards the door. —
“可惜我们没听到！”贝齐公主说着，向门口瞥了一眼。 —

“Ah, here you are at last!” she said, turning with a smile to Vronsky, as he came in.
“啊，你终于来了！”她转过身笑着对着弗朗斯基说，他刚刚走进来。

Vronsky was not merely acquainted with all the persons whom he was meeting here; —
弗朗斯基不仅仅认识在这里遇见的每一个人； —

he saw them all every day; and so he came in with the quiet manner with which one enters a room full of people from whom one has only just parted.
他每天都见到他们，所以他进来的时候像是平静地走进了一个充满了自己刚刚离开的人群的房间。

“Where do I come from?” he said, in answer to a question from the ambassador’s wife. —
“我来自哪里？”他回答了大使夫人的问题。 —

“Well, there’s no help for it, I must confess. From the opera bouffe. —
“嗯，没办法，我必须承认。来自歌剧喜剧。 —

I do believe I’ve seen it a hundred times, and always with fresh enjoyment. It’s exquisite! —
我确实看过一百次，而且每次都新鲜有趣。真是太精彩了！ —

I know it’s disgraceful, but I go to sleep at the opera, and I sit out the opera bouffe to the last minute, and enjoy it. This evening…”
我知道这很丢脸，但我在歌剧里睡觉，而且会一直坚持看到歌剧喜剧最后一刻，并享受其中。今晚…”

He mentioned a French actress, and was going to tell something about her; —
他提到了一位法国女演员，并要讲述一些关于她的事情； —

but the ambassador’s wife, with playful horror, cut him short.
但是大使夫人俏皮地惊讶地打断了他；

“Please don’t tell us about that horror.”
“请不要告诉我们关于那个可怕的东西。”

“All right, I won’t especially as everyone knows those horrors.”
“好吧，我不会特别是因为每个人都知道那些可怕的事情。”

“And we should all go to see them if it were accepted as the correct thing, like the opera,” chimed in Princess Myakaya.
“如果像歌剧一样被接受为正确的事情，我们都应该去看看它们。”美嘉嘉公主插话道。