“Varvara Andreevna, when I was very young, I set before myself the ideal of the women I loved and should be happy to call my wife. —
“瓦尔瓦拉·安德烈耶芙娜，当我还很年轻的时候，我设定了一个女性的理想，希望找到并愿意以之为妻子而幸福。 —

I have lived through a long life, and now for the first time I have met what I sought–in you. —
我经历了漫长的一生，现在我第一次遇到了我所追寻的东西——在你身上。 —

I love you, and offer you my hand.”
我爱你，愿意与你携手共度一生。”

Sergey Ivanovitch was saying this to himself while he was ten paces from Varvara. —
当谢尔盖·伊万诺维奇离瓦尔瓦拉只有十步之遥时，他对自己说着这些话。 —

Kneeling down, with her hands over the mushrooms to guard them from Grisha, she was calling little Masha.
她跪下来，双手护着蘑菇，防止格里沙靠近，同时叫着小玛莎。

“Come here, little ones! There are so many!” she was saying in her sweet, deep voice.
“过来，小孩们！这里有那么多蘑菇！”她用甜美而低沉的声音说道。

Seeing Sergey Ivanovitch approaching, she did not get up and did not change her position, but everything told him that she felt his presence and was glad of it.
看到谢尔盖·伊万诺维奇走过来，她没有站起来，也没有改变姿势，但一切都告诉他她感受到了他的存在，并对此感到高兴。

“Well, did you find some?” she asked from under the white kerchief, turning her handsome, gently smiling face to him.
“你找到了吗？”她从白色头巾下问道，将她迷人而温和的笑容转向他。

“Not one,” said Sergey Ivanovitch. “Did you?”
“一个也没有，”谢尔盖·伊万诺维奇说道。”你找到了吗？”

She did not answer, busy with the children who thronged about her.
她没有回答，忙着照顾围拢在她身边的孩子们。

“That one too, near the twig,” she pointed out to little Masha a little fungus, split in half across its rosy cap by the dry grass from under which it thrust itself. —
“那个也是，在枝条附近。”她指着一个小蘑菇对小玛莎说道，那个蘑菇的粉红色帽子被干燥的草坪从中间分成了两半。 —

Varenka got up while Masha picked the fungus, breaking it into two white halves. —
玛莎采摘了蘑菇，将其掰成两半，露出了洁白的内部。 —

“This brings back my childhood,” she added, moving apart from the children beside Sergey Ivanovitch.
“这让我想起了童年。”她边和谢尔盖·伊凡诺维奇两个孩子保持一段距离边说道。

They walked on for some steps in silence. Varenka saw that he wanted to speak; —
他们沉默地走了几步路。瓦仁卡看出他有话要说； —

she guessed of what, and felt faint with joy and panic. —
她猜到了他想说什么，喜悦和恐慌交织在内，让她觉得有些虚脱。 —

They had walked so far away that no one could hear them now, but still he did not begin to speak. —
他们走得已经很远了，现在已经没有人能够听到他们的对话，但他仍然没有开始讲话。 —

It would have been better for Varenka to be silent. —
对于瓦仁卡来说，保持沉默可能会更好一些。 —

After a silence it would have been easier for them to say what they wanted to say than after talking about mushrooms. —
在沉默之后，他们更容易说出他们想要说的话，而不是之前谈论蘑菇。 —

But against her own will, as it were accidentally, Varenka said:
但是不由自主，瓦仁卡还是说道：

“So you found nothing? In the middle of the wood there are always fewer, though.” —
“你找到了吗？虽然在树林中间蘑菇总是比较少。” —

Sergey Ivanovitch sighed and made no answer. —
谢尔盖·伊凡诺维奇叹了口气，没有回答。 —

He was annoyed that she had spoken about the mushrooms. —
他为她提及蘑菇感到恼火。 —

He wanted to bring her back to the first words she had uttered about her childhood; —
他希望将她带回她关于童年的最初话题； —

but after a pause of some length, as though against his own will, he made an observation in response to her last words.
但是经过一段时间的停顿，仿佛违背自己的意愿，他对她最后的话作出了观察。

“I have heard that the white edible funguses are found principally at the edge of the wood, though I can’t tell them apart.”
“我听说白色的可食用真菌主要生长在树林边缘，虽然我分不清它们。”

Some minutes more passed, they moved still further away from the children, and were quite alone. —
过了几分钟，他们离孩子们走得更远，完全独处。 —

Varenka’s heart throbbed so that she heard it beating, and felt that she was turning red and pale and red again.
维连卡的心怦怦跳，她听见自己的心跳声，并感到自己脸红然后又苍白，然后再次脸红。

To be the wife of a man like Koznishev, after her position with Madame Stahl, was to her imagination the height of happiness. —
对她来说，成为科兹尼舍夫这样的男人的妻子，相比于和斯塔尔夫人的关系，是最大的幸福。 —

Besides, she was almost certain that she was in love with him. —
此外，她几乎可以肯定自己爱上了他。 —

And this moment it would have to be decided. She felt frightened. —
现在或永远都必须说出来 - 谢尔盖·伊万诺维奇也感受到了。 —

She dreaded both his speaking and his not speaking.
她害怕他说话，也害怕他不说话。

Now or never it must be said–that Sergey Ivanovitch felt too. —
现在或永远都必须说出来 - 谢尔盖·伊万诺维奇也感受到了。 —

Everything in the expression, the flushed cheeks and the downcast eyes of Varenka betrayed a painful suspense. —
Varenka额头泛红，眼神低垂，表明她内心正承受着极大的焦虑。 —

Sergey Ivanovitch saw it and felt sorry for her. —
谢尔盖·伊万诺维奇看到了这一幕，对她感到遗憾。 —

He felt even that to say nothing now would be a slight to her. —
他甚至觉得此刻不说话会对她构成一种冷落。 —

Rapidly in his own mind he ran over all the arguments in support of his decision. —
他迅速在自己的脑海中回顾了支持自己决定的所有论点。 —

He even said over to himself the words in which he meant to put his offer, but instead of those words, some utterly unexpected reflection that occurred to him made him ask:
他甚至心里默念了一遍自己打算提出的话，但是在关键时刻，脑子里突然冒出了一个完全出乎意料的想法，让他问道：

“What is the difference between the ‘birch’ mushroom and the ‘white’ mushroom?”
“‘桦树’蘑菇和‘白色’蘑菇有什么区别？”

Varenka’s lips quivered with emotion as she answered:
瓦伦卡的嘴唇因情绪波动而颤抖着回答道：

“In the top part there is scarcely any difference, it’s in the stalk.”
“在上部几乎没有区别，主要在茎上。”

And as soon as these words were uttered, both he and she felt that it was over, that what was to have been said would not be said; —
此话一出，他和她立刻感到一切已经结束了，原本该说的话不会再说出口； —

and their emotion, which had up to then been continually growing more intense, began to subside.
他们一直以来越发激烈的情感开始平息下来。

“The birch mushroom’s stalk suggests a dark man’s chin after two days without shaving,” said Sergey Ivanovitch, speaking quite calmly now.
“灰树皮的柄让人想起两天不刮胡子的黑人下巴，”谢尔盖·伊凡诺维奇平静地说道。

“Yes, that’s true,” answered Varenka smiling, and unconsciously the direction of their walk changed. —
“是的，没错，”瓦伦卡微笑着回答道，不知不觉中他们的步行方向改变了。 —

They began to turn towards the children. —
他们开始转向孩子们的方向。 —

Varenka felt both sore and ashamed; at the same time she had a sense of relief.
瓦伦卡感到又痛心又羞愧，同时也有一种解脱感。

When he had got home again and went over the whole subject, Sergey Ivanovitch thought his previous decision had been a mistaken one. —
当他再次回到家中，回顾整个情况时，谢尔盖·伊凡诺维奇觉得自己之前的决定是错误的。 —

He could not be false to the memory of Marie.
他无法辜负玛丽的记忆。

“Gently, children, gently!” Levin shouted quite angrily to the children, standing before his wife to protect her when the crowd of children flew with shrieks of delight to meet them.
“小朋友们轻一点，轻一点！”列文生气地对着孩子们喊道，站在妻子面前保护她，当孩子们高兴地飞奔过来时尖叫着。

Behind the children Sergey Ivanovitch and Varenka walked out of the wood. —
在孩子们的身后，谢尔盖·伊凡诺维奇和瓦伦卡走出了树林。 —

Kitty had no need to ask Varenka; she saw from the calm and somewhat crestfallen faces of both that her plans had not come off.
基蒂不需要问瓦伦卡；她从两人平静而有些沮丧的表情中就知道她们的计划没有成功。

“Well?” her husband questioned her as they were going home again.
“怎么样？”他们再次回家时，丈夫问她。

“It doesn’t bite,” said Kitty, her smile and manner of speaking recalling her father, a likeness Levin often noticed with pleasure.
“它不咬人，”金妮说道，她的笑容和说话的方式让列文常常很喜欢，这让他想起了她的父亲。

“How doesn’t bite?”
“它怎么会不咬人呢？”

“I’ll show you,” she said, taking her husband’s hand, lifting it to her mouth, and just faintly brushing it with closed lips. —
“我给你演示一下，”她说着，拿起丈夫的手，将它举到嘴边，轻轻地闭上双唇碰了一下。 —

“Like a kiss on a priest’s hand.”
“就像给神父的手亲吻。”

“Which didn’t it bite with?” he said, laughing.
“它是用哪只嘴咬的？”他笑着问道。

“Both. But it should have been like this…”
“两只都咬过。但应该是这样的…”

“There are some peasants coming…”
“有几个农民过来了…”

“Oh, they didn’t see.”
“哦，他们没有看到。”