MARFA PETROVNA PETCHONKIN, the General’s widow, who has been practising for ten years as a homeopathic doctor, is seeing patients in her study on one of the Tuesdays in May. On the table before her lie a chest of homeopathic drugs, a book on homeopathy, and bills from a homeopathic chemist. —-
在五月的某个星期二，已经从事家庭医生职业达十年的将军寡妇玛法·佩特罗芙娜·佩琴金在她的书房里见病人。在她面前的桌子上放着一箱顿药、一本关于顿医学的书以及一份从顿药店来的账单。 —-

On the wall the letters from some Petersburg homeopath, in Marfa Petrovna’s opinion a very celebrated and great man, hang under glass in a gilt frame, and there also is a portrait of Father Aristark, to whom the lady owes her salvation —that is, the renunciation of pernicious allopathy and the knowledge of the truth. —-
墙上挂着一位彼得堡的顿医生的信件，玛法·佩特罗芙娜认为他是一个非常有名且伟大的人，这些信件被装在镀金的玻璃框架里，还有一幅阿里斯塔克神父的肖像画，是这位女士拜托他放弃有害的古代医学并找到真理的救星。 —-

In the vestibule patients are sitting waiting, for the most part peasants. —-
在门厅里，病人们正在等候，大多数是农民。 —-

All but two or three of them are barefoot, as the lady has given orders that their ill- smelling boots are to be left in the yard.
除了两三个人以外，他们都赤脚，因为这位女士已经下令让他们难闻的靴子留在院子里。

Marfa Petrovna has already seen ten patients when she calls the eleventh: “Gavrila Gruzd!”
当玛法·佩特罗芙娜叫到第十一个病人时：“加夫里拉·格鲁兹！”

The door opens and instead of Gavrila Gruzd, Zamuhrishen, a neighbouring landowner who has sunk into poverty, a little old man with sour eyes, and with a gentleman’s cap under his arm, walks into the room. —-
门开了，走进来的却不是加夫里拉·格鲁兹，而是落入贫困的附近地主扎姆里申，一个有点年迈、眼睛酸溺的小老人，手里拿着一个绅士的帽子。 —-

He puts down his stick in the corner, goes up to the lady, and without a word drops on one knee before her.
他把手杖放在角落，走向女士，在她面前跪了下来，一言不发。

“What are you about, Kuzma Kuzmitch?” cries the lady in horror, flushing crimson. —-
“庫斯馬·庫茲米奇，你在做什麼？”女士惊呼一声，脸涨得通红。 —-

“For goodness sake!”
“求您了！”

“While I live I will not rise,” says Zamuhrishen, bending over her hand. —-
“我活着就不会站起来，”扎姆里申说, 俯身捧住她的手。 —-

“Let all the world see my homage on my knees, our guardian angel, benefactress of the human race! —-
“让全世界都看到我跪下表示敬意，我们的守护天使，人类的恩人！ —-

Let them! Before the good fairy who has given me life, guided me into the path of truth, and enlightened my scepticism I am ready not merely to kneel but to pass through fire, our miraculous healer, mother of the orphan and the widowed! —-
让他们看到吧！在给予我生命、引导我走向真理并启迪我的怀疑之前，我甘愿不仅跪下，而且走过烈火，我们的奇蹟般治疗师，孤儿和寡妇的母亲！ —-

I have recovered. I am a new man, enchantress!”
我痊愈了。我变成了一个新人，女巫！”

“I . . . I am very glad . . .” mutters the lady, flushing with pleasure. —-
“我…我非常高兴…”女士喃喃自语，喜悦洋溢着脸庞。 —-

“It’s so pleasant to hear that. . . Sit down please! —-
“听到这个真是太愉快了…请坐！” —-

Why, you were so seriously ill that Tuesday.”
你怎么会病得那么严重，那个星期二。”

“Yes indeed, how ill I was! It’s awful to recall it,” says Zamuhrishen, taking a seat. —-
“是的，确实，我病得很糟糕！回忆起来真是可怕，”扎姆赫里申说着坐下来。 —-

“I had rheumatism in every part and every organ. —-
“每个部位和器官都患上了风湿病。 —-

I have been in misery for eight years, I’ve had no rest from it . . . —-
我已经痛苦了八年，没有一刻得到过宽慰… —-

by day or by night, my benefactress. I have consulted doctors, and I went to professors at Kazan; —-
无论是白天还是黑夜，你是我的恩人。我去看过医生，还去过喀山的教授们; —-

I have tried all sorts of mud-baths, and drunk waters, and goodness knows what I haven’t tried! —-
我尝试过各种泥浴和喝过各种矿泉水，天知道我还试过什么！ —-

I have wasted all my substance on doctors, my beautiful lady. The doctors did me nothing but harm. —-
我把我所有的财产都浪费在医生身上，我美丽的女士。医生们对我毫无帮助。 —-

They drove the disease inwards. Drive in, that they did, but to drive out was beyond their science. —-
他们把病往内驱。他们往内驱，但驱出去却超出了他们的学问范围。 —-

All they care about is their fees, the brigands; —-
他们只关心他们的费用，一群强盗; —-

but as for the benefit of humanity—for that they don’t care a straw. —-
至于人类的福祉，他们才不在乎一根稻草呢。 —-

They prescribe some quackery, and you have to drink it. Assassins, that’s the only word for them. —-
他们开一些荒唐的处方，你却不得不去吃。刺客，这是唯一能形容他们的词语。 —-

If it hadn’t been for you, our angel, I should have been in the grave by now! —-
如果不是你，我们的天使，我现在早已在坟墓里了！ —-

I went home from you that Tuesday, looked at the pilules that you gave me then, and wondered what good there could be in them. —-
我从你那个星期二回到家，看着你当时给我的药丸，思考着它们有什么好处。 —-

Was it possible that those little grains, scarcely visible, could cure my immense, long-standing disease? —-
那些微不足道的小颗粒竟然能治愈我如此巨大、长期的疾病吗？ —-

That’s what I thought—unbeliever that I was!—and I smiled; —-
我当时就这样想——我是个不信者！——然后我笑了。 —-

but when I took the pilule—it was instantaneous! —-
但当我服用了这颗药丸时，它立刻起效！ —-

It was as though I had not been ill, or as though it had been lifted off me. —-
就像我从未生病过，或者说病痛已经从我身上消散了。 —-

My wife looked at me with her eyes starting out of her head and couldn’t believe it. —-
我的妻子瞪大了眼睛看着我，简直不敢相信。 —-

‘Why, is it you, Kolya?’ ‘Yes, it is I,’ I said. —-
“为什么，是你，科利亚吗？” “是我，”我说。 —-

And we knelt down together before the ikon, and fell to praying for our angel: —-
我们一起跪在圣像前，为我们的天使祈祷：“主啊，请将我们的心情都传达给她！” —-

‘Send her, O Lord, all that we are feeling!’”
“主啊，请将我们所有的感受都传给她！”

Zamuhrishen wipes his eyes with his sleeve gets up from his chair, and shows a disposition to drop on one knee again; —-
扎穆赫里申用袖子擦了擦眼睛，从椅子上站起来，情不自禁地想要再次跪下； —-

but the lady checks him and makes him sit down.
但那位女士阻止了他，让他坐下。

“It’s not me you must thank,” she says, blushing with excitement and looking enthusiastically at the portrait of Father Aristark. —-
“你应该感谢的不是我，”她激动地脸红着，热情地看着亚里斯塔克神父的肖像，“这并不是我的功劳……我只是顺从的工具……这真的是个奇迹。 —-

“It’s not my doing. . . . I am only the obedient instrument . . It’s really a miracle. —-
长达八年的风湿病通过一颗淋巴结结核病毒药丸完全消失了！” —-

Rheumatism of eight years’ standing by one pilule of scrofuloso!”
“请原谅我，你曾经那么好心地给了我三颗药丸。

“Excuse me, you were so kind as to give me three pilules. —-
我在午餐时服用了一颗，效果立竿见影！ —-

One I took at dinner and the effect was instantaneous! —-
晚上又服用了一颗，第二天服用了第三颗；从那以后，没有一丝疼痛！没有任何地方有触痛！ —-

Another in the evening, and the third next day; and since then not a touch! Not a twinge anywhere! —-
你知道吗？我还以为我快死了，我已经写信给莫斯科让我儿子回来！” —-

And you know I thought I was dying, I had written to Moscow for my son to come! —-
“请原谅我，你曾经那么好心地给了我三颗药丸。我在午餐时服用了一颗，效果立竿见影！晚上又服用了一颗，第二天服用了第三颗；从那以后，没有一丝触痛！没有任何地方有触痛！你知道吗？我还以为我快死了，我已经写信给莫斯科让我儿子回来！” —-

The Lord has given you wisdom, our lady of healing! —-
主赋予您智慧，我们的医疗女神! —-

Now I am walking, and feel as though I were in Paradise. —-
现在我在行走，感觉仿佛置身于天堂。 —-

The Tuesday I came to you I was hobbling, and now I am ready to run after a hare. . . . —-
我周二来找您时还跛着腿，现在我准备追赶一只兔子……。 —-

I could live for a hundred years. There’s only one trouble, our lack of means. —-
我可以活上一百年。只有一个困扰，我们缺乏财力。 —-

I’m well now, but what’s the use of health if there’s nothing to live on? —-
我现在健康了，但如果没有生活来源，健康又有什么用？ —-

Poverty weighs on me worse than illness. . . . For example, take this . . . —-
贫穷比疾病更加压迫我……举个例子…… —-

It’s the time to sow oats, and how is one to sow it if one has no seed? —-
现在正是播种燕麦的时候，如果没有种子，怎么播种呢？ —-

I ought to buy it, but the money . . . everyone knows how we are off for money. . . .”
我本该去买，但钱……大家都知道我们缺钱……

“I will give you oats, Kuzma Kuzmitch. . . . Sit down, sit down. —-
“我给你燕麦，库兹马·库兹米奇……坐下，坐下。 —-

You have so delighted me, you have given me so much pleasure that it’s not you but I that should say thank you!”
你让我如此高兴，给了我如此多的快乐，不是你该说谢谢，而是我应该说谢谢！”

“You are our joy! That the Lord should create such goodness! —-
“你是我们的喜悦!上帝居然创造出如此的善良! —-

Rejoice, Madam, looking at your good deeds! . . . —-
欣赏吧，夫人，欣赏您的善行!…… —-

While we sinners have no cause for rejoicing in ourselves. . . . —-
而我们这些罪人没有自己值得庆幸的地方…… —-

We are paltry, poor-spirited, useless people . . . a mean lot. . . . —-
我们是卑鄙、无用、无助的人……一群卑鄙的人…… —-

We are only gentry in name, but in a material sense we are the same as peasants, only worse. . . . —-
我们只是名义上的绅士，但在物质上与农民无异，甚至更差……。 —-

We live in stone houses, but it’s a mere make-believe . . . —-
我们住在石头房子里，但这只是一种幻想…… —-

for the roof leaks. And there is no money to buy wood to mend it with.”
因为屋顶漏水，没有钱买木材修理。

“I’ll give you the wood, Kuzma Kuzmitch.”
“我给你木材，库兹马·库兹米奇。”

Zamuhrishen asks for and gets a cow too, a letter of recommendation for his daughter whom he wants to send to a boarding school, and . —-
萨穆赫里申要求得到一头牛，还有一封为他想送去寄宿学校的女儿的推荐信。 —-

. . touched by the lady’s liberality he whimpers with excess of feeling, twists his mouth, and feels in his pocket for his handkerchief . . . .
……受到这位女士的慷慨所感动，他情绪过度地抽泣着，扭动嘴巴，摸索着口袋找手帕……

Marfa Petrovna sees a red paper slip out of his pocket with his handkerchief and fall noiselessly to the floor.
玛尔法·彼得洛芙娜看到他的手帕从口袋中滑落出来，在地板上静静地落下。

“I shall never forget it to all eternity . . . —-
“我将永远不会忘记它…… —-

” he mutters, “and I shall make my children and my grandchildren remember it . . . —-
”他嘟囔着，“我会让我的孩子和孙子代代记得它…… —-

from generation to generation. ‘See, children,’ I shall say, ‘who has saved me from the grave, who . . .’”
从一个世代传到另一个世代。‘看啊，孩子们，’我会说，‘谁拯救了我脱离坟墓，谁……’”

When she has seen her patient out, the lady looks for a minute at Father Aristark with eyes full of tears, then turns her caressing, reverent gaze on the drug chest, the books, the bills, the armchair in which the man she had saved from death has just been sitting, and her eyes fall on the paper just dropped by her patient. —-
当她看完病人离开后，这位女士瞅了一分钟阿里斯塔克神父，眼中充满了泪水，然后将她的娇情、尊敬的目光投向了药箱、书籍、账单，还有刚刚坐在那里的她从死亡中救出来的人所坐的扶手椅，她的目光落在刚刚病人掉落的纸上。 —-

She picks up the paper, unfolds it, and sees in it three pilules—the very pilules she had given Zamuhrishen the previous Tuesday.
她捡起纸，展开它，发现里面有三颗药丸——正是她上周二给萨穆赫里申的那几颗药丸。

“They are the very ones,” she thinks puzzled. “. . . The paper is the same. . . . —-
“它们就是那几颗，”她困惑地想。“……纸是一样的……他甚至都没有拆开它们！他吃了什么？真奇怪……” —-

He hasn’t even unwrapped them! What has he taken then? Strange. . —-
. . 他肯定不会想要骗我！” —-

. . Surely he wouldn’t try to deceive me!”
而且，在她十年的执业生涯中，玛尔法·彼得洛芙娜第一次开始怀疑了。

And for the first time in her ten years of practice a doubt creeps into Marfa Petrovna’s mind. . —-
. . —-

. . She summons the other patients, and while talking to them of their complaints notices what has hitherto slipped by her ears unnoticed. —-
她召唤其他病人，一边与他们交谈，一边注意到之前她耳朵里没有注意到的内容。 —-

The patients, every one of them as though they were in a conspiracy, first belaud her for their miraculous cure, go into raptures over her medical skill, and abuse allopath doctors, then when she is flushed with excitement, begin holding forth on their needs. —-
病人们仿佛串通一气，先奉承她的神奇治愈，对她的医术赞不绝口，还咒骂顺势疗法医生，然后在她兴奋之际开始侃侃而谈他们的需求。 —-

One asks for a bit of land to plough, another for wood, a third for permission to shoot in her forests, and so on. —-
一个要求一块耕地，另一个要求木材，第三个要求在她的森林里射猎，以此类推。 —-

She looks at the broad, benevolent countenance of Father Aristark who has revealed the truth to her, and a new truth begins gnawing at her heart. —-
她看着父亲阿里斯塔克宽容慈祥的面容，心中开始苦苦思索一个新的真相。 —-

An evil oppressive truth. . . .
一种邪恶的压迫性真相……

The deceitfulness of man!
人的欺骗性！