THE old house had to be pulled down that a new one might be built in its place. —-
老房子必须被拆除，以便在原地建造新房子。 —-

I led the architect through the empty rooms, and between our business talk told him various stories. The tattered wallpapers, the dingy windows, the dark stoves, all bore the traces of recent habitation and evoked memories. —-
我带领建筑师穿过空荡的房间，在商谈中向他讲述各种故事。破旧的墙纸、阴暗的窗户、黑暗的炉灶都留下了最近居住的痕迹，唤起了回忆。 —-

On that staircase, for instance, drunken men were once carrying down a dead body when they stumbled and flew headlong downstairs together with the coffin; —-
例如，曾经有几个喝醉的人沿着那个楼梯搬运着一个死尸，结果他们绊了一下，一起和棺材一起一头栽了下来； —-

the living were badly bruised, while the dead man looked very serious, as though nothing had happened, and shook his head when they lifted him up from the ground and put him back in the coffin. —-
活人严重受伤，而死人看起来很严肃，好像什么都没发生过，当他们把他从地上捡起来放回棺材里时，他摇摇头。 —-

You see those three doors in a row: in there lived young ladies who were always receiving visitors, and so were better dressed than any other lodgers, and could pay their rent regularly. —-
你看到了那三扇排成一行的门：住在那里的年轻女士们常常有访客，所以她们穿得比其他租客好，每月都能按时交房租。 —-

The door at the end of the corridor leads to the wash-house, where by day they washed clothes and at night made an uproar and drank beer. —-
走廊尽头的门通往洗衣房，白天他们在那里洗衣服，夜晚喧闹着喝酒。 —-

And in that flat of three rooms everything is saturated with bacteria and bacilli. —-
而那个三个房间的公寓里，每一样东西都充满了细菌和病菌。 —-

It’s not nice there. Many lodgers have died there, and I can positively assert that that flat was at some time cursed by someone, and that together with its human lodgers there was always another lodger, unseen, living in it. —-
那里不是个好地方。许多租客都在那里去世，我可以肯定地说，那个公寓曾被某个人咒过，除了人类租客外，总是还有一个不可见的租客住在里面。 —-

I remember particularly the fate of one family. —-
我特别记得一个家庭的命运。 —-

Picture to yourself an ordinary man, not remarkable in any way, with a wife, a mother, and four children. —-
想象一下一个普通的男人，没有任何显著之处，有一个妻子，一个母亲和四个孩子。 —-

His name was Putohin; he was a copying clerk at a notary’s, and received thirty-five roubles a month. —-
他的名字叫普托欣，他是一个公证处的抄写员，每月工资只有三十五卢布。 —-

He was a sober, religious, serious man. When he brought me his rent for the flat he always apologised for being badly dressed; —-
他是一个自律、宗教虔诚、认真的人。当他为房租来找我时，他总是为自己穿得不好而道歉； —-

apologised for being five days late, and when I gave him a receipt he would smile good- humouredly and say: —-
为付款晚了五天而道歉，当我给他收据时，他会友好地笑着说： —-

“Oh yes, there’s that too, I don’t like those receipts.” He lived poorly but decently. —-
“哦，是的，还有这个，我不喜欢这些收据。”他过着朴素但体面的生活。 —-

In that middle room, the grandmother used to be with the four children; —-
在那个中间的房间里，曾经有四个孩子和他们的祖母。 —-

there they used to cook, sleep, receive their visitors, and even dance. —-
在那里，他们做饭、睡觉、接待来访者，甚至跳舞。 —-

This was Putohin’s own room; he had a table in it, at which he used to work doing private jobs, copying parts for the theatre, advertisements, and so on. —-
这是普东的自己的房间，他在里面有一张桌子，他常常在那里做私人工作，复制戏剧的部分、广告等等。 —-

This room on the right was let to his lodger, Yegoritch, a locksmith—a steady fellow, but given to drink; —-
这个右边的房间租给了他的房客叶戈里奇，一个锁匠 - 一个稳重的人，但酗酒。 —-

he was always too hot, and so used to go about in his waistcoat and barefoot. —-
他总是太热了，所以光着脚穿着背心四处走动。 —-

Yegoritch used to mend locks, pistols, children’s bicycles, would not refuse to mend cheap clocks and make skates for a quarter-rouble, but he despised that work, and looked on himself as a specialist in musical instruments. —-
叶戈里奇修理锁、手枪、儿童自行车，也愿意修理廉价的钟表和制作售价一四分之一卢布的溜冰鞋，但他看不起这个工作，认为自己是乐器方面的专家。 —-

Amongst the litter of steel and iron on his table there was always to be seen a concertina with a broken key, or a trumpet with its sides bent in. —-
在他的桌子上的钢铁杂乱之中，总能看到一个带有破键的手风琴，或一个两边弯曲的喇叭。 —-

He paid Putohin two and a half roubles for his room; —-
他付给普东2.5卢布的房租。 —-

he was always at his work-table, and only came out to thrust some piece of iron into the stove.
他总是在他的工作台前，只有在把一些铁器塞进炉子里时才出来一下。

On the rare occasions when I went into that flat in the evening, this was always the picture I came upon: —-
当我很少在晚上去那个公寓时，总是看到这样的场景： —-

Putohin would be sitting at his little table, copying something; —-
普东坐在他的小桌子前，抄写着什么东西。 —-

his mother and his wife, a thin woman with an exhausted-looking face, were sitting near the lamp, sewing; —-
他的母亲和妻子，一个面容憔悴的瘦女人，坐在灯边缝纫。 —-

Yegoritch would be making a rasping sound with his file. —-
叶戈里奇用锉刀发出刺耳的声音。 —-

And the hot, still smouldering embers in the stove filled the room with heat and fumes; —-
炉子中还有热气腾腾的余烬，热气和烟雾填满了房间。 —-

the heavy air smelt of cabbage soup, swaddling-clothes, and Yegoritch. —-
沉闷的空气中有白菜汤、襁褓裹得紧紧的衣服和叶戈里奇的气味。 —-

It was poor and stuffy, but the working-class faces, the children’s little drawers hung up along by the stove, Yegoritch’s bits of iron had yet an air of peace, friendliness, content. —-
它虽然贫穷而闷热，但劳动阶级的面孔、孩子们挂在炉边的小抽屉以及叶戈里奇的铁块洋溢着和平、友好和满足的氛围。 —-

. . . In the corridor outside the children raced about with well-combed heads, merry and profoundly convinced that everything was satisfactory in this world, and would be so endlessly, that one had only to say one’s prayers every morning and at bedtime.
在走廊外面，孩子们头发梳得整整齐齐，快活地奔跑着，深信世界上一切都很令人满意，而且会无尽地如此下去，只需要每天早晚诚心祷告。

Now imagine in the midst of that same room, two paces from the stove, the coffin in which Putohin’s wife is lying. —-
现在想象一下，在同一个房间的中央，离炉子两步远，是Putohin的妻子躺在的棺材里。 —-

There is no husband whose wife will live for ever, but there was something special about this death. When, during the requiem service, I glanced at the husband’s grave face, at his stern eyes, I thought: —-
没有丈夫的妻子能永远活着，但这次死亡有点特殊。当在弥撒仪式上，我瞥见丈夫沉思的脸庞，他严厉的眼神时，我想： —-

“Oho, brother!”
“哦，哥们！”

It seemed to me that he himself, his children, the grandmother and Yegoritch, were already marked down by that unseen being which lived with them in that flat. —-
我觉得他自己，他的孩子，祖母和叶戈里奇，已经被他们住的房间里和他们一起生活的那个看不见的存在给标记了。 —-

I am a thoroughly superstitious man, perhaps, because I am a houseowner and for forty years have had to do with lodgers. —-
我是个非常迷信的人，也许是因为我是个房主，有四十年与房客接触的经历。 —-

I believe if you don’t win at cards from the beginning you will go on losing to the end; —-
我相信如果你在牌局上一开始没有赢，你就会一直输到最后； —-

when fate wants to wipe you and your family off the face of the earth, it remains inexorable in its persecution, and the first misfortune is commonly only the first of a long series. —-
当命运想要抹去你和你的家人在这个世界上的存在时，它会毫不留情地迫害你，而第一次不幸通常只是一系列不幸的开始。 —-

. . . Misfortunes are like stones. One stone has only to drop from a high cliff for others to be set rolling after it. —-
…不幸就像是一块块石头。只要有一块石头从高崖上掉下，其他石头就会接连滚落。 —-

In short, as I came away from the requiem service at Putohin’s, I believed that he and his family were in a bad way.
简而言之，当我离开Putohin守丧时，我相信他和他的家人的处境很糟糕。

And, in fact, a week afterwards the notary quite unexpectedly dismissed Putohin, and engaged a young lady in his place. —-
实际上，一个星期后，公证员突然解雇了Putohin，雇了一位年轻女士代替他。 —-

And would you believe it, Putohin was not so much put out at the loss of his job as at being superseded by a young lady and not by a man. —-
你会相信吗，Putohin对失去工作并不是那么在意，而是对被一位年轻女士取代而不是一个男人感到不满。 —-

Why a young lady? He so resented this that on his return home he thrashed his children, swore at his mother, and got drunk. —-
为什么是一个年轻女士？他对此如此愤怒，以至于回家后他打了孩子们，对母亲发泄，还喝醉了。 —-

Yegoritch got drunk, too, to keep him company.
Yegoritch也跟着喝醉了，以陪他。

Putohin brought me the rent, but did not apologise this time, though it was eighteen days overdue, and said nothing when he took the receipt from me. —-
Putohin给我交了房租，但这次他并没有道歉，虽然晚了十八天，并且收到收据后也没有说什么。 —-

The following month the rent was brought by his mother; —-
第二个月，他的母亲付了房租； —-

she only brought me half, and promised to bring the remainder a week later. —-
她只付了一半，并承诺一周后付清余款。 —-

The third month, I did not get a farthing, and the porter complained to me that the lodgers in No. 23 were “not behaving like gentlemen.”
第三个月，我一文不得，看门人向我抱怨说23号房客“不像绅士般行事”。

These were ominous symptoms.
这些都是不祥的征兆。

Picture this scene. A sombre Petersburg morning looks in at the dingy windows. —-
想象一下这个场景。一个阴沉的圣彼得堡的早晨透过肮脏的窗户照射进来。 —-

By the stove, the granny is pouring out the children’s tea. —-
老奶奶正在炉子旁倒孩子们的茶。 —-

Only the eldest, Vassya, drinks out of a glass, for the others the tea is poured out into saucers. —-
只有大儿子瓦西亚喝玻璃杯的茶，其他孩子的茶倒在茶碟里。 —-

Yegoritch is squatting on his heels before the stove, thrusting a bit of iron into the fire. —-
叶戈里奇蹲在炉子前，把一块铁丢进火里。 —-

His head is heavy and his eyes are lustreless from yesterday’s drinking-bout; —-
他的头很重，眼睛因为昨晚的酒宴而昏昏欲睡； —-

he sighs and groans, trembles and coughs.
他喘息着，呻吟着，颤抖着，咳嗽着。

“He has quite put me off the right way, the devil,” he grumbles; —-
“他完全把我引上了歧途，这该死的家伙，”他嘟囔着； —-

“he drinks himself and leads others into sin.”
“他自己喝酒，还引诱别人犯罪。”

Putohin sits in his room, on the bedstead from which the bedclothes and the pillows have long ago disappeared, and with his hands straying in his hair looks blankly at the floor at his feet. —-
普托金坐在自己的房间里，坐在床架上，被套和枕头早就不见了，双手搔着头茫然地看着脚下的地板。 —-

He is tattered, unkempt, and ill.
他衣衫褴褛，凌乱不堪，病得很厉害。

“Drink it up, make haste or you will be late for school,” the old woman urges on Vassya, “and it’s time for me, too, to go and scrub the floors for the Jews. . . .”
“喝完它，快点，否则你会上学迟到，”老太婆催促着瓦西亚，“我也该去为犹太人打扫地板了……”

The old woman is the only one in the flat who does not lose heart. —-
这个老妇人是公寓里唯一一个不气馁的人。 —-

She thinks of old times, and goes out to hard dirty work. —-
她会想起过去，然后出去做辛苦脏活。 —-

On Fridays she scrubs the floors for the Jews at the crockery shop, on Saturdays she goes out washing for shopkeepers, and on Sundays she is racing about the town from morning to night, trying to find ladies who will help her. —-
在星期五她会为陶瓷店的犹太人擦洗地板，星期六她会为店主们洗衣服，星期天她会从早到晚四处奔走，试图找到愿意帮助她的女士们。 —-

Every day she has work of some sort; she washes and scrubs, and is by turns a midwife, a matchmaker, or a beggar. —-
每天她都有各种各样的工作；她洗涤和擦地板，轮流做接生婆、媒婆或乞丐。 —-

It is true she, too, is not disinclined to drown her sorrows, but even when she has had a drop she does not forget her duties. —-
的确，她也不反感倾诉忧愁，但即使她喝了一点酒，也不会忘记自己的职责。 —-

In Russia there are many such tough old women, and how much of its welfare rests upon them!
俄罗斯有很多这样坚韧的老妇人，多少福祉都寄托在她们身上！

When he has finished his tea, Vassya packs up his books in a satchel and goes behind the stove; —-
喝完茶后，瓦西亚把书收入书包，走到炉子后面； —-

his greatcoat ought to be hanging there beside his granny’s clothes. —-
他的大衣应该挂在他奶奶的衣服旁边。 —-

A minute later he comes out from behind the stove and asks:
一分钟后，他从炉子后面走出，问道：

“Where is my greatcoat?”
“我的大衣在哪？”

The grandmother and the other children look for the greatcoat together, they waste a long time in looking for it, but the greatcoat has utterly vanished. —-
奶奶和其他孩子一起寻找大衣，他们花了很长时间寻找，但大衣完全消失了。 —-

Where is it? The grandmother and Vassya are pale and frightened. Even Yegoritch is surprised. —-
它在哪？奶奶和瓦西亚苍白而害怕。连耶戈里奇也感到惊讶。 —-

Putohin is the only one who does not move. —-
普托欣是唯一一个不动的人。 —-

Though he is quick to notice anything irregular or disorderly, this time he makes a pretence of hearing and seeing nothing. —-
虽然他很快就会注意到任何不规则或不整洁的事情，但这次他假装听到和看到什么都没有。 —-

That is suspicious.
这很可疑。

“He’s sold it for drink,” Yegoritch declares.
“他把它卖了去喝酒,” 叶戈里奇宣称。

Putohin says nothing, so it is the truth. Vassya is overcome with horror. —-
Putohin什么也没说，所以这是真的。瓦斯亚被恐惧所征服。 —-

His greatcoat, his splendid greatcoat, made of his dead mother’s cloth dress, with a splendid calico lining, gone for drink at the tavern! —-
他的大衣，他华丽的大衣，是用他去世母亲的布裙子制成的，里面还有华丽的印花内衬，居然也因喝酒而消失了！ —-

And with the greatcoat is gone too, of course, the blue pencil that lay in the pocket, and the note-book with “Nota bene” in gold letters on it! —-
还有那蓝铅笔，就放在口袋里，以及镶有金字“Nota bene”字样的笔记本也一起没了！ —-

There’s another pencil with india-rubber stuck into the note-book, and, besides that, there are transfer pictures lying in it.
笔记本里还插着一支带有橡皮擦的铅笔，还有转印画片。

Vassya would like to cry, but to cry is impossible. —-
瓦斯亚想哭，但是哭是不可能的。 —-

If his father, who has a headache, heard crying he would shout, stamp with his feet, and begin fighting, and after drinking he fights horribly. —-
如果他头疼的爸爸听到哭声，他会大喊大叫，跺脚，开始打架，喝了酒之后他打斗的样子很可怕。 —-

Granny would stand up for Vassya, and his father would strike granny too; —-
奶奶会挺身而出为瓦斯亚辩护，但爸爸也会打奶奶； —-

it would end in Yegoritch getting mixed up in it too, clutching at his father and falling on the floor with him. —-
最后叶戈里奇也会卷入其中，他会抓住爸爸，并与他一起倒在地板上。 —-

The two would roll on the floor, struggling together and gasping with drunken animal fury, and granny would cry, the children would scream, the neighbours would send for the porter. —-
他们两个会在地板上滚来滚去，彼此搏斗，并发出醉酒野兽般的怒吼声，奶奶会哭泣，孩子们会尖叫，邻居们会叫来门房。 —-

No, better not cry.
不，最好不要哭。

Because he mustn’t cry, or give vent to his indignation aloud, Vassya moans, wrings his hands and moves his legs convulsively, or biting his sleeve shakes it with his teeth as a dog does a hare. —-
因为他不能哭泣，或者大声表达愤懑，瓦斯亚呻吟着，手在不断地扭动，腿不断地抽搐，或者咬着自己的袖子像狗咬野兔一样摇晃。 —-

His eyes are frantic, and his face is distorted with despair. —-
他的眼睛狂乱，他的脸因绝望而扭曲。 —-

Looking at him, his granny all at once takes the shawl off her head, and she too makes queer movements with her arms and legs in silence, with her eyes fixed on a point in the distance. —-
奶奶看着他，突然从头上拿下围巾，她也默默地做着奇怪的手脚动作，目光注视着远处的一个点。 —-

And at that moment I believe there is a definite certainty in the minds of the boy and the old woman that their life is ruined, that there is no hope. . . .
在那一刻，我相信男孩和老妇人的脑海中确实有一种确定性，即他们的生活被毁了，没有希望了…

Putohin hears no crying, but he can see it all from his room. —-
Putohin听不到哭声，但他可以从自己的房间看见所有的一切。 —-

When, half an hour later, Vassya sets off to school, wrapped in his grandmother’s shawl, he goes out with a face I will not undertake to describe, and walks after him. —-
半个小时后，Vassya用他奶奶的披肩包裹着出发去上学，他的脸上我无法形容的表情，我跟在他后面。 —-

He longs to call the boy, to comfort him, to beg his forgiveness, to promise him on his word of honour, to call his dead mother to witness, but instead of words, sobs break from him. —-
他渴望呼唤这个男孩，安慰他，乞求他的原谅，以他的荣誉发誓，呼唤他已故的母亲作证，但他不能说出话，只能发出抽泣声。 —-

It is a grey, cold morning. When he reaches the town school Vassya untwists his granny’s shawl, and goes into the school with nothing over his jacket for fear the boys should say he looks like a woman. —-
这是一个灰蒙蒙的寒冷的早晨。当他到达城镇学校时，Vassya解开奶奶的披肩，只穿着夹克进入学校，怕男孩们说他看起来像个女人。 —-

And when he gets home Putohin sobs, mutters some incoherent words, bows down to the ground before his mother and Yegoritch, and the locksmith’s table. —-
当他回到家时，Putohin抽泣起来，喃喃自语着一些无意义的话，跪在他的母亲和Yegoritch与锁匠桌子面前。 —-

Then, recovering himself a little, he runs to me and begs me breathlessly, for God’s sake, to find him some job. —-
然后稍微恢复一些，他向我跑来，急切地请求我，求求我替他找份工作，求上帝的名义。 —-

I give him hopes, of course.
当然我给了他一些希望。

“At last I am myself again,” he said. —-
“终于我又是我自己了，”他说。 —-

“It’s high time, indeed, to come to my senses. —-
“确实是时候了，我得来理智一下。 —-

I’ve made a beast of myself, and now it’s over.”
我把自己变成了野兽，现在结束了。”

He is delighted and thanks me, while I, who have studied these gentry thoroughly during the years I have owned the house, look at him, and am tempted to say:
他高兴地感谢我，而我，多年来一直研究这些人的性情，看着他，忍不住想说：

“It’s too late, dear fellow! You are a dead man already.”
“太晚了，亲爱的伙计！你已经是个死人了。”

From me, Putohin runs to the town school. —-
Putohin从我这里跑向城镇学校。 —-

There he paces up and down, waiting till his boy comes out.
在那里，他来回踱步，等待他的孩子出来。

“I say, Vassya,” he says joyfully, when the boy at last comes out, “I have just been promised a job. —-
“我说，Vassya，”他欢喜地说，当这个男孩最终出来时，”我刚刚被承诺了一份工作。” —-

Wait a bit, I will buy you a splendid fur-coat. . . . I’ll send you to the high school! —-
等一下，我会给你买一件华丽的毛皮大衣……我会送你去高中！ —-

Do you understand? To the high school! I’ll make a gentleman of you! —-
你明白吗？去高中！我会让你成为一个绅士！ —-

And I won’t drink any more. On my honour I won’t.”
我不会再喝了，我发誓不会。

And he has intense faith in the bright future. But the evening comes on. —-
他对光明的未来充满信心。但夜晚来临了。 —-

The old woman, coming back from the Jews with twenty kopecks, exhausted and aching all over, sets to work to wash the children’s clothes. —-
老妇人从犹太人那里带着二十戈比回来，又疲惫又浑身酸痛，开始洗孩子们的衣服。 —-

Vassya is sitting doing a sum. Yegoritch is not working. —-
瓦萨正坐着做数学题，叶戈里奇却没有开始工作。 —-

Thanks to Putohin he has got into the way of drinking, and is feeling at the moment an overwhelming desire for drink. —-
多亏了普托欣，他渐渐养成了喝酒的习惯，此刻他渴望喝酒到了极点。 —-

It’s hot and stuffy in the room. Steam rises in clouds from the tub where the old woman is washing.
房间里又热又闷，从老妇人洗衣用的桶里冒出一片蒸汽。

“Are we going?” Yegoritch asks surlily.
我们要走了吗？叶戈里奇板着脸问道。

My lodger does not answer. After his excitement he feels insufferably dreary. —-
我的房客没有回答。在兴奋之后，他感到无比的郁闷。 —-

He struggles with the desire to drink, with acute depression and . . . —-
他与喝酒的欲望、严重的沮丧作斗争…… —-

and, of course, depression gets the best of it. —-
当然，郁闷战胜了欲望。 —-

It is a familiar story.
这是一个熟悉的故事。

Towards night, Yegoritch and Putohin go out, and in the morning Vassya cannot find granny’s shawl.
夜晚来临时，叶戈里奇和普托欣出去了，第二天早上，瓦萨找不到奶奶的披肩了。

That is the drama that took place in that flat. —-
这就是发生在那个公寓里的一幕戏剧。 —-

After selling the shawl for drink, Putohin did not come home again. —-
卖掉披肩喝酒之后，普托欣再也没有回家。 —-

Where he disappeared to I don’t know. After he disappeared, the old woman first got drunk, then took to her bed. —-
他去了哪里我不知道。他消失后，老妇人先是喝醉了，然后上床休息。 —-

She was taken to the hospital, the younger children were fetched by relations of some sort, and Vassya went into the wash- house here. —-
她被送往医院，年幼的孩子们被一些亲戚接走，瓦西娅则在这里进了洗衣房。 —-

In the day-time he handed the irons, and at night fetched the beer. —-
白天他收铁器具，晚上买啤酒。 —-

When he was turned out of the wash-house he went into the service of one of the young ladies, used to run about at night on errands of some sort, and began to be spoken of as “a dangerous customer.”
当他被赶出洗衣房后，他去了一位年轻女士那儿工作，晚上会四处奔走执行一些任务，开始被称作“一个危险的人”。

What has happened to him since I don’t know.
关于他之后发生了什么，我不知道。

And in this room here a street musician lived for ten years. —-
而在这个房间里，一个街头音乐家住了十年。 —-

When he died they found twenty thousand roubles in his feather bed.
当他去世时，在他的羽绒床里发现了两万卢布。