FOR a cultivated man to be ignorant of foreign languages is a great inconvenience. —
对一个有修养的人而言，不懂外语是一个很大的不便。 —

Vorotov became acutely conscious of it when, after taking his degree, he began upon a piece of research work.
Vorotov在获得学位后开始进行研究工作时，意识到了这一点。

“It’s awful,” he said, breathing hard (although he was only twenty-six he was fat, heavy, and suffered from shortness of breath).
“太糟糕了，”他说着，喘着粗气（虽然他只有二十六岁，但他又胖又重，呼吸急促）。

“It’s awful! Without languages I’m like a bird without wings. I might just as well give up the work.”
“太糟糕了！不懂语言就像一只没有翅膀的鸟。我干脆放弃这份工作好了。”

And he made up his mind at all costs to overcome his innate laziness, and to learn French and German; —
他下定决心不惜一切去克服自己内在的懒惰，学会法语和德语； —

and began to look out for a teacher.
并开始寻找老师。

One winter noon, as Vorotov was sitting in his study at work, the servant told him that a young lady was inquiring for him.
一个冬天的中午，Vorotov坐在书房里工作，仆人告诉他有一个年轻女士找他。

“Ask her in,” said Vorotov.
“请她进来，”Vorotov说。

And a young lady elaborately dressed in the last fashion walked in. —
一位打扮得体的年轻女士走进来。 —

She introduced herself as a teacher of French, Alice Osipovna Enquête, and told Vorotov that she had been sent to him by one of his friends.
她自我介绍为一名法语老师，Alice Osipovna Enquête，并告诉Vorotov她是被他的一个朋友介绍过来的。

“Delighted! Please sit down,” said Vorotov, breathing hard and putting his hand over the collar of his nightshirt (to breathe more freely he always wore a nightshirt at work instead of a stiff linen one with collar). —
“很高兴！请坐，”Vorotov说着，喘着粗气，把手搭在他的夹领上（为了更自由地呼吸，他在工作时总是穿着睡衣而不是硬领口的亚麻衬衫）。 —

“It was Pyotr Sergeitch sent you? Yes, yes … —
“是彼得·谢尔盖奇推荐你的？是的，是的… —

I asked him about it. Delighted!”
我问过他。很高兴！”

As he talked to Mdlle. Enquête he looked at her shyly and with curiosity. —
在和Enquête小姐交谈时，他羞怯而好奇地看着她。 —

She was a genuine Frenchwoman, very elegant and still quite young. —
她是一个真正的法国女人，非常优雅而且还很年轻。 —

Judging from her pale, languid face, her short curly hair, and her unnaturally slim waist, she might have been eighteen; —
从她苍白的、倦容的脸庞，短卷曲的头发，以及不自然纤细的腰身来看，她可能是十八岁； —

but looking at her broad, well-developed shoulders, the elegant lines of her back and her severe eyes, Vorotov thought that she was not less than three-and- twenty and might be twenty-five; —
但是看着她宽阔、发达的肩膀，优雅的背线和严厉的眼神，沃罗托夫认为她不会少于三十有三，也许是二十五； —

but then again he began to think she was not more than eighteen. —
但随后他又开始认为她不过十八岁。 —

Her face looked as cold and business-like as the face of a person who has come to speak about money. She did not once smile or frown, and only once a look of perplexity flitted over her face when she learnt that she was not required to teach children, but a stout grown-up man.
她的脸看起来冷漠、务实，就像一个来讨论钱财的人脸。她从未微笑过，也没有皱眉，只有当她得知自己不是来教孩子，而是一个强壮的成年男人时，脸上一瞬间出现困惑的神情。

“So, Alice Osipovna,” said Vorotov, “we’ll have a lesson every evening from seven to eight. —
“那么，艾丽斯·奥西波芙娜”，沃罗托夫说，“我们每天晚上七点到八点上一节课。 —

As regards your terms—a rouble a lesson—I’ve nothing to say against that. —
至于你的待遇——一节课一卢布——我对此没什么要说的。 —

By all means let it be a rouble… .”
就让它是一个卢布吧。…”

And he asked her if she would not have some tea or coffee, whether it was a fine day, and with a good-natured smile, stroking the baize of the table, he inquired in a friendly voice who she was, where she had studied, and what she lived on.
他问她是不是要点茶或咖啡，天气是否晴朗，然后友好地笑着，抚摸着桌子上的毡，询问她是谁，学过什么，生活在什么条件下。

With a cold, business-like expression, Alice Osipovna answered that she had completed her studies at a private school and had the diploma of a private teacher, that her father had died lately of scarlet fever, that her mother was alive and made artificial flowers; —
艾丽斯·奥西波芙娜冷漠地回答说，她在一所私立学校完成学业，并拥有私人教师的文凭，她的父亲最近死于猩红热，她的母亲还活着靠做人造花生活； —

that she, Mdlle. Enquête, taught in a private school till dinnertime, and after dinner was busy till evening giving lessons in different good families.
她离开时留下了女人衣服微弱的芳香气味。

She went away leaving behind her the faint fragrance of a woman’s clothes. —
以后很长一段时间，沃罗托夫无法专心工作，坐在桌旁抚摸着绿色毡布表面，陷入沉思。 —

For a long time afterwards Vorotov could not settle to work, but, sitting at the table stroking its green baize surface, he meditated.
“看到一个女孩为了谋生而工作是很令人愉悦的”，他想。

“It’s very pleasant to see a girl working to earn her own living,” he thought. —
“另一方面，想到贫穷也不放过像艾丽斯·奥西波芙娜这样优雅漂亮的女孩，她也要为生存而奋斗，这让人感到悲哀。 —

“On the other hand, it’s very unpleasant to think that poverty should not spare such elegant and pretty girls as Alice Osipovna, and that she, too, should have to struggle for existence. —
这是一件令人伤心的事情！” —

It’s a sad thing!”
？”

Having never seen virtuous Frenchwomen before, he reflected also that this elegantly dressed young lady with her well-developed shoulders and exaggeratedly small waist in all probability followed another calling as well as giving French lessons.
之前从未见过品德高尚的法国女性，他反思道，这位穿着优雅、肩膀宽阔、腰部夸张细小的年轻女士很可能除了教授法语之外还从事其他职业。

The next evening when the clock pointed to five minutes to seven, Mdlle. Enquête appeared, rosy from the frost. —
第二天晚上，当时钟指向七点前五分钟时，安凯尔小姐出现了，因为冰冷的空气而润泽着脸颊。 —

She opened Margot, which she had brought with her, and without introduction began:
她打开了带来的玛格丝，并没有进行任何介绍，便开始：

“French grammar has twenty-six letters. The first letter is called A, the second B …”
“法语语法有二十六个字母。第一个字母叫做A，第二个B……”

“Excuse me,” Vorotov interrupted, smiling. —
“对不起，”沃罗托夫打断她，微笑着说。 —

“I must warn you, mademoiselle, that you must change your method a little in my case. —
“我必须提醒你，小姐，你在我这儿需要改变一下你的方法。 —

You see, I know Russian, Greek, and Latin well… . —
你看，我很了解俄语、希腊语和拉丁语……” —

I’ve studied comparative philology, and I think we might omit Margot and pass straight to reading some author.”
“我研究过比较语言学，我觉得我们可以跳过玛格丝，直接开始阅读某位作者的作品。”

And he explained to the French girl how grown-up people learn languages.
他向法国女孩解释成年人学习语言的方式。

“A friend of mine,” he said, “wanting to learn modern languages, laid before him the French, German, and Latin gospels, and read them side by side, carefully analysing each word, and would you believe it, he attained his object in less than a year. —
“我的一个朋友，想要学习现代语言，把法语、德语和拉丁语的福音书放在面前，并且并排阅读，仔细分析每一个词，你相信吗，他不到一年就达到了目标。” —

Let us do the same. We’ll take some author and read him.”
“我们也来试试吧。我们选一个作家，开始阅读。”

The French girl looked at him in perplexity. —
法国女孩困惑地看着他。 —

Evidently the suggestion seemed to her very naïve and ridiculous. —
显然，这个建议对她来说非常天真可笑。 —

If this strange proposal had been made to her by a child, she would certainly have been angry and have scolded it, but as he was a grown-up man and very stout and she could not scold him, she only shrugged her shoulders hardly perceptibly and said:
如果这个奇怪的提议是由一个孩子提出的，她肯定会生气并责备他，但因为对方是一个成年男人且体型庞大，她无法责备，只是微微耸了下肩膀，说：

“As you please.”
“随你便。”

Vorotov rummaged in his bookcase and picked out a dog’s-eared French book.
Vorotov在书架里翻找着，拿出一本翻边的法文书。

“Will this do?”
“这样可以吗？”

“It’s all the same,” she said.
“It’s all the same,” she said. 1,“一切都一样，”她说道。

“In that case let us begin, and good luck to it! —
“In that case let us begin, and good luck to it! 1.“在这种情况下让我们开始吧，祝这件事好运！ —

Let’s begin with the title … ‘Mémoires.’”
让我们从标题开始……“Mémoires”。

“Reminiscences,” Mdlle. Enquête translated.
“回忆录，”艾丽丝·奥西波夫娜回答。

With a good-natured smile, breathing hard, he spent a quarter of an hour over the word “Mémoires,” and as much over the word de, and this wearied the young lady. —
他友好地微笑着，喘着粗气，对“回忆录”这个词花了将近十五分钟的时间，对“的”这个词也花了差不多同样的时间，使这位年轻女士感到很疲倦。 —

She answered his questions languidly, grew confused, and evidently did not understand her pupil well, and did not attempt to understand him. —
她懒洋洋地回答他的问题，变得困惑，显然并不很了解她的学生，并且也没有尝试去理解他。 —

Vorotov asked her questions, and at the same time kept looking at her fair hair and thinking:
沃罗托夫问了她一些问题，同时一直盯着她的金发想着：

“Her hair isn’t naturally curly; she curls it. It’s a strange thing! —
“她的头发并不是天生卷曲的；她卷发了。真是奇怪！ —

She works from morning to night, and yet she has time to curl her hair.”
她从早到晚都在工作，但还有时间卷发。”

At eight o’clock precisely she got up, and saying coldly and dryly, “Au revoir, monsieur,” walked out of the study, leaving behind her the same tender, delicate, disturbing fragrance. —
八点整，她刚起身，冷冷干巴巴地说了声“再见，先生”，走出书房，留下了同样温柔、细腻、令人心动的芳香。 —

For a long time again her pupil did nothing; —
在接下来的日子里，她的学生再次没有做任何事情； —

he sat at the table meditating.
他坐在桌前冥想。

During the days that followed he became convinced that his teacher was a charming, conscientious, and precise young lady, but that she was very badly educated, and incapable of teaching grown-up people, and he made up his mind not to waste his time, to get rid of her, and to engage another teacher. —
在随后的日子里，他逐渐意识到他的老师是一个迷人、有责任心、准确的年轻女士，但她教不好成年人，无法教导长辈，于是他决定不浪费时间，摆脱她，找个新的老师。 —

When she came the seventh time he took out of his pocket an envelope with seven roubles in it, and holding it in his hand, became very confused and began:
当她第七次来的时候，他从口袋里掏出一个装有七卢布的信封，拿在手上，非常困惑地说道：

“Excuse me, Alice Osipovna, but I ought to tell you … I’m under painful necessity …”
“对不起，艾丽丝·奥西波夫娜，但我应该告诉你……我在痛苦的必要……”

Seeing the envelope, the French girl guessed what was meant, and for the first time during their lessons her face quivered and her cold, business-like expression vanished. —
一看到信封，那位法国女孩就猜到了是什么意思，并且在他们的课程中第一次，她的脸颤抖了一下，她冷漠的面容也消失了。 —

She coloured a little, and dropping her eyes, began nervously fingering her slender gold chain. —
她略微发红，垂下眼睛，紧张地摆弄着她纤细的金链。 —

And Vorotov, seeing her perturbation, realised how much a rouble meant to her, and how bitter it would be to her to lose what she was earning.
沃罗托夫看到她的慌乱，意识到一卢布对她意味着多少，失去她所赚的钱对她来说会是多么痛苦。

“I ought to tell you,” he muttered, growing more and more confused, and quavering inwardly; —
“我应该告诉你，”他喃喃自语，愈发困惑，内心颤抖； —

he hurriedly stuffed the envelope into his pocket and went on: —
他匆匆地把信封塞进口袋，然后继续前行： —

“Excuse me, I … I must leave you for ten minutes.”
“对不起，我……我必须离开你十分钟。”

And trying to appear as though he had not in the least meant to get rid of her, but only to ask her permission to leave her for a short time, he went into the next room and sat there for ten minutes. —
试图表现得好像他并没有打算摆脱她，而只是想征得她的许可暂时离开，他走进隔壁房间坐了十分钟。 —

And then he returned more embarrassed than ever: —
然后他比以往更尴尬地回来： —

it struck him that she might have interpreted his brief absence in some way of her own, and he felt awkward.
他突然意识到她可能以自己的方式解释他短暂的离开，他觉得尴尬。

The lessons began again. Yorotov felt no interest in them. —
课程再次开始了。尤罗托夫对它们毫无兴趣。 —

Realising that he would gain nothing from the lessons, he gave the French girl liberty to do as she liked, asking her nothing and not interrupting her. —
认识到他从这些课程中得不到任何好处，他让那个法国女孩自由地做她喜欢做的事情，不问她任何问题，也不打扰她。 —

She translated away as she pleased ten pages during a lesson, and he did not listen, breathed hard, and having nothing better to do, gazed at her curly head, or her soft white hands or her neck and sniffed the fragrance of her clothes. —
她在课堂上随心所欲地翻译了十页，而他却没有听，喘着粗气，无聊地凝视着她卷曲的头发，或是她柔软的白色的手，或是她的脖子，还闻着她衣服上的芬芳。 —

He caught himself thinking very unsuitable thoughts, and felt ashamed, or he was moved to tenderness, and then he felt vexed and wounded that she was so cold and business-like with him, and treated him as a pupil, never smiling and seeming afraid that he might accidentally touch her. —
他发现自己在想着非常不合适的想法，感到羞耻，或者被感动到柔情蜜意，然后感到恼怒和受伤，因为她对他如此冷淡和正经，对待他像一个学生，从不微笑，似乎害怕他会不小心碰到她。 —

He kept wondering how to inspire her with confidence and get to know her better, and to help her, to make her understand how badly she taught, poor thing.
他一直在想，如何激发她的信心，更好地了解她，帮助她，使她明白自己真的很不好，可怜的孩子。

One day Mdlle. Enquête came to the lesson in a smart pink dress, slightly décolleté, and surrounded by such a fragrance that she seemed to be wrapped in a cloud, and, if one blew upon her, ready to fly away into the air or melt away like smoke. —
有一天，安凯特小姐穿着一件粉色的漂亮裙子来上课，稍微露出一点胸襟，身上散发出一股香气，仿佛被包裹在一团云朵中，如果有人吹她，她就像随时准备飞进空中或像烟雾般消失。 —

She apologised and said she could stay only half an hour for the lesson, as she was going straight from the lesson to a dance.
她道歉并说她只能在课上呆半个小时，因为她要直接从课上去跳舞。

He looked at her throat and the back of her bare neck, and thought he understood why Frenchwomen had the reputation of frivolous creatures easily seduced; —
他看着她的喉咙和露出的后颈，心想他明白为什么法国女人有轻浮易被诱惑的名声； —

he was carried away by this cloud of fragrance, beauty, and bare flesh, while she, unconscious of his thoughts and probably not in the least interested in them, rapidly turned over the pages and translated at full steam:
他被这股芬芳、美丽和赤裸的诱惑冲昏了头脑，而她则毫不知情，也可能对他的想法毫不在意，迅速翻动着页面，全神贯注地翻译着：

“‘He was walking the street and meeting a gentleman his friend and saying, “Where are you striving to seeing your face so pale it makes me sad.”’”
“他正在走在街上，遇见了一个绅士朋友，说道：‘你为什么面色苍白到让我感到悲伤呢？’”

The “Mémoires” had long been finished, and now Alice was translating some other book. —
“Mémoires”已经完成很久了，现在Alice正在翻译另一本书。 —

One day she came an hour too early for the lesson, apologizing and saying that she wanted to leave at seven and go to the Little Theatre. —
有一天，她提前一个小时来上课，道歉说她想在七点离开去小剧院。 —

Seeing her out after the lesson, Vorotov dressed and went to the theatre himself. —
在课后送她出去后，沃罗托夫自己换好衣服去了剧院。 —

He went, and fancied that he was going simply for change and amusement, and that he was not thinking about Alice at all. —
他去了，觉得自己只是为了换换心情和娱乐，没有一点在想艾丽丝。 —

He could not admit that a serious man, preparing for a learned career, lethargic in his habits, could fling up his work and go to the theatre simply to meet there a girl he knew very little, who was unintelligent and utterly unintellectual.
他无法承认，一个为了学术事业而准备的严肃人士，在习惯上爱慵懒，怎么可能抛下工作去剧院，只为了在那里见一个他几乎不了解的女孩，一个既不聪明又毫无文化的女孩。

Yet for some reason his heart was beating during the intervals, and without realizing what he was doing, he raced about the corridors and foyer like a boy impatiently looking for some one, and he was disappointed when the interval was over. —
可是出乎意料的是，他的心在中场休息时激动起来，他像个急不可耐找人的孩子一样，在走廊和休息厅里乱转，当中场休息结束时，他感到失望。 —

And when he saw the familiar pink dress and the handsome shoulders under the tulle, his heart quivered as though with a foretaste of happiness; —
当他看到熟悉的粉红色裙子和花边下面的魁梧肩膀时，他的心像是先感到了幸福的预兆; —

he smiled joyfully, and for the first time in his life experienced the sensation of jealousy.
他兴高采烈地微笑，人生中第一次感到了嫉妒的感觉。

Alice was walking with two unattractive-looking students and an officer. —
艾丽丝和两个相貌不怎么样的学生以及一个军官一起走着。 —

She was laughing, talking loudly, and obviously flirting. Vorotov had never seen her like that. —
她在大声笑着，谈笑风生，明显在调情。沃罗托夫从未见过她如此。 —

She was evidently happy, contented, warm, sincere. What for? Why? —
她显然很开心，满足，温暖，真诚。为什么？为什么？ —

Perhaps because these men were her friends and belonged to her own circle. —
或许因为这些男人是她的朋友，属于她自己的圈子。 —

And Vorotov felt there was a terrible gulf between himself and that circle. —
沃罗托夫感觉到自己和那个圈子之间有着巨大的鸿沟。 —

He bowed to his teacher, but she gave him a chilly nod and walked quickly by; —
他向他的老师鞠了一个躬，但她冷冷地点点头，迅速走开; —

she evidently did not care for her friends to know that she had pupils, and that she had to give lessons to earn money.
显然她不希望她的朋友们知道她有学生，知道她得教课挣钱。

After the meeting at the theatre Vorotov realised that he was in love… . —
在剧院相遇后，沃罗托夫意识到他爱上了她…… —

During the subsequent lessons he feasted his eyes on his elegant teacher, and without struggling with himself, gave full rein to his imaginations, pure and impure. —
在接下来的课程中，他饱览着他优雅的老师，毫不控制地，让自己的想象力充分发挥，无论是纯净的还是不纯净的。 —

Mdlle. Enquête’s face did not cease to be cold; —
额外先生一直面无表情； —

precisely at eight o’clock every evening she said coldly, “Au revoir, monsieur,” and he felt she cared nothing about him, and never would care anything about him, and that his position was hopeless.
每天晚上八点钟准时，她冷冷地说：“Au revoir, monsieur,“，他感觉她对他毫不在乎，永远也不会在乎他，他的处境是无望的。

Sometimes in the middle of a lesson he would begin dreaming, hoping, making plans. —
有时在课堂上他会开始做梦、希望、制定计划。 —

He inwardly composed declarations of love, remembered that Frenchwomen were frivolous and easily won, but it was enough for him to glance at the face of his teacher for his ideas to be extinguished as a candle is blown out when you bring it into the wind on the verandah. —
他内心里构思着表达爱意的话语，记得法国女人爱玩且容易得手，但只需一眼瞥见他的老师的脸，他的想法就像蜡烛被吹灭一样被熄灭了，就像把它带到阳台上面对风时会一样。 —

Once, overcome, forgetting himself as though in delirium, he could not restrain himself, and barred her way as she was going from the study into the entry after the lesson, and, gasping for breath and stammering, began to declare his love:
一旦克服了自己，忘记了自己，仿佛在神志不清，他忍不住地挡住了她去书房进入走廊的路，紧促地喘着气，结结巴巴地开始宣示自己的爱：

“You are dear to me! I … I love you! Allow me to speak.”
“你对我很重要！我…我爱你！请允许我说话。”

And Alice turned pale—probably from dismay, reflecting that after this declaration she could not come here again and get a rouble a lesson. —
艾丽斯脸色变得苍白 - 可能是因为失望，她反映出在这宣言之后她不能再来这里每节课拿到一卢布。 —

With a frightened look in her eyes she said in a loud whisper:
她眼中带着恐惧的表情，大声低语道：

“Ach, you mustn’t! Don’t speak, I entreat you! You mustn’t!”
“Ach, you mustn’t! Don’t speak, I entreat you! You mustn’t!” 1.“啊，你不可以！请不要说话，我恳求你！你不可以！”

And Vorotov did not sleep all night afterwards; he was tortured by shame; —
维罗托夫在那之后整晚都没有睡觉，他被耻辱折磨着。 —

he blamed himself and thought intensely. —
他责怪自己，沉思良久。 —

It seemed to him that he had insulted the girl by his declaration, that she would not come to him again.
他觉得他的宣言冒犯了这个女孩，她不会再来找他了。

He resolved to find out her address from the address bureau in the morning, and to write her a letter of apology. —
他决定第二天上午从地址局找到她的地址，写封道歉信给她。 —

But Alice came without a letter. For the first minute she felt uncomfortable, then she opened a book and began briskly and rapidly translating as usual:
但爱丽丝没有带来信。对于第一分钟，她感到不舒服，然后打开一本书，像往常一样迅速地开始翻译。

“‘Oh, young gentleman, don’t tear those flowers in my garden which I want to be giving to my ill daughter… .’”
“‘年轻绅士，别摘我花园里那些我想要给我生病女儿的花… ’”

She still comes to this day. Four books have already been translated, but Vorotov knows no French but the word “Mémoires,” and when he is asked about his literary researches, he waves his hand, and without answering, turns the conversation to the weather.
她直到今天还来。已经有四本书被翻译了，但Vorotov只认识一个法语单词“Mémoires”，当被问及他的文学研究时，他挥一挥手，没有回答，转移话题到天气上。