AT the beginning of April in 1870 my mother, Klavdia Arhipovna, the widow of a lieutenant, received from her brother Ivan, a privy councillor in Petersburg, a letter in which, among other things, this passage occurred: —
1870年4月初，我母亲克拉芙迪娅·阿尔希波夫娜，一位中尉的遗孀，收到了来自彼得堡的一封信，信中提到了以下内容： —

“My liver trouble forces me to spend every summer abroad, and as I have not at the moment the money in hand for a trip to Marienbad, it is very possible, dear sister, that I may spend this summer with you at Kotchuevko….”
“我的肝脏问题迫使我每年夏天必须出国，由于我目前没有足够的钱去马里恩巴德，所以很可能，亲爱的姐妹，我会在今年夏天和你们一起在科特秋夫科度过……”

On reading the letter my mother turned pale and began trembling all over; —
母亲读完信后脸色变得苍白，全身颤抖； —

then an expression of mingled tears and laughter came into her face. She began crying and laughing. —
接着她的脸上露出了掺杂着眼泪和笑容的表情。她开始哭笑不得。 —

This conflict of tears and laughter always reminds me of the flickering and spluttering of a brightly burning candle when one sprinkles it with water. —
眼泪和笑声的交锋总让我想起一支明亮燃烧的蜡烛被撒上水时的闪烁和噼啪声。 —

Reading the letter once more, mother called together all the household, and in a voice broken with emotion began explaining to us that there had been four Gundasov brothers: —
再次阅读这封信后，母亲把全家人叫到一起，声音带着激动情绪开始向我们解释，家里曾经有四个冈达佐夫兄弟： —

one Gundasov had died as a baby; another had gone to the war, and he, too, was dead; —
一个冈达佐夫兄弟在婴儿时期去世；另一个参加了战争，他也去世了； —

the third, without offence to him be it said, was an actor; the fourth…
第三个，毫无冒犯之意地说，是个演员；第四个……

“The fourth has risen far above us,” my mother brought out tearfully. —
“第四个已经远远超越了我们，”母亲含泪说道。 —

“My own brother, we grew up together; and I am all of a tremble, all of a tremble!. —
“他是我亲生的兄弟，我们一起长大；我都颤抖起来了，都颤抖起来了！ —

.. A privy councillor with the rank of a general! How shall I meet him, my angel brother? —
.. 一个拥有将军级别的军情委员会特使！我怎么面对他，我的天使般的兄弟？ —

What can I, a foolish, uneducated woman, talk to him about? —
我这个愚蠢、没有受教育的女人能和他聊些什么？ —

It’s fifteen years since I’ve seen him! —
我们已经有15年没见过了！ —

Andryushenka,” my mother turned to me, “you must rejoice, little stupid! —
安德留申卡，”母亲对我说，“你必须高兴，小傻瓜！ —

It’s a piece of luck for you that God is sending him to us!”
上帝把他送到我们这儿，这对你来说是件幸运的事！”

After we had heard a detailed history of the Gundasovs, there followed a fuss and bustle in the place such as I had been accustomed to see only before Christmas and Easter. —
在我们听完了冈达索夫家族的详细历史后，接下来就是我只在圣诞节和复活节之前才习惯看到的热闹和忙乱。 —

The sky above and the water in the river were all that escaped; —
天空上和河水中逃脱了一切； —

everything else was subjected to a merciless cleansing, scrubbing, painting. —
其他一切都被无情地清洗、擦洗、涂装。 —

If the sky had been lower and smaller and the river had not flowed so swiftly, they would have scoured them, too, with bath-brick and rubbed them, too, with tow. —
如果天空更低、更小，河水没有那么湍急，它们也会被用沐浴砖擦净，用粗毛巾擦拭。 —

Our walls were as white as snow, but they were whitewashed; —
我们的墙壁雪白一片，但它们被粉刷了； —

the floors were bright and shining, but they were washed every day. —
地板明亮闪亮，但每天都被擦洗。 —

The cat Bobtail (as a small child I had cut off a good quarter of his tail with the knife used for chopping the sugar, and that was why he was called Bobtail) was carried off to the kitchen and put in charge of Anisya; —
我们的猫博比（小时候我用切糖刀割掉了他四分之一的尾巴，所以叫他博比）被带到厨房，由阿妮西亚照看； —

Fedka was told that if any of the dogs came near the front-door “God would punish him. —
费德卡被告知，如果任何狗靠近前门“上帝会惩罚他”。 —

” But no one was so badly treated as the poor sofas, easy-chairs, and rugs! —
但最受虐待的还是可怜的沙发、扶手椅和地毯！ —

They had never, before been so violently beaten as on this occasion in preparation for our visitor. —
为了迎接我们的访客，它们从未像这次这样被激烈地打扫。 —

My pigeons took fright at the loud thud of the sticks, and were continually flying up into the sky.
我的鸽子被木棍的巨大声响吓到，不断地在天空中飞翔。

The tailor Spiridon, the only tailor in the whole district who ventured to make for the gentry, came over from Novostroevka. —
裁缝斯皮里顿，本地唯一一个敢为绅士们量体裁衣的裁缝，从诺沃斯特罗耶夫卡赶来。 —

He was a hard- working capable man who did not drink and was not without a certain fancy and feeling for form, but yet he was an atrocious tailor. —
他是一个勤劳能干的人，不喝酒，对服装有一定的幻想和感觉，但他确实是一个令人发指的裁缝。 —

His work was ruined by hesitation…. The idea that his cut was not fashionable enough made him alter everything half a dozen times, walk all the way to the town simply to study the dandies, and in the end dress us in suits that even a caricaturist would have called outre and grotesque. —
他的作品被犹豫毁了……担心自己的剪裁不够时髦，让他改了半打次，不断地走去城里研究那些花花公子，最终让我们穿上了甚至连漫画家都会称之为古怪怪诞的西装。 —

We cut a dash in impossibly narrow trousers and in such short jackets that we always felt quite abashed in the presence of young ladies.
我们穿着不可思议的窄裤子和如此短的夹克，以至于在年轻女士面前总感到很窘迫。

This Spiridon spent a long time taking my measure. —
这位Spiridon花了很长时间来测量我的尺寸。 —

He measured me all over lengthways and crossways, as though he meant to put hoops round me like a barrel; —
他从上到下，横向纵向地测量我，仿佛要给我围上像桶一样的箍子； —

then he spent a long time noting down my measurements with a thick pencil on a bit of paper, and ticked off all the measurements with triangular signs. —
然后他花了很长时间用粗铅笔在一张纸上记录我的测量值，并用三角形标记出所有的尺寸。 —

When he had finished with me he set to work on my tutor, Yegor Alexyevitch Pobyedimsky. —
当他完成我的测量后，他又开始对我的导师叶戈尔·阿列克谢耶维奇·波别迪姆斯基进行量体。 —

My beloved tutor was then at the stage when young men watch the growth of their moustache and are critical of their clothes, and so you can imagine the devout awe with which Spiridon approached him. —
我心爱的导师当时正处于年轻人留胡子、对自己的衣服挑三拣四的阶段，你可以想象Spiridon对他尊敬敬畏的神情。 —

Yegor Alexyevitch had to throw back his head, to straddle his legs like an inverted V, first lift up his arms, then let them fall. —
叶戈尔·阿列克谢耶维奇不得不仰头、像倒立的“V”字型撑开自己的腿，先抬起手臂，然后放下。 —

Spiridon measured him several times, walking round him during the process like a love-sick pigeon round its mate, going down on one knee, bending double. —
Spiridon多次为他测量，过程中像一只为对象落花的重病鸽子一样绕着他转，屈膝、弯腰。 —

… My mother, weary, exhausted by her exertions and heated by ironing, watched these lengthy proceedings, and said:
… 我母亲，疲惫不堪，因熨衣而沸腾着，看着这漫长的过程，说道：

“Mind now, Spiridon, you will have to answer for it to God if you spoil the cloth! —
“注意，Spiridon，如果你把衣料弄坏了，你会对上帝负责的！ —

And it will be the worse for you if you don’t make them fit!”
如果你让它们不合身，情况会更糟！”

Mother’s words threw Spiridon first into a fever, then into a perspiration, for he was convinced that he would not make them fit. —
母亲的话让Spiridon先是感到发热，然后渗出汗水，因为他深信自己做不好。 —

He received one rouble twenty kopecks for making my suit, and for Pobyedimsky’s two roubles, but we provided the cloth, the lining, and the buttons. —
他为我做西装收取了一卢布二十戈比，为波别迪姆斯基做的收了两卢布，但我们提供了布料、衬里和扣子。 —

The price cannot be considered excessive, as Novostroevka was about seven miles from us, and the tailor came to fit us four times. —
价格不算过高，因为我们与诺沃斯特罗耶夫卡相距约七英里，裁缝来做四次试身。 —

When he came to try the things on and we squeezed ourselves into the tight trousers and jackets adorned with basting threads, mother always frowned contemptuously and expressed her surprise:
当他来试穿衣物，我们挤进紧身裤和挂着大头针线的夹克时，母亲总是皱着眉头表示鄙视并惊讶地说：

“Goodness knows what the fashions are coming to nowadays! I am positively ashamed to look at them. —
“天晓得现在的时尚都成什么样了！我简直羞于看它们。” —

If brother were not used to Petersburg I would not get you fashionable clothes!”
如果哥哥不适应圣彼得堡，我就不会给你买时尚服装！

Spiridon, relieved that the blame was thrown on the fashion and not on him, shrugged his shoulders and sighed, as though to say:
斯皮里东放下心来，责任都推到了时尚身上，耸耸肩膀，叹了口气，似乎在说：

“There’s no help for it; it’s the spirit of the age!”
“没有办法，这就是时代的精神！”

The excitement with which we awaited the arrival of our guest can only be compared with the strained suspense with which spiritualists wait from minute to minute the appearance of a ghost. —
我们等待客人到来时的兴奋，只能比作灵媒时分秒等待鬼魂出现的紧张悬念。 —

Mother went about with a sick headache, and was continually melting into tears. —
妈妈一直头痛，经常流泪。 —

I lost my appetite, slept badly, and did not learn my lessons. —
我没胃口，睡得不好，也没学好功课。 —

Even in my dreams I was haunted by an impatient longing to see a general—that is, a man with epaulettes and an embroidered collar sticking up to his ears, and with a naked sword in his hands, exactly like the one who hung over the sofa in the drawing-room and glared with terrible black eyes at everybody who dared to look at him. —
甚至在梦中，我都被急切地渴望见到一个将军所困扰——也就是一个身穿肩章，绣领子耸到耳朵，手里拿着光秃秃的剑的男人，就像厅堂沙发上挂着的那个，那个人用可怕的黑眼睛瞪着所有敢看他的人。 —

Pobyedimsky was the only one who felt himself in his element. —
波比金斯基是唯一一个觉得自己如鱼得水的人。 —

He was neither terrified nor delighted, and merely from time to time, when he heard the history of the Gundasov family, said:
他既不害怕，也不高兴，只是偶尔听到贡达索夫家族的历史时，会说：

“Yes, it will be pleasant to have some one fresh to talk to.”
“是的，有新人可以聊天会很愉快。”

My tutor was looked upon among us as an exceptional nature. —
在我们家，我的家庭教师被视为一个异常的人。 —

He was a young man of twenty, with a pimply face, shaggy locks, a low forehead, and an unusually long nose. —
他是一个二十岁的年轻人，长了一张布满疙瘩的脸，乱蓬蓬的头发，低着的额头，异常长的鼻子。 —

His nose was so big that when he wanted to look close at anything he had to put his head on one side like a bird. —
他的鼻子太大了，以至于当他想仔细看什么东西时，必须像鸟一样歪着头。 —

To our thinking, there was not a man in the province cleverer, more cultivated, or more stylish. —
在我们看来，全省没有一个人比他更聪明、更有教养或更时尚。 —

He had left the high-school in the class next to the top, and had then entered a veterinary college, from which he was expelled before the end of the first half-year. —
他高中毕业时属于次一档的班级，然后进入兽医学院，但在第一个半年结束前就被开除了。 —

The reason of his expulsion he carefully concealed, which enabled any one who wished to do so to look upon my instructor as an injured and to some extent a mysterious person. —
他被开除的原因他小心地隐瞒了起来，这使得任何人如果愿意的话，都可以把我的导师看作是一个受伤害而且在某种程度上是个神秘的人。 —

He spoke little, and only of intellectual subjects; —
他几乎不说话，只谈论智力话题； —

he ate meat during the fasts, and looked with contempt and condescension on the life going on around him, which did not prevent him, however, from taking presents, such as suits of clothes, from my mother, and drawing funny faces with red teeth on my kites. —
他在斋戒期间吃肉，看着周围发生的生活，还对此看不起和表现出高高在上的态度，但这并不妨碍他接受来自我母亲的礼物，比如一套衣服，并在我的风筝上画上有红牙齿的滑稽脸。 —

Mother disliked him for his “pride,” but stood in awe of his cleverness.
母亲因他的“骄傲”而不喜欢他，但对他的聪明才智敬畏有加。

Our visitor did not keep us long waiting. —
我们的客人没有让我们等待太久。 —

At the beginning of May two wagon-loads of big boxes arrived from the station. —
五月初的时候，从车站运来了两车大箱子。 —

These boxes looked so majestic that the drivers instinctively took off their hats as they lifted them down.
这些箱子看起来如此庄重，以至于车夫们在放下它们时本能地脱下帽子。

“There must be uniforms and gunpowder in those boxes,” I thought.
“这些箱子里一定装着制服和火药，”我心想。

Why “gunpowder”? Probably the conception of a general was closely connected in my mind with cannons and gunpowder.
为什么是“火药”?也许将军的概念在我的脑海中与大炮和火药密切相关。

When I woke up on the morning of the tenth of May, nurse told me in a whisper that “my uncle had come. —
当我在五月十日早晨醒来时，护士用低声告诉我，“我叔叔来了。” —

” I dressed rapidly, and, washing after a fashion, flew out of my bedroom without saying my prayers. —
我迅速穿好衣服，匆匆洗了个脸，没念早课，便飞快地走出卧室。 —

In the vestibule I came upon a tall, solid gentleman with fashionable whiskers and a foppish-looking overcoat. —
在门厅里，我遇见了一个身材高大、蓬勃发育的绅士，时髦的连鬈发和花花绿绿的外套。 —

Half dead with devout awe, I went up to him and, remembering the ceremonial mother had impressed upon me, I scraped my foot before him, made a very low bow, and craned forward to kiss his hand; —
我被敬畏的虔诚之情所嚇到，我走向他，想起母亲教导过的礼仪，我在他面前拖了拖脚，深深鞠了一躬，向前俯身想要吻他的手； —

but the gentleman did not allow me to kiss his hand: —
但这位绅士不让我吻他的手： —

he informed me that he was not my uncle, but my uncle’s footman, Pyotr. The appearance of this Pyotr, far better dressed than Pobyedimsky or me, excited in me the utmost astonishment, which, to tell the truth, has lasted to this day. —
他告诉我他不是我叔叔，而是我叔叔的仆人，彼得。彼得比波别迪姆斯基或我穿得好得多，这激起了我极大的惊讶，老实说，至今仍然记忆犹新。 —

Can such dignified, respectable people with stern and intellectual faces really be footmen? And what for?
这样庄严、可敬的人，带着严肃而有智慧的面孔，真的会是仆人吗？而且为了什么？

Pyotr told me that my uncle was in the garden with my mother. I rushed into the garden.
彼得告诉我，我叔叔和我母亲在花园里。我冲进花园。

Nature, knowing nothing of the history of the Gundasov family and the rank of my uncle, felt far more at ease and unconstrained than I. There was a clamour going on in the garden such as one only hears at fairs. —
大自然对于甘达索夫家族的历史和我叔叔的地位一无所知，比我更为自在和无拘无束。花园里响彻着只有在集市上才听得到的喧闹声。 —

Masses of starlings flitting through the air and hopping about the walks were noisily chattering as they hunted for cockchafers. —
一群群山椋鸟在空中飞翔，跳跃在小路上嘈杂地交谈，捕捉蟑螂。 —

There were swarms of sparrows in the lilac-bushes, which threw their tender, fragrant blossoms straight in one’s face. —
紫丁香丛中有成群的麻雀，在将其娇嫩、芬芳的花朵直直地往人脸上扔。 —

Wherever one turned, from every direction came the note of the golden oriole and the shrill cry of the hoopoe and the red-legged falcon. —
无论往哪边转，都能听到金鹂的鸣叫声，蜜鸟和红脚隼的尖叫声。 —

At any other time I should have begun chasing dragon-flies or throwing stones at a crow which was sitting on a low mound under an aspen-tree, with his blunt beak turned away; —
在任何其他时候，我都会开始追逐蜻蜓或向立在白杨树下一个小丘上的乌鸦扔石头，那只乌鸦用钝钝的喙背对着我。 —

but at that moment I was in no mood for mischief. —
但那时我没有恶作剧的心情。 —

My heart was throbbing, and I felt a cold sinking at my stomach; —
我心跳不已，感到一阵寒意袭上胃口； —

I was preparing myself to confront a gentleman with epaulettes, with a naked sword, and with terrible eyes!
我正在准备好迎接一个身着肩章、持剑且眼神可怕的绅士！

But imagine my disappointment! A dapper little foppish gentleman in white silk trousers, with a white cap on his head, was walking beside my mother in the garden. —
但是，想象一下我的失望！一个身穿白色丝绸裤子，头戴白帽的时髦小绅士正在花园里和我母亲一起走着。 —

With his hands behind him and his head thrown back, every now and then running on ahead of mother, he looked quite young. —
他双手在背后，头向后仰，时不时地在母亲前面快步走着，看起来很年轻。 —

There was so much life and movement in his whole figure that I could only detect the treachery of age when I came close up behind and saw beneath his cap a fringe of close-cropped silver hair. —
他整个身体散发着生气和活力，只有当我走近从他帽子下面看到一缕修剪整齐的银发时，我才看出他背后的岁月痕迹。 —

Instead of the staid dignity and stolidity of a general, I saw an almost schoolboyish nimbleness; —
我看到的不是一个严肃的将军、一个沉稳的老头，而是一个近乎像学生般的活泼； —

instead of a collar sticking up to his ears, an ordinary light blue necktie. —
他的领带并不是翘起到耳朵那里，而是一条普通的淡蓝色领带。 —

Mother and my uncle were walking in the avenue talking together. —
母亲和我的叔叔在林荫道上一起散步并且交谈着。 —

I went softly up to them from behind, and waited for one of them to look round.
我悄悄地从后面走向他们，并等待其中一个回过头来。

“What a delightful place you have here, Klavdia!” said my uncle. —
“你这里多么可爱啊，克拉芙迪亚！”叔叔说道。 —

“How charming and lovely it is! Had I known before that you had such a charming place, nothing would have induced me to go abroad all these years.”
“这里多么迷人美好啊！如果我早知道你有这么迷人的地方，这些年我什么都不会去国外。”

My uncle stooped down rapidly and sniffed at a tulip. —
我叔叔迅速弯下腰，嗅了一下郁金香。 —

Everything he saw moved him to rapture and excitement, as though he had never been in a garden on a sunny day before. —
他见到的每一样东西都让他感到无比欢喜和兴奋，仿佛他以前从未在一个阳光明媚的花园里转过。 —

The queer man moved about as though he were on springs, and chattered incessantly, without allowing mother to utter a single word. —
这个古怪的男人像弹簧般地四处走动，喋喋不休，不让母亲说一句话。 —

All of a sudden Pobyedimsky came into sight from behind an elder-tree at the turn of the avenue. —
突然间，波别金斯基从大道的拐角处的一棵老树后面出现在视野中。 —

His appearance was so unexpected that my uncle positively started and stepped back a pace. —
他的出现如此突然，以至于我叔叔明显地吃了一惊，向后退了一步。 —

On this occasion my tutor was attired in his best Inverness cape with sleeves, in which, especially back-view, he looked remarkably like a windmill. —
在这种情况下，我的导师穿着他最好的带袖子的英维尼斯斯披风，特别是背影看起来酷似一个风车。 —

He had a solemn and majestic air. Pressing his hat to his bosom in Spanish style, he took a step towards my uncle and made a bow such as a marquis makes in a melodrama, bending forward, a little to one side.
他神态庄严而威严。按照西班牙风格将帽子按在胸前，他迈开一步走向我叔叔，像是一部魔幻舞台剧中的侯爵那样行了一礼，微微俯身，微微向一侧倾斜。

“I have the honour to present myself to your high excellency,” he said aloud: —
“我有幸向您高贵的尊严自我介绍，”他大声说道： —

“the teacher and instructor of your nephew, formerly a pupil of the veterinary institute, and a nobleman by birth, Pobyedimsky!”
“您侄儿的老师和引导者，宠物医学院的前学生，出身高贵的波别金斯基！”

This politeness on the part of my tutor pleased my mother very much. —
我导师的这种礼貌举止让我妈妈非常高兴。 —

She gave a smile, and waited in thrilled suspense to hear what clever thing he would say next; —
她露出微笑，满心期待地等待着他接下来会说出什么聪明的话; —

but my tutor, expecting his dignified address to be answered with equal dignity—that is, that my uncle would say “H’m! —
但我的导师却期待着他庄严的致辞会得到同等庄严的回答，也就是说，我叔叔会说“嗯！”然后伸出两根手指——当后者笑着友善地与他握手时，他感到非常困惑和尴尬。 —

” like a general and hold out two fingers—was greatly confused and abashed when the latter laughed genially and shook hands with him. —
他嘟囔着一些语无伦次的话，清了清嗓子，走开了。 —

He muttered something incoherent, cleared his throat, and walked away.
“来！那不是很迷人吗？”我叔叔笑着说。“瞧！他做了点小花巧，觉得自己是个很聪明的家伙！

“Come! isn’t that charming?” laughed my uncle. “Just look! —
我真喜欢这样—我的诚实我真的很喜欢！那个轻狂的花巧里有什么少年气概，那无知的花巧中有多少生命！ —

he has made his little flourish and thinks he’s a very clever fellow! —
他愣住了，很疑惑——他可能以为自己是个非常聪明的人——嗯！看！ —

I do like that—upon my soul I do! What youthful aplomb, what life in that foolish flourish! —
他做了他那个小花巧，认为自己是个非常聪明的家伙！ —

And what boy is this?” he asked, suddenly turning and looking at me.
“这是什么男孩？”他突然转过头来看着我问道。

“That is my Andryushenka,” my mother introduced me, flushing crimson. “My consolation…”
“这是我的安德鲁申卡，”我母亲介绍道，脸红了。“我的慰藉……”

I made a scrape with my foot on the sand and dropped a low bow.
我在沙地上刮了一下脚，低头鞠了个躬。

“A fine fellow… a fine fellow…” muttered my uncle, taking his hand from my lips and stroking me on the head. —
“好个家伙…好个家伙…”叔叔喃喃自语，把手从我嘴边拿开，抚摸着我的头。 —

“So your name is Andrusha? Yes, yes…. H’m!. —
“所以你的名字是安德鲁莎？是的，是的….嗯！” —

.. upon my soul!… Do you learn lessons?”
….天哪！… 你学习功课吗？”

My mother, exaggerating and embellishing as all mothers do, began to describe my achievements in the sciences and the excellence of my behaviour, and I walked round my uncle and, following the ceremonial laid down for me, I continued making low bows. —
我母亲像所有的母亲一样夸大和装饰，开始描述我在科学方面的成就和我的行为优秀，我绕着叔叔走动，按照为我制定的规矩，继续鞠了躬。 —

Then my mother began throwing out hints that with my remarkable abilities it would not be amiss for me to get a government nomination to the cadet school; —
然后我母亲开始暗示说，以我的出众才能，我去干预备学校拿个政府提名也不错； —

but at the point when I was to have burst into tears and begged for my uncle’s protection, my uncle suddenly stopped and flung up his hands in amazement.
但就在我应该哭喊并恳求叔叔保护我的时候，叔叔突然停了下来，举起手惊讶地问道。

“My goo-oodness! What’s that?” he asked.
“我的天啊！那是什么？”他问道。

Tatyana Ivanovna, the wife of our bailiff, Fyodor Petrovna, was coming towards us. —
我们的管家菲奥多尔·彼得罗夫的妻子塔蒂雅娜·伊万诺夫娜朝我们走来。 —

She was carrying a starched white petticoat and a long ironing-board. —
她提着一条浆硬的白裙子和一块长长的熨烫板。 —

As she passed us she looked shyly at the visitor through her eyelashes and flushed crimson.
当她经过我们时，她羞怯地透过眼睫瞄了一眼访客，脸红了。

“Wonders will never cease…” my uncle filtered through his teeth, looking after her with friendly interest. —
“奇迹永远不会止步…” 叔叔用友好的兴趣看着她后退。 —

“You have a fresh surprise at every step, sister… upon my soul!”
“姐妹，每一步都有新的惊喜… 天哪！”

“She’s a beauty…” said mother. “They chose her as a bride for Fyodor, though she lived over seventy miles from here….”
“她真美啊…”妈妈说道。“他们选她作为费奥多尔的新娘，尽管她住在七十多英里以外的地方…”

Not every one would have called Tatyana a beauty. —
并不是每个人都会称塔季扬娜为美人。 —

She was a plump little woman of twenty, with black eyebrows and a graceful figure, always rosy and attractive-looking, but in her face and in her whole person there was not one striking feature, not one bold line to catch the eye, as though nature had lacked inspiration and confidence when creating her. —
她是一个二十岁的丰满小女人，黑眉毛，优雅的身材，总是红润和迷人，但在她的脸上和整个人身上并没有一个惊艳的特征，没有一个吸引眼球的大胆线条，仿佛在创造她时大自然缺乏灵感和信心。 —

Tatyana Ivanovna was shy, bashful, and modest in her behaviour; —
塔季扬娜·伊凡诺芙娜的行为害羞、腼腆、谦虚； —

she moved softly and smoothly, said little, seldom laughed, and her whole life was as regular as her face and as flat as her smooth, tidy hair. —
她走路轻盈、平滑，话不多，很少笑，她的整个生活像她的面孔一样规律，像她光滑整洁的头发一样单调。 —

My uncle screwed up his eyes looking after her, and smiled. —
伯父双眼盯着她，微笑着。 —

Mother looked intently at his smiling face and grew serious.
妈妈专注地看着他的笑脸，变得严肃起来。

“And so, brother, you’ve never married!” she sighed.
“所以，哥哥，你从未结过婚！”她叹息。

“No; I’ve not married.”
“没有；我没有结过婚。”

“Why not?” asked mother softly.
“为什么呢？”母亲轻声问道。

“How can I tell you? It has happened so. —
“我怎么告诉你呢？情况就是这样。 —

In my youth I was too hard at work, I had no time to live, and when I longed to live—I looked round—and there I had fifty years on my back already. —
我年轻时太过辛苦工作，没有时间生活，而当我渴望生活时，我回过头来—身后已经有了五十年了。 —

I was too late! However, talking about it. —
我来得太迟了！无论如何，谈论它.. —

.. is depressing.”
..都会让人沮丧。”

My mother and my uncle both sighed at once and walked on, and I left them and flew off to find my tutor, that I might share my impressions with him. —
我妈妈和伯父同时叹了口气，走着走着我就离开他们去找我的导师，与他分享我的感受。 —

Pobyedimsky was standing in the middle of the yard, looking majestically at the heavens.
Pobyedimsky站在院子中央，威严地望着天空。

“One can see he is a man of culture!” he said, twisting his head round. —
“可以看出他是一个有文化的人！”他说着，扭头看着我们。 —

“I hope we shall get on together.”
“希望我们能相处融洽。”

An hour later mother came to us.
一个小时后母亲来到我们跟前。

“I am in trouble, my dears!” she began, sighing. —
“我有困扰，亲爱的！”她叹了口气说。 —

“You see brother has brought a valet with him, and the valet, God bless him, is not one you can put in the kitchen or in the hall; —
“你们看，哥哥带了个贴身男仆，可这位男仆，天佑他，可不能放在厨房或大厅； —

we must give him a room apart. I can’t think what I am to do! —
我们得给他一个独立的房间。我简直不知道该怎么办了！ —

I tell you what, children, couldn’t you move out somewhere—to Fyodor’s lodge, for instance—and give your room to the valet? —
我跟你们说，孩子们，你们不是可以搬出去住吗—去费奥多尔的小屋，比如—把你们的房间让给男仆怎么样？ —

What do you say?”
你们觉得怎么样？”

We gave our ready consent, for living in the lodge was a great deal more free than in the house, under mother’s eye.
我们欣然同意了，因为在小屋里生活比在房子里自由得多，在母亲眼里。

“It’s a nuisance, and that’s a fact!” said mother. —
“这真是件麻烦事，确实如此！”母亲说。 —

“Brother says he won’t have dinner in the middle of the day, but between six and seven, as they do in Petersburg. —
“哥哥说他不会在中午用餐，而是在六点到七点之间，就像在彼得堡一样。 —

I am simply distracted with worry! By seven o’clock the dinner will be done to rags in the oven. —
我简直被担忧憔悴了！七点钟饭菜在烤箱里早就焖糊了。 —

Really, men don’t understand anything about housekeeping, though they have so much intellect. —
真的，男人对家务一窍不通，尽管他们有那么多才智。 —

Oh, dear! we shall have to cook two dinners every day! —
天哪！我们每天得做两顿饭啊！ —

You will have dinner at midday as before, children, while your poor old mother has to wait till seven, for the sake of her brother.”
你们午饭依旧在中午吃，孩子们，而你们可怜的老母亲要等到晚上七点，为了你们的叔叔。

Then my mother heaved a deep sigh, bade me try and please my uncle, whose coming was a piece of luck for me for which we must thank God, and hurried off to the kitchen. —
然后，我母亲深深地叹了口气，告诉我要努力取悦我的叔叔，他的到来对我来说是一种幸运，我们必须感谢上帝，并赶紧跑去厨房。 —

Pobyedimsky and I moved into the lodge the same day. —
波别金斯基和我当天搬进了住宅。 —

We were installed in a room which formed the passage from the entry to the bailiff’s bedroom.
我们住在一个房间，过道连接着入口和管家的卧室。

Contrary to my expectations, life went on just as before, drearily and monotonously, in spite of my uncle’s arrival and our move into new quarters. —
与我的预期相反，生活依旧如故，单调乏味，尽管我叔叔到来了，我们搬进了新的住所。 —

We were excused lessons “on account of the visitor. —
我们“因为有客人在家”被免除了课程。 —

” Pobyedimsky, who never read anything or occupied himself in any way, spent most of his time sitting on his bed, with his long nose thrust into the air, thinking. —
波别金斯基从不读书或者做任何事情，大部分时间坐在床上，长长的鼻子高高翘起，陷入沉思。 —

Sometimes he would get up, try on his new suit, and sit down again to relapse into contemplation and silence. —
有时他会起床，试穿他的新衣服，然后再坐下陷入思考和沉默。 —

Only one thing worried him, the flies, which he used mercilessly to squash between his hands. —
唯一困扰着他的事情就是苍蝇，他无情地用手抓死它们。 —

After dinner he usually “rested,” and his snores were a cause of annoyance to the whole household. —
晚饭后他通常“休息”，他的打呼声让整个家里人都感到恼火。 —

I ran about the garden from morning to night, or sat in the lodge sticking my kites together. —
我从早到晚在花园里跑来跑去，或者坐在住宅里做风筝。 —

For the first two or three weeks we did not see my uncle often. —
最初的两三个星期我们并没有经常见到我的叔叔。 —

For days together he sat in his own room working, in spite of the flies and the heat. —
有好几天，他坐在自己的房间工作，尽管有苍蝇和炎热。 —

His extraordinary capacity for sitting as though glued to his table produced upon us the effect of an inexplicable conjuring trick. —
他惊人的坐势好像被粘在桌子上，给我们这些懒汉产生了一种无法解释的戏法效果。 —

To us idlers, knowing nothing of systematic work, his industry seemed simply miraculous. —
对于我们这些懒散无知，不了解系统性工作的人来说，他的勤奋简直是奇迹般的。 —

Getting up at nine, he sat down to his table, and did not leave it till dinner-time; —
他九点起床，坐在桌前，直到午饭时间才离开； —

after dinner he set to work again, and went on till late at night. —
午饭过后又开始工作，直到深夜。 —

Whenever I peeped through the keyhole I invariably saw the same thing: —
每当我从钥匙孔偷窥时，总是看到同样的场景： —

my uncle sitting at the table working. The work consisted in his writing with one hand while he turned over the leaves of a book with the other, and, strange to say, he kept moving all over—swinging his leg as though it were a pendulum, whistling, and nodding his head in time. —
我叔叔坐在桌前工作。工作内容是一只手写字，一只手翻书页，而且他一直在摇摆着—像摆钟一样摆动着腿，吹着口哨，还时不时地点头。 —

He had an extremely careless and frivolous expression all the while, as though he were not working, but playing at noughts and crosses. —
他一直面带一丝随意且轻浮的表情，好像他在玩井字棋，而不是在工作。 —

I always saw him wearing a smart short jacket and a jauntily tied cravat, and he always smelt, even through the keyhole, of delicate feminine perfumery. —
我总是看到他穿着时髦的短夹克，戴着时髦的领带，而且甚至透过钥匙孔也能闻到他身上淡淡的女用香水味。 —

He only left his room for dinner, but he ate little.
他只为了吃饭而离开房间，但他吃得很少。

“I can’t make brother out!” mother complained of him. —
“我弄不明白兄弟！”母亲抱怨说。 —

“Every day we kill a turkey and pigeons on purpose for him, I make a compote with my own hands, and he eats a plateful of broth and a bit of meat the size of a finger and gets up from the table. —
“每天我们都特意宰杀一只火鸡和鸽子给他，我亲手做了一锅水果煮，而他只喝一碗鸡肉清汤和一小块食指大小的肉就离开餐桌。 —

I begin begging him to eat; he comes back and drinks a glass of milk. —
我开始求他多吃点；他回来喝一杯牛奶。 —

And what is there in that, in a glass of milk? It’s no better than washing up water! —
那有什么了不起，一杯牛奶？这简直不比洗碗水好！ —

You may die of a diet like that…. If I try to persuade him, he laughs and makes a joke of it. —
你可能会因为这样的饮食而死… 如果我劝他，他会笑着开个玩笑。 —

… No; he does not care for our fare, poor dear!”
…不；他对我们的饮食无动于衷，可怜的亲爱的！”

We spent the evenings far more gaily than the days. —
晚上的时光比白天更快乐。 —

As a rule, by the time the sun was setting and long shadows were lying across the yard, we—that is, Tatyana Ivanovna, Pobyedimsky, and I—were sitting on the steps of the lodge. —
通常太阳落山、长长的影子洒在院子里时，我们—也就是塔季亚娜·伊凡诺芙娜、波别廷斯基和我—会坐在小屋的台阶上。 —

We did not talk till it grew quite dusk. —
我们一直没有交谈，直到天色渐浓。 —

And, indeed, what is one to talk of when every subject has been talked over already? —
其实，当每个话题都已经讨论过之后，还有什么好谈的呢？ —

There was only one thing new, my uncle’s arrival, and even that subject was soon exhausted. —
唯一新鲜的事情就只有我叔叔的到来，不过这个话题也很快就耗尽了。 —

My tutor never took his eyes off Tatyana Ivanovna ‘s face, and frequently heaved deep sighs. —
我的导师从未将目光从塔季扬娜·伊万诺芙娜的脸上移开，经常叹息不已。 —

… At the time I did not understand those sighs, and did not try to fathom their significance; —
当时我并不理解那些叹息，也没有去深究它们的意义； —

now they explain a great deal to me.
现在它们对我有了很多启示。

When the shadows merged into one thick mass of shade, the bailiff Fyodor would come in from shooting or from the field. —
当影子融为一片浓密的阴影时，管理人费奥多尔会从打猎场或田野上回来。 —

This Fyodor gave me the impression of being a fierce and even a terrible man. —
这个费奥多尔给我的印象是一个强壮甚至可怕的人。 —

The son of a Russianized gipsy from Izyumskoe, swarthy-faced and curly-headed, with big black eyes and a matted beard, he was never called among our Kotchuevko peasants by any name but “The Devil.” And, indeed, there was a great deal of the gipsy about him apart from his appearance. —
一个易卢姆斯科镇的俄罗斯化的吉普赛人的儿子，皮肤黝黑，头发卷曲，大大的黑眼睛和乱蓬蓬的胡须，我们科丘耶夫科的农民从未称呼他其他名字，只叫他“恶魔”。而且，除了外表，他身上还有很多吉普赛人的特点。 —

He could not, for instance, stay at home, and went off for days together into the country or into the woods to shoot. —
例如，他无法呆在家里，常常连续几天走进田野或树林进行射击。 —

He was gloomy, ill-humoured, taciturn, was afraid of nobody, and refused to recognize any authority. He was rude to mother, addressed me familiarly, and was contemptuous of Pobyedimsky’s learning. —
他阴沉、脾气暴躁，寡言少语，不怕任何人，拒绝承认任何权威。他对母亲粗鲁，对我熟口熟面，对波比耶金斯基的学识不屑一顾。 —

All this we forgave him, looking upon him as a hot-tempered and nervous man; —
我们都原谅了他，认为他是个脾气暴躁、神经紧张的人； —

mother liked him because, in spite of his gipsy nature, he was ideally honest and industrious. —
母亲喜欢他，因为虽然他有吉普赛人的天性，但却极其诚实勤劳。 —

He loved his Tatyana Ivanovna passionately, like a gipsy, but this love took in him a gloomy form, as though it cost him suffering. —
他对自己的塔季扬娜·伊万诺芙娜爱得狂热，像吉普赛人一样，但这种爱在他身上呈现出一种阴郁的形式，似乎给他带来痛苦。 —

He was never affectionate to his wife in our presence, but simply rolled his eyes angrily at her and twisted his mouth.
他在我们面前从未对妻子表示亲昵，只是愤怒地瞪着她，扭曲着嘴巴。

When he came in from the fields he would noisily and angrily put down his gun, would come out to us on the steps, and sit down beside his wife. —
当他从田野上回来时，他会大声愤怒地放下枪，走到我们身边的台阶上，坐在他妻子旁边。 —

After resting a little, he would ask his wife a few questions about household matters, and then sink into silence.
稍事休息后，他会询问妻子家务事，然后沉默下来。

“Let us sing,” I would suggest.
“让我们唱歌吧，”我建议道。

My tutor would tune his guitar, and in a deep deacon’s bass strike up “In the midst of the valley. —
我的导师会调整他的吉他，用深沉的执事男低音开始唱起“在山谷中央”。 —

” We would begin singing. My tutor took the bass, Fyodor sang in a hardly audible tenor, while I sang soprano in unison with Tatyana Ivanovna.
我们开始唱歌。我的导师负责低音部，Fyodor唱出几乎听不见的男高音，而我与Tatyana Ivanovna一起唱女高音。

When the whole sky was covered with stars and the frogs had left off croaking, they would bring in our supper from the kitchen. —
当整个天空布满星星，青蛙停止呱呱叫时，他们会从厨房把我们的晚餐端进来。 —

We went into the lodge and sat down to the meal. —
我们走进小屋，坐下用餐。 —

My tutor and the gipsy ate greedily, with such a sound that it was hard to tell whether it was the bones crunching or their jaws, and Tatyana Ivanovna and I scarcely succeeded in getting our share. —
我的导师和吉普赛人贪婪地吃着，发出如此大声的声音，以至于难以分辨是骨头碎裂还是他们的下颚，而Tatyana Ivanovna和我几乎没有分到份儿。 —

After supper the lodge was plunged in deep sleep.
晚餐后，小屋里陷入了沉睡。

One evening, it was at the end of May, we were sitting on the steps, waiting for supper. —
一个晚上，那是五月底，我们坐在台阶上等晚餐。 —

A shadow suddenly fell across us, and Gundasov stood before us as though he had sprung out of the earth. —
一道影子突然落在我们身上，甘达索夫站在我们面前，仿佛是从地底窜出来的。 —

He looked at us for a long time, then clasped his hands and laughed gaily.
他长时间地看着我们，然后双手紧握在一起，欢快地笑了起来。

“An idyll!” he said. “They sing and dream in the moonlight! —
“一个田园诗般的场景！”他说。“他们在月光下唱歌和做梦！ —

It’s charming, upon my soul! May I sit down and dream with you?”
太迷人了，天哪！我可以坐下来和你们一起做梦吗？”

We looked at one another and said nothing. —
我们互相看了看，什么都没有说。 —

My uncle sat down on the bottom step, yawned, and looked at the sky. A silence followed. —
我叔叔坐在最底阶梯上，打了个哈欠，望着天空。随后一片寂静。 —

Pobyedimsky, who had for a long time been wanting to talk to somebody fresh, was delighted at the opportunity, and was the first to break the silence. —
想和新人交谈已经很久的波别金斯基欣喜不已，于是迫不及待打破了寂静。 —

He had only one subject for intellectual conversation, the epizootic diseases. —
他只有一个智力交谈的话题，就是家畜流行病。 —

It sometimes happens that after one has been in an immense crowd, only some one countenance of the thousands remains long imprinted on the memory; —
有时，一个人在人群中待久了，却只能记住成千上万人中的一张脸。 —

in the same way, of all that Pobyedimsky had heard, during his six months at the veterinary institute, he remembered only one passage:
正如波别金斯基在兽医学院六个月期间所听到的所有内容中，他只记得一句话：

“The epizootics do immense damage to the stock of the country. —
“家畜流行病对全国的牲畜造成了巨大的损害。 —

It is the duty of society to work hand in hand with the government in waging war upon them.”
社会有责任与政府齐心协力，共同对抗这些疾病。”

Before saying this to Gundasov, my tutor cleared his throat three times, and several times, in his excitement, wrapped himself up in his Inverness. —
在对甘达索夫说出这番话之前，我的导师清了三次嗓子，被兴奋之情多次紧紧裹住他的英格兰外套。 —

On hearing about the epizootics, my uncle looked intently at my tutor and made a sound between a snort and a laugh.
听到关于家畜流行病的话题，我叔叔们盯着我的导师，发出一阵类似哼笑的声音。

“Upon my soul, that’s charming!” he said, scrutinizing us as though we were mannequins. —
“噢，天哪，这太迷人了！”他说着，像审视着我们是模特一样。 —

“This is actually life…. This is really what reality is bound to be. —
“这实际就是生活…. 这才是真实世界的写照。 —

Why are you silent, Pelagea Ivanovna?” he said, addressing Tatyana Ivanovna.
为什么你们沉默了，伊凡诺瓦的佩拉吉亚？”他对着塔季扬娜·伊凡诺夫娜说。

She coughed, overcome with confusion.
塔季扬娜·伊凡诺夫娜尴尬地咳嗽一声。

“Talk, my friends, sing… play!… Don’t lose time. —
“说话吧，我的朋友们，唱歌… 演奏！… 不要浪费时间。 —

You know, time, the rascal, runs away and waits for no man! —
你们知道，时间这个淘气鬼，不等人！ —

Upon my soul, before you have time to look round, old age is upon you. —
我敢带着灵魂发誓，等你回过神来，年岁已经爬上了你的身。 —

… Then it is too late to live! That’s how it is, Pelagea Ivanovna. —
“… 那时就太迟了！这就是事实，佩拉嘉·伊万诺芙娜。” —

… We mustn’t sit still and be silent….”
“… 我们不能坐着不说话….”

At that point supper was brought out from the kitchen. —
就在那时，晚饭从厨房送出来了。 —

Uncle went into the lodge with us, and to keep us company ate five curd fritters and the wing of a duck. —
叔叔和我们一起进了小屋，和我们在一起吃了五个奶酪馅饼和一只鸭子的翅膀。 —

He ate and looked at us. He was touched and delighted by us all. —
他吃着看着我们。他被我们所有人感动和开心。 —

Whatever silly nonsense my precious tutor talked, and whatever Tatyana Ivanovna did, he thought charming and delightful. —
无论我亲爱的导师讲着多荒谬，塔孔娅·伊万诺芙娜做着多出格的事，他都觉得迷人而令人愉快。 —

When after supper Tatyana Ivanovna sat quietly down and took up her knitting, he kept his eyes fixed on her fingers and chatted away without ceasing.
晚饭后，塔孔娅·伊万诺芙娜静静地坐下来拿起针织，他就专注地盯着她的手指，不停地聊个不停。

“Make all the haste you can to live, my friends…” he said. —
“尽你们所能地活着吧，我的朋友们…” 他说。 —

“God forbid you should sacrifice the present for the future! —
“不愿你们牺牲现在来换取未来！ —

There is youth, health, fire in the present; —
岁月青春，在现在中有生命力、健康和活力； —

the future is smoke and deception! As soon as you are twenty begin to live.”
未来只是烟雾和欺骗！你们一到二十岁就开始生活吧。”

Tatyana Ivanovna dropped a knitting-needle. —
塔孔娅·伊万诺芙娜掉了一根针。 —

My uncle jumped up, picked up the needle, and handed it to Tatyana Ivanovna with a bow, and for the first time in my life I learnt that there were people in the world more refined than Pobyedimsky.
我叔叔跳起来，捡起了针，向塔孔娅·伊万诺芙娜鞠了一个躬，那是我第一次知道世上竟然有比波别金斯基更优雅的人。

“Yes…” my uncle went on, “love, marry, do silly things. —
“是的…” 我叔叔继续说道，“去爱，去结婚，做些傻事。 —

Foolishness is a great deal more living and healthy than our straining and striving after rational life.”
愚蠢远比我们在理性生活中的努力和奋斗更有活力和健康。

My uncle talked a great deal, so much that he bored us; —
我叔叔说了很多话，以至于让我们厌烦； —

I sat on a box listening to him and dropping to sleep. —
我坐在一个箱子上听他讲话，结果一不留神就睡着了。 —

It distressed me that he did not once all the evening pay attention to me. —
他一整个晚上都没有注意到我，这让我感到不悦。 —

He left the lodge at two o’clock, when, overcome with drowsiness, I was sound asleep.
他在晚上两点离开小屋的时候，我已经瞌睡意识模糊。

From that time forth my uncle took to coming to the lodge every evening. —
从那时起，我叔叔开始每天晚上来小屋。 —

He sang with us, had supper with us, and always stayed on till two o’clock in the morning, chatting incessantly, always about the same subject. —
他和我们一起唱歌，吃晚饭，并一直呆到凌晨两点，不停地聊天，总是围绕着同一个话题。 —

His evening and night work was given up, and by the end of June, when the privy councillor had learned to eat mother’s turkey and compote, his work by day was abandoned too. —
到了六月底，当宰相学会享用妈妈做的火鸡和果酱之时，他白天的工作也放弃了。 —

My uncle tore himself away from his table and plunged into “life. —
我叔叔摆脱了桌子，投入到“生活”中。 —

” In the daytime he walked up and down the garden, he whistled to the workmen and hindered them from working, making them tell him their various histories. —
白天他在花园里走来走去，对工人吹口哨，还打岔让他们停下工作，让他们讲述各自的故事。 —

When his eye fell on Tatyana Ivanovna he ran up to her, and, if she were carrying anything, offered his assistance, which embarrassed her dreadfully.
当他看见塔亚娜·伊万诺夫娜时，他会跑过去，如果她那时在搬东西，他会提供帮助，这让她非常尴尬。

As the summer advanced my uncle grew more and more frivolous, volatile, and careless. Pobyedimsky was completely disillusioned in regard to him.
随着夏天的来临，我叔叔变得越来越轻浮、多变和不在乎。波别金斯基对他感到完全幻灭。

“He is too one-sided,” he said. “There is nothing to show that he is in the very foremost ranks of the service. —
“他太片面了，”他说。“没有任何证据表明他处于服务的最前沿。 —

And he doesn’t even know how to talk. At every word it’s ‘upon my soul. —
而且他甚至不知道怎么说话。每句话都是‘在我灵魂上。 —

’ No, I don’t like him!”
’我不喜欢他！”

From the time that my uncle began visiting the lodge there was a noticeable change both in Fyodor and my tutor. —
自从我叔叔开始拜访小屋，弗约多尔和我的导师都明显发生了变化。 —

Fyodor gave up going out shooting, came home early, sat more taciturn than ever, and stared with particular ill-humour at his wife. —
弗约多尔不再出去打猎，提早回家，变得比以往更加沉默，对他的妻子特别愠怒地凝视着。 —

In my uncle’s presence my tutor gave up talking about epizootics, frowned, and even laughed sarcastically.
在我叔叔的面前，我的导师不再谈论家畜疫病，板着脸，甚至讽刺性地笑了。

“Here comes our little bantam cock!” he growled on one occasion when my uncle was coming into the lodge.
“我们小公鸡来了!”有一次，当我叔叔走进小屋时，他咆哮道。

I put down this change in them both to their being offended with my uncle. —
我把这种变化归因于他们对我叔叔感到生气。 —

My absent-minded uncle mixed up their names, and to the very day of his departure failed to distinguish which was my tutor and which was Tatyana Ivanovna’s husband. —
我心不在焉的叔叔搞混他们的名字，直到他离开的那一天也没有区分出哪个是我的导师，哪个是塔季扬娜·伊万诺芙娜的丈夫。 —

Tatyana Ivanovna herself he sometimes called Nastasya, sometimes Pelagea, and sometimes Yevdokia. —
他有时把塔季扬娜·伊万诺芙娜称为纳斯塔西娅，有时叫她佩拉吉娅，有时叫她叶夫多基娅。 —

Touched and delighted by us, he laughed and behaved exactly as though in the company of small children. —
被我们感动和高兴，他笑了，表现得就像在孩子们的陪伴中一样。 —

… All this, of course, might well offend young men. —
… 当然，所有这一切可能会冒犯年轻人。 —

It was not a case of offended pride, however, but, as I realize now, subtler feelings.
然而，这并不是因为受到了自尊感的伤害，而是，我现在意识到，更微妙的感觉。

I remember one evening I was sitting on the box struggling with sleep. —
我记得有一个晚上我坐在箱子上，努力对抗睡意。 —

My eyelids felt glued together and my body, tired out by running about all day, drooped sideways. —
我的眼皮感觉粘在一起，一整天奔波劳累的身体向一侧倾斜。 —

But I struggled against sleep and tried to look on. It was about midnight. —
但我努力对抗睡意，努力保持清醒。 当时是午夜时分。 —

Tatyana Ivanovna, rosy and unassuming as always, was sitting at a little table sewing at her husband’s shirt. —
塔季扬娜·伊万诺芙娜一如既往地红润而谦逊，坐在小桌前缝制她丈夫的衬衫。 —

Fyodor, sullen and gloomy, was staring at her from one corner, and in the other sat Pobyedimsky, snorting angrily and retreating into the high collar of his shirt. —
弗约多尔，愠怒而阴沉，从角落里盯着她，而波别迪姆斯基坐在另一个角落里，怒气冲天，躲进了高领衬衫里。 —

My uncle was walking up and down the room thinking. Silence reigned; —
我叔叔走来走去，思索着。寂静占据了整个房间； —

nothing was to be heard but the rustling of the linen in Tatyana Ivanovna’s hands. —
只能听到塔季扬娜·伊万诺芙娜手中亚麻布料的沙沙声。 —

Suddenly my uncle stood still before Tatyana Ivanovna, and said:
突然，我叔叔站在塔季扬娜·伊万诺芙娜面前，说道：

“You are all so young, so fresh, so nice, you live so peacefully in this quiet place, that I envy you. —
“你们都是如此年轻、如此清新、如此美好，平静地生活在这个宁静的地方，我羡慕你们。 —

I have become attached to your way of life here; —
我已经习惯了这里的生活方式； —

my heart aches when I remember I have to go away. —
想到我必须离开，心中便感到痛苦。 —

… You may believe in my sincerity!”
… 你们可以相信我的真诚！”

Sleep closed my eyes and I lost myself. When some sound waked me, my uncle was standing before Tatyana Ivanovna, looking at her with a softened expression. —
睡意袭来，我双眼渐渐合拢。当某个声音惊醒我时，我叔叔正站在塔季扬娜·伊万诺芙娜面前，用柔和的表情看着她。 —

His cheeks were flushed.
他的脸颊泛红。

“My life has been wasted,” he said. “I have not lived! —
“我的生命已经虚度,” 他说。“我从未真正活过！ —

Your young face makes me think of my own lost youth, and I should be ready to sit here watching you to the day of my death. —
你年轻的面容让我想起我曾失去的青春，我愿意坐在这里一辈子看着你。 —

It would be a pleasure to me to take you with me to Petersburg.”
带你和我一起去圣彼得堡将是一种乐趣。”

“What for?” Fyodor asked in a husky voice.
“为了什么？” 费奥多用嘶哑的声音问道。

“I should put her under a glass case on my work-table. —
“我会把她放在我的工作桌上的玻璃箱里。 —

I should admire her and show her to other people. —
我会欣赏她，向别人展示她。 —

You know, Pelagea Ivanovna, we have no women like you there. —
你知道，帕列吉娅·伊万诺芙娜，我们那里没有像你这样的女人。 —

Among us there is wealth, distinction, sometimes beauty, but we have not this true sort of life, this healthy serenity….”
在我们这里有财富、声望，有时还有美貌，但我们没有这种真正的生活，这种健康的宁静….”

My uncle sat down facing Tatyana Ivanovna and took her by the hand.
我叔叔坐下来，面对着塔季扬娜·伊万诺芙娜，握住了她的手。

“So you won’t come with me to Petersburg?” he laughed. —
“那你就不跟我去彼得堡了吗？”他笑着说。 —

“In that case give me your little hand…. A charming little hand!. —
“这样的话，那就给我你的小手吧….多么迷人的小手啊！ —

.. You won’t give it? Come, you miser! let me kiss it, anyway….”
..不给吗？来吧，小气鬼！让我亲一口，好吗….”

At that moment there was the scrape of a chair. —
就在那时，椅子发出了擦擦的声音。 —

Fyodor jumped up, and with heavy, measured steps went up to his wife. —
费奥多跳起来，用沉重而有节奏的步伐走向他的妻子。 —

His face was pale, grey, and quivering. He brought his fist down on the table with a bang, and said in a hollow voice:
他脸色苍白，灰暗，颤抖着。他狠狠地将拳头砸在桌子上，用空洞的声音说道：

“I won’t allow it!”
“我不允许！”

At the same moment Pobyedimsky jumped up from his chair. —
与此同时，波别迪姆斯基也从椅子上跳起来。 —

He, too, pale and angry, went up to Tatyana Ivanovna, and he, too, struck the table with his fist.
他也是苍白和愤怒，走向塔季扬娜·伊万诺芙娜，也用拳头砸在桌子上。

“I… I won’t allow it!” he said.
“我…我不允许！”他说。

“What, what’s the matter?” asked my uncle in surprise.
“怎么了，怎么了？”我叔叔惊讶地问道。

“I won’t allow it!” repeated Fyodor, banging on the table.
“我不允许！”费奥多重复着，砰地一声砸在桌子上。

My uncle jumped up and blinked nervously. —
我叔叔跳了起来，紧张地眨着眼睛。 —

He tried to speak, but in his amazement and alarm could not utter a word; —
他想说话，但是在惊讶和惊恐中却说不出一句话。 —

with an embarrassed smile, he shuffled out of the lodge with the hurried step of an old man, leaving his hat behind. —
他尴尬地笑了笑，急忙地像个老人一样拖着脚步走出了小屋，忘了帽子。 —

When, a little later, my mother ran into the lodge, Fyodor and Pobyedimsky were still hammering on the table like blacksmiths and repeating, “I won’t allow it!”
过了一会儿，我妈妈跑进小屋的时候，费奥多尔和波别迪姆斯基仍像铁匠一样敲着桌子，重复着：“我不允许！”

“What has happened here?” asked mother. —
“这里发生了什么事？”妈妈问道。 —

“Why has my brother been taken ill? What’s the matter?”
“我哥哥怎么了？怎么回事？”

Looking at Tatyana’s pale, frightened face and at her infuriated husband, mother probably guessed what was the matter. —
看着塔季亚娜惊恐苍白的脸，再看看她愤怒的丈夫，妈妈可能猜到了是怎么一回事。 —

She sighed and shook her head.
她叹了口气，摇摇头。

“Come! give over banging on the table!” she said. “Leave off, Fyodor! —
“来！别再敲桌子了！”她说。“停下来，费奥多尔！ —

And why are you thumping, Yegor Alexyevitch? —
你为什么还在敲，叶戈尔·亚历希耶维奇？ —

What have you got to do with it?”
这和你有什么关系？”

Pobyedimsky was startled and confused. Fyodor looked intently at him, then at his wife, and began walking about the room. —
波别迪姆斯基吃惊又困惑。费奥多尔注视着他，然后又看了看妻子，开始在房间里踱步。 —

When mother had gone out of the lodge, I saw what for long afterwards I looked upon as a dream. —
当妈妈走出小屋时，我看到了后来长久以来当做梦见的事情。 —

I saw Fyodor seize my tutor, lift him up in the air, and thrust him out of the door.
我看到费奥多尔抓住我的家庭教师，把他抬起来，然后推出了门外。

When I woke up in the morning my tutor’s bed was empty. —
当我早上醒来时，我的家庭教师的床空了。 —

To my question where he was nurse told me in a whisper that he had been taken off early in the morning to the hospital, as his arm was broken. —
护士小声告诉我，他早上就被送往医院了，因为他的手臂骨折了。 —

Distressed at this intelligence and remembering the scene of the previous evening, I went out of doors. —
听到这个消息感到烦恼，想起前一天晚上的情景，我走到了户外。 —

It was a grey day. The sky was covered with storm- clouds and there was a wind blowing dust, bits of paper, and feathers along the ground. —
那是一个灰蒙蒙的一天。天空被暴风云密布，一阵风卷起灰尘、纸屑和羽毛在地面上飘动。 —

… It felt as though rain were coming. There was a look of boredom in the servants and in the animals. —
……感觉就像要下雨了。仆人和动物们都有些无聊。 —

When I went into the house I was told not to make such a noise with my feet, as mother was ill and in bed with a migraine. —
我走进屋里，被告知不要大声踩脚，因为母亲头疼发作躺在床上。 —

What was I to do? I went outside the gate, sat down on the little bench there, and fell to trying to discover the meaning of what I had seen and heard the day before. —
我该怎么办呢？我走到大门外，坐在那儿的小椅子上，开始思索前一天所见所闻的意义。 —

From our gate there was a road which, passing the forge and the pool which never dried up, ran into the main road. —
从我们的大门出去有一条小路，经过铁匠铺和永不干涸的池塘，通向主要道路。 —

I looked at the telegraph-posts, about which clouds of dust were whirling, and at the sleepy birds sitting on the wires, and I suddenly felt so dreary that I began to cry.
我看着电线杆，周围飞舞着一团团尘土，看着停在电线上的昏昏欲睡的鸟儿，突然觉得无聊极了，开始哭了起来。

A dusty wagonette crammed full of townspeople, probably going to visit the shrine, drove by along the main road. —
一辆挤满城里人的布满灰尘的马车沿着主要道路驶过，大概是去参观圣地。 —

The wagonette was hardly out of sight when a light chaise with a pair of horses came into view. —
马车刚刚消失在视线中，一辆双马轻便马车出现了。 —

In it was Akim Nikititch, the police inspector, standing up and holding on to the coachman’s belt. To my great surprise, the chaise turned into our road and flew by me in at the gate. —
车上是警察局长阿基姆·尼基蒂奇，站在车夫腰带上抓住。令我大为惊讶的是，马车转进了我们的小路，径直开过大门。 —

While I was puzzling why the police inspector had come to see us, I heard a noise, and a carriage with three horses came into sight on the road. —
正当我苦苦思索警察局长为何来拜访我们时，听见了一阵噪音，一辆拉三匹马的马车出现在路上。 —

In the carriage stood the police captain, directing his coachman towards our gate.
车厢里站着警察队长，指挥马车往我们的大门驶去。

“And why is he coming?” I thought, looking at the dusty police captain. —
“他为何要来？”我想着，看着浑身灰尘的警察队长。 —

“Most probably Pobyedimsky has complained of Fyodor to him, and they have come to take him to prison.”
“很可能波别金斯基向他抱怨费奥多尔，他们来把他送进监狱了。”

But the mystery was not so easily solved. —
但是这个谜团并不是那么容易解开。 —

The police inspector and the police captain were only the first instalment, for five minutes had scarcely passed when a coach drove in at our gate. —
警官和警长仅仅是第一批来访者，不到五分钟，一辆马车就驶入了我们的大门。 —

It dashed by me so swiftly that I could only get a glimpse of a red beard.
它飞驶而过，我只能瞥见一个红胡子。

Lost in conjecture and full of misgivings, I ran to the house. —
陷入揣测和忧虑中，我跑向房子。 —

In the passage first of all I saw mother; —
过道里我首先看到了母亲； —

she was pale and looking with horror towards the door, from which came the sounds of men’s voices. —
她苍白着脸，恐惧地望着门口，传来男人的声音。 —

The visitors had taken her by surprise in the very throes of migraine.
来访者让她在偏头痛的困扰中大吃一惊。

“Who has come, mother?” I asked.
“是谁来了，母亲？”我问。

“Sister,” I heard my uncle’s voice, “will you send in something to eat for the governor and me?”
“姐姐，”我听到叔叔的声音，“你能送点吃的给州长和我吗？”

“It is easy to say ‘something to eat,’” whispered my mother, numb with horror. —
“说‘点吃的’容易，”母亲咬牙切齿地低声说。 —

“What have I time to get ready now? I am put to shame in my old age!”
“我现在有时间准备什么？我在老年时受到羞辱！”

Mother clutched at her head and ran into the kitchen. —
母亲揪着头发跑进了厨房。 —

The governor’s sudden visit stirred and overwhelmed the whole household. —
州长的突然访问引发了整个家庭的震动和压倒。 —

A ferocious slaughter followed. A dozen fowls, five turkeys, eight ducks, were killed, and in the fluster the old gander, the progenitor of our whole flock of geese and a great favourite of mother’s, was beheaded. —
紧随其后便是一场凶猛的屠宰。十几只鸡，五只火鸡，八只鸭子被宰杀，在混乱中，一只老鹅，我们所有家禽的祖先，母亲的最爱，被砍头了。 —

The coachmen and the cook seemed frenzied, and slaughtered birds at random, without distinction of age or breed. —
车夫和厨师似乎发狂了，毫无区别地随意屠宰鸟类，不分年龄和品种。 —

For the sake of some wretched sauce a pair of valuable pigeons, as dear to me as the gander was to mother, were sacrificed. —
为了一些可怜的酱汁，一对我来说宝贵如同鹅对母亲一样珍贵的鸽子被牺牲了。 —

It was a long while before I could forgive the governor their death.
很长一段时间我都无法原谅总督他们的死。

In the evening, when the governor and his suite, after a sumptuous dinner, had got into their carriages and driven away, I went into the house to look at the remains of the feast. —
晚上，当总督和他的随从们在一顿丰盛的晚餐后上了他们的马车离开，我走进屋子去看那顿大餐的残羹剩饭。 —

Glancing into the drawing- room from the passage, I saw my uncle and my mother. —
从走廊望进客厅，我看到了我的叔叔和我的母亲。 —

My uncle, with his hands behind his back, was walking nervously up and down close to the wall, shrugging his shoulders. —
我叔叔双手背在后面，在墙边紧张地来回走动，耸肩。 —

Mother, exhausted and looking much thinner, was sitting on the sofa and watching his movements with heavy eyes.
母亲疲惫不堪，看上去消瘦了很多，坐在沙发上用沉重的眼睛注视着他的动作。

“Excuse me, sister, but this won’t do at all,” my uncle grumbled, wrinkling up his face. —
“对不起，姐姐，这一点都不行，”我叔叔抱怨道，皱着眉头。 —

“I introduced the governor to you, and you didn’t offer to shake hands. —
“我把总督介绍给你，你甚至不主动去握手。 —

You covered him with confusion, poor fellow! No, that won’t do. —
你让他感到困窘，可怜的家伙！不，这一点都不行。 —

… Simplicity is a very good thing, but there must be limits to it…. Upon my soul! —
…简单是一件很好的事，但是也要有个限度… 我发誓！ —

And then that dinner! How can one give people such things? —
还有那顿晚餐！怎么能让人们吃这种东西！ —

What was that mess, for instance, that they served for the fourth course?”
比如那第四道菜是什么意思？”

“That was duck with sweet sauce…” mother answered softly.
“那是带甜酱的鸭子…” 母亲轻声回答道。

“Duck! Forgive me, sister, but… but here I’ve got heartburn! I am ill!”
“鸭子！原谅我，姐姐，但是…但是我感觉胃灼热！我不舒服！”

My uncle made a sour, tearful face, and went on:
我叔叔做出了一个酸溜溜的、满是泪水的表情，并继续说道：

“It was the devil sent that governor! As though I wanted his visit! Pff!… heartburn! —
“那个州长简直是魔鬼派来的！我又不想他来！呸！…胃灼热！” —

I can’t work or sleep… I am completely out of sorts. —
我无法工作或入睡…我完全心烦意乱。 —

… And I can’t understand how you can live here without anything to do. —
…还有我不明白你们怎么在这里生活而没有任何事情可做。 —

.. in this boredom! Here I’ve got a pain coming under my shoulder- blade!…”
…这无聊！我这里肩胛骨下面一直疼！…”

My uncle frowned, and walked about more rapidly than ever.
我叔叔皱着眉头，比以往更快地走来走去。

“Brother,” my mother inquired softly, “what would it cost to go abroad?”
“弟弟，”我妈妈轻声询问，“出国需要多少钱？”

“At least three thousand…” my uncle answered in a tearful voice. —
“至少三千…”我叔叔以泪流满面的声音回答。 —

“I would go, but where am I to get it? —
“我想去，可是钱从哪儿来？ —

I haven’t a farthing. Pff!… heartburn!”
我一文不名。呸！…胃灼热！”

My uncle stopped to look dejectedly at the grey, overcast prospect from the window, and began pacing to and fro again.
我叔叔停下来，沮丧地望着窗外灰蒙蒙的天空，然后又开始来回走动。

A silence followed…. Mother looked a long while at the ikon, pondering something, then she began crying, and said:
之后陷入了沉默…母亲长时间凝视着圣像，仔细考虑着什么，然后开始哭泣，并说：

“I’ll give you the three thousand, brother….”
“我给你三千，弟弟……”

Three days later the majestic boxes went off to the station, and the privy councillor drove off after them. —
三天后，豪华的行李箱送到了车站，参议员随后也驾车离开。 —

As he said good-bye to mother he shed tears, and it was a long time before he took his lips from her hands, but when he got into his carriage his face beamed with childlike pleasure. —
他和母亲告别时流下了眼泪，他的嘴唇迟迟不愿离开母亲的手，但当他进入马车时，脸上露出了童真的喜悦。 —

… Radiant and happy, he settled himself comfortably, kissed his hand to my mother, who was crying, and all at once his eye was caught by me. —
…满面笑容，他舒适地安顿下来，向母亲飞吻，母亲正在哭泣，突然他的目光被我吸引住。 —

A look of the utmost astonishment came into his face.
他的脸上露出了极度惊讶的表情。

“What boy is this?” he asked.
“这是什么孩子？”他问道。

My mother, who had declared my uncle’s coming was a piece of luck for which I must thank God, was bitterly mortified at this question. —
我母亲说我叔叔来了是一件我必须感谢上帝的幸运事，对这个问题感到非常难堪。 —

I was in no mood for questions. I looked at my uncle’s happy face, and for some reason I felt fearfully sorry for him. —
我当时毫无问询的心情。我看着我叔叔幸福的面孔，出于某种原因，我为他感到非常抱歉。 —

I could not resist jumping up to the carriage and hugging that frivolous man, weak as all men are. —
我忍不住跳上马车，搂着那个轻佻的男人，就像所有男人一样脆弱。 —

Looking into his face and wanting to say something pleasant, I asked:
看着他的脸，想说些愉快的话，我问道：

“Uncle, have you ever been in a battle?”
“叔叔，你参加过战斗吗？”

“Ah, the dear boy…” laughed my uncle, kissing me. —
“啊，这亲爱的孩子…”我叔叔笑着亲吻我。 —

“A charming boy, upon my soul! How natural, how living it all is, upon my soul!…”
“一个迷人的孩子，天哪！多么自然，多么生动，天哪！…”

The carriage set off…. I looked after him, and long afterwards that farewell “upon my soul” was ringing in my ears.
马车启动了… 我望着他离去，很久以后那句告别的“天哪”仍在我耳边回响。