I
我

IT was six or seven years ago when I was living in one of the districts of the province of T—-, on the estate of a young landowner called Byelokurov, who used to get up very early, wear a peasant tunic, drink beer in the evenings, and continually complain to me that he never met with sympathy from any one. —
这是六七年前的事了，那时我住在T省的一个区的农庄上，属于一个年轻的地主别洛库罗夫，他早起，穿着农民的长袍，晚上喝啤酒，不断地向我抱怨说他从没得到过任何人的同情。 —

He lived in the lodge in the garden, and I in the old seigniorial house, in a big room with columns, where there was no furniture except a wide sofa on which I used to sleep, and a table on which I used to lay out patience. —
他住在花园里的小屋里，而我住在旧领主的房子里，一个有柱子的宽敞房间，除了一个我睡觉的宽沙发和一个我放纸牌的桌子外，没有任何家具。 —

There was always, even in still weather, a droning noise in the old Amos stoves, and in thunder- storms the whole house shook and seemed to be cracking into pieces; —
即使是在静风天气里，那老阿莫壁炉总是发出嗡嗡声，而在雷雨天气里，整个房子都在摇晃，好像随时都会碎裂。 —

and it was rather terrifying, especially at night, when all the ten big windows were suddenly lit up by lightning.
这让人相当恐惧，特别是在夜晚，当雷电闪过时，所有十扇大窗户突然都亮了起来。

Condemned by destiny to perpetual idleness, I did absolutely nothing. —
被宿命诅咒为永远的无所事事，我什么也没做。 —

For hours together I gazed out of window at the sky, at the birds, at the avenue, read everything that was brought me by post, slept. —
我整天盯着窗外的天空，看鸟，看林荫大道，读所有寄给我的东西，然后就睡觉。 —

Sometimes I went out of the house and wandered about till late in the evening.
有时我走出房子，一直徘徊到夜幕降临。

One day as I was returning home, I accidentally strayed into a place I did not know. —
有一天，当我回家的时候，我不小心跑到一个我不认识的地方。 —

The sun was already sinking, and the shades of evening lay across the flowering rye. —
太阳已经西沉，傍晚的阴影笼罩着盛开的黑麦。 —

Two rows of old, closely planted, very tall fir-trees stood like two dense walls forming a picturesque, gloomy avenue. —
两排古老的，紧密种植的，极高的冷杉树站在那里，好像两堵形成风景优美而阴沉的林荫道的密墙。 —

I easily climbed over the fence and walked along the avenue, slipping over the fir-needles which lay two inches deep on the ground. —
我轻易地爬过篱笆，沿着林荫道走去，滑倒在铺满两英寸厚的松针的地面上。 —

It was still and dark, and only here and there on the high tree-tops the vivid golden light quivered and made rainbows in the spiders’ webs. —
这里还是静谧又黑暗，只有在树梢上偶尔明亮的金光在蜘蛛网中闪烁，形成了彩虹。 —

There was a strong, almost stifling smell of resin. Then I turned into a long avenue of limes. —
空气中有浓烈的树脂味道。然后我走进了一条长长的菩提树大道。 —

Here, too, all was desolation and age; last year’s leaves rusted mournfully under my feet and in the twilight shadows lurked between the trees. —
这里也是荒凉和古老的；去年的落叶在我脚下沙沙作响，在黄昏的阴影之间潜伏在树木之间。 —

From the old orchard on the right came the faint, reluctant note of the golden oriole, who must have been old too. —
从右侧的老果园传来一阵微弱的、不情愿的金色黄鹂的叫声，它肯定也是一只老鸟了。 —

But at last the limes ended. I walked by an old white house of two storeys with a terrace, and there suddenly opened before me a view of a courtyard, a large pond with a bathing-house, a group of green willows, and a village on the further bank, with a high, narrow belfry on which there glittered a cross reflecting the setting sun.
但最后榉树林尽头了。我走过一个两层楼高的老白房子前的露台，突然眼前一亮，展现出一个庭院的景象，一个有着浴室的大池塘，一簇绿柳树，河对岸的村庄上有一座高而狭窄的钟楼，上面闪着反射残阳的十字架。

For a moment it breathed upon me the fascination of something near and very familiar, as though I had seen that landscape at some time in my childhood.
有一瞬间让我感到某种近在咫尺、十分熟悉的迷人吸引力，仿佛在童年时见过这个风景。

At the white stone gates which led from the yard to the fields, old- fashioned solid gates with lions on them, were standing two girls. —
在通往田地的白石门前，关着有两只雄狮的老式结实大门，站着两个姑娘。 —

One of them, the elder, a slim, pale, very handsome girl with a perfect haystack of chestnut hair and a little obstinate mouth, had a severe expression and scarcely took notice of me, while the other, who was still very young, not more than seventeen or eighteen, and was also slim and pale, with a large mouth and large eyes, looked at me with astonishment as I passed by, said something in English, and was overcome with embarrassment. —
其中一个，年长的，身材苗条、面色苍白、极其美丽，头上有一座完美的金宝山一般的栗色头发，嘴巴有点倔强，神情严肃，几乎没有注意我，而另一个则还很年轻，只有十七八岁，也苗条苍白，嘴巴大，眼睛大，看着我，感到惊讶，当我经过时用英语说了些话，尴尬起来。 —

And it seemed to me that these two charming faces, too, had long been familiar to me. —
然后我觉得这两张迷人的脸也曾经常向我展现。 —

And I returned home feeling as though I had had a delightful dream.
我回家的时候感觉自己仿佛做了个美妙的梦。

One morning soon afterwards, as Byelokurov and I were walking near the house, a carriage drove unexpectedly into the yard, rustling over the grass, and in it was sitting one of those girls. —
不久的一个上午，当别洛库罗夫和我在房子附近散步时，一辆马车突然驶入院子，刷刷地扫过草地，车里坐着其中一个姑娘。 —

It was the elder one. She had come to ask for subscriptions for some villagers whose cottages had been burnt down. —
是年长的那位。她来请求为一些村民的房屋起火后筹集捐款。 —

Speaking with great earnestness and precision, and not looking at us, she told us how many houses in the village of Siyanovo had been burnt, how many men, women, and children were left homeless, and what steps were proposed, to begin with, by the Relief Committee, of which she was now a member. —
她非常认真和清晰地说着，眼睛没有看着我们，告诉我们了西扬诺沃村有多少房屋被烧毁，多少男人、女人和孩子无家可归，以及由救济委员会提出的初步措施。 —

After handing us the subscription list for our signatures, she put it away and immediately began to take leave of us.
递给我们签名的捐款表后，她便收好了，立即开始告别。

“You have quite forgotten us, Pyotr Petrovitch,” she said to Byelokurov as she shook hands with him. —
“你都忘了我们了，彼得·彼得罗维奇，”她和别洛库罗夫握手时跟他说。 —

“Do come, and if Monsieur N. (she mentioned my name) cares to make the acquaintance of admirers of his work, and will come and see us, mother and I will be delighted.”
“来吧，如果奈叶拉先生愿意认识他的作品的爱好者，想要来见我们，我和母亲会很高兴的。”

I bowed.
我鞠了一躬。

When she had gone Pyotr Petrovitch began to tell me about her. —
她走后，彼得·彼得罗维奇开始向我介绍她。 —

The girl was, he said, of good family, and her name was Lidia Voltchaninov, and the estate on which she lived with her mother and sister, like the village on the other side of the pond, was called Shelkovka. —
他说，那个女孩来自好家庭，名叫利迪娅·沃尔钦诺夫，和她的母亲和姐姐住在一起的庄园，和池塘对面的村庄一样，被称为谢尔科夫卡。 —

Her father had once held an important position in Moscow, and had died with the rank of privy councillor. —
她的父亲曾在莫斯科担任重要职位，死时身为内阁顾问。 —

Although they had ample means, the Voltchaninovs lived on their estate summer and winter without going away. —
虽然沃尔钦诺夫一家很有财力，他们却不出门，整年生活在自家庄园。 —

Lidia was a teacher in the Zemstvo school in her own village, and received a salary of twenty-five roubles a month. —
利迪亚在自己村里的区政府学校当老师，月薪二十五卢布。 —

She spent nothing on herself but her salary, and was proud of earning her own living.
她除了自己的薪水之外不花任何钱，为自食其力而自豪。

“An interesting family,” said Byelokurov. —
“这是一个有趣的家庭，”别洛库罗夫说。 —

“Let us go over one day. They will be delighted to see you.”
“有一天我们去拜访他们。他们会很高兴见到你的。”

One afternoon on a holiday we thought of the Voltchaninovs, and went to Shelkovka to see them. —
有一天的下午假日，我们想起了沃尔钦诺夫一家，去了谢尔科夫卡看望他们。 —

They–the mother and two daughters –were at home. —
她们——母亲和两个女儿——在家。 —

The mother, Ekaterina Pavlovna, who at one time had been handsome, but now, asthmatic, depressed, vague, and over-feeble for her years, tried to entertain me with conversation about painting. —
母亲叫叶卡捷琳娜·帕夫洛夫娜，曾经很漂亮，但现在因哮喘、情绪低落、思维模糊而显得比年龄更衰弱。她试图跟我聊起绘画。 —

Having heard from her daughter that I might come to Shelkovka, she had hurriedly recalled two or three of my landscapes which she had seen in exhibitions in Moscow, and now asked what I meant to express by them. —
听从女儿的话说我可能去谢尔科夫卡，她匆忙回忆起在莫斯科展览中曾见过的我几幅风景画，现在问我画作中想表达什么。 —

Lidia, or as they called her Lida, talked more to Byelokurov than to me. —
利迪娅，或者他们叫她莉达，和别洛库罗夫说得比和我说得多。 —

Earnest and unsmiling, she asked him why he was not on the Zemstvo, and why he had not attended any of its meetings.
她一本正经，面无笑容，问他为什么不在区政府，为什么不去参加任何会议。

“It’s not right, Pyotr Petrovitch,” she said reproachfully. “It’s not right. It’s too bad.”
“是的，莉达，是的，”母亲附和道。“这不对。”

“That’s true, Lida–that’s true,” the mother assented. “It isn’t right.”
“是，莉达，是的，”母亲附和道。“这不对。”

“Our whole district is in the hands of Balagin,” Lida went on, addressing me. —
“我们整个区域都掌握在巴拉金手中，”丽达继续对我说。 —

“He is the chairman of the Zemstvo Board, and he has distributed all the posts in the district among his nephews and sons-in- law; —
“他是区乡政府主席，已经把区里的所有职位分给了他的侄子和女婿们； —

and he does as he likes. He ought to be opposed. —
他想怎么做就怎么做。应该反对他。 —

The young men ought to make a strong party, but you see what the young men among us are like. —
年轻人应该组成一个强大的团体，但你看看我们这里的年轻人都是什么样子。 —

It’s a shame, Pyotr Petrovitch!”
真丢脸，彼得·彼得罗维奇！”

The younger sister, Genya, was silent while they were talking of the Zemstvo. —
年纪小一点的妹妹格涅娅在他们谈论乡政府时保持沉默。 —

She took no part in serious conversation. —
她不参与正经的谈话。 —

She was not looked upon as quite grown up by her family, and, like a child, was always called by the nickname of Misuce, because that was what she had called her English governess when she was a child. —
在家人眼中她还不算完全长大，像个孩子一样，总是用她小时候称呼她的英国家庭教师的外号米苏茜。 —

She was all the time looking at me with curiosity, and when I glanced at the photographs in the album, she explained to me: —
她一直好奇地看着我，当我看相册里的照片时，她给我解释： —

“That’s uncle … that’s god-father,” moving her finger across the photograph. —
“这是叔叔……这是教父，”她的手指在照片上移动。 —

As she did so she touched me with her shoulder like a child, and I had a close view of her delicate, undeveloped chest, her slender shoulders, her plait, and her thin little body tightly drawn in by her sash.
她这样做时用肩膀碰了我一下，像个孩子一样，我看到了她纤细未发育完全的胸部，苗条的肩膀，她的辫子和被腰带勒得紧紧的纤细小躯体。

We played croquet and lawn tennis, we walked about the garden, drank tea, and then sat a long time over supper. —
我们打槌球和草地网球，园里散步，喝茶，然后坐了很长时间吃晚饭。 —

After the huge empty room with columns, I felt, as it were, at home in this small snug house where there were no oleographs on the walls and where the servants were spoken to with civility. —
在有柱子的巨大空荡荡的房间之后，我在这个小巧舒适的房子里感觉自己像在家里一样，墙上没有乌龙画，仆人们受到礼貌对待。 —

And everything seemed to me young and pure, thanks to the presence of Lida and Misuce, and there was an atmosphere of refinement over everything. —
因为丽达和米苏茜的存在，一切对我来说都显得年轻而纯洁，整个环境都透着一种精致的氛围。 —

At supper Lida talked to Byelokurov again of the Zemstvo, of Balagin, and of school libraries. —
晚饭时丽达再次和别洛库罗夫谈及乡政府、巴拉金和学校图书馆。 —

She was an energetic, genuine girl, with convictions, and it was interesting to listen to her, though she talked a great deal and in a loud voice–perhaps because she was accustomed to talking at school. —
她是一个充满活力、真诚的女孩，有自己的信念，听她说话很有趣，尽管她说话很多，声音很大 ——也许是因为她习惯在学校里说话。 —

On the other hand, Pyotr Petrovitch, who had retained from his student days the habit of turning every conversation into an argument, was tedious, flat, long-winded, and unmistakably anxious to appear clever and advanced. —
另一方面，彼得·彼得罗维奇保留了从大学时代养成的将每次谈话都变成争论的习惯，显得无聊、平淡、冗长，并明显地渴望显得聪明和先进。 —

Gesticulating, he upset a sauce-boat with his sleeve, making a huge pool on the tablecloth, but no one except me appeared to notice it.
他做着手势，用袖子打翻了一个调味碟，将大量酱汁洒在桌布上，但除我之外似乎没人注意到。

It was dark and still as we went home.
回家的路上黑暗而安静。

“Good breeding is shown, not by not upsetting the sauce, but by not noticing it when somebody else does,” said Byelokurov, with a sigh. —
“优雅不是不打翻酱汁，而是在别人打翻时不去注意它，”白洛库罗夫叹了口气说。 —

“Yes, a splendid, intellectual family! I’ve dropped out of all decent society; —
“是啊，一家极好的、知识渊博的家庭！我已经不再与所有讲究礼仪的社交活动有联系； —

it’s dreadful how I’ve dropped out of it! —
可怕的是我已经与之脱节了！ —

It’s all through work, work, work!”
这完全是因为工作，工作，工作！”

He talked of how hard one had to work if one wanted to be a model farmer. —
他谈到如果想成为模范农场主则需要多么努力工作。 —

And I thought what a heavy, sluggish fellow he was! —
他是多么沉闷、迟钝的一个人啊！ —

Whenever he talked of anything serious he articulated “Er-er” with intense effort, and worked just as he talked–slowly, always late and behind-hand. —
每当他谈及任何严肃的话题时，他都会费力地发出“额——额”声音，而且就像他说话一样——缓慢地行动，总是迟到和拖拉。 —

I had little faith in his business capacity if only from the fact that when I gave him letters to post he carried them about in his pocket for weeks together.
我对他的商业能力没什么信心，因为我发现给他的信件他都会把它们放在口袋里好几个星期。

“The hardest thing of all,” he muttered as he walked beside me– “the hardest thing of all is that, work as one may, one meets with no sympathy from any one. No sympathy!”
“最困难的事情，”他边走边嘟囔说，”最困难的事情是，再努力工作也得不到任何人的同情。没有同情！”

II
II

I took to going to see the Voltchaninovs. As a rule I sat on the lower step of the terrace; —
我开始去看沃尔恰宁诺夫家。通常我坐在露台的下台阶上； —

I was fretted by dissatisfaction with myself; —
我因内心的不满而苦恼； —

I was sorry at the thought of my life passing so rapidly and uninterestingly, and felt as though I would like to tear out of my breast the heart which had grown so heavy. —
想到我的生活如此迅速而无聊地流逝，我感到我仿佛想把沉重的心扯出来。 —

And meanwhile I heard talk on the terrace, the rustling of dresses, the pages of a book being turned. —
与此同时，我听到了露台上的交谈声、衣裙的沙沙声，书页翻动的声音。 —

I soon grew accustomed to the idea that during the day Lida received patients, gave out books, and often went into the village with a parasol and no hat, and in the evening talked aloud of the Zemstvo and schools. —
我很快习惯了白天里丽达接待病人、发放书籍，常常拿着阳伞而不戴帽子走进村庄，晚上则大谈泽姆斯特河和学校。 —

This slim, handsome, invariably austere girl, with her small well-cut mouth, always said dryly when the conversation turned on serious subjects:
这个纤瘦、英俊、总是严肃的女孩，嘴唇略显纤细，每当谈话转到严肃的话题时总是干巴巴地说:

“That’s of no interest to you.”
“这个你不感兴趣。”

She did not like me. She disliked me because I was a landscape painter and did not in my pictures portray the privations of the peasants, and that, as she fancied, I was indifferent to what she put such faith in. —
她不喜欢我。她不喜欢我是因为我是一个画风景的画家，而在我的画作中并没有描绘农民的困苦，她认为我对她如此信任的事情漠不关心。 —

I remember when I was travelling on the banks of Lake Baikal, I met a Buriat girl on horseback, wearing a shirt and trousers of blue Chinese canvas; —
我记得当我在贝加尔湖边旅行时，遇到了一名鞑靼姑娘，她骑在马上，穿着一件蓝色的中国帆布衬衣和裤子; —

I asked her if she would sell me her pipe. —
我问她是否愿意卖给我她的烟斗。 —

While we talked she looked contemptuously at my European face and hat, and in a moment she was bored with talking to me; —
我们交谈时，她轻蔑地看着我的欧洲面孔和帽子，很快就厌倦了和我说话； —

she shouted to her horse and galloped on. And in just the same way Lida despised me as an alien. —
她对着她的马大喊一声，猛地一跃而过。丽达就是以同样的方式鄙视我，视我为外来者。 —

She never outwardly expressed her dislike for me, but I felt it, and sitting on the lower step of the terrace, I felt irritated, and said that doctoring peasants when one was not a doctor was deceiving them, and that it was easy to be benevolent when one had six thousand acres.
她从未公开表达过对我的反感，但我感到了，坐在露台的台阶上，我感到恼怒，并说那些不是医生却给农民看病的人是在欺骗他们，而在拥有六千亩土地的情况下要表现仁慈是很容易的。

Meanwhile her sister Misuce had no cares, and spent her life in complete idleness just as I did. —
与此同时，她的姐姐米苏丝毫不担忧，一直过着完全懒散无为的生活，就像我一样。 —

When she got up in the morning she immediately took up a book and sat down to read on the terrace in a deep arm-chair, with her feet hardly touching the ground, or hid herself with her book in the lime avenue, or walked out into the fields. —
她早晨起床后立即拿起一本书，在露台上的深扶手椅上坐下来阅读，脚几乎没碰到地面，或者躲在橚树大道上读书，或者走出田野。 —

She spent the whole day reading, poring greedily over her book, and only from the tired, dazed look in her eyes and the extreme paleness of her face one could divine how this continual reading exhausted her brain. —
她整天都在阅读，贪婪地啃噬着书中的内容，只有从她眼睛的疲惫、迷茫的神情以及她脸色的极度苍白可以猜测出这种持续阅读是如何耗尽她的大脑。 —

When I arrived she would flush a little, leave her book, and looking into my face with her big eyes, would tell me eagerly of anything that had happened–for instance, that the chimney had been on fire in the servants’ hall, or that one of the men had caught a huge fish in the pond. —
当我到达时，她会略微脸红，放下书，用她那双大眼睛凝视着我的脸，急切地告诉我任何发生的事情 - 例如，仆人厅的烟囱着火了，或者其中一个男人在池塘里钓到了一条大鱼。 —

On ordinary days she usually went about in a light blouse and a dark blue skirt. —
在平常的日子里，她通常穿着浅色衬衫和深蓝色裙子。 —

We went for walks together, picked cherries for making jam, went out in the boat. —
我们一起去散步，摘樱桃做果酱，一起出船。 —

When she jumped up to reach a cherry or sculled in the boat, her thin, weak arms showed through her transparent sleeves. —
当她跳起来摘樱桃或划船时，她纤细的软弱手臂透过透明的袖子露了出来。 —

Or I painted a sketch, and she stood beside me watching rapturously.
或者我画草图，她站在我身边痴迷地观看。

One Sunday at the end of July I came to the Voltchaninovs about nine o clock in the morning. —
七月底的一个星期天早上九点左右，我来到沃尔特钦诺夫一家。 —

I walked about the park, keeping a good distance from the house, looking for white mushrooms, of which there was a great number that summer, and noting their position so as to come and pick them afterwards with Genya. There was a warm breeze. —
我在园子里走动，保持与房子的一定距离，寻找白蘑菇，那个夏天有很多，记下它们的位置，以便之后和根娅一起采摘。有一股暖风。 —

I saw Genya and her mother both in light holiday dresses coming home from church, Genya holding her hat in the wind. —
我看到根娅和她的母亲都穿着浅色的节日服装从教堂回家，根娅在风中拿着帽子。 —

Afterwards I heard them having tea on the terrace.
后来我听到他们在阳台上喝茶。

For a careless person like me, trying to find justification for my perpetual idleness, these holiday mornings in our country-houses in the summer have always had a particular charm. —
对于像我这样的一个懒散的人，试图找到我永久懒散的理由，夏天在我们乡间别墅度过的这些假日早晨总是有特殊的魅力。 —

When the green garden, still wet with dew, is all sparkling in the sun and looks radiant with happiness, when there is a scent of mignonette and oleander near the house, when the young people have just come back from church and are having breakfast in the garden, all so charmingly dressed and gay, and one knows that all these healthy, well-fed, handsome people are going to do nothing the whole long day, one wishes that all life were like that. —
当那还沾着露水的绿色花园在阳光下闪闪发光，看起来充满幸福，当靠近房子处弥散着麝香花和木樨花的气味，当年轻人刚从教堂回来，在花园里用早餐，打扮得那么迷人和开心，而且人人都知道这些健康、饱满、英俊的人整天都不会干任何事情，一个希望所有人生活都是那样的。 —

Now, too, I had the same thought, and walked about the garden prepared to walk about like that, aimless and unoccupied, the whole day, the whole summer.
现在，我也有同样的想法，徘徊在花园里准备像那样徘徊着，整天，整个夏天都毫无目的，毫无事情可做。

Genya came out with a basket; she had a look in her face as though she knew she would find me in the garden, or had a presentiment of it. —
根娅拿着篮子出来；她脸上带着一种仿佛她知道自己会在花园里找到我，或者有一种预感的表情。 —

We gathered mushrooms and talked, and when she asked a question she walked a little ahead so as to see my face.
我们摘蘑菇，谈论着，当她问问题时，她走在前面一点，以便看到我的脸。

“A miracle happened in the village yesterday,” she said. —
“昨天村子里发生了一件奇迹，”她说。 —

“The lame woman Pelagea has been ill the whole year. No doctors or medicines did her any good; —
“跛腿的女人佩拉基亚整整一年都生病了。没有医生或药物对她有任何好处； —

but yesterday an old woman came and whispered something over her, and her illness passed away.”
但昨天一个老妇人来了，对她低声说了些什么，她的病就消失了。”

“That’s nothing much,” I said. “You mustn’t look for miracles only among sick people and old women. —
“这没什么大不了的，”我说，“你不应该只在生病的人和老妇人身上寻找奇迹。 —

Isn’t health a miracle? And life itself? —
健康本身就是一个奇迹吗？生命本身就是吗？ —

Whatever is beyond understanding is a miracle.”
任何超出理解范围的都是奇迹。”

“And aren’t you afraid of what is beyond understanding?”
“你不害怕超出理解范围的事物吗？”

“No. Phenomena I don’t understand I face boldly, and am not overwhelmed by them. I am above them. —
“不。我勇敢面对我不理解的现象，并不被它们压倒。我高于它们。 —

Man ought to recognise himself as superior to lions, tigers, stars, superior to everything in nature, even what seems miraculous and is beyond his understanding, or else he is not a man, but a mouse afraid of everything.”
人应该认识到自己比狮子、老虎、星星，甚至超出他理解范围的任何事物都要出色，否则他不是人，而是一个怕一切的老鼠。”

Genya believed that as an artist I knew a very great deal, and could guess correctly what I did not know. —
根雅相信作为一个艺术家，我懂得很多，并且可以正确猜出我不知道的事情。 —

She longed for me to initiate her into the domain of the Eternal and the Beautiful–into that higher world in which, as she imagined, I was quite at home. —
她渴望我引导她进入永恒和美丽的领域——在她想象中，我对此很熟悉。 —

And she talked to me of God, of the eternal life, of the miraculous. —
她与我谈论上帝，永恒的生命，奇迹。 —

And I, who could never admit that my self and my imagination would be lost forever after death, answered: —
而我，从未承认我和我的想象在死后将永远消失，回答道： —

“Yes, men are immortal”; “Yes, there is eternal life in store for us.” —
“是的，人类是不朽的”；“是的，我们有永恒的生命在等待着我们。” —

And she listened, believed, and did not ask for proofs.
她倾听着，相信着，并没有要求证明。

As we were going home she stopped suddenly and said:
当我们回家的时候，她突然停下来说：

“Our Lida is a remarkable person–isn’t she? —
我们的丽达是一个非凡的人–对吗？ —

I love her very dearly, and would be ready to give my life for her any minute. —
我非常爱她，随时愿意为她献出我的生命。 —

But tell me”–Genya touched my sleeve with her finger–“tell me, why do you always argue with her? —
但告诉我”–Genya用手指碰了碰我的袖子–“告诉我，为什么你总是和她争论？ —

Why are you irritated?”
你为什么感到烦躁？

“Because she is wrong.”
因为她是错的。

Genya shook her head and tears came into her eyes.
Genya摇摇头，眼泪涌入她的眼睛。

“How incomprehensible that is!” she said. —
“这是多么难以理解啊!“她说。 —

At that minute Lida had just returned from somewhere, and standing with a whip in her hand, a slim, beautiful figure in the sunlight, at the steps, she was giving some orders to one of the men. —
那时丽达刚从某处回来，站在台阶上，手里拿着一根鞭子，一个修长美丽的身影在阳光下，正在向其中一个男人下指令。 —

Talking loudly, she hurriedly received two or three sick villagers; —
边说边大声走开，她匆忙地接待了两三个生病的村民； —

then with a busy and anxious face she walked about the rooms, opening one cupboard after another, and went upstairs. —
然后，她带着忙碌焦虑的表情在屋子里走来走去，打开一个又一个橱柜，然后上了楼。 —

It was a long time before they could find her and call her to dinner, and she came in when we had finished our soup. —
直到我们喝完汤才能找到她并叫她进餐，她在我们吃完主菜时才走了进来。 —

All these tiny details I remember with tenderness, and that whole day I remember vividly, though nothing special happened. —
所有这些细微的细节我记得很清楚，并且那一整天我还记得清楚，尽管没有发生什么特别的事情。 —

After dinner Genya lay in a long arm-chair reading, while I sat upon the bottom step of the terrace. We were silent. —
饭后，Genya躺在一张长扶手椅上看书，而我坐在阳台阶的最底下。我们保持沉默。 —

The whole sky was overcast with clouds, and it began to spot with fine rain. It was hot; —
整个天空被乌云遮蔽，开始下着细雨。天很热； —

the wind had dropped, and it seemed as though the day would never end. —
风停了，似乎这一天永远不会结束。 —

Ekaterina Pavlovna came out on the terrace, looking drowsy and carrying a fan.
叶卡捷琳娜·帕夫洛芙娜走到阳台上，看起来有些昏昏欲睡，手里拿着一把扇子。

“Oh, mother,” said Genya, kissing her hand, “it’s not good for you to sleep in the day.”
“哦，妈妈，”根娅吻着她的手说道，“你白天睡觉不好。”

They adored each other. When one went into the garden, the other would stand on the terrace, and, looking towards the trees, call “Aa–oo, Genya!” —
她们彼此崇拜着。一个去花园时，另一个就会站在阳台上，朝着树木喊：“阿–嗷，根娅！” —

or “Mother, where are you?” They always said their prayers together, and had the same faith; —
或者“妈妈，你在哪？”她们总是一起祈祷，有着相同的信仰； —

and they understood each other perfectly even when they did not speak. —
即使不说话，她们也能完全理解对方。 —

And their attitude to people was the same. —
她们对待人的态度也是一样的。 —

Ekaterina Pavlovna, too, grew quickly used to me and fond of me, and when I did not come for two or three days, sent to ask if I were well. —
叶卡捷琳娜·帕夫洛芙娜也很快习惯了我，喜欢上了我，我两三天不来，她就会派人问我是否安好。 —

She, too, gazed at my sketches with enthusiasm, and with the same openness and readiness to chatter as Misuce, she told me what had happened, and confided to me her domestic secrets.
她也会满怀激情地看我的素描作品，像米苏切一样，她也会坦率地告诉我发生了什么，并向我倾诉她的家庭秘密。

She had a perfect reverence for her elder daughter. —
她对她的长女十分尊敬。 —

Lida did not care for endearments, she talked only of serious matters; —
丽达不喜欢亲昵之事，她只谈论严肃的问题； —

she lived her life apart, and to her mother and sister was as sacred and enigmatic a person as the admiral, always sitting in his cabin, is to the sailors.
她过着独立的生活，对于她的母亲和妹妹来说，她像船员们眼中永远坐在舱室里的海军上将一样神圣而神秘。

“Our Lida is a remarkable person,” the mother would often say. “Isn’t she?”
“我们的丽达是一位非凡的人，”母亲经常会说。“是吧？”

Now, too, while it was drizzling with rain, we talked of Lida.
此时，正下着雨雾，我们谈论着丽达。

“She is a remarkable girl,” said her mother, and added in an undertone, like a conspirator, looking about her timidly: —
“她是一个非凡的姑娘，”她的母亲说道，又小声地加了一句，像一个密谋者，惶惶地四处张望： —

“You wouldn’t easily find another like her; —
“像她这样的人不太容易找到；” —

only, do you know, I am beginning to be a little uneasy. —
我只是开始感到有点不安了。 —

The school, the dispensary, books –all that’s very good, but why go to extremes? —
学校，医务室，书籍–这一切都很好，但为什么要走向极端？ —

She is three-and-twenty, you know; it’s time for her to think seriously of herself. —
她已经23岁了，你知道；是时候认真考虑她自己了。 —

With her books and her dispensary she will find life has slipped by without having noticed it. —
有了她的书籍和医务室，她会发现生活在不知不觉中悄然溜走了。 —

… She must be married.”
… 她必须结婚。

Genya, pale from reading, with her hair disarranged, raised her head and said as it were to herself, looking at her mother:
看了看母亲，头发凌乱的根雅，脸色苍白，突然抬头说：

“Mother, everything is in God’s hands.”
“母亲，一切都掌握在上帝手中。”

And again she buried herself in her book.
她又埋头看书。

Byelokurov came in his tunic and embroidered shirt. —
别洛库罗夫穿着短袍和刺绣衬衣进来了。 —

We played croquet and tennis, then when it got dark, sat a long time over supper and talked again about schools, and about Balagin, who had the whole district under his thumb. —
我们打了槌球和网球，天黑后，久坐在餐桌前聊着学校和巴拉金，他控制着整个地区。 —

As I went away from the Voltchaninovs that evening, I carried away the impression of a long, long idle day, with a melancholy consciousness that everything ends in this world, however long it may be.
当我那天晚上离开沃尔钦尼诺夫家时，带着一整天悠闲的印象，忧伤地意识到无论怎样漫长，一切都会在这个世界结束。

Genya saw us out to the gate, and perhaps because she had been with me all day, from morning till night, I felt dull without her, and that all that charming family were near and dear to me, and for the first time that summer I had a yearning to paint.
格尼娅送我们到大门口，也许因为整天与我在一起，从早到晚，我觉得没有她我显得无聊，这个可爱的家庭对我来说亲近而亲爱，那个夏天，我第一次渴望去画画。

“Tell me, why do you lead such a dreary, colourless life?” I asked Byelokurov as I went home. —
“告诉我，为什么你过如此沉闷，无色彩的生活？”回家的路上，我问别洛库罗夫。 —

“My life is dreary, difficult, and monotonous because I am an artist, a strange person. —
“我的生活之所以沉闷，困难，单调，是因为我是一个艺术家，一个奇怪的人。 —

From my earliest days I’ve been wrung by envy, self-dissatisfaction, distrust in my work. —
从我小时候起，就被嫉妒，自我不满，对自己的作品不信任所折磨着。” —

I’m always poor, I’m a wanderer, but you–you’re a healthy, normal man, a landowner, and a gentleman. —
我总是贫穷，四处漂泊，而你——你是一个健康、正常的男人，是个地主，是个绅士。 —

Why do you live in such an uninteresting way? Why do you get so little out of life? —
你为什么过着这样无趣的生活呢？为什么对生活的乐趣如此之少？ —

Why haven’t you, for instance, fallen in love with Lida or Genya?”
为什么你没有爱上丽达或者吉涅亚呢？

“You forget that I love another woman,” answered Byelokurov.
“你忘了我爱着另一个女人，”别洛库洛夫回答说。

He was referring to Liubov Ivanovna, the lady who shared the lodge with him. —
他指的是与他同住在别墅里的柳波夫娜女士。 —

Every day I saw this lady, very plump, rotund, and dignified, not unlike a fat goose, walking about the garden, in the Russian national dress and beads, always carrying a parasol; —
我每天看到这位女士，身材丰满，圆润而庄重，有点像一只肥鹅，穿着俄罗斯的传统服装和珠串，总是打着阳伞在花园里散步； —

and the servant was continually calling her in to dinner or to tea. —
她的仆人总是叫她去吃饭或喝茶。 —

Three years before she had taken one of the lodges for a summer holiday, and had settled down at Byelokurov’s apparently forever. —
三年前，她租下了一个别墅度假，然后就在别洛库洛夫那里安了下来，似乎是永远的。 —

She was ten years older than he was, and kept a sharp hand over him, so much so that he had to ask her permission when he went out of the house. —
她比他大十岁，对他监管得很严，以至于他出门还得请她允许。 —

She often sobbed in a deep masculine note, and then I used to send word to her that if she did not leave off, I should give up my rooms there; and she left off.
她常常用一个深沉的男性音调哭泣，那时我就会传话给她，说如果她不停下来，我就会搬走；然后她就停了。

When we got home Byelokurov sat down on the sofa and frowned thoughtfully, and I began walking up and down the room, conscious of a soft emotion as though I were in love. —
我们回到家，别洛库洛夫坐在沙发上皱着眉头思考，而我开始在房间里走来走去，有一种仿佛坠入爱河的柔情。 —

I wanted to talk about the Voltchaninovs.
我想谈谈沃尔茨钱诺夫斯基一家。

“Lida could only fall in love with a member of the Zemstvo, as devoted to schools and hospitals as she is,” I said. —
“丽达只会爱上一个像她一样关心学校和医院的农会成员，”我说。 —

“Oh, for the sake of a girl like that one might not only go into the Zemstvo, but even wear out iron shoes, like the girl in the fairy tale. —
“哦，为了像她那样的女孩，人不仅可以加入农会，甚至可以像童话中的那个女孩子一样磨破铁鞋。 —

And Misuce? What a sweet creature she is, that Misuce!”
而弥苏采呢？她多么可爱的一个人啊，那个弥苏采！”

Byelokurov, drawling out “Er–er,” began a long-winded disquisition on the malady of the age–pessimism. —
别洛库罗夫慢条斯理地说着“嗯——嗯”，开始对时代的疾病——悲观主义进行冗长的演讲。 —

He talked confidently, in a tone that suggested that I was opposing him. —
他话语自信，语气暗示我在反对他。 —

Hundreds of miles of desolate, monotonous, burnt-up steppe cannot induce such deep depression as one man when he sits and talks, and one does not know when he will go.
数百英里荒凉、单调、被烧焦的大草原无法引起如同一个人坐下来说话时那种深深的沮丧，而人们却不知道他什么时候会离开。

“It’s not a question of pessimism or optimism,” I said irritably; —
“这不是乐观主义还是悲观主义的问题”，我不耐烦地说道； —

“its simply that ninety-nine people out of a hundred have no sense.”
“这只是九十九个人中有九十九个没有理智。”

Byelokurov took this as aimed at himself, was offended, and went away.
别洛库罗夫把这当作是针对他的，感到被冒犯，然后离开了。

III
III

“The prince is staying at Malozyomovo, and he asks to be remembered to you,” said Lida to her mother. She had just come in, and was taking off her gloves. —
“亲王住在马洛焦莫沃，他让我代他问候你们，”丽达对妈妈说。她刚进来，正在脱手套。 —

“He gave me a great deal of interesting news … . —
“他告诉我很多有趣的消息……。 —

He promised to raise the question of a medical relief centre at Malozyomovo again at the provincial assembly, but he says there is very little hope of it.” —
他承诺再次在省议会上提出在马洛焦莫沃设立医疗救助中心的问题，但他说几乎没什么希望。” —

And turning to me, she said: “Excuse me, I always forget that this cannot be interesting to you.”
然后转向我说：“对不起，我总是忘记这对你可能不感兴趣。”

I felt irritated.
我感到恼火。

“Why not interesting to me?” I said, shrugging my shoulders. —
“为什么对我不感兴趣呢？”我耸了耸肩。 —

“You do not care to know my opinion, but I assure you the question has great interest for me.”
“你可能不在意我的看法，但我向你保证，这个问题对我来说很有趣。”

“Yes?”
“是吗？”

“Yes. In my opinion a medical relief centre at Malozyomovo is quite unnecessary.”
“是的。在我的看法下，Malozyomovo的医疗救援中心是完全不必要的。”

My irritation infected her; she looked at me, screwing up her eyes, and asked:
我的恼怒影响了她；她看着我，皱起眉头，问道：

“What is necessary? Landscapes?”
“什么是必要的？风景？”

“Landscapes are not, either. Nothing is.”
“风景也不是。没有什么是必要的。”

She finished taking off her gloves, and opened the newspaper, which had just been brought from the post. —
她脱掉手套，打开了刚刚从邮局拿来的报纸。 —

A minute later she said quietly, evidently restraining herself:
一分钟后，她平静地说道，显然在克制自己：

“Last week Anna died in childbirth, and if there had been a medical relief centre near, she would have lived. —
“上周安娜在分娩时死了，如果附近有个医疗救援中心，她就还活着。 —

And I think even landscape- painters ought to have some opinions on the subject.”
而我认为，甚至风景画家们也应该对此发表一些看法。”

“I have a very definite opinion on that subject, I assure you,” I answered; —
“相信我，我对这个问题有非常明确的看法，” 我回答道； —

and she screened herself with the newspaper, as though unwilling to listen to me. —
她拿报纸遮住自己，仿佛不愿听我说话。 —

“To my mind, all these schools, dispensaries, libraries, medical relief centres, under present conditions, only serve to aggravate the bondage of the people. —
“在我看来，在目前的情况下，所有这些学校、诊所、图书馆、医疗救援中心只会加剧人们的束缚。 —

The peasants are fettered by a great chain, and you do not break the chain, but only add fresh links to it–that’s my view of it.”
农民被一条巨大的锁链束缚着，而你却没有打破这条链，只是在其中加上新的环节——这就是我的看法。”

She raised her eyes to me and smiled ironically, and I went on trying to formulate my leading idea.
她抬起眼睛看着我，讽刺地微笑着，我继续试图阐明我的主要观点。

“What matters is not that Anna died in childbirth, but that all these Annas, Mavras, Pelageas, toil from early morning till dark, fall ill from working beyond their strength, all their lives tremble for their sick and hungry children, all their lives are being doctored, and in dread of death and disease, fade and grow old early, and die in filth and stench. —
“重要的不是安娜在分娩时死去，而是所有这些安娜、玛芭、佩拉吉亚，从清晨至夜晚辛勤劳作，因超负荷劳累而生病，一生都为孩子的疾病和饥饿担忧，一生都在接受治疗，惧怕疾病和死亡，提早变老并在肮脏和恶臭中死去。 —

Their children begin the same story over again as soon as they grow up, and so it goes on for hundreds of years and milliards of men live worse than beasts– in continual terror, for a mere crust of bread. —
他们的孩子长大后就会重复相同的故事，如此循环几个世纪，数十亿人生活得比兽还不如——持续恐惧着，只为一口面包而挣扎。” —

The whole horror of their position lies in their never having time to think of their souls, of their image and semblance. —
他们处境的全部恐怖在于他们从未有时间思考自己的灵魂，自己的形象和外貌。 —

Cold, hunger, animal terror, a burden of toil, like avalanches of snow, block for them every way to spiritual activity–that is, to what distinguishes man from the brutes and what is the only thing which makes life worth living. —
寒冷、饥饿、动物般的恐惧、繁重的劳作像雪崩一样，阻碍了他们在精神活动方面的一切可能性–也就是使人类与野兽有所不同的东西，也是唯一使生活有价值的东西。 —

You go to their help with hospitals and schools, but you don’t free them from their fetters by that; on the contrary, you bind them in closer bonds, as, by introducing new prejudices, you increase the number of their wants, to say nothing of the fact that they’ve got to pay the Zemstvo for drugs and books, and so toil harder than ever.”
你们虽然为他们建立医院和学校，但这并不能使他们摆脱枷锁；相反，却让他们被更坚固地束缚，通过引进新的偏见，还增加了他们的需求，更不用说他们还得给农村区付药品和书籍的钱，所以比以往更加劳累。

“I am not going to argue with you,” said Lida, putting down the paper. “I’ve heard all that before. —
“我不想和你辩论，”莉达放下报纸说，“我以前都听过这些了。” —

I will only say one thing: one cannot sit with one’s hands in one’s lap. —
我只想说一件事：不能坐视不理。 —

It’s true that we are not saving humanity, and perhaps we make a great many mistakes; —
是的，我们并没有拯救人类，或许我们犯了很多错误； —

but we do what we can, and we are right. —
但我们尽力而为，我们是正确的。 —

The highest and holiest task for a civilised being is to serve his neighbours, and we try to serve them as best we can. —
对于文明人来说，最高尚、最神圣的任务就是服务他的邻居，我们尽力而行。 —

You don’t like it, but one can’t please every one.”
你不喜欢，但不能人人满意。

“That’s true, Lida,” said her mother–“that’s true.”
“说得对，莉达，”她妈妈说，“说得对。”

In Lida’s presence she was always a little timid, and looked at her nervously as she talked, afraid of saying something superfluous or inopportune. —
在莉达面前，她总是有些胆怯，讲话时紧张地看着她，害怕说错话或不合时宜。 —

And she never contradicted her, but always assented: —
她从来不反驳，总是表示赞同： —

“That’s true, Lida–that’s true.”
“说得对，莉达—说得对。”

“Teaching the peasants to read and write, books of wretched precepts and rhymes, and medical relief centres, cannot diminish either ignorance or the death-rate, just as the light from your windows cannot light up this huge garden,” said I. “You give nothing. —
“教农民识字识写、提供一些劣质格言和韵文的书籍，以及医疗救助中心，并不能减少无知和死亡率，就像你们窗户的光也照不亮这庞大的花园一样，”我说。“你们一无所给。通过干预这些人们的生活，只会在他们心中植入新的需求，对他们的劳动提出新的要求。” —

By meddling in these people’s lives you only create new wants in them, and new demands on their labour.”
您的无私奉献或服务都是虚假的，通过这样干涉别人的生活，你只是在他们身上制造新的需求，增加他们劳动的负担。

“Ach! Good heavens! But one must do something!” —
“啊！天哪！但是我们必须做些什么！” —

said Lida with vexation, and from her tone one could see that she thought my arguments worthless and despised them.
丽达生气地说道，从她的语气中可以看出她认为我的论点毫无价值，并鄙视它们。

“The people must be freed from hard physical labour,” said I. “We must lighten their yoke, let them have time to breathe, that they may not spend all their lives at the stove, at the wash-tub, and in the fields, but may also have time to think of their souls, of God–may have time to develop their spiritual capacities. —
“人们必须从繁重的体力劳动中解脱出来，”我说道。”我们必须减轻他们的负担，让他们有时间呼吸，这样他们不会把整个生命都花在灶台、洗衣盆和田地上，而是也有时间思考自己的灵魂，思考上帝–让他们有时间发展自己的精神能力。 —

The highest vocation of man is spiritual activity–the perpetual search for truth and the meaning of life. —
人类最高的使命是精神活动–永恒不息地寻求真理和生命的意义。 —

Make coarse animal labour unnecessary for them, let them feel themselves free, and then you will see what a mockery these dispensaries and books are. —
让粗糙的动物劳动对他们来说变得不再必要，让他们感觉自己自由，那么你就会看到这些药房和书籍有多可笑。 —

Once a man recognises his true vocation, he can only be satisfied by religion, science, and art, and not by these trifles.”
一旦一个人认清了自己真正的使命，他只会被宗教、科学和艺术所满足，而不是这些小事。

“Free them from labour?” laughed Lida. “But is that possible?”
“解放他们免于劳动？”丽达笑了。“但这可行吗？”

“Yes. Take upon yourself a share of their labour. —
“是的。承担一部分他们的劳动。 —

If all of us, townspeople and country people, all without exception, would agree to divide between us the labour which mankind spends on the satisfaction of their physical needs, each of us would perhaps need to work only for two or three hours a day. —
如果我们所有人，城里人和乡下人，所有人，毫无例外，同意平均分担人类为满足他们的生理需要而花费的劳动，也许每个人只需要每天工作两三个小时。 —

Imagine that we all, rich and poor, work only for three hours a day, and the rest of our time is free. —
想象一下，我们所有人，富人和穷人，每天只工作三个小时，剩下的时间是自由的。 —

Imagine further that in order to depend even less upon our bodies and to labour less, we invent machines to replace our work, we try to cut down our needs to the minimum. —
进一步想象，为了更少地依赖我们的身体和工作更少，我们发明机器来替代我们的工作，我们努力将我们的需求削减到最低。 —

We would harden ourselves and our children that they should not be afraid of hunger and cold, and that we shouldn’t be continually trembling for their health like Anna, Mavra, and Pelagea. —
我们会锻炼自己和我们的孩子，让他们不再害怕饥饿和寒冷，也不会像安娜、玛芙拉和佩拉尼娅那样经常为他们的健康担忧。 —

Imagine that we don’t doctor ourselves, don’t keep dispensaries, tobacco factories, distilleries–what a lot of free time would be left us after all! —
想象一下，我们不给自己医治，不设药房，烟草厂，酿酒厂–这样之后还会有很多空闲时间留给我们！ —

All of us together would devote our leisure to science and art. —
我们所有人一起将闲暇时间投入科学和艺术。 —

Just as the peasants sometimes work, the whole community together mending the roads, so all of us, as a community, would search for truth and the meaning of life, and I am convinced that the truth would be discovered very quickly; —
就像农民有时一起修路一样，我们所有人作为一个社区，一起寻找真理和生命的意义，我相信真理会被非常快速地发现；” —

man would escape from this continual, agonising, oppressive dread of death, and even from death itself.”
人类会摆脱这种持续的、痛苦的、压迫性的死亡恐惧，甚至摆脱死亡本身。”

“You contradict yourself, though,” said Lida. “You talk about science, and are yourself opposed to elementary education.”
“然而，你说话自相矛盾，”丽达说道。“你谈论科学，却反对基础教育。”

“Elementary education when a man has nothing to read but the signs on public houses and sometimes books which he cannot understand– such education has existed among us since the times of Rurik; —
“当一个人没有可读的东西，只能看看酒馆招牌，有时读读他无法理解的书籍时，基础教育确实存在于我们自诞生的时代。” —

Gogol’s Petrushka has been reading for ever so long, yet as the village was in the days of Rurik so it has remained. —
戈果的彼得西卡读书读了很长时间，但村子就像卢里克时代那样一直没有变过。 —

What is needed is not elementary education, but freedom for a wide development of spiritual capacities. —
我们需要的不是基础教育，而是自由发展精神能力。 —

What are wanted are not schools, but universities.”
我们需要的不是学校，而是大学。

“You are opposed to medicine, too.”
“你也反对医学。”

“Yes. It would be necessary only for the study of diseases as natural phenomena, and not for the cure of them. —
“是的。只有研究疾病作为自然现象，而不是治愈它们。 —

If one must cure, it should not be diseases, but the causes of them. —
如果必须治疗，就不应治疗疾病，而应治疗其根本原因。 —

Remove the principal cause – physical labour, and then there will be no disease. —
消除主要原因——体力劳动，那么就不会有疾病。 —

I don’t believe in a science that cures disease,” I went on excitedly. —
我不相信有一种可以治愈疾病的科学。” 我激动地继续说道。 —

“When science and art are real, they aim not at temporary private ends, but at eternal and universal–they seek for truth and the meaning of life, they seek for God, for the soul, and when they are tied down to the needs and evils of the day, to dispensaries and libraries, they only complicate and hamper life. —
“当科学与艺术是真实的时候，它们的目标不是暂时的私人目的，而是永恒的、普遍的—它们追求真理和生命的意义，追求上帝，追求灵魂，当它们被束缚在当日的需求和罪恶之上，只会使生活变得复杂而受阻。 —

We have plenty of doctors, chemists, lawyers, plenty of people can read and write, but we are quite without biologists, mathematicians, philosophers, poets. —
我们有很多医生、化学家、律师，有很多人能读写，但我们却完全没有生物学家、数学家、哲学家、诗人。 —

The whole of our intelligence, the whole of our spiritual energy, is spent on satisfying temporary, passing needs. —
我们全部的智力，全部的精神能量，都花费在满足暂时的、过渡性的需求上。 —

Scientific men, writers, artists, are hard at work; —
科学家、作家、艺术家们正在努力。 —

thanks to them, the conveniences of life are multiplied from day to day. —
多亏他们，生活的便利日益增加。 —

Our physical demands increase, yet truth is still a long way off, and man still remains the most rapacious and dirty animal; —
我们的物质需求增加，但真理仍然遥远，人类仍然是最贪婪肮脏的动物； —

everything is tending to the degeneration of the majority of mankind, and the loss forever of all fitness for life. —
一切都在趋向使大多数人类堕落，永远失去对生活的适应性。 —

In such conditions an artist’s work has no meaning, and the more talented he is, the stranger and the more unintelligible is his position, as when one looks into it, it is evident that he is working for the amusement of a rapacious and unclean animal, and is supporting the existing order. —
在这种情况下，艺术家的工作毫无意义，他越有才华，他的位置就越奇怪，越不可理解，因为当我们审视其中时，很明显他是在为一个贪婪和肮脏的动物的娱乐而努力并支持现存秩序。 —

And I don’t care to work and I won’t work… . —
我不在乎工作，我也不会工作…… —

Nothing is any use; let the earth sink to perdition!”
一切都是无用的；让地球沉入毁灭吧！

“Misuce, go out of the room!” said Lida to her sister, apparently thinking my words pernicious to the young girl.
“米苏切，出去！”丽达对妹妹说，显然认为我的言论对年轻女孩有害。

Genya looked mournfully at her mother and sister, and went out of the room.
根雅伤心地看着她的母亲和妹妹，然后走出房间。

“These are the charming things people say when they want to justify their indifference,” said Lida. “It is easier to disapprove of schools and hospitals, than to teach or heal.”
“这些是当人们想要为自己的冷漠辩解时说的迷人话语，”丽达说，“比起教导或治愈，批评学校和医院更容易。”

“That’s true, Lida–that’s true,” the mother assented.
“是的，丽达–是的，”母亲附和道。

“You threaten to give up working,” said Lida. “You evidently set a high value on your work. —
“你威胁要放弃工作，”丽达说，“你显然对自己的工作非常看重。 —

Let us give up arguing; we shall never agree, since I put the most imperfect dispensary or library of which you have just spoken so contemptuously on a higher level than any landscape.” —
我们别再争论了；我们永远不会达成一致，因为我认为你刚才如此轻蔑的最不完美的诊所或图书馆比任何风景更有价值。” —

And turning at once to her mother, she began speaking in quite a different tone: —
她立刻转向母亲，用完全不同的口气开始说： —

“The prince is very much changed, and much thinner than when he was with us last. —
“王子变化很大，比上次与我们在一起时瘦了很多。 —

He is being sent to Vichy.”
他被送到维希疗养院去了。”

She told her mother about the prince in order to avoid talking to me. —
她告诉她母亲关于王子的事情，是为了避免和我交谈。 —

Her face glowed, and to hide her feeling she bent low over the table as though she were short-sighted, and made a show of reading the newspaper. —
她的脸红了起来，为了掩饰自己的情感，她弯下腰，好像近视一样，做出假装读报纸的样子。 —

My presence was disagreeable to her. I said good-bye and went home.
对她来说，我的出现是令人不愉快的。我说了声再见，就回家了。

IV
第四章

It was quite still out of doors; the village on the further side of the pond was already asleep; —
外面一片寂静；池塘对面的村庄已经入睡了； —

there was not a light to be seen, and only the stars were faintly reflected in the pond. —
我们看不到一盏灯光，只有星星微弱地映在池塘里。 —

At the gate with the lions on it Genya was standing motionless, waiting to escort me.
在门上那只有狮子的门扉边，根雅站在那里一动不动，等着陪我。

“Every one is asleep in the village,” I said to her, trying to make out her face in the darkness, and I saw her mournful dark eyes fixed upon me. —
“村庄里每个人都已经入睡了，”我对她说，试着在黑暗中看清她的脸，我看见她哀伤的深邃的眼睛盯着我。 —

“The publican and the horse-stealers are asleep, while we, well-bred people, argue and irritate each other.”
“小酒馆老板和偷马贼都入睡了，而我们这些有教养的人，却在争辩和激怒彼此。”

It was a melancholy August night–melancholy because there was already a feeling of autumn; —
这是一个忧郁的八月夜晚–忧郁是因为已经有了秋天的感觉； —

the moon was rising behind a purple cloud, and it shed a faint light upon the road and on the dark fields of winter corn by the sides. —
月亮从一个紫色的云朵后面升起，它在路上和两边的冬玉米地上投下一缕微弱的光。 —

From time to time a star fell. Genya walked beside me along the road, and tried not to look at the sky, that she might not see the falling stars, which for some reason frightened her.
时不时有星星坠落。根雅和我一起沿着路走，尽量不看天空，这样她就不会看到那些让她害怕的流星。

“I believe you are right,” she said, shivering with the damp night air. —
“我相信你是对的，”她颤抖着说，冷湿的夜晚空气使她觉得寒冷。 —

“If people, all together, could devote themselves to spiritual ends, they would soon know everything.”
“如果人们都能全心全意地致力于精神目标，他们很快就会了解所有一切。”

“Of course. We are higher beings, and if we were really to recognise the whole force of human genius and lived only for higher ends, we should in the end become like gods. —
“当然。我们是更高贵的存在，如果我们真的能认识人类天才的全部力量，并且只为更高尚的目标而活，那么我们最终会变得像神一样。” —

But that will never be–mankind will degenerate till no traces of genius remain.”
但那永远不会发生–人类会堕落，直到天才的痕迹都消失。

When the gates were out of sight, Genya stopped and shook hands with me.
当大门消失在视线之外，Genya停下来和我握手。

“Good-night,” she said, shivering; she had nothing but her blouse over her shoulders and was shrinking with cold. “Come to-morrow.”
“晚安，”她颤抖着说，她只穿着上衣遮住肩膀，因寒冷而退缩。“明天再来。”

I felt wretched at the thought of being left alone, irritated and dissatisfied with myself and other people; —
想到要一个人独处时，我感觉很糟糕，对自己和他人感到恼火和不满； —

and I, too, tried not to look at the falling stars. —
我也尽量不看落下的星星。 —

“Stay another minute,” I said to her, “I entreat you.”
“再待一分钟，”我对她说，“我请求你。”

I loved Genya. I must have loved her because she met me when I came and saw me off when I went away; —
我爱Genya。我一定爱她，因为她会在我来时接我，我走时送我； —

because she looked at me tenderly and enthusiastically. —
因为她温柔而热情地看着我。 —

How touchingly beautiful were her pale face, slender neck, slender arms, her weakness, her idleness, her reading. —
她苍白的脸庞、修长的脖子、纤细的手臂、她的虚弱、懒散和阅读，是多么令人感动地美丽。 —

And intelligence? I suspected in her intelligence above the average. —
智慧？我怀疑她的智慧高于平均水平。 —

I was fascinated by the breadth of her views, perhaps because they were different from those of the stern, handsome Lida, who disliked me. —
她的见识深广让我着迷，也许是因为与那位严肃、英俊的丽达不同，她不喜欢我。 —

Genya liked me, because I was an artist. —
Genya喜欢我，因为我是个艺术家。 —

I had conquered her heart by my talent, and had a passionate desire to paint for her sake alone; —
我以我的才华征服了她的心，拼命想为她画画； —

and I dreamed of her as of my little queen who with me would possess those trees, those fields, the mists, the dawn, the exquisite and beautiful scenery in the midst of which I had felt myself hopelessly solitary and useless.
我梦想着她会成为我的小王后，与我一起拥有那些树木、田野、薄雾、黎明，我在其中感到孤独和无用。

“Stay another minute,” I begged her. “I beseech you.”
“再待一分钟，”我恳求她。“我哀求你。”

I took off my overcoat and put it over her chilly shoulders; —
我脱下我的外套，把它披在她凉飕飕的肩膀上； —

afraid of looking ugly and absurd in a man’s overcoat, she laughed, threw it off, and at that instant I put my arms round her and covered her face, shoulders, and hands with kisses.
害怕穿上男式外套看起来难看和荒谬，她笑了起来，扔掉了外套，就在那一刻，我搂住她，亲吻她的脸、肩膀和手；

“Till to-morrow,” she whispered, and softly, as though afraid of breaking upon the silence of the night, she embraced me. —
“明天再见，” 她轻声耳语，并轻轻地拥抱了我一下，好像怕打破夜晚的沉寂； —

“We have no secrets from one another. I must tell my mother and my sister at once… . —
“我们没有彼此之间的秘密。我必须立刻告诉我妈妈和姐姐……” —

It’s so dreadful! Mother is all right; mother likes you–but Lida!”
“这太可怕了！妈妈没问题；妈妈喜欢你——但是丽达！”

She ran to the gates.
她跑向大门；

“Good-bye!” she called.
“再见！” 她喊道；

And then for two minutes I heard her running. —
然后我听到她跑了两分钟。 —

I did not want to go home, and I had nothing to go for. —
我不想回家，也没有理由回去。 —

I stood still for a little time hesitating, and made my way slowly back, to look once more at the house in which she lived, the sweet, simple old house, which seemed to be watching me from the windows of its upper storey, and understanding all about it. —
我站在那里犹豫了一会儿，慢慢地回去，再看一眼她住的房子，那座甜美、简单的老房子，似乎从二楼的窗户里注视着我，理解着一切。 —

I walked by the terrace, sat on the seat by the tennis ground, in the dark under the old elm-tree, and looked from there at the house. —
我走过露台，坐在网球场旁的长椅上，在那颗老榆树的阴影中，看着那座房子。 —

In the windows of the top storey where Misuce slept there appeared a bright light, which changed to a soft green–they had covered the lamp with the shade. —
在米苏切睡的楼上房间的窗户里亮起了一盏明亮的灯，变成了柔和的绿色——他们用灯罩遮住了灯。 —

Shadows began to move… . I was full of tenderness, peace, and satisfaction with myself–satisfaction at having been able to be carried away by my feelings and having fallen in love, and at the same time I felt uncomfortable at the thought that only a few steps away from me, in one of the rooms of that house there was Lida, who disliked and perhaps hated me. —
阴影开始移动……我充满了温柔、平静和自我满足之情——对自己能被自己的感情席卷并坠入爱河感到满意，同时，我对于只有离我几步之遥的房子里有一个不喜欢甚至可能讨厌我的丽达感到不舒服。 —

I went on sitting there wondering whether Genya would come out; —
我继续坐在那里想着金娅是否会出来； —

I listened and fancied I heard voices talking upstairs.
我倾听着，似乎听到楼上有人在说话。

About an hour passed. The green light went out, and the shadows were no longer visible. —
大约过了一个小时。绿灯熄灭了，阴影也不再可见。 —

The moon was standing high above the house, and lighting up the sleeping garden and the paths; —
月亮高高挂在房子上方，照亮睡眠中的花园和小径； —

the dahlias and the roses in front of the house could be seen distinctly, and looked all the same colour. —
房子前面的大丽花和玫瑰清晰可见，看起来都是同一个颜色。 —

It began to grow very cold. I went out of the garden, picked up my coat on the road, and slowly sauntered home.
天开始变得非常冷。我走出花园，捡起在路上的外套，慢慢地散步回家。

When next day after dinner I went to the Voltchaninovs, the glass door into the garden was wide open. I sat down on the terrace, expecting Genya every minute, to appear from behind the flower-beds on the lawn, or from one of the avenues, or that I should hear her voice from the house. —
隔天午饭后，我去了沃尔恰宁诺夫家，通往花园的玻璃门敞开着。我坐在露台上，期待着Genya随时可能从草坪后的花坛间或其中一个林荫道中出现，或者听到她的声音从房子里传出。 —

Then I walked into the drawing-room, the dining-room. There was not a soul to be seen. —
然后我走进客厅，餐厅。一个人都看不见。 —

From the dining-room I walked along the long corridor to the hall and back. —
从餐厅我沿着漫长的走廊走到大厅，然后回来。 —

In this corridor there were several doors, and through one of them I heard the voice of Lida:
在这个走廊里有几扇门，透过其中一扇门，我听到丽达的声音：

”‘God … sent … a crow,’” she said in a loud, emphatic voice, probably dictating–“‘God sent a crow a piece of cheese . —
“‘上帝……派……一只乌鸦，’”她用响亮而有力的声音说道，可能是在听写——“‘上帝派了一只乌鸦一块奶酪。 —

… A crow … a piece of cheese.’ … Who’s there?” —
……一只乌鸦……一块奶酪。……谁在那里？” —

she called suddenly, hearing my steps.
她突然叫道，听到我的脚步声。

“It’s I.”
“是我。”

“Ah! Excuse me, I cannot come out to you this minute; I’m giving Dasha her lesson.”
“啊！对不起，我现在不能过去见你；我正在给达莎上课。”

“Is Ekaterina Pavlovna in the garden?”
“叶卡捷琳娜·帕夫洛芙娜在花园里吗？”

“No, she went away with my sister this morning to our aunt in the province of Penza. And in the winter they will probably go abroad,” she added after a pause. —
“不，在今天早上她跟我姐姐一起去我们在彼尔姆州的姑姑那里了。冬天她们可能会出国旅行，”她停顿片刻后补充道。 —

”‘God sent … the crow … a piece … —
“‘上帝派……乌鸦……一块…… —

of cheese.’ … Have you written it?”
奶酪。’……你写好了吗？”

I went into the hall, and stared vacantly at the pond and the village, and the sound reached me of “A piece of cheese. —
我走进大厅，发呆地看着池塘和村庄，传来“一块奶酪。 —

… God sent the crow a piece of cheese.”
……上帝派了一只乌鸦一块奶酪。”的声音。

And I went back by the way I had come here for the first time– first from the yard into the garden past the house, then into the avenue of lime-trees. —
我沿着我第一次来这里时的路返回——从院子里走进花园，经过房子，再走进椴树大道。 —

… At this point I was overtaken by a small boy who gave me a note:
……在这个时候，一个小男孩赶上我，递给我一张纸条：

“I told my sister everything and she insists on my parting from you,” I read. —
“我把一切告诉了我姐姐，她坚持让我和你分手，”我读到。 —

“I could not wound her by disobeying. God will give you happiness. Forgive me. —
我不能违背她而伤害她。上帝会给你幸福。请原谅我。 —

If only you knew how bitterly my mother and I are crying!”
要是你知道我和母亲是多么难过哭泣！

Then there was the dark fir avenue, the broken-down fence… . —
然后是那片黑暗的冷杉林，破烂的篱笆…… —

On the field where then the rye was in flower and the corncrakes were calling, now there were cows and hobbled horses. —
在原来有大麦花和戴胜鸟叫声的田野上，现在是奶牛和绑住了蹄的马。 —

On the slope there were bright green patches of winter corn. —
坡地上有一片片明亮的冬小麦。 —

A sober workaday feeling came over me and I felt ashamed of all I had said at the Voltchaninovs’, and felt bored with life as I had been before. —
我陷入了平凡的工作日感觉中，感到自己对在沃尔丹尼诺夫家说过的一切感到羞耻，感到生活像以前一样无聊。 —

When I got home, I packed and set off that evening for Petersburg.
回到家后，我打包行李，当晚就动身去圣彼得堡。

—-

I never saw the Voltchaninovs again. Not long ago, on my way to the Crimea, I met Byelokurov in the train. —
我再也没有见到过沃尔丹尼诺夫一家。不久前，我在去克里米亚的路上在火车上遇见了别洛库罗夫。 —

As before, he was wearing a jerkin and an embroidered shirt, and when I asked how he was, he replied that, God be praised, he was well. —
和以前一样，他穿着短外套和绣花衬衫，当我问他好不好时，他回答说，感谢上帝，他很好。 —

We began talking. He had sold his old estate and bought another smaller one, in the name of Liubov Ivanovna. —
我们开始聊天。他卖掉了旧庄园，买了一个更小的庄园，以留甬维亚诺芙的名义。 —

He could tell me little about the Voltchaninovs. —
他对沃尔丹尼诺夫家说不了什么。 —

Lida, he said, was still living in Shelkovka and teaching in the school; —
他说，莉达仍然生活在舍尔科夫卡，教书学校； —

she had by degrees succeeded in gathering round her a circle of people sympathetic to her who made a strong party, and at the last election had turned out Balagin, who had till then had the whole district under his thumb. —
她逐渐成功地围绕自己聚集了一群对她有好感的人，他们组成了一个强大的团体，在上次选举中将一直掌控着整个地区的巴拉金挤下去了。 —

About Genya he only told me that she did not live at home, and that he did not know where she was.
关于格涅娅，他只告诉我她不住在家里，也不知道她去了哪里。

I am beginning to forget the old house, and only sometimes when I am painting or reading I suddenly, apropos of nothing, remember the green light in the window, the sound of my footsteps as I walked home through the fields in the night, with my heart full of love, rubbing my hands in the cold. —
我开始忘记那座老房子，只有在我画画或读书时，偶尔突然想起那扇窗户里的绿光，想起我在夜晚穿越田野走回家时的脚步声，那时我的心里充满了爱，在寒冷中揉搓着双手。 —

And still more rarely, at moments when I am sad and depressed by loneliness, I have dim memories, and little by little I begin to feel that she is thinking of me, too –that she is waiting for me, and that we shall meet… .
并且更少的时候，在我感到孤独时悲伤沮丧的时刻，我有模糊的记忆，渐渐地我开始感觉到她也在想着我–她在等着我，我们将相遇……

Misuce, where are you?
Misuce，你在哪里？