SHORTLY after his reception into the brotherhood of the freemasons, Pierre set off to the Kiev province, where were the greater number of his peasants, with full instructions written for his guidance in doing his duty on his estates.
他加入了共济会后不久，皮埃尔带着完整的指示前往基辅省，在那里有大部分的农民居住。

On reaching Kiev, Pierre sent for all his stewards to his head counting-house, and explained to them his intentions and his desires. —
到达基辅后，皮埃尔将所有的管家都召集到了他的总账房，向他们解释了他的意图和愿望。 —

He told them that steps would very shortly be taken for the complete liberation of his peasants from serfdom, that till that time his peasants were not to be overburdened with labour, that the women with children were not to be sent out to work, that assistance was to be given to the peasants, that wrong-doing was to be met with admonishment, and not with corporal punishment; —
他告诉他们，很快将采取措施完全解放他的农民，直到那个时候，他的农民不应负担过重的劳动，带有孩子的妇女不应被派去工作，应该给予农民帮助，对错误行为应以劝诫来应对，而不是体罚； —

and that on every estate there must be founded hospitals, almshouses, and schools. —
每个庄园都必须设立医院、敬老院和学校。 —

Several of the stewards (among them were some bailiffs barely able to read and write) listened in dismay, supposing the upshot of the young count’s remarks to be that he was dissatisfied with their management and embezzlement of his money. —
一些管理员（其中包括一些几乎不识字的执法官）震惊地倾听着，以为年轻伯爵的言论意味着他对他们的管理和挪用资金感到不满。 —

Others, after the first shock of alarm, derived amusement from Pierre’s lisp and the new words he used that they had not heard before. —
其他人在惊慌的第一刹那后，从皮埃尔的口吃和他使用的新单词中获得了娱乐。 —

Others again found a simple satisfaction in hearing the sound of their master’s voice. —
另一些人则从他们主人的声音中感到简单的满足。 —

But some, among them the head steward, divined from this speech how to deal with their master for the attainment of their own ends.
但其中一些人，包括总管家在内，从这次讲话中领悟到了如何处理他们的主人以达到自己的目的。

The head steward expressed great sympathy with Pierre’s projects; —
总管家对皮埃尔的计划表示了极大的同情； —

but observed that, apart from these innovations, matters were in a bad way and needed thoroughly going into.
但他观察到，除了这些创新之外，情况很糟，需要彻底调查。

In spite of Count Bezuhov’s enormous wealth, Pierre ever since he had inherited it, and had been, as people said, in receipt of an annual income of five hundred thousand, had felt much less rich than when he had been receiving an allowance of ten thousand from his father. —
尽管贝祖霍夫伯爵拥有巨额财富，但自从皮埃尔继承了财产，并被人们认为每年收入五十万之后，他感觉没有之前拿父亲给的一万作为生活费的时候富裕了。 —

In general outlines he was vaguely aware of the following budget. —
大致来说，他模糊地意识到以下预算。 —

About eighty thousand was being paid into the Land Bank as interest on mortgages on his estates. —
大约八万被作为土地银行的按揭利息支付。 —

About thirty thousand went to the maintenance of his estate in the suburbs of Moscow, his Moscow house, and his cousins the princesses. —
大约三万用于维护他在莫斯科郊区的房产，他的莫斯科房子和他的堂姐们。 —

About fifteen thousand were given in pensions, and as much more to benevolent institutions. —
大约一万五千用于养老金，再加上同样金额用于慈善机构。 —

One hundred and fifty thousand were sent to his countess, for her maintenance. —
十五万用于给他的伯爵夫人维持生活。 —

Some seventy thousand were paid away as interest on debts. —
约七万用于支付债务利息。 —

The building of a new church had for the last two years been costing about ten thousand. —
修建一座新教堂在过去两年里花费了大约一万。 —

The remainder—some one hundred thousand—was spent—he hardly knew how—and almost every year he was forced to borrow. —
剩余的十万被他花掉了，他几乎不知道是怎么花的，几乎每年他都被迫借款。 —

Moreover every year the head steward wrote to him of conflagrations, or failures of crops, or of the necessity of rebuilding factories or workshops. —
此外，每年总管都会给他写信，告诉他大火、农作物歉收或重建工厂或车间的必要性。 —

And so the first duty with which Pierre was confronted was the one for which he had the least capacity and inclination—attention to practical business.
因此，皮埃尔面临的第一个任务是他最不擅长也没兴趣处理的——关注实际业务。

Every day Pierre went into things with the head steward. —
每天皮埃尔都和总管一起处理事务。 —

But he felt that what he was doing did not advance matters one inch. —
但他感觉自己所做的一切并没有推动事情进展一寸。 —

He felt that all he did was quite apart from the reality, that his efforts had no grip on the business, and would not set it in progress. —
他觉得自己所做的一切完全脱离了实际，他的努力对业务没有影响，并且无法推动它取得进展。 —

On one side the head steward put matters in their worst light, proving to Pierre the necessity of paying his debts, and entering upon new undertakings with the labour of his serf peasants, to which Pierre would not agree. —
总管一方面把情况最坏的一面展示给皮埃尔看，证明了他付债的必要性，并以农奴的劳动来开展新的事业，而皮埃尔不同意。 —

On the other side, Pierre urged their entering upon the work of liberation, to which the head steward objected the necessity of first paying off the loans from the Land Bank, and the consequent impossibility of haste in the matter. —
另一方面，皮埃尔敦促他们着手解放工作，对此，总管反驳了首先要偿还土地银行贷款的必要性，以及因此无法急于解决这个问题。 —

The head steward did not say that this was utterly impossible; —
总管并没有说这是完全不可能的； —

he proposed as the means for attaining this object, the sale of the forests in the Kostroma province, the sale of the lands on the lower Volga, and of the Crimean estate. —
他提出了实现这一目标的手段，即出售科斯特罗马省的森林、下伏尔加河的土地和克里米亚庄园的出售。 —

But all these operations were connected in the head steward’s talk with such a complexity of processes, the removal of certain prohibitory clauses, the obtaining of certain permissions, and so on, that Pierre lost the thread, and could only say: —
但总管在谈话中将所有这些操作与一系列复杂的程序联系在一起，包括取消某些禁止条款、获得某些许可等等，以至于皮埃尔迷失了脉络，只能说： —

“Yes, yes, do so then.”
“是的，是的，那就这样做。”

Pierre had none of that practical tenacity, which would have made it possible for him to undertake the business himself, and so he did not like it, and only tried to keep up a pretence of going into business before the head steward. —
皮埃尔没有那种实际坚持不懈的能力，使得他自己能够承担这个业务，所以他不喜欢这样，只是试图在总管面前保持经商的假象。 —

The steward too kept up a pretence before the count of regarding his participation in it as of great use to his master, and a great inconvenience to himself.
这位管家在伯爵面前也保持着伪装，称自己的参与对主人非常有益，但对他自己非常不方便。

In Kiev he had acquaintances: persons not acquaintances made haste to become so, and gave a warm welcome to the young man of fortune, the largest landowner of the province, who had come into their midst. —
在基辅，他认识了一些人：那些原本不相识的人急着与他结交，并热烈欢迎这位财富的年轻人，这位该省最大的土地所有者，来到了他们中间。 —

The temptations on the side of Pierre’s besetting weakness, the one to which he had given the first place at his initiation into the lodge, were so strong that he could not resist them. —
纵使他心知这正是自己面临的弱点所引诱，那也是他入会典礼上第一次给予关注的事情，它的诱惑力如此之强，以至于他无法抵挡。 —

Again whole days, weeks, and months of his life were busily filled up with parties, dinners, breakfasts, and balls, giving him as little time to think as at Petersburg. —
再一次，他的整天整天、周周和月月都被派对、宴会、早餐和舞会忙碌填满，让他几乎没有时间去思考，就像在彼得堡一样。 —

Instead of the new life Pierre had hoped to lead, he was living just the same old life only in different surroundings.
与他曾希望过的新生活不同，他仍然过着同样的旧生活，只是环境改变了而已。

Of the three precepts of freemasonry, Pierre had to admit that he had not fulfilled that one which prescribes for every mason the duty of being a model of moral life; —
关于三个共济会宗旨中的一个，即成为道德生活的典范，皮埃尔不得不承认他未能实现； —

and of the seven virtues he was entirely without two—morality and love of death. —
而在七个美德中，他完全没有道德和对死亡的热爱； —

He comforted himself by reflecting that, on the other hand, he was fulfilling the other precept—the improvement of the human race; —
他安慰自己说，另一方面，他正在履行另一个宗旨，即改善人类； —

and had other virtues, love for his neighbour and liberality.
他还有其他美德，如对邻里的爱和慷慨；

In the spring of 1807, Pierre made up his mind to go back again to Petersburg. —
1807年春天，皮埃尔决定再次返回圣彼得堡； —

On the way back he intended to make the tour of all his estates, and to ascertain personally what had been done of what had been prescribed by him, and in what position the people now were who had been entrusted to him by God, and whom he had been striving to benefit.
回去的路上，他打算巡视自己所有的领地，并亲自了解他所规定的工作进展如何，以及上帝委托给他的人现在的状况，他一直在努力使他们受益；

The head steward, who regarded all the young count’s freaks as almost insanity—disastrous to him, to himself, and to his peasants—made concessions to his weaknesses. —
总管认为年轻伯爵的种种怪异行为几乎是疯狂的，不仅对他自己和农民都造成了灾难，因此对他的弱点作出了一些让步。 —

While continuing to represent the liberation of his serfs as impracticable, he made arrangements on all his estates for the building of schools, hospitals, and asylums on a large scale to be begun ready for the master’s visit, prepared everywhere for him to be met, not with ceremonious processions, which he knew would not be to Pierre’s taste, but with just the devotionally grateful welcomes, with holy images and bread and salt, such as would, according to his understanding of the count, impress him and delude him.
尽管他继续认为解放农奴是不切实际的，但他在所有庄园上都做了安排，计划开始建设大规模的学校、医院和敬老院，以备主人的访问，为他准备好到处都能见到他、但不是通过隆重的游行，因为他知道这不是彼埃尔的喜好，而是以充满虔诚感激的欢迎方式，用神圣的图像、面包和盐，这样会根据他对伯爵的理解，给他留下深刻的印象并欺骗他。

The southern spring, the easy, rapid journey in his Vienna carriage and the solitude of the road, had a gladdening influence on Pierre. —
南方的春天，维也纳马车的轻松、快速的行程以及路上的孤独，给彼埃尔带来了愉快的影响。 —

The estates, which he had not before visited, were one more picturesque than the other; —
他此前未曾游览过的庄园一个比一个更有风情。 —

the peasantry seemed everywhere thriving, and touchingly grateful for the benefits conferred on them. —
农民似乎在每个地方都繁荣起来，并对所受益之处感激不尽。 —

Everywhere he was met by welcomes, which though they embarrassed Pierre, yet at the bottom of his heart rejoiced him. —
无论他走到哪里，都会被欢迎，尽管这些欢迎使彼埃尔感到尴尬，但在他内心深处却让他欣喜。 —

At one place the peasants had brought him bread and salt and the images of Peter and Paul, and begged permission in honour of his patron saints, Peter and Paul, and in token of love and gratitude for the benefits conferred on them, to erect at their own expense a new chapel in the church. —
在一个地方，农民们给他带来了面包、盐和彼得和保罗的图像，并恳求他允许他们自费在教堂修建一座新的教堂，以向他们的庇护神彼得和保罗表示敬意，并表达爱和感激之情，以回报他们所享受的福利。 —

At another place he was welcomed by women with babies in their arms, who came to thank him for being released from the obligation of heavy labour. —
在另一个地方，一些带着婴儿的妇女欢迎他的到来，他们感谢他使她们从繁重的劳动中解脱出来。 —

In a third place he was met by a priest with a cross, surrounded by children, whom by the favour of the count he was instructing in reading and writing and religion. —
在第三个地方，他被一个拿着十字架的牧师和一群孩子迎接，这些孩子是由伯爵的恩典下，这位牧师正在教导他们读写和宗教知识。 —

On all his estates Pierre saw with his own eyes stone buildings erected, or in course of erection, all on one plan, hospitals, schools, and almshouses, which were in short time to be opened. —
在皮埃尔的所有庄园里，他亲眼看到了一座座石建筑物的修建，或者正在修建中，它们都按照同一计划建造，包括医院、学校和敬老院，这些建筑将很快开放。 —

Everywhere Pierre saw the steward’s reckoning of service due to him diminished in comparison with the past, and heard touching thanks for what was remitted from deputations of peasants in blue, full-skirted coats.
皮埃尔到处都看到了管家对他所应付的服务计算由过去减少，听到了农民代表团对所免除的款项表示感激的动人言辞，代表团的成员穿着蓝色蓬蓬裙的大衣。

But Pierre did not know that where they brought him bread and salt and were building a chapel of Peter and Paul there was a trading village, and a fair on St. Peter’s day, that the chapel had been built long ago by wealthy peasants of the village, and that nine-tenths of the peasants of that village were in the utmost destitution. —
但是皮埃尔并不知道，他们给他带来面包和盐，并且正在建造一个彼得和保罗教堂的地方原先是一个贸易村，而且在圣彼得节还有一个集市，这座教堂早在很久以前就是该村富裕农民建造的，而这个村庄的九成贫苦。 —

He did not know that since by his orders nursing mothers were not sent to work on their master’s land, those same mothers did even harder work on their own bit of land. —
他不知道，因为根据他的命令，哺乳的母亲不会被派去在主人的土地上工作，这些母亲们反而更加辛苦地在自己的地头上干活。 —

He did not know that the priest who met him with the cross oppressed the peasants with his exactions, and that the pupils gathered around him were yielded up to him with tears and redeemed for large sums by their parents. —
他不知道，用十字架迎接他的牧师用他的苛税压迫农民，聚集在他周围的学生们被泪水包围，他们的家长用巨额的款项把他们赎回来。 —

He did not know that the stone buildings were being raised by his labourers, and increased the forced labour of his peasants, which was only less upon paper. —
他不知道石制建筑是由他的劳工们修建的，而他对农民进行的强制劳动只有纸面上的减少。 —

He did not know that where the steward pointed out to him in the account book the reduction of rent to one-third in accordance with his will, the labour exacted had been raised by one half. —
他不知道管家在账簿上向他指出租金按照他的遗嘱降低了三分之一，而实际劳动却增加了一半。 —

And so Pierre was enchanted by his journey over his estates, and came back completely to the philanthropic frame of mind in which he had left Petersburg, and wrote enthusiastic letters to his preceptor and brother, as he called the grand master.
于是，皮埃尔对他在庄园上的旅程感到陶醉，并且完全回到了他离开圣彼得堡时的慈善心态，他给他的导师和兄弟写了充满热情的信，称他们为大师。

“How easy it is, how little effort is needed to do so much good,” thought Pierre, “and how little we trouble ourselves to do it!”
“这么容易，这么少的努力就能做这么多善事，”皮埃尔想道，“而我们却很少费心去做！”

He was happy at the gratitude shown him, but abashed at receiving it. —
他对别人的感激感到高兴，但却感到尴尬。 —

That gratitude reminded him how much more he could do for those simple, good-hearted people.
那份感激使他想起他还能为那些纯朴、善良的人们做更多的事情。

The head steward, a very stupid and crafty man, who thoroughly understood the clever and na? —
那个顶头的管家是个非常愚蠢且狡猾的人，他完全理解聪明而消磨力的人。 —

ve count, and played with him like a toy, seeing the effect produced on Pierre by these carefully arranged receptions, was bolder in advancing arguments to prove the impossibility, and even more, the uselessness of liberating the peasants, who were so perfectly happy without that.
他强调了统计数据，把维视作一个玩具来玩耍，看到皮埃尔对这些精心安排的接待产生的效果，他更加大胆地提出论据来证明解放农民的不可能性，甚至是无用性，因为他们在没有解放的情况下是如此幸福。

In the recesses of his own heart, Pierre agreed with the steward that it was difficult to imagine people happier, and that there was no knowing what their future would be in freedom. —
虽然不情愿，但皮埃尔在他自己的内心深处同意管家的观点，即很难想象人们会更快乐，也无法知道他们在自由中的未来会是什么样子。 —

But though reluctantly, he stuck to what he thought the right thing. —
虽然不情愿，但他坚持认为这才是正确的事情。 —

The steward promised to use every effort to carry out the count’s wishes, perceiving clearly that the count would never be in a position to verify whether every measure had been taken for the sale of the forests and estates for the repayment of loans from the bank, would never probably even inquire, and would certainly never find out that the buildings, when finished, stood empty, and that the peasants were giving in labour and money just what they gave with other masters, that is, all that could be got out of them.
承办人承诺将竭尽全力按照伯爵的愿望办事，明智地意识到伯爵永远不会有能力核实是否为了偿还银行贷款而出售了森林和庄园，伯爵可能甚至不会询问，并且肯定也不会发现建筑已经完工却空置着，农民们在劳动和财务方面不过是和其他主人一样给予了全部能够从他们身上得到的。