THE BIBLICAL TRADITION tells us that the absence of work—idleness—was a condition of the first man’s blessedness before the Fall. The love of idleness has remained the same in fallen man; —
《圣经传统》告诉我们，失业——闲置无事——是堕落前的最初人的幸福条件。对闲置的喜爱在堕落的人中仍然存在。 —

but the curse still lies heavy upon man, and not only because in the sweat of our brow we must eat bread, but because from our moral qualities we are unable to be idle and at peace. —
但诅咒仍然沉重地压在人类身上，这不仅仅因为我们要辛勤劳作才能养活自己，而且还因为从道德品质来看，我们不能闲置和平静。 —

A secret voice tells us that we must be to blame for being idle. —
一种秘密声音告诉我们，闲置是我们应该受到指责的原因。 —

If a man could find a state in which while being idle he could feel himself to be of use and to be doing his duty, he would have attained to one side of primitive blessedness. —
如果一个人能够找到一种在闲置时能感到自己有用的状态，并且能够履行自己的职责，那么他就已经达到了原始的幸福的一面。 —

And such a state of obligatory and irreproachable idleness is enjoyed by a whole class—the military class. —
一个完全靠闲置生活，并且在道义上无可指责的闲置状态是一整个阶级拥有的——军事阶级。 —

It is in that obligatory and irreproachable idleness that the chief attraction of military service has always consisted, and will always consist.
正是在那种必须的和不可指责的闲置中，军事服务的主要吸引力一直存在，并将永远存在。

Nikolay Rostov was enjoying this blessed privilege to the full, as after the year 1807 he remained in the Pavlograd regiment, in command of the squadron that had been Denisov’s.
尼古拉·罗斯托夫非常享受这一宝贵的特权，因为在1807年之后，他仍然留在巴夫洛格拉德团，指挥着曾经属于丹尼索夫的一连。

Rostov had become a bluff, good-natured fellow, who would have been thought rather bad form by his old acquaintances in Moscow, though he was loved and respected by his comrades, his subordinates, and his superior officers, and was well content with his life. —
罗斯托夫已经变成了一个直率、善良的人，他在莫斯科的旧熟人眼里可能会被认为是不合时宜的，尽管他深受同志、部下和上级军官们的爱戴和尊敬，但他对自己的生活感到非常满足。 —

Of late—in the year 1809—he had found more and more frequently in letters from home complaints on the part of his mother that their pecuniary position was going from bad to worse, and that it was high time for him to come home, to gladden and comfort the hearts of his old parents.
近来，在1809年，他越来越频繁地从家里的信中听到母亲抱怨他们的经济状况日益恶化，他早该回家去让年迈的父母欣喜和安慰。

As he read those letters, Nikolay felt a pang of dread at their wanting to drag him out of the surroundings in which, by fencing himself off from all the complexities of existence, he was living so quietly and peacefully. —
当尼古拉阅读这些信件时，他感到一阵恐惧，他们想把他从那个他通过将自己与世事的复杂性隔离开来，过得如此安宁和宁静的环境中拽走。 —

He felt that sooner or later he would have to plunge again into that whirlpool of life, with many difficulties and business to attend to, with the steward’s accounts, with quarrels and intrigues, and ties, with society, with Sonya’s love and his promise to her. —
他觉得早晚他都得再次陷入那个旋涡般的生活中，有许多困难和要处理的事务，要处理管家的账目，要应对争吵、阴谋和羁绊，要应对社交圈子，要应对索尼娅的爱和他对她的承诺。 —

All that was terribly difficult and complicated; —
这一切都非常困难和复杂； —

and he answered his mother’s letters with cold letters in French on the classic model, beginning “Ma chère maman,” and ending: —
他用法语写了一封冷漠的回信回复他母亲的信，按照传统的模式起头是“Ma chère maman”，结尾是：“Votre obéissant fils”，没有提到任何回家的意图。 —

“Votre obéissant fils,” saying nothing of any intention of coming home. —
1810年，他收到家信，得知娜塔莎与博尔康斯基已经订婚，但因为老王爷不同意，婚事被推迟了一年。 —

In 1810 he received letters from home in which he was told of Natasha’s engagement to Bolkonsky, and of the marriage being deferred for a year, because the old prince would not consent to it. —
这封信让尼古拉感到失望和尴尬。 —

This letter chagrined and mortified Nikolay. —
首先，他很遗憾家中要离去他最关心的娜塔莎。 —

In the first place, he was sorry to be losing from home Natasha, whom he cared more for than all the rest of the family. —
母亲的来信他用冷漠的法文回复，模板式的开头是“Ma chère maman”，结尾是：“Votre obéissant fils”，他没有提到任何回家的意图。 —

Secondly, from his hussar point of view, he regretted not having been at home at the time, as he would have shown this Bolkonsky that it was by no means such an honour to be connected with him, and that if he cared for Natasha he could get on just as well without his crazy old father’s consent. —
从他作为一名轻骑兵的视角来看，他后悔自己当时不在家，因为他本可以向博尔孔斯基先生证明与他有关并不是什么荣誉，而且如果他在乎娜塔莎，他完全可以在没有他那个疯狂的老父亲同意的情况下照样生活得很好。 —

For a moment he hesitated whether to ask for leave, so as to see Natasha engaged, but then the man? —
他犹豫了一下是否要请假去看看娜塔莎订婚，但随后又缓了一口气。 —

uvres were just coming on, and thoughts of Sonya, of complications, recurred to him, and again he put it off. —
戏剧正在上演，他想起了索尼娅，想起了各种复杂情况，于是他又推迟了。 —

But in the spring of the same year he got a letter from his mother, written without his father’s knowledge, and that letter decided him. —
但是在同年的春天，他收到了一封母亲写给他的信，信是在父亲不知情的情况下写的，这封信使他下定决心。 —

She wrote that if Nikolay did not come and look after things, their whole estate would have to be sold by auction, and they would all be beggars. —
信中写道，如果尼古拉不回来处理事务，整个产业将不得不通过拍卖出售，而他们所有人都将沦为乞丐。 —

The count was so weak, put such entire confidence in Mitenka, and was so good-natured, and every one took advantage of him, so that things were going from bad to worse. —
伯爵非常虚弱，完全信任米坦卡，性格又非常好，每个人都在利用他，所以情况一天比一天糟糕。 —

“I beseech you, for God’s sake, to come at once, if you don’t want to make me and all your family miserable,” wrote the countess.
“我恳请你，为了上帝的缘故，立即过来，如果你不想使我和你的家人都痛苦不堪，”伯爵夫人写道。

That letter produced an effect on Nikolay. —
那封信对尼古拉产生了影响。 —

He had that common sense of mediocrity which showed him what was his duty.
他有一种平庸的常识，使他知道他的责任是什么。

His duty now was, if not to retire from the army, at least to go home on leave. —
他现在的责任是，即使不退休离开军队，也至少要回家休假。 —

Why he had to go, he could not have said; —
为什么他必须离开，他无法说出来； —

but, after his after-dinner nap, he ordered his grey mare to be saddled, a terribly vicious beast that he had not ridden for a long while.
但是，在午饭后的小睡之后，他命令鞍马准备好，这是一匹他已经有很长时间没有骑过的非常凶暴的马。

He returned home with his horse in a lather, and told Lavrushka—he had kept on Denisov’s old valet—and the comrades who dropped in that evening, that he had applied for leave and was going home. —
他带着汗流浃背的马回到家里，告诉了留下来的德尼索夫的老佣人拉夫鲁什卡和当晚过来的战友们，他已经申请休假，打算回家。 —

It was strange and difficult for him to believe that he was going away without hearing from the staff whether he had been promoted to be a captain or had received the St. Anne for the last man? —
他很难相信自己要走了，没有从参谋部听到他是否被提升为上尉或者是否获得了安妮勋章这样的消息（这对他来说是非常重要的事情）。 —

uvres (a matter of the greatest interest to him). —
这对他来说是非常重要的事情）。 —

It was strange to him to think of going away like this without having sold Count Goluhovsky his three roan horses, over which the Polish count was haggling with him. —
对他来说，不在将自己的三匹红褐色马卖给戈卢霍夫斯基伯爵就这样离开是很奇怪的，伯爵一直和他讨价还价。 —

Rostov had taken a bet that he would get two thousand for them. —
罗斯托夫打赌能卖出两千卢布。 —

It seemed inconceivable that without him the ball could take place which the hussars were to give in honour of their favourite Polish belle, Madame Pshazdetsky, to outdo the Uhlans, who had given a ball to their favourite belle, Madame Borzhozovsky. —
很难想象没有他，哈萨克人要举行的那个舞会会进行，那个舞会是为了祝贺他们最喜欢的波兰美女普夏泽茨基夫人而举办的，好要超过给他们最喜欢的美女鲍尔佐霍夫斯基夫人举办的那个舞会。 —

Yet he knew he must leave world, where all was well and all was clear, to go where all was nonsensical and complicated. —
然而，他知道自己必须离开这个一切都好且清楚的世界，去一个一切都荒谬且复杂的地方。 —

A week later his leave came. His comrades—not only in the regiment, but throughout the whole brigade—gave Rostov a dinner that cost a subscription of fifteen roubles a head. —
一周后他得到了假期。他的战友们——不仅是团里的，而是整个旅的——为罗斯托夫办了一次晚宴，每人费用15卢布。 —

Two bands of musicians played, two choruses sang; Rostov danced the trepak with Major Bazov; —
两支乐队演奏着音乐，两个合唱团唱歌；罗斯托夫与巴佐夫少校共舞特雷帕克舞； —

the drunken officers tossed him in the air, hugged him, dropped him; —
醉醺醺的军官们把他扔到空中、拥抱他、扔下他； —

the soldiers of the third squadron tossed him once more and shouted hurrah! —
第三中队的士兵再次将他抛起，并喊着万岁！ —

Then they put Rostov in a sledge and escorted him as far as the first posting-station on his way.
然后他们把罗斯托夫放在雪橇上，并护送他一直到他前往的第一个邮递站。

For the first half of the journey, from Krementchug to Kiev, all Rostov’s thoughts—as is apt to be the case with travellers—turned to what he had left behind—to his squadron. —
在旅途的前半段，从克列缅丘格到基辅，罗斯托夫的所有思绪都转向了他离开的地方-他的中队，这在旅行者身上很常见。 —

But after being jolted over the first half of the journey, he had begun to forget his three roans and his quartermaster, Dozhoyveyky, and was beginning to wonder uneasily what he should find on reaching Otradnoe. —
但在旅途的前半程颠簸之后，他开始忘记他的三匹红马和军需官杜日奥韦伊基，开始不安地想知道到达奥特拉德诺会遇到什么。 —

The nearer he got, the more intense, far more intense, were his thoughts of home (as though moral feeling were subject to the law of acceleration in inverse ratio with the square of the distance). —
他越接近目的地，他的家就越令他思念得更加强烈（就好像道德感受服从加速与距离平方反比的定律）。 —

At the station nearest to Otradnoe he gave the sledge-driver a tip of three roubles, and ran breathless up the steps of his home, like a boy.
在离奥特拉德诺最近的车站，他给了雪橇车夫三卢布的小费，像个孩子一样气喘吁吁地跑上了家门口的台阶。

After the excitement of the first meeting, and the strange feeling of disappointment after his expectations—the feeling that “it’s just the same; —
在第一次见面的激动之后，尽管对自己的期望感到失望——感觉“一切还是一样的；为什么我这么着急？”——尼古拉开始逐渐适应自己家中的旧世界。 —

why was I in such a hurry?”—Nikolay began to settle down in his old world of home. —
他的父母还是一样的，只是略微年长了些。 —

His father and mother were just the same, only a little older. —
除了某种不安和偶尔的分歧外，他们并没有什么变化，这是他以前从未见过的，后来他了解到这是由于他们处境的困难所致。 —

All that was new in them was a certain uneasiness and at times a difference of opinion, which he had never seen between them before, and soon learned to be due to the difficulties of their position.
索尼娅现在快二十岁了。她不会再变得更漂亮了；

Sonya was now nearly twenty. She would grow no prettier now; —
她身上没有任何承诺；但她所拥有的已经足够了。 —

there was no promise in her of more to come; but what she had was enough. —
尼古拉回家后，她满怀着对他的爱和幸福，并且这个女孩对他的忠诚和坚定的爱让他心里感到快乐。 —

She was brimming over with love and happiness as soon as Nikolay came home, and this girl’s faithful, steadfast love for him gladdened his heart. —
彼得和娜塔莎给尼古拉带来了比其他人更多的惊喜。 —

Petya and Natasha surprised Nikolay more than all the rest. —
彼得是个十三岁的大帅哥，声音已经开始变粗了； —

Petya was a big, handsome lad of thirteen, whose voice was already cracking; —
他充满了愉快和聪明机智的恶作剧。 —

he was full of gaiety and clever pranks. —
娜塔莎几乎让尼古拉感到惊讶，她已经是个近二十岁的年轻人了。她再也不会长得更漂亮了，身上已经没有了进一步发展的希望。 —

Nikolay did not get over his wonder at Natasha for a long while, and laughed as he looked at her.
尼古拉一段时间过去了，对娜塔莎的美丽依然感到惊叹，他边笑着边看着她。

“You’re utterly different,” he told her.
“你真的很不一样。”他告诉她。

“How? Uglier?”
“怎么不一样？更丑吗？”

“No, quite the contrary; but what dignity! A real princess!” he whispered to her.
“不，相反地，非常美丽，但是多么有尊严啊！真正的公主！”他低声对她说。

“Yes, yes, yes,” cried Natasha gleefully.
“是的，是的，是的!“娜塔莎高兴地喊道。

Natasha told him all the story of Prince Andrey’s lovemaking, of his visit to Otradnoe, and showed him his last letter.
娜塔莎告诉他关于安德烈王子的求爱故事，他在奥特拉多耶的访问，还给他看了他最后一封信。

“Well, are you glad?” asked Natasha. “I’m so at peace and happy now.”
“嗯，你高兴吗？”娜塔莎问道。”我现在感到平静和幸福。”

“Very glad,” answered Nikolay. “He’s a splendid fellow. Are you very much in love, then?”
“非常高兴。他是个了不起的家伙。那你真的很爱他吗？”

“How shall I say?” answered Natasha. “I was in love with Boris, with our teacher, with Denisov; but this is utterly different. —
“我怎么说呢?“娜塔莎回答说。”我曾经爱过鲍里斯，我们的老师，还有丹尼索夫；但是这是完全不同的。 —

I feel calm, settled. I know there is no one better than he in the world, and so I am calm now and content. —
我感到平静、安定。我知道世界上没有比他更好的人了，所以我现在很平静、满足。 —

It’s utterly different from anything before…”
这和以前完全不同…”

Nikolay expressed his dissatisfaction at the marriage being put off for a year. —
尼古拉对婚礼被推迟一年表示不满。 —

But Natasha fell on him with exasperation, proving to him that no other course was possible, that it would be a horrid thing to enter a family against the father’s will, and that she would not consent to it herself.
但纳塔莎的沮丧使他明白了其他的选择都不可能，违背父亲的意愿进入一个家庭是一件可怕的事情，而她自己也不会同意。

“You don’t understand at all, at all,” she kept saying.
“你完全不明白，完全不明白，”她一直说。

Nikolay paused a moment, and then said he agreed with her.
尼古拉停顿了一下，然后表示同意她的看法。

Her brother often wondered as he looked at her. —
当他看着她时，她的兄弟常常感到奇怪。 —

It seemed quite incredible that she was a girl in love and parted from her betrothed lover. —
真不可思议，她是一个恋爱中的女孩，却与未婚夫分隔两地。 —

She was even-tempered, serene, and quite as light-hearted as ever. —
她心平气和，宁静，和以往一样开心。 —

This made Nikolay wonder, and look on the engagement to Bolkonsky rather sceptically. —
这让尼古拉感到疑惑，对与博尔康斯基的婚约充满怀疑。 —

He could not believe that her fate was by now sealed, especially as he had never seen her with Prince Andrey. —
他不相信她的命运已经确定，尤其是他从未见过她和安德烈王子在一起。 —

It still seemed to him that there was something not real in this proposed marriage.
他仍然觉得这个拟议的婚姻有些不真实。

“Why this delay? Why were they not formally betrothed?” he thought.
“为什么要等这么久？为什么他们没有正式订婚？”他想。

Once in talking to his mother about his sister, he found to his surprise, and partly to his satisfaction, that at the bottom of her heart his mother sometimes regarded the marriage as sceptically as he did.
有一次和他母亲谈论起他的姐姐，他惊讶地发现，而且部分地令他满意的是，他母亲在内心的深处对这段婚姻有时和他一样怀疑。

“Here, you see, he writes,” she said, showing her son a letter from Prince Andrey with that latent feeling of grudge which mothers always have in regard to their daughter’s happiness in marriage, “he writes that he won’t be coming before December. —
“你看，他写道”，她给儿子看一封来自安德烈王子的信，带着母亲总是对女儿婚姻中幸福有隐隐的不满的情感，“他写道他不会在十二月之前回来。 —

What can it be that keeps him? Illness, no doubt! His health is very weak. Don’t tell Natasha. —
他为什么会耽搁呢？毫无疑问是生病了！他的身体很虚弱。别告诉娜塔莎。 —

Don’t make a mistake, because she seems in good spirits; —
不要弄错了，因为她现在看起来心情很好； —

it’s the last she has of her girlhood, and I know how she is when she gets his letters. —
这是她少女时代的最后一个，我知道她收到他的信时会有怎样的表情。 —

Still, God grant, all may be well yet,” she always concluded: —
但愿一切都会好的”，她总是这样总结道： —

“he’s a splendid fellow.”
“他是一个很出色的人。”