SOON AFTER THE CHRISTMAS FêTES were over, Nikolay spoke to his mother of his love for Sonya, and his immovable resolution to marry her. —
圣诞节过后不久，尼古拉对他的母亲说起了他对索尼娅的爱，以及他坚定不移地决定要与她结婚。 —

The countess had long before observed what was passing between Sonya and Nikolay, and was expecting this announcement. —
女伯爵早已观察到索尼娅和尼古拉之间的事情，并对此宣告表示不出意外。 —

She listened to his words without comment, and then told her son that he could marry whom he chose, but that neither she nor his father would give their blessing to such a marriage. —
她默默地听完他的话后，告诉儿子他可以娶任何女人，但她和他父亲都不会给予他们祝福。 —

For the first time in his life Nikolay felt that his mother was displeased with him, that in spite of all her love for him she would not give way to him. —
尼古拉生平第一次感到他的母亲对他不满意，尽管她多么深爱他，她也不会屈服于他。 —

Coldly, without looking at her son, she sent for her husband; —
冷淡地，没有看着她的儿子，她叫来了她的丈夫； —

and when he came in, the countess would have briefly and coldly, in Nikolay’s presence, told him her son’s intention, but she could not control herself, burst into tears of anger, and went out of the room. —
他进来后，女伯爵本打算简单而冷淡地，在尼古拉的面前告诉他丈夫儿子的意愿，但她无法控制自己，愤怒地哭泣着离开了房间。 —

The old count began irresolutely persuading and entreating Nikolay to give up his intention. —
老伯爵开始犹豫不决地劝说和恳求尼古拉放弃他的意图。 —

Nikolay replied he could not be false to his word, and his father, sighing and visibly embarrassed, quickly cut short the conversation and went in to the countess. —
尼古拉回答说他不能违背自己的诺言，他的父亲叹了口气，明显感到尴尬，迅速中断了对话，走进了女伯爵的房间。 —

In all difficulties with his son, the old count could never lose his sense of guiltiness to him for having wasted their fortunes, and so he could not feel angry with his son for refusing to marry an heiress and choosing the portionless Sonya. He only felt more keenly that if their fortune had not been squandered, no better wife could have been desired for Nikolay than Sonya; —
在与儿子的所有困难中，老伯爵永远也不能忘记对他的内疚感，因为他们的财富被浪费了，所以他无法因为儿子拒绝娶个有财产的女继承人而生气，而选择了一无所有的索尼娅。他只是更加痛感，如果他们的财富没有被浪费，对尼古拉来说，没有比索尼娅更好的妻子了。 —

and that he, with his Mitenka and his invincible bad habits, was alone to blame for their fortune having been squandered. —
他认为，无法无天和无法改掉的坏习惯的他自己，是他们财富遭浪费的唯一原因。 —

The father and mother did not speak of the subject again with their son; —
父母没有再和儿子讨论这个问题。 —

but a few days later the countess sent for Sonya to her room, and with a cruelty that surprised them both, the countess upbraided her niece for alluring her son and for ingratitude. —
但几天后，女伯爵叫索尼娅到她的房间，用一种令人惊讶的残忍，责备她引诱她的儿子和不忠。 —

Sonya, with downcast eyes, listened in silence to the countess’s cruel words, and did not understand what was expected of her. —
索尼娅低着头静静地听着女伯爵残酷的话语，却不明白她期望她做什么。 —

She was ready to sacrifice everything for her benefactors. —
她愿意为她的恩人们牺牲一切。 —

The idea of self-sacrifice was her favourite idea. —
自我牺牲的理念是她最喜欢的理念。 —

But in this case she could not see whom and what she ought to sacrifice. —
但在这种情况下，她看不清应该牺牲谁和什么。 —

She could not help loving the countess and all the Rostov family, but neither could she help loving Nikolay and knowing that his happiness depended on that love. —
她无法不爱女伯爵和整个罗斯托夫家族，但她也无法不爱尼古拉，她知道他的幸福取决于这份爱。 —

She was silent and dejected; she made no reply. —
她默默地沮丧着，没有回应。 —

Nikolay could not, so he fancied, endure this position any longer, and he went in to his mother to have it out with her. —
尼古拉无法再忍受这个局面了，于是他进去找他妈妈解决问题。 —

Nikolay first besought his mother to forgive him and Sonya and to agree to their marriage; —
尼古拉首先请求他的母亲原谅他和索尼娅，并同意他们的婚姻； —

then threatened his mother that if Sonya were persecuted he would at once marry her in secret. —
然后威胁他的母亲，如果索尼娅受到迫害，他将立即秘密与她结婚。 —

The countess, with a coldness her son had never seen before, replied that he was of full age, that Prince Andrey was marrying without his father’s consent, and that he could do the same, but that she would never receive that intriguing creature as her daughter.
伯爵夫人以她儿子从未见过的冷漠回答道，他已经成年了，安德烈王子在没有他父亲的同意下结婚，他也可以做同样的事，但她永远不会接受那个阴险的人作为女婿的。

Stung to fury by the words “intriguing creature,” Nikolay, raising his voice, told his mother that he had never expected her to try and force him to tell his feelings, and that since it was so, then for the last time he … But he had not time to utter the fatal word, which his mother seemed, from her expression, to be awaiting in terror, and which would, perhaps, have remained a cruel memory between them for ever. —
被“阴险的人”这个词刺痛，尼古拉高声告诉他的母亲，他从未想到她会试图强迫他说出自己的感受，既然如此，那么这是最后一次他…但他来不及说那个致命的词，从他母亲的表情中，她似乎在恐惧地等待着那个词语，这或许将永远在他们之间残留着残酷的记忆。 —

He had not time to finish, because Natasha, who had been listening at the door, ran into the room with a pale and set face.
他没有时间说完，因为一直在门口听着的娜塔莎带着苍白而坚定的脸跑进了房间。

“Nikolenka, you are talking nonsense; hush, hush, hush! I tell you hush! —
“尼科连卡，你说的都是胡话，嘘，嘘，嘘！我告诉你嘘！ —

” … she almost screamed to overpower his voice.
”她几乎尖叫着，以压过他的声音。

“Mamma, darling, it’s not at all so … my sweet, poor darling,” she said, turning to her mother, who gazed in terror at her son, feeling herself on the edge of an abyss; —
“妈妈，亲爱的，一点也不是这样……我亲爱的，可怜的孩子，”她转向母亲，后者恐惧地凝视着她的儿子，感到自己站在深渊的边缘； —

but in the obstinacy and heat of the conflict unwilling and unable to give in. —
但在这场冲突中，她固执而热衷，不愿意也无法屈服。 —

“Nikolenka, I’ll explain to you; you go away—listen, mamma, darling,” she said to her mother.
“尼科连卡，我会给你解释的；你走开——听着，妈妈，亲爱的，”她对母亲说。

Her words were incoherent, but they attained the effect at which she was aiming.
她的话语无序，但却达到了她想要的效果。

The countess, with a deep sob, hid her face on her daughter’s bosom, while Nikolay got up, clutched at his head, and went out of the room.
女伯爵悲切地把脸藏在女儿的胸膛上，而尼古拉站起来，抓住头，走出房间。

Natasha set to work to bring about a reconciliation, and succeeded so far that Nikolay received a promise from his mother that Sonya should not be worried, and himself made a promise that he would take no step without his parents’ knowledge.
娜塔莎着手实现和解，成功地说服尼古拉的母亲不再烦扰索尼娅，而尼古拉自己作出了承诺，不会在未经父母允许的情况下采取任何行动。

Firmly resolved to settle things in his regiment, to retire, come home, and marry Sonya, Nikolay at the beginning of January went back to his regiment, sad and serious at being on bad terms with his parents, but, as it seemed to him, passionately in love.
尼古拉一月初决心解决他在团里的事务，退役回家与索尼娅结婚，他悲伤而认真地回到了他的团里，因与父母闹得不好而感到难过，但对他来说，他似乎是热情地恋爱着。

After Nikolay’s departure, it was more depressing than ever in the Rostovs’ house. —
尼古拉离开后，罗斯托夫家变得比以往更令人沮丧。 —

The countess fell ill from the emotional strains she had passed through.
伯爵夫人因经历过的情感压力而生病了。

Sonya was depressed at parting from Nikolay, and still more at the hostile tone the countess could not help adopting towards her. —
索尼娅因与尼古拉分别而感到沮丧，伯爵夫人对她采取的敌对态度更加令她难过。 —

The count was more worried than ever by the difficulties of his position, which called for some decisive action. —
伯爵对自己的处境困难更加担忧，这需要采取决定性的行动。 —

It was necessary to sell the Moscow house and the estate near Moscow, and to do so it was necessary to go to Moscow. —
必须卖掉莫斯科的房子和莫斯科附近的庄园，为此需要去莫斯科。 —

But the countess’s illness forced them to put off going from day to day. —
但伯爵夫人的病迫使他们一天一天地推迟离开。 —

Natasha, who had at first borne the separation from her betrothed so easily and even cheerfully, grew now more impatient and overstrung every day. —
初时对与未婚夫的分离，娜塔莎毫不费力地甚至愉快地应对，但现在她变得更加不耐烦和过度紧张。 —

The thought that her best time, that might have been spent in loving him, was being wasted like this for no object, continually fretted her. —
想到本该用来爱他的美好时光被这样浪费，无所用之，让她不断地烦恼。 —

Prince Andrey’s letters generally angered her. —
安德烈王子的来信通常让她生气。 —

It mortified her to think that while she was simply living in the thought of him, he was living a real life, seeing new places and new people who were interesting to him. —
想到她只是在想他，而他正在过着真实的生活，见到新的地方和新的人，这让她感到羞辱。 —

The more interesting his letters were, the more they vexed her. —
他的来信越有趣，她就越烦恼。 —

Her letters to him, far from giving her comfort, were looked upon by her as a wearisome and artificial duty. —
她给他的信并没有给她带来安慰，反而被她视为乏味而虚假的义务。 —

She could not write, because she could not attain to expressing truly in a letter a thousandth part of what she habitually expressed in voice and smile and eyes. —
她写不出来，因为她无法在一封信中准确地表达出她平时用声音、微笑和眼神表达出来的千分之一的感受。 —

She wrote him formal letters, all on one pattern. —
她写给他的信都是一式一样的正式信件。 —

She did not attach the smallest importance to them herself, and the countess corrected the mistakes in spelling in the rough copy of them. —
她本人并不给它们丝毫重要性，而伯爵夫人纠正了这些涉及拼写错误的初稿。 —

The countess’s health still did not mend, but the visit to Moscow could be deferred no longer. —
伯爵夫人的健康仍未好转，但是到莫斯科参观已经不能再推迟了。 —

The trousseau had to be got, the house had to be sold, and Prince Andrey was to arrive first in Moscow, where his father was spending the winter, and Natasha believed that he had already arrived there. —
她们必须采购嫁妆，出售房子，而安德烈亲王将先到达莫斯科，那里是他父亲度冬的地方，而娜塔莎相信他已经到达那里。 —

The countess was left in the country, and towards the end of January the count took Sonya and Natasha with him to Moscow.
伯爵夫人留在乡间，一月底时，伯爵带着索妮娅和娜塔莎一起前往莫斯科。