THE NOTE submitted by Bennigsen, and the report sent in by the Cossacks of the enemy’s left flank being unguarded, were simply the last straws that showed the inevitability of giving the signal for advance, and it was arranged to advance to attack on the 5th of October.
本尼格森提交的备忘录和哥萨克人左翼的报告表明，发起进攻的信号是不可避免的，定于10月5日开始进攻。

On the morning of the 4th, Kutuzov signed the disposition of the forces. —
4日早上，库图佐夫签署了部队的布置。 —

Toll read it to Yermolov, proposing that he should superintend the further instructions for carrying it out.
托尔将其读给耶尔莫洛夫听，并建议他负责进一步指示的执行。

“Very good, very good, I haven’t time just now,” said Yermolov, and he hurried out of the cottage. —
“非常好，非常好，我现在没有时间，”耶尔莫洛夫说完，匆忙离开了小屋。 —

The arrangement of the troops as drawn up by Toll was an excellent one. —
托尔起草的部队布置非常出色。 —

The disposition had been written out, as at Austerlitz, though not in German:
布置书写得和奥斯特里茨战役一样，只不过不是用德语。

“The First Column marches here and there, the Second Column occupies this place,” and so on.
“第一纵队从这里出发，第二纵队占领这个位置，”等等。

On paper all these columns were in their proper place at a fixed time and annihilated the enemy. —
纸上所有这些纵队在规定的时间都在正确的位置上，消灭了敌人。 —

Everything had been, as in all such cases, carefully thought of, and as in all such cases not a single column did reach its right place at the right time. —
所有这些都经过了精心思考，和其他任何类似情况一样，在所有这些情况下，没有一支纵队能够在正确的时间到达正确的位置。 —

When a sufficient number of copies of the disposition were ready, an officer was summoned and sent off to give them to Yermolov, that he might see that instructions were given in accordance with them. —
备置书的副本足够了之后，一个军官被召唤来把它们送给耶尔莫洛夫，以便他确保按照指示进行。 —

A young officer of the horseguards, in waiting on Kutuzov, set off for Yermolov’s quarters, delighted at the importance of the commission with which he was intrusted.
一位在库图佐夫身边的近卫军官, 完全被赋予如此重要的任务, 高兴地前往耶尔莫洛夫的驻地。

“Not at home,” Yermolov’s servant told him. —
“不在家，”耶尔莫洛夫的仆人告诉他。 —

The officer of the horseguards set off to the quarters of the general, with whom Yermolov was often to be found.
这位近卫军官前往将军的营地，通常可以在那里找到耶尔莫洛夫。

“Not here, nor the general either,” he was told.
“他不在这里，将军也不在，”有人告诉他。

The officer mounted his horse again and rode off to another general’s.
这位军官再次骑马离开，前往另一位将军的营地。

“No, not at home.”
“不，他不在家。”

“If only I don’t get into trouble for the delay! How annoying!” thought the officer.
“要是因为延误而惹上麻烦可就烦了！”军官心想。

He rode all over the camp. One man told him he had seen Yermolov riding away in company with some other generals; —
他穿过整个营地，有人告诉他曾见到耶尔莫洛夫和其他几位将军一起离开； —

another said he was sure to be at home again by now. —
另一个人说他现在肯定已经回家了。 —

The officer was hunting him till six o’clock in the evening without stopping for dinner. —
军官一直追寻他，直到晚上六点都没有停下来吃饭。 —

Yermolov was nowhere to be found, and no one knew where he was. —
耶尔莫洛夫无处可寻，没有人知道他在哪里。 —

The officer took a hasty meal at a comrade’s, and trotted back to the advance guard to see Miloradovitch. —
军官在一个战友那里匆匆吃了一顿饭，然后快马加鞭地返回前卫营地去见米洛拉多维奇。 —

Miloradovitch, too, was not at home, but there he was told that he was at a ball at General Kikin’s and that, most likely, Yermolov was there too.
米洛拉多维奇也不在家，但有人告诉他他在基金将军家参加舞会，而耶尔莫洛夫很可能也在那里。

“But where is that?”
“可那在哪儿？”

“At Etchkino, that way,” said an officer of the Cossacks, pointing out to him a country house in the far distance.
“在那边的Etchkino，往那个方向走，”一个哥萨克军官指着远处的一座乡间别墅对他说。

“Out there! beyond our lines!”
“在那边！我们的防线之外！”

“Two regiments of our fellows have been sent out to the outposts, and there is a spree going on there now, fine doings! —
“我们派出两个团的人去前哨了，现在那里正在搞狂欢，狂欢得很热闹啊！ —

Two bands, three choruses of singers.”
两支乐队，三个合唱团。”

The officer rode out beyond our lines to Etchkino. —
军官骑马出了我们的阵线，前往Etchkino。 —

While yet a long way off, he heard the gay sounds of a soldier’s dance tune sung in chorus.
当他离得还很远的时候，就听到了一个士兵跳舞的欢快声音和合唱。

“In the meadows … in the meadows,” he heard with a whistle and string music, drowned from time to time in a roar of voices. —
“在草地上……在草地上，”他听到哨子和弦乐声，偶尔被一阵喧嚣的声音所淹没。 —

The officer’s spirits, too, rose at these sounds, but at the same time he was in terror lest he should be held responsible for having so long delayed giving the important message intrusted to him. —
军官的情绪也因这些声音而振奋起来，但同时他担心自己会因为拖延了很长时间才传达给他的重要消息而负责。 —

It was by now nearly nine o’clock. He dismounted and walked up to the entrance of a big manor-house that had been left uninjured between the French and the Russian lines. —
此时已经快九点了。他下马走到一个在法军和俄军阵线之间没有受到损坏的大庄园的入口处。 —

Footmen were bustling about with wines and edibles in the vestibule and the buffet. —
侍从们在门厅和自助餐厅里忙碌着拿着酒和食物。 —

Choruses were standing under the windows. —
合唱队站在窗户下面。 —

The officer was led up to a door, and he saw all at once all the most important generals in the army, among them the big, impressive figure of Yermolov. —
军官被引导到一扇门前，他立刻看到了军队中最重要的将领，其中有一个高大而令人印象深刻的人物——叶尔莫洛夫。 —

All the generals were standing in a semicircle, laughing loudly, their uniforms unbuttoned, and their faces flushed and animated. —
所有的将军都站在一个半圆形的位置，大声笑着，他们的制服解开了扣子，脸红而充满活力。 —

In the middle of the room a handsome, short general with a red face, was smartly and jauntily executing the steps of the trepak.
在房间中央，有一个英俊而矮个的将军，面色红润，正在轻快地跳着特雷帕克舞的动作。

“Ha, ha, ha! Bravo, Nikolay Ivanovitch! ha, ha! …”
“哈哈哈！太棒了，尼古拉·伊万诺维奇！哈哈！…”

The officer felt doubly guilty in breaking in at such a moment with important business, and he would have waited; —
在如此重要的时刻插进来办正事，军官感到了双倍的内疚，本来他会等一会儿的； —

but one of the generals caught sight of him, and hearing what he had come for, told Yermolov. —
但其中一个将军看到了他，并听说他来做什么，便告诉了叶尔莫洛夫。 —

The latter, with a frowning face, came out to the officer, and hearing his story, took the papers from him without a word.
后者带着一张愁容满面的脸出来见军官，听完他的故事，默默地接过了文件。

“Do you suppose it was by chance that he was not at home? —
“你认为他不在家是偶然的吗？ —

” said a comrade of the officer’s who was on the staff, speaking of Yermolov that evening. —
”军官的一个同志当晚在参谋部说到叶尔莫洛夫时说道。 —

“That’s all stuff and nonsense; it was all done on purpose. —
“那完全是胡说八道；那完全是故意的。” —

To play a trick on Konovnitsyn. You see, there’ll be a pretty kettle of fish to-morrow!”
“为了捉弄科诺夫尼茨因，你看，明天会是个相当麻烦的事情！”

……”
“……”