THE BATTLE of Borodino with the occupation of Moscow and the flight of the French, that followed without any more battles, is one of the most instructive phenomena in history.
博罗金诺战役以占领莫斯科和法军的撤退作为收尾，并没有再发生其他战役，这是历史上最有教育意义的现象之一。

All historians are agreed that the external activity of states and peoples in their conflicts finds expression in wars; —
所有历史学家都一致认为，国家和民族通过战争来表达它们之间的外部冲突。 —

that the political power of states and peoples is increased or diminished as the immediate result of success or defeat in war.
国家和民族的政治力量因战争中成功或失败而增加或减弱，这一点是众所周知的。

Strange are the historical accounts that tell us how some king or emperor, quarrelling with another king or emperor, levies an army, fights a battle with the army of his foe, gains a victory, kills three, five, or ten thousand men, and consequently subdues a state and a whole people consisting of several millions; —
历史记载了一些奇怪的故事，告诉我们某位国王或皇帝与另一位国王或皇帝争吵，征召军队，与敌人的军队交战，取得胜利，杀死三千、五千或者一万人，从而征服一个由数百万人组成的国家和民族。 —

and incomprehensible it seems that the defeat of any army, one hundredth of the whole strength of a people, should force that people to submit. —
这似乎是难以理解的，即任何一个军队的失败，即使只是一个民族总人口的百分之一，也足以迫使该民族屈服。 —

Yet all the facts of history (so far as we know it) confirm the truth of the statement, that the successes or defeats of a nation’s army are the causes or, at least, the invariable symptoms of the increase or diminution of the power of a nation. —
然而，所有的历史事实（就我们所知道的而言）都证实了这样一个说法的真实性，即一个国家的军队的胜利或失败是国家权力增加或减少的原因或至少是不变的症状。 —

An army gains a victory, and immediately the claims of the conquering people are increased to the detriment of the conquered. —
军队取得胜利，立刻征服的国家的权力要减少。 —

An army is defeated, and at once the people loses its rights in proportion to the magnitude of the defeat; —
军队失败后，人民立刻失去相应的权利，败退的规模越大，损失的权益越大。 —

and if its army is utterly defeated, the people is completely conquered. —
如果一个军队彻底失败，那么人民将完全被征服。 —

So (according to history) it has been from the most ancient times up to the present. —
所以（根据历史），这是自古以来一直如此。 —

All Napoleon’s earlier wars serve as illustrations of the rule. —
拿破仑之前的所有战争都是这个规则的例证。 —

As the Austrian armies were defeated, Austria was deprived of her rights, and the rights and power of France were increased. —
奥地利军队的失败剥夺了奥地利的权益，而法国的权益和力量增加了。 —

The victories of the French at Jena and at Auerstadt destroyed the independent existence of Prussia.
法国在耶拿和奥尔斯塔特的胜利摧毁了普鲁士的独立存在。

But suddenly, in 1812, the French gained a victory before Moscow. —
但是突然在1812年，法国军队在莫斯科前取得了胜利。 —

Moscow was taken, and in consequence of that, with no subsequent battles, not Russia, but the French army of six hundred thousand, and then Napoleonic France itself ceased to exist. —
莫斯科被占领，结果是没有随后的战斗，不是俄罗斯，而是拥有六十万人的法国军队，然后整个拿破仑时代的法国消失了。 —

To strain the facts to fit the rules of history, to maintain that the field of Borodino was left in the hands of the Russians, or that after the evacuation of Moscow, there were battles that destroyed Napoleon’s army—is impossible.
为了迎合历史规律而曲解事实，坚持认为博罗金诺战役的战场仍然掌握在俄军手中，或者说莫斯科撤离后有战斗摧毁了拿破仑的军队——这是不可能的。

After the victory of the French at Borodino, there was no general engagement, nor even a skirmish of any great importance, yet the French army ceased to exist. —
在法国在博罗金诺取得胜利后，既没有发生总体战，也没有发生任何重要的敌对行动，然而法国军队不复存在了。 —

What is the meaning of it? If it had been an example from the history of China, we could have said it was not an historical fact (the resource of historians when anything will not fit in with their rules). —
这是什么意思呢？如果这是中国历史上的例子，我们可以说这不是历史事实（历史学家在任何与他们规则不符的情况下使用的资源）。 —

If it had occurred in a conflict on a small scale, in which only small numbers of soldiers had taken part, we might have looked upon it as an exception. —
如果这发生在规模较小的冲突中，只有少数军人参与其中，我们可能会将其视为例外。 —

But all this took place before the eyes of our fathers, for whom it was a question of life and death for their country; —
但是这一切都发生在我们的父辈眼前，对他们来说，这是国家生死攸关的问题； —

and the war was on a larger scale than any wars we know of.
而且这场战争的规模比我们所知的任何战争都大。

The sequel of the campaign of 1812—from Borodino to the final expulsion of the French—has proved that victories are not always a cause nor even an invariable sign of conquest; —
1812年战役的后续事件——从博罗金诺到法军最终被驱逐——证明了胜利并不总是征服的原因，甚至也不是征服的不变迹象； —

it has proved that the force that decides the fate of peoples does not lie in military leaders, nor even in armies and battles, but in something else.
这证明了决定民族命运的力量不在于军事领导者，甚至不在于军队和战役，而在于其他方面。

The French historians, who describe the position of the French troops before they marched out of Moscow, assert that everything was in good order in the Grande Armée, except the cavalry, the artillery, and the transport, and that there was no forage for the horses and cattle. —
法国历史学家们在描述法军在离开莫斯科前的位置时断言，除了骑兵、炮兵和运输部队外，大军一切井然有序，并且没有饲料供给马匹和牛羊。 —

There was no remedy for this defect, because the peasants of the surrounding country burned their hay rather than let the French have it.
对于这个缺陷没有任何补救措施，因为周围村庄的农民宁愿烧掉它们的干草，也不愿意给法国人。

Victory did not bring forth its usual results, because the peasants, Karp and Vlas, by no means persons of heroic feelings (after the French evacuation, they hurried with their carts to pillage Moscow), and the immense multitude of others like them burnt their hay rather than bring it to Moscow, however high the prices offered them.
胜利并没有带来通常的效果，因为农民卡尔普和弗拉斯不是英勇的人（法国人撤退后，他们急忙用车辆抢劫莫斯科），还有其他类似他们的无数人宁愿烧掉他们的干草也不愿搬到莫斯科，无论提供多高的价格。

Let us imagine two men, who have come out to fight a duel with swords in accordance with all the rules of the art of swordsmanship. —
让我们想象两个人按照剑术的所有规则来进行一场决斗。 —

The fencing has lasted for some time. All at once one of the combatants, feeling that he is wounded, grasping that it is no joking matter, but a question of life and death, flings away his sword, and snatching up the first cudgel that comes handy, begins to brandish that. —
击剑持续了一段时间。突然，其中一位战斗者感到自己受伤了，意识到这不是闹着玩的，而是生死攸关的问题，他扔掉剑，抓起随手可得的木棍开始挥舞。 —

But let us imagine that the combatant, who has so sensibly made use of the best and simplest means for the attainment of his object, should be inspired by the traditions of chivalry to try and disguise the real cause of the conflict and should persist in declaring that he had been victor in the duel in accordance with all the rules of swordsmanship. —
但让我们想象一下，那位明智地利用了最好、最简单的手段来达到他的目标的战斗者，竟然受到了骑士精神的启发，试图掩盖冲突的真正原因，并坚持声明他遵循了剑术的所有规则在决斗中获胜。 —

One can imagine what confusion and obscurity would arise from his description of the duel!
可以想象他对决斗的描述会引起何等的混乱和不明确！

The duellist, who insisted on the conflict being fought in accordance with the principles of the fencer’s art, stands for the French; —
坚持按照剑士艺术原则进行冲突的决斗者代表法国； —

his opponent, who flung away his sword and snatched up a cudgel, did like the Russians; —
他的对手扔掉剑拿起木棍的做法则像俄罗斯人； —

and the attempted description of the duel in accordance with the rules of swordsmanship has been given us by the historians of the war.
历史学家们给我们提供了试图按照剑术规则描述决斗的史实。

From the time of the burning of Smolensk a war began which did not follow any of the old traditions of warfare. —
从烧毁斯摩棱斯克开始，一场没有遵循传统战争规则的战争开始了。 —

The burning of towns and villages, the retreat after every battle, the blow dealt at Borodino and followed by retreat, the burning of Moscow, the capture of marauders, the seizing of transports,—the whole of the irregular warfare was a departure from the rules.
城镇和村庄的焚烧、每场战斗后的撤退、在伯罗迪诺发动的打击和随后的撤退、莫斯科的焚烧、控制掠夺者、没收运输工具——所有这些不规则的战争行为都违反了规则。

Napoleon was aware of it, and from the time when he stood waiting in Moscow in the correct pose of the victorious fencer, and instead of his opponent’s sword, saw the bludgeon raised against him, he never ceased complaining to Kutuzov and to the Emperor Alexander that the war was being conducted contrary to all the rules of war. —
拿破仑意识到了这一点，而自从他站在莫斯科等待的时候，以战胜剑客的正确姿势，却看到对他举起的是棍棒，他就一直向库图佐夫和亚历山大皇帝抱怨战争违背了一切战争规则。 —

(As though any rules existed for the slaughter of men!)
（仿佛存在任何屠杀人的规则！）

In spite of the complaints of the French that they did not keep to the rules, in spite of the fact that the Russians in the highest positions felt it somehow shameful to be fighting with a cudgel, and wanted to take up the correct position en quarte or en tierce, to make a skilful thrust, en prime and so on, the cudgel of the people’s war was raised in all its menacing and majestic power; —
尽管法国人抱怨他们没有遵守规则，尽管俄罗斯的高级军官们感到与用棍棒作战有些可耻，想要采取正确的四度甚至三度的姿势，做出熟练的刺击，以及优先等等，但人民战争的棍棒仍然威严地举起； —

and troubling itself about no question of any one’s tastes or rules, about no fine distinctions, with stupid simplicity, with perfect consistency, it rose and fell and belaboured the French till the whole invading army had been driven out.
毫不关心他人的品味或规则的问题，毫不分辨，以愚蠢的简约和完美的一致性，它上升下降，殴打法国人，直到整个入侵军队被赶出去。

And happy the people that will not, as the French did in 1813, saluting according to the rules, gracefully and cautiously offer the sword hilt to the magnanimous conqueror. —
幸福的人民，他们将不会像1813年的法国人那样，按照规则礼貌而小心地向慈悲的胜利者敬礼，优雅地递上剑柄。 —

Happy the people who, in the moment of trial, asks no questions how others would act by the recognised rules in such cases, but with ease and directness picks up the first cudgel that comes handy and deals blows with it, till resentment and revenge give way to contempt and pity.
幸福的人民，当面临考验时，不会问其他人在这种情况下如何按照公认的规则行事，而是轻松而直接地拿起第一根手便的棍棒，用它击打，直到怨恨和复仇让步于鄙视和怜悯。