THE ABSURDITY OF LAW–REFLECTIONS OF A JURYMAN.
法律荒谬性–一个陪审员的反思。

On coming into the Law Courts Nekhludoff met the usher of yesterday, who to-day seemed to him much to be pitied, in the corridor, and asked him where those prisoners who had been sentenced were kept, and to whom one had to apply for permission to visit them. —
当涉入法庭的涅赫卢多夫遇见昨天的警官，今天他觉得这位警官可怜，便问他被判刑的囚犯被关押在哪里，需要向谁申请探视许可。 —

The usher told him that the condemned prisoners were kept in different places, and that, until they received their sentence in its final form, the permission to visit them depended on the president. —
警官告诉他，被判刑的囚犯被关押在不同的地方，在收到最终裁决前，探视许可要取决于主席。 —

“I’ll come and call you myself, and take you to the president after the session. —
“我自己会过来叫你的，等到庭审结束后，带你去见主席。 —

The president is not even here at present. After the session! —
主席现在甚至不在这儿。等到庭审结束后！ —

And now please come in; we are going to commence.”
现在请进来，我们要开始了。”

Nekhludoff thanked the usher for his kindness, and went into the jurymen’s room. —
涅赫卢多夫感谢了警官的好意，走进了陪审员的房间。 —

As he was approaching the room, the other jurymen were just leaving it to go into the court. —
当他走向房间时，其他陪审员正好离开房间准备进入法庭。 —

The merchant had again partaken of a little refreshment, and was as merry as the day before, and greeted Nekhludoff like an old friend. —
那个商人又喝了一点点酒精，和昨天一样高兴，像老朋友一样问候涅赫卢多夫。 —

And to-day Peter Gerasimovitch did not arouse any unpleasant feelings in Nekhludoff by his familiarity and his loud laughter. —
今天彼得·格拉西莫维奇没有因亲近和大声笑声引起涅赫卢多夫不愉快的情绪。 —

Nekhludoff would have liked to tell all the jurymen about his relations to yesterday’s prisoner. —
涅赫卢多夫很想告诉所有陪审员他和昨天被告的关系。 —

“By rights,” he thought, “I ought to have got up yesterday during the trial and disclosed my guilt.”
“按道理说，”他想象, “昨天在庭审中我应该起身揭露我的罪行。

He entered the court with the other jurymen, and witnessed the same procedure as the day before.
他和其他陪审员一起进入法庭，目睹了和前一天一样的程序。

“The judges are coming,” was again proclaimed, and again three men, with embroidered collars, ascended the platform, and there was the same settling of the jury on the high-backed chairs, the same gendarmes, the same portraits, the same priest, and Nekhludoff felt that, though he knew what he ought to do, he could not interrupt all this solemnity. —
“法官们来了，”再次宣布，再次有三位戴着刺绣领结的人上了讲台，陪审员占据了高背椅子，并排着身子，有同样的宪兵和画像，有同样的神父，涅赫卢多夫感到，尽管知道应该做什么，他无法打断这一切的庄严。 —

The preparations for the trials were just the same as the day before, excepting that the swearing in of the jury and the president’s address to them were omitted.
审判的准备和前一天一样，只是省略了对陪审员的宣誓和主席对他们的讲话。

The case before the Court this day was one of burglary. —
今天法庭审理的案件是一起入室盗窃案。 —

The prisoner, guarded by two gendarmes with naked swords, was a thin, narrow-chested lad of 20, with a bloodless, sallow face, dressed in a grey cloak. —
囚犯被两名手持赤剑的宪兵看管着，是个身材瘦弱、胸膛狭窄的20岁小伙子，面色苍白，穿着一件灰色披风。 —

He sat alone in the prisoner’s dock. This boy was accused of having, together with a companion, broken the lock of a shed and stolen several old mats valued at 3 roubles [the rouble is worth a little over two shillings, and contains 100 copecks] and 67 copecks. —
他独自坐在被告席上。这个男孩被指控与一名同伴一起破门而入一个小屋，偷走了几块价值3卢布的旧草垫和67个戈比。 —

According to the indictment, a policeman had stopped this boy as he was passing with his companion, who was carrying the mats on his shoulder. —
根据起诉书，一名警察在男孩和他的同伴经过时拦下了他们，同伴肩上背着草垫。 —

The boy and his companion confessed at once, and were both imprisoned. —
男孩和他的同伴立即承认了罪行，两人都被拘留。 —

The boy’s companion, a locksmith, died in prison, and so the boy was being tried alone. —
男孩的同伴，一名锁匠，在监狱里去世了，所以这名男孩现在独自受审。 —

The old mats were lying on the table as the objects of material evidence. —
那些旧草垫被放在桌子上作为实物证据。 —

The business was conducted just in the same manner as the day before, with the whole armoury of evidence, proofs, witnesses, swearing in, questions, experts, and cross-examinations. —
生意进行得和前一天一样，用上了所有的证据、证明、证人、宣誓、问题、专家以及交叉审问。 —

In answer to every question put to him by the president, the prosecutor, or the advocate, the policeman (one of the witnesses) in variably ejected the words: —
当法庭主席、检察官或律师向警察（其中一名证人）提问时，他总是回答：“正是如此。”或者“不知道。”然而，尽管他被军事纪律所限制，变得呆板无灵，却明显不愿谈论逮捕这名被告的情况。 —

“just so,” or “Can’t tell.” Yet, in spite of his being stupefied, and rendered a mere machine by military discipline, his reluctance to speak about the arrest of this prisoner was evident. —
“just so.” or “Can’t tell.”,midway less use be stupefied, and rendered abide device in military discipline, his reluctance to talk over encircling the seizure of this prisoner observable. —

Another witness, an old house proprietor, and owner of the mats, evidently a rich old man, when asked whether the mats were his, reluctantly identified them as such. —
另一名证人，一个老房屋业主，也是垫子的主人，显然是一个富有的老人，被问到这些垫子是否属于他时，勉强承认是的。 —

When the public prosecutor asked him what he meant to do with these mats, what use they were to him, he got angry, and answered: —
当公诉人问他这些垫子对他有什么用处，他发火地回答说： —

“The devil take those mats; I don’t want them at all. —
“让魔鬼带走那些垫子；我根本不想要它们。 —

Had I known there would be all this bother about them I should not have gone looking for them, but would rather have added a ten-rouble note or two to them, only not to be dragged here and pestered with questions. —
要是早知道会有这么多麻烦，我就不会去找它们了，倒是会在里面加几张十卢布的钞票，只是不想被拖到这里来受问询。 —

I have spent a lot on isvostchiks. Besides, I am not well. —
我一直花钱雇辆车。而且，我身体也不好。 —

I have been suffering from rheumatism for the last seven years.” —
过去七年我一直患风湿。” —

It was thus the witness spoke.
证人就是这么说的。

The accused himself confessed everything, and looking round stupidly, like an animal that is caught, related how it had all happened. —
被告亲口承认了一切，并像被捉住的动物那样呆呆地四处张望，讲述了事情的经过。 —

Still the public prosecutor, drawing up his shoulders as he had done the day before, asked subtle questions calculated to catch a cunning criminal.
公诉人又像前一天那样耸了耸肩膀，提出一些能捉住狡猾罪犯的微妙问题。

In his speech he proved that the theft had been committed from a dwelling-place, and a lock had been broken; —
他在演讲中证明这起盗窃是发生在住所内的，并且锁被破坏了； —

and that the boy, therefore, deserved a heavy punishment. —
所以男孩应当受到严厉的惩罚。 —

The advocate appointed by the Court proved that the theft was not committed from a dwelling-place, and that, though the crime was a serious one, the prisoner was not so very dangerous to society as the prosecutor stated. —
法庭指派的辩护律师证明这起盗窃并非发生在住所内，虽然犯罪是严重的，但被告并非像检察官所说的那样危险社会。 —

The president assumed the role of absolute neutrality in the same way as he had done on the previous day, and impressed on the jury facts which they all knew and could not help knowing. —
法庭主席扮演了绝对中立的角色，就像前一天那样，强调了陪审团都知道并且不得不知道的事实。 —

Then came an interval, just as the day before, and they smoked; —
然后又是一个间歇，就像前一天一样，大家都在吸烟； —

and again the usher called out “The judges are coming,” and in the same way the two gendarmes sat trying to keep awake and threatening the prisoner with their naked weapons.
接着传达室喊道“法官来了”，两名卫兵就像前一天那样，坐着试图保持清醒，并拿着赤裸的武器威胁着被告。

The proceedings showed that this boy was apprenticed by his father at a tobacco factory, where he remained five years. —
审判显示，这个男孩在一个烟草工厂被他的父亲学徒，他在那里待了五年。 —

This year he had been discharged by the owner after a strike, and, having lost his place, he wandered about the town without any work, drinking all he possessed. —
今年，他在一次罢工后被业主解雇，失去了工作，他开始在城里闲逛，喝光了所有的钱财。 —

In a traktir [cheap restaurant] he met another like himself, who had lost his place before the prisoner had, a locksmith by trade and a drunkard. —
在一个廉价餐馆，他遇到了另一个和他一样的人，也是失去了工作的，一个锁匠，酗酒者。 —

One night, those two, both drunk, broke the lock of a shed and took the first thing they happened to lay hands on. —
有一天晚上，两人都喝醉了，撬开了一个棚屋的锁，拿走了他们能拿到的第一件东西。 —

They confessed all and were put in prison, where the locksmith died while awaiting the trial. —
他们坦白了一切，被关进监狱，锁匠在等待审判时去世。 —

The boy was now being tried as a dangerous creature, from whom society must be protected.
这个男孩现在被视为危险的人，必须保护社会免受他的伤害。

“Just as dangerous a creature as yesterday’s culprit,” thought Nekhludoff, listening to all that was going on before him. —
“与昨天的罪犯一样危险的人，”涅赫鲁多夫听着庭审中的一切所想。 —

“They are dangerous, and we who judge them? I, a rake, an adulterer, a deceiver. —
“他们危险，而我们这些审判他们的呢？我，一个纨绔子弟，一个通奸者，一个欺诈者。 —

We are not dangerous. But, even supposing that this boy is the most dangerous of all that are here in the court, what should he done from a common-sense point of view when he has been caught? —
我们并不危险。但是，即使这个男孩被认为是法庭里最危险的人，那么从常识的角度看，当他被抓住后应该怎么办呢？ —

It is clear that he is not an exceptional evil-doer, but a most ordinary boy; —
很明显，他不是一个特别邪恶的人，而是一个非常普通的男孩； —

every one sees it–and that he has become what he is simply because he got into circumstances that create such characters, and, therefore, to prevent such a boy from going wrong the circumstances that create these unfortunate beings must be done away with.
每个人都看得出来—他之所以变成现在这个样子只是因为他处于创造出这种性格的环境中，因此，为了防止这样的男孩走上歧途，必须消除创造这些可怜人的环境。

“But what do we do? We seize one such lad who happens to get caught, knowing well that there are thousands like him whom we have not caught, and send him to prison, where idleness, or most unwholesome, useless labour is forced on him, in company of others weakened and ensnared by the lives they have led. —
“但是我们做了什么？我们抓住其中一个被捕的这样的年轻人，明明知道还有成千上万像他一样的人我们没有抓住，然后把他送进监狱，让他在那里被迫闲坐或从事极其不健康、毫无用处的劳动，与其他生活混乱、被自己过去的生活纠缠的人为伍。 —

And then we send him, at the public expense, from the Moscow to the Irkoutsk Government, in company with the most depraved of men.
然后，我们花着公共开支，把他从莫斯科送到伊尔库茨克，和最堕落的人为伍。

“But we do nothing to destroy the conditions in which people like these are produced; —
但是我们没有做任何事来消除产生这样人的条件； —

on the contrary, we support the establishments where they are formed. —
相反，我们支持那些培养这些人的机构。 —

These establishments are well known: factories, mills, workshops, public-houses, gin-shops, brothels. —
这些地方众所周知：工厂、磨坊、车间、酒馆、酒店、妓院。 —

And we do not destroy these places, but, looking at them as necessary, we support and regulate them. We educate in this way not one, but millions of people, and then catch one of them and imagine that we have done something, that we have guarded ourselves, and nothing more can be expected of us. —
我们并不摧毁这些地方，而是认为它们是必要的，我们支持和管理它们。我们这样教育的不仅仅是一个人，而是数百万人，然后我们抓住其中一个人，认为我们已经做了一些事情，我们已经保护了自己，不应再对我们有任何期待。 —

Have we not sent him from the Moscow to the Irkoutsk Government?” —
“我们不是把他从莫斯科送到伊尔库茨克府吗？” —

Thus thought Nekhludoff with unusual clearness and vividness, sitting in his high-backed chair next to the colonel, and listening to the different intonations of the advocates’, prosecutor’s, and president’s voices, and looking at their self-confident gestures. —
尼赫露多夫坐在高背椅上，靠近上校，用不同的调子听着辩护人、检察官和主席的声音，看着他们自信的姿态，以前所未有的清晰和生动的想法在脑海里闪过。 —

“And how much and what hard effort this pretence requires,” continued Nekhludoff in his mind, glancing round the enormous room, the portraits, lamps, armchairs, uniforms, the thick walls and large windows; —
“这个伪装需要多少努力和什么样的努力，” 尼赫露多夫在心里继续思考，环顾宽敞的房间，肖像、灯、扶手椅、制服、厚厚的墙壁和大窗户； —

and picturing to himself the tremendous size of the building, and the still more ponderous dimensions of the whole of this organisation, with its army of officials, scribes, watchmen, messengers, not only in this place, but all over Russia, who receive wages for carrying on this comedy which no one needs. —
并想象这座巨大建筑的规模，以及整个这个组织的更加庞大的规模，其中有大量的官员、书记、看守、传令兵，不仅在这个地方，而且在整个俄罗斯，他们为进行这场没有人需要的喜剧领取报酬。 —

“Supposing we spent one-hundredth of these efforts helping these castaways, whom we now only regard as hands and bodies, required by us for our own peace and comfort. —
“假如我们花费这些努力的百分之一帮助这些无家可归的人，我们现在只把他们视为我们需要的手和身体，用于我们自身的安宁和舒适。 —

Had some one chanced to take pity on him and given some help at the time when poverty made them send him to town, it might have been sufficient,” Nekhludoff thought, looking at the boy’s piteous face. —
有人如果在贫困使他们送他到市镇时可怜他，并给予一些帮助，这可能足够，” 尼赫露多夫看着男孩悲伤的脸想道。 —

“Or even later, when, after 12 hours’ work at the factory, he was going to the public-house, led away by his companions, had some one then come and said, ‘Don’t go, Vania; —
“或者甚至稍后，他在工厂工作了12个小时后，跟随同伴去酒馆时，被同伴带坏，如果有人当时过来说:‘别去，瓦尼亚； —

it is not right,’ he would not have gone, nor got into bad ways, and would not have done any wrong.
这不对’，他不会走，也不会沦为坏习惯，也不会做错事。

“But no; no one who would have taken pity on him came across this apprentice in the years he lived like a poor little animal in the town, and with his hair cut close so as not to breed vermin, and ran errands for the workmen. —
“但是不；没有人对这个实习生产生怜悯之心，以后他像一个贫困的小动物在镇上生活的这几年间，在那里留了短发以免滋生寄生虫，并为工人跑腿。 —

No, all he heard and saw, from the older workmen and his companions, since he came to live in town, was that he who cheats, drinks, swears, who gives another a thrashing, who goes on the loose, is a fine fellow. —
不，他从搬到市镇生活起所看到和听到的一切都来自那些更老的工人和他的同伴，就是从他来镇上居住后，他们看到的就是那些欺诈、酗酒、诅咒的人，那些打人、花心的人是好人。 —

Ill, his constitution undermined by unhealthy labour, drink, and debauchery–bewildered as in a dream, knocking aimlessly about town, he gets into some sort of a shed, and takes from there some old mats, which nobody needs–and here we, all of us educated people, rich or comfortably off, meet together, dressed in good clothes and fine uniforms, in a splendid apartment, to mock this unfortunate brother of ours whom we ourselves have ruined.
在工作岗位上搬迁的他，体质受损于不健康的工作、酗酒和放荡的生活，像在梦中迷茫，无目的地在城里闲逛，他进入某种棚屋，从那里拿走一些无人需要的旧垫子——而此刻我们，所有我们这些受过教育的人，富裕或过得舒服的人，都穿着漂亮的衣服和华丽的制服，聚集在一间华丽的公寓里，嘲笑我们自己毁灭的这位不幸的兄弟。

“Terrible! It is difficult to say whether the cruelty or the absurdity is greater, but the one and the other seem to reach their climax.”
“可怕！难以说残忍还是荒谬更为严重，但两者似乎都达到了极致。”

Nekhludoff thought all this, no longer listening to what was going on, and he was horror-struck by that which was being revealed to him. —
尼哈鲁多夫思考着这一切，不再听到周围发生的事情，他被所揭示的事实惊吓到。 —

He could not understand why he had not been able to see all this before, and why others were unable to see it.
他无法理解为什么以前他无法看到这一切，也无法理解为什么其他人无法看到。