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第三章
Anna Vassilyevna Stahov—her maiden name was Shubin—had been left, at seven years old, an orphan and heiress of a pretty considerable property. She had very rich and also very poor relations; the poor relations were on her father's, the rich on her mother's side; the latter including the senator Volgin and the Princes Tchikurasov. Prince Ardalion Tchikurasov, who had been appointed her guardian, placed her in the best Moscow boarding—school, and when she left school, took her into his own home. He kept open house, and gave balls in the winter. Anna Vassilyevna's future husband, Nikolai Artemyevitch Stahov, captured her heart at one of these balls when she was arrayed in a charming rose—coloured gown, with a wreath of tiny roses. She had treasured that wreath all her life. Nikolai Artemyevitch Stahov was the son of a retired captain, who had been wounded in 1812, and had received a lucrative post in Petersburg. Nikolai Artemyevitch entered the School of Cadets at sixteen, and left to go into the Guards. He was a handsome, well—made fellow, and reckoned almost the most dashing beau at evening parties of the middling sort, which were those he frequented for the most part; he had not gained a footing in the best society. From his youth he had been absorbed by two ideals: to get into the Imperial adjutants, and to make a good marriage; the first ideal he soon discarded, but he clung all the more closely to the second, and it was with that object that he went every winter to Moscow. Nikolai Artemyevitch spoke French fairly, and passed for being a philosopher, because he was not a rake. Even while he was no more than an ensign, he was given to discussing, persistently, such questions as whether it is possible for a man to visit the whole of the globe in the course of his whole lifetime, whether it is possible for a man to know what is happening at the bottom of the sea; and he always maintained the view that these things were impossible.
安娜? 瓦西里耶夫娜? 斯塔霍夫——没出嫁前姓舒宾——七岁时就成了一个孤儿，继承了一笔相当丰厚的遗产。她既有些富亲戚，也有些穷亲戚。父亲那边的亲戚都很穷，母亲那边的则很富有——包括参议员沃尔金和齐库拉索夫公爵一家。阿尔达里翁? 齐库拉索夫公爵被指定为她的法定监护人，他把她送到了莫斯科最好的寄宿学校，在她毕业后，带她回自己家生活。他经常在冬天里广邀宾客，频繁地举办各种舞会。尼古拉? 阿尔捷米耶维奇? 斯塔霍夫，也就是安娜? 瓦西里耶夫娜后来的丈夫，就是在一次这样的舞会上获得了她的芳心。那次她穿了件迷人的玫瑰色长礼服，头上还带着由小玫瑰花编成的花环。她一生都十分喜欢那种花环。尼古拉? 阿尔捷米耶维奇? 斯塔霍夫的父亲是一个已经退役的上校，他在1812年的卫国战争中受了伤，然后被安排在彼得堡一个待遇很好的职位工作。尼古拉? 阿尔捷米耶维奇在十六岁的时候进入军校，毕业后加入了禁卫军。他英俊潇洒，体格健壮，在他经常出现的中产阶级的舞会上，几乎被公认为最耀眼的美男子。当时，他还没能进入上流社会。从小他就有两个愿望：成为一名皇家警卫员，娶一个富有的老婆，前一个愿望他很快就放弃了；但对后一个愿望，他倒是越来越努力，正因为如此，他每年冬天都要来莫斯科。尼古拉? 阿尔捷米耶维奇法语说得很流利，还获得了哲学家的头衔，因为他不放纵自己。当他还是个少尉时，他就很喜欢固执地和别人讨论一些问题，比如说一个人在一生中有没有可能环游世界，或是人们有没有可能知道海底世界到底是什么样子。他总认为这些事情都是不可能做到的。
Nikolai Artemyevitch was twenty—five years old when he 'hooked' Anna Vassilyevna; he retired from the service and went into the country to manage the property. He was soon tired of country life, and as the peasants' labour was all commuted for rent he could easily leave the estate; he settled in Moscow in his wife's house. In his youth he had played no games of any kind, but now he developed a passion for loto, and, when loto was prohibited, for whist. At home he was bored; he formed a connection with a widow of German extraction, and spent almost all his time with her. In the year 1853he had not moved to Kuntsovo; he stopped at Moscow, ostensibly to take advantage of the mineral waters; in reality, he did not want to part from his widow. He did not, however, have much conversation with her, but argued more than ever as to whether one can foretell the weather and such questions. Some one had once called him a frondeur; he was greatly delighted with that name. 'Yes, ' he thought, letting the corners of his mouth drop complacently and shaking his head, 'I am not easily satisfied; you won't take me in. ' Nikolai Artemyevitch's frondeurism consisted in saying, for instance, when he heard the word nerves: 'And what do you mean by nerves? ' or if some one alluded in his presence to the discoveries of astronomy, asking: 'And do you believe in astronomy? ' When he wanted to overwhelm his opponent completely, he said: 'All that is nothing but words. ' It must be admitted that to many persons remarks of that kind seemed (and still seem) irrefutable arguments. But Nikolai Artemyevitch never suspected that Augustina Christianovna, in letters to her cousin, Theodolina Peterzelius, called him Mein Pinselchen.
尼古拉? 阿尔捷米耶维奇 “钓” 上安娜? 瓦西里耶夫娜的时候二十五岁，之后他就退役，到乡下来打理产业。他很快就厌倦了乡村生活，由于当时乡下已改为只收农民的代役租了，所以他很轻松地离开了庄园，住在了他妻子莫斯科的房子里。年轻时他从不打牌，但现在却迷上了罗托，当不能玩罗托的时候，他又迷上了惠斯特。他在家里觉得很无聊，所以就勾搭上了一个带有德国血统的寡妇，而且几乎所有时间都和她在一起。1853年他没有和其他人一起搬去孔佐沃，他留在了莫斯科，表面上说是想利用这里的矿泉水，事实上，他是不想离开他的那个寡妇。然而，他却跟她没多少话说，谈论的也多是像 “人能否预知天气” 这样的问题。有次有人说他是个反对党，他还很喜欢那个称呼。 “是的，” 他琢磨着，得意地翘了翘嘴巴，并晃了晃脑袋， “我可不好惹，你别想骗我。” 不过，尼古拉? 阿尔捷米耶维奇的这种反叛也只是在嘴上说说而已，比如，当他听到神经这个词语的时候，他会问： “你说的这个词是什么意思？” 或者是当有人跟他提及天文学发现时，他就会问： “你相信天文学吗？” 当他想要完全压倒对方观点时，他就会说： “其实那只不过是些毫无意义的话而已。” 确实，对不少人来说，这些话语是很难被反驳的（似乎到现在还是这样）。但是，尼古拉? 阿尔捷米耶维奇怎么也不会想到，奥古斯丁娜? 克里斯蒂安诺夫娜会在写给堂妹西奥多琳娜? 彼得济柳斯的信中竟然称他为 “我的小傻瓜” 。
Nikolai Artemyevitch's wife, Anna Vassilyevna, was a thin, little woman with delicate features, and a tendency to be emotional and melancholy. At school, she had devoted herself to music and reading novels; afterwards she abandoned all that. She began to be absorbed in dress, and that, too, she gave up. She did, for a time, undertake her daughter's education, but she got tired of that too, and handed her over to a governess. She ended by spending her whole time in sentimental brooding and tender melancholy. The birth of Elena Nikolaevna had ruined her health, and she could never have another child. Nikolai Artemyevitch used to hint at this fact in justification of his intimacy with Augustina Christianovna. Her husband's infidelity wounded Anna Vassilyevna deeply; she had been specially hurt by his once giving his German woman, on the sly, a pair of grey horses out of her (Anna Vassilyevna's) own stable. She had never reproached him to his face, but she complained of him secretly to every one in the house in turn, even to her daughter. Anna Vassilyevna did not care for going out, she liked visitors to come and sit with her and talk to her; she collapsed at once when she was left alone. She had a very tender and loving heart; life had soon crushed her.
安娜? 瓦西里耶夫娜，尼古拉? 阿尔捷米耶维奇的妻子，是一个身型瘦小，五官精致，有点儿情绪化，又有点儿忧郁的女人。在上学的时候，她很喜欢听音乐和看小说，毕业后就把这些爱好全部抛弃了。接着她又喜欢上了漂亮的衣服，不过后来也放弃了这个爱好。曾经有段时间她自己负责女儿的教育，不过后来她又厌倦了，之后请来一个女家庭教师接替这一工作。此后，她整天伤春悲秋，敏感忧郁。生完埃琳娜? 尼古拉耶夫娜以后，她的身体就越来越差，以至于以后都不可能再有孩子了。尼古拉? 阿尔捷米耶维奇也总是不断地向别人暗示这件事情，以便为他和奥古斯丁娜? 克里斯蒂安诺夫娜的亲密交往找一个正当的理由。丈夫的不忠让安娜? 瓦西里耶夫娜心里很受伤，而更让她难过的是有一次他竟偷偷摸摸地把她（安娜? 瓦西里耶夫娜）马场里的两匹灰马送给了他的那个德国女人。她并没有当面指责他，但私底下却不断地给家里的人甚至她的女儿抱怨这件事情。安娜? 瓦西里耶夫娜不喜欢到外面去，她只喜欢客人们到家里来坐着陪她聊天，当她一个人的时候，她的情绪就会立刻崩溃。她非常温柔而且善良，生活很快耗尽了她的精力。
Pavel Yakovlitch Shubin happened to be a distant cousin of hers. His father had been a government official in Moscow. His brothers had entered cadets' corps; he was the youngest, his mother's darling, and of delicate constitution; he stopped at home. They intended him for the university, and strained every effort to keep him at the gymnasium. From his early years he began to show an inclination for sculpture. The ponderous senator, Volgin, saw a statuette of his one day at his aunt 's—he was then sixteen—and declared that he intended to protect this youthful genius. The sudden death of Shubin's father very nearly effected a complete transformation in the young man's future. The senator, the patron of genius, made him a present of a bust of Homer in plaster, and did nothing more. But Anna Vassilyevna helped him with money, and at nineteen he scraped through into the university in the faculty of medicine. Pavel felt no inclination for medical science, but, as the university was then constituted, it was impossible for him to enter in any other faculty. Besides, he looked forward to studying anatomy. But he did not complete his anatomical studies; at the end of the first year, and before the examination, he left the university to devote himself exclusively to his vocation. He worked zealously, but by fits and starts; he used to stroll about the country round Moscow sketching and modelling portraits of peasant girls, and striking up acquaintance with all sorts of people, young and old, of high and low degree, Italian models and Russian artists. He would not hear of the Academy, and recognised no one as a teacher. He was possessed of unmistakeable talent; it began to be talked about in Moscow. His mother, who came of a good Parisian family, a kind—hearted and clever woman, had taught him French thoroughly and had toiled and thought for him day and night. She was proud of him, and when, while still young in years, she died of consumption, she entreated Anna Vassilyevna to take him under her care. He was at that time twenty—one. Anna Vassilyevna carried out her last wish; a small room in the lodge of the country villa was given up to him.
帕维尔? 雅克夫利奇? 舒宾恰巧是她的一个远房亲戚。他的父亲曾在莫斯科的一个政府机构上班。他的哥哥们都进了军校，他年龄最小，母亲又十分疼爱他，再加上他身体虚弱，所以就一直呆在家里。家里人打算供他读完大学，千方百计地让他锻炼身体。从小他就显示出对雕塑的喜爱。有一天，那个肥胖的沃尔金参议员在他姑姑的房间里发现了他做的一个小雕像——他那时才十六岁——然后他就宣布他打算担保这个年轻的天才以后的发展。但是舒宾的父亲去世了，这几乎完全改变了这个年轻人的未来。那个参议员，天才的担保人，只给了舒宾一尊荷马的半身塑像做礼物，之后就再无消息。但安娜? 瓦西里耶夫娜却资助了他，十九岁那年，他的分数擦边进了大学的医学院。帕维尔不是很喜欢学医，但碍于学校制定的名额限制，他不可能再转到其他的院系。此外，他也很想学习解剖学。但是，他却没有学完解剖学的课程，第一学年期末，他没参加考试就离开了学校，投入到他喜欢的塑造雕塑的工作中了。他工作努力，但却三天打渔，两天晒网。他经常到莫斯科郊外闲逛，为一些乡下姑娘画些素描，并认识了各种各样的人，有年纪轻轻的，也有白发苍苍的，有上流社会的，也有下层阶级的，有意大利模特，也有俄国艺术家。他不愿去学院里学习，也没有拜谁为师。他拥有无与伦比的才华，他的名声开始在莫斯科传播开来。他的母亲来自于巴黎的一个富有家庭，是位善良聪明的女人，她认真地教他法语，日日夜夜为他着想，为他操劳。她为他感到骄傲，但在她还很年轻的时候，她就患肺病去世了，死前她恳求安娜? 瓦西里耶夫娜照料帮她照顾舒宾。那时他已经二十一岁了。安娜? 瓦西里耶夫娜兑现了她之前的承诺，把乡间别墅门房的一个小房间给他住。