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"Mr. Gubaryov, at whose rooms I had the pleasure of meeting you to—day, " he began, "did not introduce, me to you; so that, with your leave, I will now introduce myself—Potugin, retired councillor. I was in the department of finances in St. Petersburg. I hope you do not think it strange…I am not in the habit as a rule of making friends so abruptly... but with you... "
“今天很荣幸在古巴廖夫先生家里看见您。” 他开始说道， “他没有把我介绍给您。所以如果您允许，我想现在自我介绍一下。我叫波图金，是一名退休的理事。我曾在圣彼得堡的财务部工作。我希望您不要见怪……我通常没有这样唐突地交朋友的习惯……但是和您……”
Here Potugin grew rather mixed, and he asked the waiter to bring him a little glass of kirsch—wasser. "To give me courage, " he added with a smile.
这时，波图金变得相当糊涂了，他叫侍者给他拿来一小杯樱桃白兰地。 “壮壮胆。” 他微笑着补充道。
Litvinov looked with redoubled interest at the last of all the new persons with whom it had been his lot to be brought into contact that day. His thought was at once, "He is not the same as those. " Certainly he was not. There sat before him, drumming with delicate fingers on the edge of the table, a broad—shouldered man, with an ample frame on short legs, a downcast head of curly hair, with very intelligent and very mournful eyes under bushy brows, a thick well—cut mouth, bad teeth, and that purely Russian nose to which is assigned the epithet "potato"; a man of awkward, even odd exterior; at least, he was certainly not of a common type. He was carelessly dressed; his old—fashioned coat hung on him like a sack, and his cravat was, twisted awry. His sudden friendliness, far from striking Litvinov as intrusive, secretly flattered him; it was impossible not to see that it was not a common practice with this man to attach himself to strangers. He made a curious impression on Litvinov; he awakened in him respect and liking, and a kind of involuntary compassion.’
李特维诺夫以加倍的兴趣盯着今天碰到的最后一张新面孔看，就像是命中注定那天要与他说话似的。他马上想到： “他与那些人不同。” 他的确与众不同。坐在他面前、用纤细的手指敲着桌沿的这个人，肩膀宽阔，身材魁梧，双腿很短，留着一头卷发的头低垂着，浓密的眉毛下是一双非常睿智但又非常悲伤的眼睛，厚厚的嘴唇线条分明，牙齿很差，还有一个纯正的俄国式的 “土豆鼻” 。他看起来有点儿愚钝，连长相都很奇怪，但至少他肯定不是普通人。他衣着随便，身上那件过时的外套就像个麻袋，领带也系得歪歪斜斜的。他突如其来的示好并没有使李特维诺夫感到被冒犯，反而使他暗自感到受宠若惊。您不可能看不出，这个人并不是那种会对陌生人纠缠不休的人。他给李特维诺夫留下了一种奇特的印象，唤醒了他内心深处的尊敬、喜爱和情不自禁的怜悯之情。
"I am not in your way then? " he repeated in a soft, rather languid and faint voice, which was marvelously in keeping with his whole personality.
“那么，我没打搅您吧？” 波图金以一种温和、相当倦怠的微弱口吻重复说了一遍，与他整个人的个性惊人地一致。
"No, indeed, " replied Litvinov; "quite the contrary, I am very glad. "
“没有，真的没有，” 李特维诺夫答道， “恰恰相反，我很高兴。”
"Really? Well, then, I am glad, too. I have heard a great deal about you; I know what you are engaged in, and what your plans are. It's a good work. That's why you were silent this evening. "
“真的吗？嗯，那么，我也很高兴。我听说了您的很多事情，知道您在从事什么工作，还有您的计划。这是一个好工作。这就是为什么您一整晚一言不发。”
"Yes; you, too, said very little, I fancy, " observed Litvinov.
“是的，我想，您今晚也没怎么说话。” 李特维诺夫说。
Potugin sighed. "The others said enough and to spare. I listened. Well, " he added, after a moment's pause, raising his eyebrows with a rather humorous expression, "did you like our building of the Tower of Babel? "
波图金叹了叹气。 “其他人说得够多了。我听着呢。” “那么，” 沉默了片刻之后，他扬起眉毛，带着诙谐的表情补充道， “您喜欢我们的这种喧嚣场面吗？”
"That's just what it was. You have expressed it capitally. I kept wanting to ask those gentlemen what they were in such a fuss about. "
“那的确很吵。您说得对极了。我一直想问这些绅士们，他们这样大惊小怪是为了什么。”
Potugin sighed again.
波图金又叹了叹气。
"That's the whole point of it, that they don't know, that themselves. In former days the expression used about them would have been: 't hey are the blind instruments of higher ends' ; well, nowadays we make use of sharper epithets. And take note that I am not in the least intending to blame them; I will say more, they are all... that is, almost all, excellent people. Of Madame Suhantchikov, for instance, I know for certain much that is good; she gave away the last of her fortune to two poor nieces. Even admitting that the desire of doing something picturesque, of showing herself off, was not without its influence on her, still you will agree that it was a remarkable act of self—sacrifice in a woman not herself well—off! Of Mr. Pishtchalkin there is no need to speak, even; the peasants of his district will certainly in time present him with a silver bowl like a pumpkin, and perhaps even a holy picture representing his patron saint, and though he will tell them in his speech of thanks that he does not deserve such an honor, he won't tell the truth there; he does deserve it. Mr. Bambaev, your friend, has a wonderfully good heart; it's true that it's with him as with the poet Yazikov, who they say used to sing the praises of Bacchic revelry, sitting over a book and sipping water; his enthusiasm is completely without a special object, still it is enthusiasm; and Mr. Voroshilov, too, is the most good—natured fellow; like all his sort, all men who've taken the first prizes at school, he's an aide—de—campof the sciences, and he even holds his tongue sententiously, but then he is so young. Yes, yes, they are all excellent people, and when you come to results, there's nothing to show for it; the ingredients are all first—rate, but the dish is not worth eating. " Litvinov listened to Potugin with growing astonishment: every phrase, every turn of his slow but self—confident speech betrayed both the power of speaking and the desire to speak.
“这就是关键所在，连他们自己都不知道。以前，关于他们的表述应该是 ‘他们是为实现崇高目标的盲目工具’ 。那么，现在我们会用一些尖锐的措辞来描述他们。注意了，我丝毫没有要责备他们。恰恰相反，我是说，他们都……几乎全是优秀的人。例如苏汉契科娃女士，我确实知道她有很多优点：她把自己最后的一点儿钱给了两个穷侄女。就算承认她只是想做一些独特之事来炫耀自己，对她自己不无影响，但您还是会认同，对她这样本身并不富裕的女人来说，这是一种崇高的自我牺牲精神！比夏尔金先生就更不必说了。他那个区的农民将来肯定会送给他一个南瓜大小的银碗，或许还会送给他一幅将他刻画成守护神的圣像。尽管在他的致谢词中他会说自己不配拥有此等殊荣，但他并没有说实话。他确实有资格。您的朋友即庞巴耶夫有一颗极其善良的心。他和诗人雅泽科夫一样——听说他只啃书和抿白水喝，但是仍然高度赞扬琼浆玉液——尽管没有什么特别值得高兴的事，庞巴耶夫仍然充满热情。沃罗希洛夫也是个非常和善的人，同其他那些在学校里拿一等奖的伙伴们一样，他是一个科学界的专家，甚至还是言谈简洁明了的人，但他又是如此年轻。是的，是的，他们都是优秀的人才，到头来却一无所成。原料都是一流的，但做出的菜却不值得一吃。” 李特维诺夫听波图金说话，越听越吃惊：他的话句句都说得很慢，但却充满自信，显示出他不仅口才好，而且喜欢说话。
Potugin did, in fact, like speaking, and could speak well; but, as a man in whom life had succeeded in wearing away vanity, he waited with philosophic calm for a good opportunity, a meeting with a kindred spirit.
事实上，波图金的确喜欢说话，且说得很好，但是由于他的虚荣心已经被生活所磨蚀，所以他以哲学家的冷静等待着良机，等着遇见一个与自己志趣相投的人。
"Yes, yes, " he began again, with the special dejected but not peevish humor peculiar to him, "it is all very strange. And there is something else I want you to note. Let a dozen Englishmen, for example, come together, and they will at once begin to talk of the submarine telegraph, or the tax on paper, or a method of tanning rats 'skins, —of something, that's to say, practical and definite; a dozen Germans, and of course Schleswig—Holstein and the unity of Germany will be brought on the scene; given a dozen Frenchmen, and the conversation will infallibly turn upon amorous adventures, however much you try to divert them from the subject; but let a dozen Russians meet together, and instantly there springs up the question—you had an opportunity of being convinced of the fact this evening—the question of the significance and the future of Russia, and in terms so general, beginning with creation, without facts or conclusions. They worry and worry away at that unlucky subject, as children chew away at a bit of india—rubber—neither for pleasure nor profit, as the saying is. Well, then, of course the rotten West comes in for its share. It's a curious thing, it beats us at every point, this West—but yet we declare that it's rotten! And if only we had a genuine contempt for it, " pursued Potugin, but that's really all cant and humbug. We can do well enough as far as abuse goes, but the opinion of the West is the only thing we value, the opinion, that's to say, of the Parisian loafers…I know a man—a good fellow, I fancy—the father of a family, and no longer young; he was thrown into deep dejection for some days because in a Parisian restaurant he had asked for une portion de biftek aux pommes de terre, and a real Frenchman thereupon shouted: Gar? on! biftek pommes! My friend was ready to die with shame, and after that he shouted everywhere, Biftek pommes! and taught others to do the same. The very cocottes are surprised at the reverential trepidation with which our young barbarians enter their shameful drawing—rooms. ' Good God! 't hey are thinking, 'is this really where I am, with no less a person than Anna Deslions herself! '”
“是的，是的，” 他又以他那特有的、特殊的、沮丧但幸福的滑稽口吻说： “都很奇怪。还有一些事我希望您也注意下。例如：十二个英国人聚到一起，他们会马上开始谈到海底电报、纸税、灰鼠皮加工方法诸如此类的话题，也就是实用而确定的话题；十二个德国人聚到一起当然会谈论石勒苏易格—荷尔斯泰因和德国统一；假如十二个法国人聚到一起，不管您如何力图转移话题，他们肯定还是会说风流韵事；但是假如十二个俄国人聚到一起，马上就会争论一个问题——今晚您已经有机会确信这一事实——关于俄国的重要性和未来的问题，用词笼统，起初很有创造性，但没有事实和结论。他们总是为这个令人不开心的话题担忧，俗话说得好，就像孩子嚼橡皮，既无味又无益。嗯，当然了，他们也会说一说堕落的西欧。真奇怪，西欧在每个方面都比我们略高一筹，可我们还说它堕落！” “要是我们真心蔑视它就好了，” 波图金继续说道， “但那真的全都是黑话和谎言。” 我们能竭尽所能辱骂西欧，但他们的看法却是我唯一看重的，也就是巴黎那群懒人的看法……我认识一个人——我想他是个好人——一位上了年纪的父亲。他沮丧了好几天，因为在一家巴黎餐厅，他点的是 ‘一份牛排加土豆。’ 但是一位地道的法国人叫道： ‘伙计！牛排土豆！’ 我的这位朋友简直就要羞死。从那以后他到处喊 ‘牛排土豆！’ 还教其他人也这样说。我们那些野蛮的年轻人进入巴黎妓院可耻的大厅时那种胆战心惊、坐立不安的样子，连妓女们都感到吃惊。 ‘天哪！ '他们想道, ‘我真的在这里吗？真的与安娜? 黛丝里昂本人在一起吗! '
"Tell me, pray, " continued Litvinov, "to what do, you ascribe the influence Gubaryov undoubtedly has over all about him? Is it his talent, his abilities? "
“告诉我，” 李特维诺夫继续说， “是什么原因让古巴廖夫对周围的人产生毋庸置疑的影响？是他的才华，还是他的能力？”
"No, no; there is nothing of that sort about him... "
“不，不，他才没有这两种东西呢…… "
"His personal character is it, then? "
“那么就是他的个性了，嗯？”
"Not that either, but he has a strong will. We Slavs, for the most part, as we all know, are badly off for that commodity, and we grovel before it. It is Mr. Gubaryov's will to be a ruler, and every one has recognized him as a ruler. What would you have? The government has freed us from the dependence of serfdom—and many thanks to it! but the habits of slavery are too deeply ingrained in us; we cannot easily be rid of them. We want a master in everything and everywhere; as a rule this master is a living person, sometimes it is some so—called tendency which gains authority over us... At present, for instance, we are all the bondslaves of natural science... Why, owing to what causes, we take this bondage upon us, that is a matter difficult to see into; but such seemingly is our nature. But the great thing is, that we should have a master. Well, here he is amongst us; that means he is ours, and we can afford to despise everything else! Simply slaves! And our pride is slavish, and slavish, too, is our humility. If a new master arises—it's all over with the old one. Then it was Yakov, and now it is Sidor; we box Yakov's ears and kneel to Sidor! Call to mind how many tricks of that sort have been played amongst us! We talk of skepticism as our special characteristic; but even in our skepticism we are not like a free man fighting with a sword, but like a lackey hitting out with his fist, and very likely he is doing even that at his master's bidding. Then, we are a soft people, too; it's not difficult to keep the curb on us. So that's the way Mr. Gubaryov has become a power among us; he has chipped and chipped away at one point, till he has chipped himself into success. People see that he is a man who has a great opinion of himself, who believes in himself, and commands. That's the great thing, that he can command; it follows that he must be right, and we ought to obey him. All our sects, our Onuphrists and Akulinists, were founded exactly in that way. He who holds the rod is the corporal. "
“也不是，但他有顽强的意志。众所周知，我们斯拉夫人大多数都缺乏这种能力，于是会在它面前卑躬屈膝。古巴廖夫先生想当统治者，于是大家就承认他是个统治者。您还能有什么法子呢？政府已经把我们从农奴制中解放出来——感谢政府啊！但是，奴性已经深深地植根在我们身上，无法轻易地摆脱掉它。我们事事、处处都需要一个统治者。通常这个人是一个活生生的人，有时它就是所谓的对我们具有权威的某种潮流……例如，目前我们都是自然科学的奴仆……哎呀，究竟是什么原因使我们背上这种束缚？这个问题我们很难弄清楚，但这似乎是我们的天性。但重要的是，我们应该有一个主人。嗯，他就在我们中间，也就是说他是我们自己人，所以我们就可以鄙视其他一切事情了！简直是奴隶！奴才式的骄傲，奴才式的谦卑。如果出现新的主人，以前的主人就可以滚蛋了。以前雅可夫是主人，但现在是西道尔：我们现在可以扇雅可夫耳光，却要匍匐在西道尔的脚下！想想，这样的把戏在我们周围不知耍了多少次！我们谈论怀疑主义并把它视为我们的特殊品质。但就算心生怀疑，我们也不会像自由人那样持剑战斗，反而像个狗腿子用拳头击打，而且很有可能还是在主人的命令下才那么做的。所以，我们也很懦弱；控制我们并不难。所以，古巴廖夫就这样成为了我们的主人。他对着一个地方凿啊凿，最终他凿出了自己的成功。大家看到，他自视甚高，而且充满自信，喜欢下命令。最重要的是他会下命令，于是人们认为他肯定是对的，我们应该服从他。我们所有的派系，不管是奥努韦里耶夫派系还是阿库里诺夫派系都是这样形成的。谁拿着棒子，谁就是主人。”
Potugin's cheeks were flushed and his eyes grew dim; but, strange to say, his speech, cruel and even malicious as it was, had no touch of bitterness, but rather of sorrow, genuine and sincere sorrow.
波图金脸颊绯红但目光暗淡。奇怪的是，尽管他的话残忍甚至恶毒，但是并不刻薄，反而带着悲哀，真心实意的悲哀。
"How did you come to know Gubaryov? " asked Litvinov.
“您怎么认识古巴廖夫的？” 李特维诺夫问道。
"I have known him a long while. And observe, another peculiarity among us; a certain writer, for example, spent his whole life in inveighing in prose and verse against drunkenness, and attacking the system of the drink monopoly, and lo and behold! he went and bought two spirit distilleries and opened a hundred drink—shops—and it made no difference! Any other man might have been wiped off the face of the earth, but he was not even reproached for it. And here is Mr. Gubaryov; he is a Slavophil and a democrat and a socialist and anything you like, but his property has been and is still managed by his brother, a master of the old style, one of those who were famous for their fists. And the very Madame Suhantchikov, who makes Mrs. Beecher Stowe box Tentelyev's ears, is positively in the dust before Gubaryov's feet. And you know the only thing he has to back him is that he reads clever books, and always gets at the pith of them. You could see for yourself to—day what sort of gift he has for expression; and thank God, too, that he does talk little, and keeps in his shell. For when he is in good spirits, and lets himself go, then it's more than even I, patient as I am, can stand. He begins by coarse joking and telling filthy anecdotes... yes, really, our majestic Mr. Gubaryov tells filthy anecdotes, and guffaws so revoltingly over them all the time. "
“我认识他有很长一段时间了。注意，我们中间还有一件很奇特的事情：例如，有位作家花了一辈子的时间在他的散文和诗中猛烈抨击酗酒和售酒垄断制度。但瞧瞧！他却买了两家酿酒厂，开了一百家酒馆——而这一切却无关紧要！如果是别人，人们也许早就让他从地球上消失了，但对他人们却连一句责骂的话都没有。譬如古巴廖夫先生，他既是斯拉夫流派，又是民主人士，还是社会主义者，您想怎么说就怎么说。但他的产业一直是由他的哥哥经营，现在也是。他哥哥是位旧式地主，是出了名的喜欢用拳头解决问题的那种人。再说苏汉契科娃女士，她让斯托夫人扇了田捷列耶夫一巴掌，自己却实实在在地臣服于古巴廖夫。您知道，他唯一的本事就是读过一些文人智者的书，又总是只弄懂这些书的主旨而已。至于他的口才，您今天也亲眼看到了。谢天谢地，他很少说话，还支支吾吾的。当他心情愉悦时，若是放任他尽情地说，就连我这样有耐心的人都忍受不了。他先会说一些粗俗的笑话和下流的奇闻轶事……是的，的确, 我们高贵的古巴廖夫先生会讲一些下流的奇闻轶事，并且一直发出令人恶心的狂笑。
"Are you so patient? " observed Litvinov. "I should have supposed the contrary. But let me ask your name and your father's name? "
“您很有耐心吗？” 李特维诺夫问道。 “我并不这样认为。我能问一下您和您父亲的姓名吗？”
Potugin sipped a little kirsch—wasser.
波图金抿了一口樱桃酒。
"My name is Sozont... Sozont Ivanitch. They gave me that magnificent name in honor of a kinsman, an archimandrite, to whom I am indebted for nothing else. I am, if I may venture so to express myself, of most reverend stock. And as for your doubts about my patience, they are quite groundless: I am very patient. I served for twenty—two years under the authority of my own uncle, an actual councillor of state, Irinarh Potugin. You don't know him? "
“我叫索松特……索松特? 伊凡内奇。他们给我取这样高贵的名字是为了纪念一位亲戚。他是个大修道院院长，除此之外我没受过他其他半点恩惠。冒昧说一下，我有教士的血统。至于我的耐心，您的怀疑是毫无根据的，我非常有耐心。我为我的亲叔叔，州议员伊里纳尔赫? 波图金工作了二十二年。您不认识他吗？”
"No. "
“不认识。”
"I congratulate you. No, I am patient. 'But let us return to our first head, ' as my esteemed colleague, who was burned alive some centuries ago, the protopope Avvakum, used to say. I am amazed, my dear sir, at my fellow—countrymen. They are all depressed, they all walk with downcast heads, and at the same time they are all filled with hope, and on the smallest excuse they lose their heads and fly off into ecstasies. Look at the Slavophils even, among whom Mr. Gubaryov reckons himself: they are most excellent people, but there is the same mixture of despair and exultation, they, too, live in the future tense. Everything. will be, will be, if you please. In reality, there is nothing done, and Russia for ten whole centuries has created nothing of its own, either in government, in law, in science, in art, or even in handicraft... But wait a little, have patience; it is all coming. And, why is it coming; give us leave to inquire? Why, because we, to be sure, the cultured classes are all worthless; but the people... Oh, the great people! You see that peasant's smock? That is the source that everything is to come from. All the other idols have broken down; let us have faith in the smock—frock. Well, but suppose the smock—frock fails us? No, it will not fail. Read Kohanovsky, and cast your eyes up to heaven! Really, if I were a painter, I would paint a picture of this sort: a cultivated man standing before a peasant, doing him homage: heal me, dear master—peasant, I am perishing of disease; and a peasant doing homage in his turn to the cultivated man: teach me, dear master—gentleman, I am perishing from ignorance. Well, and of course, both are standing still. But what we ought to do is to feel, really humble for a little—not only in words—and to borrow from our elder brothers what they have invented already before us and better than us! Waiter, noch ein Gl? schen Kirsch! You mustn't think I 'm a drunkard, but alcohol loosens my tongue. "