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Madame Evangelista divined Paul's nature intuitively, and hid her own from his perception. Paul was the very man she desired for a son-inlaw, for the responsible editor of her future power. He belonged, through his mother, to the family of Maulincour, and the old Baronne de Maulincour, the friend of the Vidame de Pamiers, was then living in the centre of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. The grandson of the baroness, Auguste de Maulincour, held a fine position in the army. Paul would therefore be an excellent introducer for the Evangelistas into Parisian society. The widow had known something of the Paris of the Empire, she now desired to shine in the Paris of the Restoration. There alone were the elements of political fortune, the only business in which women of the world could decently cooperate. Madame Evangelista, compelled by her husband's affairs to reside in Bordeaux, disliked the place. She desired a wider field, as gamblers rush to higher stakes. For her own personal ends, therefore, she looked to Paul as a means of destiny, she proposed to employ the resources of her own talent and knowledge of life to advance her son-inlaw, in order to enjoy through him the delights of power. Many men are thus made the screens of secret feminine ambitions. Madame Evangelista had, however, more than one interest, as we shall see, in laying hold of her daughter's husband.
埃旺热利斯塔夫人凭直觉很快摸透了保尔的性格，并在保尔面前掩藏了自己的性格。保尔是她所期望的乘龙快婿，也是她未来权势的主要谋划人。保尔和他母亲一样，属于莫冷古家族，而德莫冷古老男爵夫人是德帕米埃主教的朋友，住在圣日耳曼地区的中心。男爵夫人有个孙子叫奥古斯特·德莫冷古，在军队中身居要职。因此，保尔就是将埃旺热利斯塔家引荐到巴黎社交圈最恰当的人选。对于帝国时代的巴黎，这位寡妇以前也略知一二，如今她很想到已经复辟的巴黎去出出风头。只有在那里，才可能在政治上有所作为，也只有在那里，女子可以堂而皇之地成为助手。埃旺热利斯塔夫人以前是因为丈夫的事才被迫定居波尔多，她并不喜欢这里。她向往一个更大的舞台，正如赌徒们急着奔向更大的赌注。因此，为了她自己的切身利益，她指望保尔能改变她的宿命。她打算利用自己的才能和本事去帮助她的女婿，最终通过女婿来享受权势的快乐。许多男人都是这样被垂帘后面的女人隐秘的野心所造就。不过，我们会看到，对于埃旺热利斯塔夫人来说，完全地掌控女婿可不止这一样好处。
Paul was naturally captivated by this woman, who charmed him all the more because she seemed to seek no influence over him. In reality she was using her ascendancy to magnify herself, her daughter, and all her surroundings in his eyes, for the purpose of ruling from the start the man in whom she saw a means of gratifying her social longings. Paul, on the other hand, began to value himself more highly when he felt himself appreciated by the mother and daughter. He thought himself much cleverer than he really was when he found his reflections and sayings accepted and understood by Mademoiselle Natalie-who raised her head and smiled in response to them-and by the mother, whose flattery always seemed involuntary. The two women were so kind and friendly to him, he was so sure of pleasing them, they ruled him so delightfully by holding the thread of his self-love, that he soon passed all his time at the hotel Evangelista.
保尔很自然地被这个女人牢牢地俘虏；她的魅力在于她欲擒故纵，她看起来似乎根本不想影响保尔。而实际上，她在利用自己的统治力量使自己、女儿，以及周围一切的形象在他眼中都更加光鲜。这些都是为了在一开始就制服这个男人，通过这个男人，她对社会的渴望才能得到满足。另一方面，保尔感到自己受到母女二人的欣赏，也开始自视甚高。保尔发现自己的任何想法和说法都会被纳塔莉小姐所接受和理解--她会抬起头来莞尔一笑回应他--她的母亲也总是会在似乎无意间说出些恭维保尔的话来，因而他自认为自己很聪明，远高于他的实际情况。这两个女人对他如此友好和善，他非常确信自己讨她们喜爱。保尔的自恋之心就像一根线，被她们欣然地牵在手中。不久之后，保尔就把自己的所有时间都泡在埃旺热利斯塔公馆了。
A year after his return to Bordeaux, Comte Paul, without having declared himself, was so attentive to Natalie that the world considered him as courting her. Neither mother nor daughter appeared to be thinking of marriage. Mademoiselle Evangelista preserved towards Paul the reserve of a great lady who can make herself charming and converse agreeably without permitting a single step into intimacy. This reserve, so little customary among provincials, pleased Paul immensely. Timid men are shy; sudden proposals alarm them. They retreat from happiness when it comes with a rush, and accept misfortune if it presents itself mildly with gentle shadows. Paul therefore committed himself in his own mind all the more because he saw no effort on Madame Evangelista's part to bind him. She fairly seduced him one evening by remarking that to superior women as well as men there came a period of life when ambition superseded all the earlier emotions of life.
保尔到波尔多已经一年了，虽然没有对外宣称，但是外人看到他对纳塔莉是如此殷勤，已经想当然地认为他是在追求纳塔莉了。不过无论是母亲还是女儿都没有表现出在考虑联姻的样子。埃旺热利斯塔小姐对保尔总是保持着一副贵妇人的模样，让自己散发出迷人的魅力，与保尔愉快地聊天，却又不允许他有更进一步的亲密行为。这种保守的行为外省人是不太习惯的，但是却很讨保尔欢心。胆小的人很害羞，唐突的求婚会吓到他们。如果幸福迎面冲来，他们会转身逃走；但是如果灾祸带着柔和的阴影悄悄地来临，他们反而乐于接受。于是，当保尔看到埃旺热利斯塔夫人并没有作出两家联姻的努力时，便在自己的头脑中更主动地进行策划。一天晚上，她恰到好处地怂恿他说，一个优秀的女人和男人一样，在生命中的某一个时期，雄心壮志会超越之前生活中的种种情感。
"That woman is fitted, " thought Paul, as he left her, "to advance me in diplomacy before I am even made a deputy. "
“那个女人若在政治社交上能帮助我，我就能当个议员。” 保尔离开她家时寻思。
If, in all the circumstances of life a man does not turn over and over both things and ideas in order to examine them thoroughly under their different aspects before taking action, that man is weak and incomplete and in danger of fatal failure. At this moment Paul was an optimist; he saw everything to advantage, and did not tell himself than an ambitious mother-inlaw might prove a tyrant. So, every evening as he left the house, he fancied himself a married man, allured his mind with its own thought, and slipped on the slippers of wedlock cheerfully. In the first place, he had enjoyed his freedom too long to regret the loss of it; he was tired of a bachelor's life, which offered him nothing new; he now saw only its annoyances; whereas if he thought at times of the difficulties of marriage, its pleasures, in which lay novelty, came far more prominently before his mind.
如果一个男人在采取行动前不对身边的各种事物和各种想法的方方面面都进行仔细地端详和分析，那么这个男人就是一个弱者，一个不完整的人，而且面临着致命的失败。此时的保尔是个乐观主义者；他看所有事物都只看到了好的方面，而没有想到一个野心勃勃的岳母也许会成为另外一个暴君。每天晚上走出公馆的时候，他都幻想自己是个已婚的男人，这种思想已经左右了他的思维，让他兴高采烈地滑入了婚姻之鞋。首先，他享受自由的生活已经太久了，毫不在意失去这种生活；他对单身生活厌倦了，这种生活不能给他任何新鲜感，只会让他烦躁；虽然有时他也会想到婚姻所带来的困难，但婚姻的乐趣和新鲜感会更显著地进入到他的脑海。
"Marriage, " he said to himself, "is disagreeable for people without means, but half its troubles disappear before wealth. "
“婚姻，” 他自语道， “对于穷人来说是令人不快的，但是只要有财富，婚姻所带来的麻烦一般都会迎刃而解。”
Every day some favorable consideration swelled the advantages which he now saw in this particular alliance.
每一天，这种婚姻是有利的想法都会在他脑海中膨胀，如今他只看到这种特殊联盟的好处了。
"No matter to what position I attain, Natalie will always be on the level of her part, " thought he, "and that is no small merit in a woman. How many of the Empire men I've seen who suffered horribly through their wives! It is a great condition of happiness not to feel one's pride or one's vanity wounded by the companion we have chosen. A man can never be really unhappy with a well-bred wife; she will never make him ridiculous; such a woman is certain to be useful to him. Natalie will receive in her own house admirably. "
“日后不管我会坐上什么位置，纳塔莉都会扮演好自己的角色，” 他想道， “那对一个女子来说可是莫大的优点。我看过这个帝国里有多少男人因为他们的妻子而遭罪啊！自己选择的配偶不会去伤害自己的尊严和傲气，这是幸福的一个重要条件。和一个教养良好的妻子一起生活的话，男人肯定会很幸福的；她不会让他变得可笑；这样的女人对丈夫肯定是有所裨益的。纳塔莉将在自己的公馆里优雅地款待四方来客。”
So thinking, he taxed his memory as to the most distinguished women of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, in order to convince himself that Natalie could, if not eclipse them, at any rate stand among them on a footing of perfect equality. All comparisons were to her advantage, for they rested on his own imagination, which followed his desires. Paris would have shown him daily other natures, young girls of other styles of beauty and charm, and the multiplicity of impressions would have balanced his mind; whereas in Bordeaux Natalie had no rivals, she was the solitary flower; moreover, she appeared to him at a moment when Paul was under the tyranny of an idea to which most men succumb at his age.
他又想到了圣日耳曼地区那些最杰出的女性，他相信纳塔莉在她们中即使算不上鹤立鸡群，也至少能平分秋色。不管怎么比，纳塔莉都占优势。因为保尔做的这些比较都取决于他的想象，而保尔的想象又只是他的欲望而已。如果保尔住在巴黎，他每天还能见到其他个性和不同类型的美丽少女，丰富的阅历或许会让他保持心理平衡。然而在波尔多，纳塔莉根本没有对手，她是唯一的鲜花。更何况她来到保尔面前时，保尔只有一种想法，而大部分这个年龄段的男人都会臣服于这种想法。
Thus these reasons of propinquity, joined to reasons of self-love and a real passion which had no means of satisfaction except by marriage, led Paul on to an irrational love, which he had, however, the good sense to keep to himself. He even endeavored to study Mademoiselle Evangelista as a man should who desires not to compromise his future life; for the words of his friend de Marsay did sometimes rumble in his ears like a warning. But, in the first place, persons accustomed to luxury have a certain indifference to it which misleads them. They despise it, they use it; it is an instrument, and not the object of their existence. Paul never imagined, as he observed the habits of life of the two ladies, that they covered a gulf of ruin. Then, though there may exist some general rules to soften the asperities of marriage, there are none by which they can be accurately foreseen and evaded. When trouble arises between two persons who have undertaken to render life agreeable and easy to each other, it comes from the contact of continual intimacy, which, of course, does not exist between young people before they marry, and will never exist so long as our present social laws and customs prevail in France. All is more or less deception between the two young persons about to take each other for life, -an innocent and involuntary deception, it is true. Each endeavors to appear in a favorable light; both take a tone and attitude conveying a more favorable idea of their nature than they are able to maintain in after years. Real life, like the weather, is made up of gray and cloudy days alternating with those when the sun shines and the fields are gay. Young people, however, exhibit fine weather and no clouds. Later they attribute to marriage the evils inherent in life itself; for there is in man a disposition to lay the blame of his own misery on the persons and things that surround him.
由于他自恋，而且的确对纳塔莉充满爱意，还有一些类似的原因，除了结婚已经没有其他办法可以满足他的爱情了。保尔的爱情已经变得不理智了，好在他的良知使得他只将这种感情埋在心底。保尔也不想毁了自己的终生幸福，他甚至努力研究埃旺热利斯塔小姐的性格，因为有时他朋友德马尔赛的话还会像警报一样在他耳边回响。但是首先，习惯于奢华的人在某种程度上并不在意奢华，这是极具欺骗性的。他们蔑视奢华，他们利用奢华。奢华只是一种手段，并不是他们存在的目标。保尔观察着母女两人的生活习惯时，他绝对没想到这母女两人掩藏着一个毁灭的深渊。其次，虽然有几条普遍规律可以缓解婚姻所带来的烦恼，但是这些烦恼却无法提前被预测和预防。对于两个认为婚后生活将轻松愉快的人来说，麻烦也会在日积月累的相处中出现。而对于在婚前的年轻人，这个问题显然是不存在的。只要法国现行的法律和风俗依旧，这个问题也就永远不会存在。对于两个准备终身相依的年轻人来说，所有这一切或多或少都具有欺骗性--虽然这种欺骗并无恶意，也并不是故意造成，但是事实却是如此。无论从生活情调还是生活态度上，双方都努力展示自己优越的一面，而在以后的年月里，他们却无法维持自己优越的形象。真实的生活就像日常天气一样，有时灰暗、阴沉，有时阳光灿烂、田野美丽。但是，年轻人只看到晴空万里，却看不到阴云密布。婚后，他们又把生活本身的灾难归咎于婚姻。因为人有一种性情，总认为自身的不幸是身边的人和物造成的。
To discover in the demeanor, or the countenance, or the words, or the gestures of Mademoiselle Evangelista any indication that revealed the imperfections of her character, Paul must have possessed not only the knowledge of Lavater and Gall, but also a science in which there exists no formula of doctrine, -the individual and personal science of an observer, which, for its perfection, requires an almost universal knowledge. Natalie's face, like that of most young girls, was impenetrable. The deep, serene peace given by sculptors to the virgin faces of Justice and Innocence, divinities aloof from all earthly agitations, is the greatest charm of a young girl, the sign of her purity. Nothing, as yet, has stirred her; no shattered passion, no hope betrayed has clouded the placid expression of that pure face. Is that expression assumed? If so, there is no young girl behind it.
要想从埃旺热利斯塔小姐的举止、外表、言谈或姿态中找到她性格中的缺点，保尔就必须不仅懂得拉瓦特和加尔的知识，还要懂另外一门学问，这门学问没有教义的定式--这就是洞察细微的能力，而要学好这门学问，就要求几乎包罗万象的知识。像其他女孩一样，纳塔莉的脸庞也从不表露自己的内心世界。雕刻家雕刻出的处女雕像面庞平和安详，以此来代表正义、纯洁和超越世间所有骚动的神明。这是一个少女最大的魅力，也是她纯洁的标志。迄今为止，没有任何事情使她激动过，也没有什么破裂的感情和失去的希望使她那纯洁面庞上的表情发生过变化。这种表情是装出来的吗？如果是的话，那么她的内心就不再是一个少女了。
Natalie, closely held to the heart of her mother, had received, like other Spanish women, an education that was solely religious, together with a few instructions from her mother as to the part in life she was called upon to play. Consequently, the calm, untroubled expression of her face was natural. And yet it formed a casing in which the woman was wrapped as the moth in its cocoon. Nevertheless, any man clever at handling the scalpel of analysis might have detected in Natalie certain indications of the difficulties her character would present when brought into contact with conjugal or social life. Her beauty, which was really marvellous, came from extreme regularity of feature harmonizing with the proportions of the head and the body. This species of perfection augurs ill for the mind; and there are few exceptions to the rule. All superior nature is found to have certain slight imperfections of form which become irresistible attractions, luminous points from which shine vivid sentiments, and on which the eye rests gladly. Perfect harmony expresses usually the coldness of a mixed organization.
纳塔莉从小到大一直伴在母亲左右，像其他的西班牙女子一样，只接受过纯宗教教育和母亲的一些教诲，主要是教导她日后如何扮演好自己在生活中的角色。因此她面部那平静而不谙世事的表情很自然。但是这种表情是戴在女子脸上的一层面纱，将她层层包裹，如同茧中之蛾。不过，任何一个善于分析的男人都能在纳塔莉的身上找到一些迹象，表明一旦她面临婚姻生活或社会生活时，她的性格会造成一些麻烦。她的确美艳不可方物，面容匀称，头部与身体的比例也十分协调。外表完美无缺的人内心却未必如此，这条规律鲜有例外。所有高等生物在外形上都会有轻微的缺陷，而这些缺陷又会成为难以抗拒的吸引力和闪光点，情感在那里闪耀，目光在那里停留。完美的和谐通常表达了一种混合的冷淡。
Natalie's waist was round, -a sign of strength, but also the infallible indication of a will which becomes obstinacy in persons whose mind is neither keen nor broad. Her hands, like those of a Greek statue, confirmed the predictions of face and figure by revealing an inclination for illogical domination, of willing for will's sake only. Her eyebrows met, -a sign, according to some observers, which indicates jealousy. The jealousy of superior minds becomes emulation and leads to great things; that of small minds turns to hatred. The "hate and wait" of her mother was in her nature, without disguise. Her eyes were black apparently, though really brown with orange streaks, contrasting with her hair, of the ruddy tint so prized by the Romans, called auburn in England, a color which often appears in the offspring of persons of jet black hair, like that of Monsieur and Madame Evangelista. The whiteness and delicacy of Natalie's complexion gave to the contrast of color in her eyes and hair an inexpressible charm; and yet it was a charm that was purely external; for whenever the lines of a face are lacking in a certain soft roundness, whatever may be the finish and grace of the details, the beauty therein expressed is not of the soul. These roses of deceptive youth will drop their leaves, and you will be surprised in a few years to see hardness and dryness where you once admired what seemed to be the beauty of noble qualities.
纳塔莉腰围圆润--那是力量的象征，但也意味着她永不妥协的意志。在一个思想上既不尖锐也不豁达的人身上，这种意志会变成性格上的固执。她的双手犹如希腊雕像的手一样，也证实了她脸庞和身形所预测的一切，同时表明了她有一种不符合逻辑的控制欲，仅仅是为了满足自己的欲望。她双眉相连，按照某些善于观察面相的人说法，表明她妒忌心强。对于心胸开阔的人来说，妒忌会变成好胜心，造就伟大的事业；而对于心胸狭隘的人，妒忌则会变成憎恨。她母亲 “仇恨在心，耐心等待” 的座右铭毫不掩饰地体现在她的性格当中。她那看上去黑色的眼睛实际上是带点橘红的棕色，与她淡黄褐色的头发形成了鲜明的对比。罗马人对这种颜色非常喜欢，在英格兰这种颜色被称为金褐色。如果父母都是深黑色的发质，后代的头发往往就是这种颜色，埃旺热利斯塔夫妇就是此例。纳塔莉面容白皙，肌肤柔嫩，加之头发与眼睛的颜色完美搭配，这一切都有着难以形容的魅力，但是这种魅力只是纯粹从外形上来说的，因为当面部的线条缺乏某种柔和的圆润时，无论细部多么完美、多么风韵，都不是内心的美丽。这种欺骗就犹如玫瑰一样，迟早要凋零萎谢。几年之后，你会惊讶地发现那些曾经令你魂牵梦萦的看似高贵的美丽特质都将变成僵硬和呆板。
Though the outlines of Natalie's face had something august about them, her chin was slightly "empate, " -a painter's expression which will serve to show the existence of sentiments, the violence of which would only become manifest in after life. Her mouth, a trifle drawn in, expressed a haughty pride in keeping with her hand, her chin, her brows, and her beautiful figure. And-as a last diagnostic to guide the judgment of a connoisseur-Natalie's pure voice, a most seductive voice, had certain metallic tones. Softly as that brassy ring was managed, and in spite of the grace with which its sounds ran through the compass of the voice, that organ revealed the character of the Duke of Alba, from whom the Casa-Reales were collaterally descended. These indications were those of violent passions without tenderness, sudden devotions, irreconcilable dislikes, a mind without intelligence, and the desire to rule natural to persons who feel themselves inferior to their pretensions.
虽然纳塔莉的面部轮廓有些尊贵的气息，但是她的下巴却稍显 “臃肿” --这是画家用来表述某种情感存在的语言，这种情感将随着人年龄的增大而越来越强烈。她的嘴稍微有点凹进，表明她有一种与她的手、下巴、眉毛及美丽的身段相匹配的高傲。还有--作为指导鉴赏家给出判断的最后一个因素--纳塔莉那纯正、具有诱惑力的嗓音中带有某种金属的铿锵。无论多么柔和地拿捏那奏鸣声，也不管那声音是多么优雅地在说话声中流淌，这一特点都展现出阿尔巴公爵的性格。无论从父系方面，还是母系方面，阿尔伯公爵都是卡萨-雷阿尔家族的先人。这些特征都预示着暴烈而不温顺的激情、无法持久的忠诚、无法调和的厌恶、没有智慧的头脑以及统治他人的欲望。那些无法达成所愿的人自然就有这种驾驭他人的欲望。
These defects, born of temperament and constitution, were buried in Natalie like ore in a mine, and would only appear under the shocks and harsh treatment to which all characters are subjected in this world. Meantime the grace and freshness of her youth, the distinction of her manners, her sacred ignorance, and the sweetness of a young girl, gave a delicate glamour to her features which could not fail to mislead an unthinking or superficial mind. Her mother had early taught her the trick of agreeable talk which appears to imply superiority, replying to arguments by clever jests, and attracting by the graceful volubility beneath which a woman hides the subsoil of her mind, as Nature disguises her barren strata beneath a wealth of ephemeral vegetation. Natalie had the charm of children who have never known what it is to suffer. She charmed by her frankness, and had none of that solemn air which mothers impose on their daughters by laying down a programme of behavior and language until the time comes when they marry and are emancipated. She was gay and natural, like any young girl who knows nothing of marriage, expects only pleasure from it, replies to all objections with a jest, foresees no troubles, and thinks she is acquiring the right to have her own way.
这些由性情和体质造成的缺点在纳塔莉身上被掩藏起来了，就如同埋藏在金矿里面的黄金，只有经过重重打击和严酷锤炼才能为世人所见。与此同时，青春的美丽与新鲜、与众不同的举止、神圣的无邪和少女的甜蜜都给她平添了一种微妙的魅力。那些肤浅而不善于思考的人们一定会被误导的。她的母亲早就教过她怎样交谈才能讨人欢心，同时显得高人一等。用玩笑话来回应别人的争辩之辞，用优雅流畅的话语吸引听众，而在此之下，一个女人却藏着自己不为人知的内心，正如大自然用那昙花一现的茂盛植被来掩盖它那贫瘠的土地。纳塔莉从小娇生惯养，没有吃过苦，有着富家千金的风度。她为人坦率，受人喜爱，也没有那种一副高高在上的神态。母亲们总是制定一套言行举止的规矩，要女儿摆出这么一副神态，直到把她们嫁出去，才能脱离这套规矩。纳塔莉天真快乐，像其他少女一样，对婚姻一无所知，只期待着结婚能带来快乐，对争执一笑了之，也预见不到任何麻烦。她以为婚姻将给她带来我行我素的权利。
How could Paul, who loved as men love when desire increases love, perceive in a girl of this nature whose beauty dazzled him, the woman, such as she would probably be at thirty, when observers themselves have been misled by these appearances? Besides, if happiness might prove difficult to find in a marriage with such a girl, it was not impossible. Through these embryo defects shone several fine qualities. There is no good quality which, if properly developed by the hand of an able master, will not stifle defects, especially in a young girl who loves him. But to render ductile so intractable a woman, the iron wrist, about which de Marsay had preached to Paul, was needful. The Parisian dandy was right. Fear, inspired by love is an infallible instrument by which to manage the minds of women. Whoso loves, fears; whoso fears is nearer to affection than to hatred.
连那些善于观察的人也会被外表所迷惑，更何况一个坠入爱河的男人，一个被对方美貌完全迷昏的男人，保尔又怎能看到她三十岁将会是什么样子呢？再说，和这样的女孩结婚或许很难找到幸福，这一点是很可能的。透过这些尚未体现的缺点，也有一些优良的品质在发光。在一个善于掌控的能人手上，没有哪种优点充分表现之后不会盖过缺点的，在一个钟爱他的女孩身上更是如此。要使一个如此倔强的女子变得温顺，必须得有德马尔塞对保尔所宣扬的那种铁腕才行。那个巴黎的花花公子说得很对。爱情所激发出的恐惧是掌控女人思维的有力工具。谁爱了，谁就会有恐惧；谁恐惧了，谁就更接近于爱情，而非仇恨。
Had Paul the coolness, firmness, and judgment required for this struggle, which an able husband ought not to let the wife suspect? Did Natalie love Paul? Like most young girls, Natalie mistook for love the first emotions of instinct and the pleasure she felt in Paul's external appearance; but she knew nothing of the things of marriage nor the demands of a home. To her, the Comte de Manerville, a rising diplomatist, to whom the courts of Europe were known, and one of the most elegant young men in Paris, could not seem, what perhaps he was, an ordinary man, without moral force, timid, though brave in some ways, energetic perhaps in adversity, but helpless against the vexations and annoyances that hinder happiness. Would she, in after years, have sufficient tact and insight to distinguish Paul's noble qualities in the midst of his minor defects? Would she not magnify the latter and forget the former, after the manner of young wives who know nothing of life? There comes a time when wives will pardon defects in the husband who spares her annoyances, considering annoyances in the same category as misfortunes. What conciliating power, what wise experience would uphold and enlighten the home of this young pair? Paul and his wife would doubtless think they loved when they had really not advanced beyond the endearments and compliments of the honeymoon. Would Paul in that early period yield to the tyranny of his wife, instead of establishing his empire? Could Paul say, "No? " All was peril to a man so weak where even a strong man ran some risks.
一个深谙此道的丈夫是不应该让妻子觉察到这种争斗的。保尔是否具备这场争斗所需要的冷静、坚定和判断力呢？另外，纳塔莉爱保尔吗？像大多数女孩一样，纳塔莉把本能的原始冲动和对保尔外在的欣赏当成了爱情，而对婚姻和家庭这一码子事一无所知。在她眼中，德马内维尔伯爵是位见识过欧洲宫廷的前途无量的外交官，是巴黎最优雅的青年。然而她看不到，保尔或许只是个普通的、没有什么精神力量的男子，为人羞怯。虽然在某些方面勇敢，在逆境中精力充沛，但他对阻碍幸福的烦恼和麻烦却无能为力。在日后的年月里，她是否有足够的敏感和洞察力能从保尔的小毛病中洞悉出他高贵的品质呢？她会不会像其他那些对生活无知的少妇一样，只知道夸大丈夫的缺点，而忽视他的优点呢？妻子到了一定的时候，会原谅丈夫的缺点，只要他不会引起她的不快。她将生活中的不快定义为不幸。什么样的协调力量，什么样的明智的体验才能启发这对年轻的夫妇，才能维持这个年轻的家庭呢？两人蜜月之时，相互钟爱，互相恭维，保尔和妻子坚定地相信这就是爱情。在婚姻初期的时候，保尔会屈服于妻子的专横，而不去建立自己的独立王国吗？保尔会说 “不” 吗？对一个强悍的男子来说尚且有冒险的地方，对一个孱弱的男子来说则是危机四伏了。
The subject of this Study is not the transition of a bachelor into a married man, -a picture which, if broadly composed, would not lack the attraction which the inner struggles of our nature and feelings give to the commonest situations in life. The events and the ideas which led to the marriage of Paul with Natalie Evangelista are an introduction to our real subject, which is to sketch the great comedy that precedes, in France, all conjugal pairing. This Scene, until now singularly neglected by our dramatic authors, although it offers novel resources to their wit, controlled Paul's future life and was now awaited by Madame Evangelista with feelings of terror. We mean the discussion which takes place on the subject of the marriage contract in all families, whether noble or bourgeois, for human passions are as keenly excited by small interests as by large ones. These comedies, played before a notary, all resemble, more or less, the one we shall now relate, the interest of which will be far less in the pages of this book than in the memories of married persons.
这里讨论的主题并不是如何从一个光棍过渡到一个已婚男人--这幅图景若包罗万象，也不乏吸引力。这种吸引力是我们的天性和感情在生活中最普通的事情上所产生的内心的纠结。这一系列引领保尔和纳塔莉踏入婚姻的事件和想法是这篇文章的前言，其目的在于勾勒出法国所有夫妻生活真正开始之前的伟大喜剧。下面这一幕经常为作者们所忽视，也是作者们智慧的源泉，它将决定着保尔的未来生活。埃旺热利斯塔夫人正满心恐惧地等待着这一幕。我们所说的这一幕就是有关婚约的争论，无论是贵族家庭还是中产阶级家庭，都要经历的一个过程。因为人类的激情不但为大利所迷，也为小利所趋。在公证人面前反复演出的这些闹剧或多或少都与我们即将讲到的这出相似。与其说这些闹剧的趣味留在书中的字里行间，不如说留在已婚人们的记忆当中。