Mire&by&Anton&Chekhov&论契诃夫&[美]弗·纳博科夫
portfolio[英][pɔ:tˈfəʊli:ˌəʊ, pəʊrt-][美][pɔrtˈfoliˌo,
n.公文包；文件夹；证券投资组合；部长[大臣]的职位
podgy[ˈpɔdʒi]
adj.矮胖的，短粗的
paltry[英][ˈpɔ:ltri:][美][ˈpɔltri]
adj.微小的；不重要的；无价值的；可鄙的
Semitic[英][səˈmɪtɪk][美][səˈmɪtɪk]
adj.闪米特人的；闪族语系的
n.闪语；闪语族
hussar[huˈzɑ:]
decorum[英][dɪˈkɔ:rəm, -ˈkəʊr-][美][dɪˈkɔrəm,
-ˈkor-]
n.端庄得体；体统
insolent[英][ˈɪnsələnt][美][ˈɪnsələnt]
adj.侮慢的，无礼的；张狂；傲睨一世
whist[英][(h)wist][美][hwɪst,
wɪst]
int.嘘！肃静！
adj.无声的，安静的
adv.无声地，安静地
n.惠斯特（扑克牌游戏的一种）
hussy[英][ˈhʌsi][美][ˈhʌzi,
ˈhʌsi]
n.贱妇，轻佻或粗野的女子
droshky[英][ˈdrɔʃki][美][ˈdrɑʃki]
n.（俄国的）无顶四轮马车
chameleon[英][kəˈmi:ljən, -ˈmi:li:ən][美][kəˈmiljən,
-ˈmiliən]
n.变色蜥蜴，变色龙
diabolical[英][ˌdaɪəˈbɔlɪkəl][美][ˌdaɪəˈbɑlɪkəl]
adj.恶魔的，残忍的
tacit[英][ˈt&sɪt][美][ˈt&sɪt]
adj.缄默的；心照不宣的；&律&由法律的效力而产生的
privation[英][praɪˈveɪʃən][美][praɪˈveʃən]
n.（生活必需品的）匮乏，贫困
operetta[英][ˌɔpəˈretə][美][ˌɑpəˈrɛtə]
n.轻歌剧，小歌剧
anaemic[英][əˈni:mɪk][美][əˈnimɪk]
adj.贫血的；患贫血症的；没有活力的；无精打采的
debility[英][dɪˈbɪlɪti:][美][dɪˈbɪlɪti]
knick-knacks 小装饰品;小摆设:小玩意儿
同nick-nack
Aeolian[i:ˈəuliən]
adj.&希神&风神的，伊俄勒斯的；伊奥利亚人的；风的；风蚀的
tunic[英][ˈtju:nɪk]
n.（动植物的）膜皮；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍
distillery[英][disˈtiləri][美][dɪˈstɪləri]
n.蒸馏间；酿酒厂
adj.污秽的
v.积垢，弄脏（ begrime的过去式和过去分词 ）
languidly[英][ˈl&ŋgwɪdlɪ][美][ˈl&ŋɡwɪdlɪ]
adv.疲倦地；阴沉地；不感兴趣地；不活泼地
trelliswork[英][ˈtreliswə:k][美][ˈtrɛlɪsˌwɚk]
n.格子细工
tit[英][tɪt][美][tɪt]
n.[鸟]山雀；&古&小马；小丫头；奶头
goldfinch[英][ˈɡəuldfintʃ][美][ˈɡoldˌfɪntʃ]
interpose[英][ˌɪntəˈpəʊz][美][ˌɪntɚˈpoz]
vt.插（话）；插入；打断；提出（反对）以便干预
flounce[英][flaʊns][美][flaʊns]
vi.暴跳，怒气冲冲地走动
n.挣脱，挣扎；衣裙上的荷边装饰
vt.饰以荷叶边
caramel[英][ˈk&rəmel][美][ˈk&rəməl,
-ˌmɛl, ˈkɑrməl]
n.焦糖；（含焦糖味的）太妃糖；焦糖色
excise[英][ˈekˌsaɪz][美][ˈɛkˌsaɪz]
vt.切除，删去；向……征税；向……索取高价
n.国内货物税，消费税；执照税；（英国的）国产税务局
dissipation[英][ˌdisiˈpeiʃn][美][ˌdɪsəˈpeʃən]
n.（物质、感觉或精力逐渐的）消失；浪费；放荡；花天酒地
minx[英][miŋks][美][mɪŋks]
n.轻佻女子；风骚女子；&古&妓女；荡妇
tut[英][tʌt][美][tʌt]
int.嘘（表示焦虑、责难的发声）
vi.发出嘘声
prime[英][praim][美][praɪm]
adj.最好的；首要的；最初的；基本的
n.精华；初期；全盛时期；青年
vt.使准备好；填装；事先指导
adv.极好地
vi.（为枪炮）装火药；涂底漆；修剪树枝；注水入泵引起
furlough[英][ˈfɜ:ləʊ][美][ˈfə:lo]
n.（军队的）休假
vt.准…休假
mangy[英][ˈmeindʒi][美][ˈmendʒi]
adj.（兽）疥癣的，污秽的
neurotic[英][nʊˈrɔtɪk,
njʊ-][美][nʊˈrɑtɪk,
njʊ-]
adj.神经官能症的；神经质的；神经过敏的；极为焦虑的
n.神经病人；神经刺激剂
sconce[英][skɔns][美][skɑns]
n.壁突式烛台，&古&头，头盖
vt.筑保垒防卫
cornice[英][ˈkɔ:nis][美][ˈkɔrnɪs]
oleograph[英][ˈəuliəuɡrɑ:f][美][ˈoliəˌɡr&f]
n.油画式的石版画
cloying[英][ˈklɔɪɪŋ]
adj.&正&（食物、气味等）甜得发腻的，使人腻烦的；（感情过于外露而）令人腻烦的
v.&正&发腻，倒胃口（
cloy的现在分词 ）
GRACEFULLY swaying in the saddle, a young man wearing the
snow-white tunic of an officer rode into the great
yard of the vodka distillery belonging to the
heirs of M. E. Rothstein. The sun smiled carelessly on the
lieutenant's little stars, on the white trunks of the birch-trees,
on the heaps of broken glass scattered here and there in the yard.
The radiant, vigorous beauty of a summer day lay over everything,
and nothing hindered the snappy young green leaves from dancing
gaily and winking at the clear blue sky. Even the dirty and
soot-begrimed appearance of the bricksheds and the
stifling fumes of the distillery did not spoil the general good
impression. The lieutenant sprang gaily out of the saddle, handed
over his horse to a man who ran up, and stroking with his finger
his delicate black moustaches, went in at the front door. On the
top step of the old but light and softly carpeted staircase he was
met by a maidservant with a haughty, not very youthful face. The
lieutenant gave her his card without speaking.
tunic[英][ˈtju:nɪk]
n.（动植物的）膜皮；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍
distillery[英][disˈtiləri][美][dɪˈstɪləri]
n.蒸馏间；酿酒厂
adj.污秽的
v.积垢，弄脏（ begrime的过去式和过去分词 ）
As she went through the rooms with the card, the maid could see on
it the name "Alexandr Grigoryevitch Sokolsky." A minute later she
came back and told the lieutenant that her mistress could not see
him, as she was not feeling quite well. Sokolsky looked at the
ceiling and thrust out his lower lip.
"How vexatious!" he said. "Listen, my dear," he said eagerly. "Go
and tell Susanna Moiseyevna, that it is very necessary for me to
speak to her -- very. I will only keep her one minute. Ask her to
excuse me."
The maid shrugged one shoulder and went off
languidly to her mistress.
languidly[英][ˈl&ŋgwɪdlɪ][美][ˈl&ŋɡwɪdlɪ]
adv.疲倦地；阴沉地；不感兴趣地；不活泼地
"Very well!" she sighed, returning after a brief interval. "Please
The lieutenant went with her through five or six large, luxuriously
furnished rooms and a corridor, and finally found himself in a
large and lofty square room, in which from the first step he was
impressed by the abundance of flowers and plants and the sweet,
almost revoltingly heavy fragrance of jasmine. Flowers were trained
to trellis-work along the walls, screening the
windows, hung from the ceiling, and were wreathed over the corners,
so that the room was more like a greenhouse than a place to live
in. Tits, canaries, and goldfinches chirruped among the green
leaves and fluttered against the window-panes.
trelliswork[英][ˈtreliswə:k][美][ˈtrɛlɪsˌwɚk]
n.格子细工
tit[英][tɪt][美][tɪt]
n.[鸟]山雀；&古&小马；小丫头；奶头
goldfinch[英][ˈɡəuldfintʃ][美][ˈɡoldˌfɪntʃ]
"Forgive me for receiving you here," the lieutenant heard in a
mellow feminine voice with a burr on the letter r which was not
without charm. "Yesterday I had a sick headache, and I'm
trying to keep still to prevent its coming on again. What do you
Exactly opposite the entrance, he saw sitting in a big low chair,
such as old men use, a woman in an expensive Chinese dressing-gown,
with her head wrapped up, leaning back on a pillow. Nothing could
be seen behind the woollen shawl in which she was muffled but a
pale, long, pointed, somewhat aquiline nose, and
one large dark eye. Her ample dressing-gown concealed her figure,
but judging from her beautiful hand, from her voice, her nose, and
her eye, she might be twenty-six or twenty-eight.
"Forgive me for being so persistent . . ." began the lieutenant,
clinking his spurs. "Allow me to introduce myself: Sokolsky! I come
with a message from my cousin, your neighbour, Alexey Ivanovitch
Kryukov, who . . ."
"I know!" interposed Susanna Moiseyevna. "I know
Kryukov. S I don't like anything big standing before
interpose[英][ˌɪntəˈpəʊz][美][ˌɪntɚˈpoz]
vt.插（话）；插入；打断；提出（反对）以便干预
"My cousin charges me to ask you a favour," the lieutenant went on,
clinking his spurs once more and sitting down. "The fact is, your
late father made a purchase of oats from my cousin last winter, and
a small sum was left owing. The payment only becomes due next week,
but my cousin begs you most particularly to pay him -- if possible,
As the lieutenant talked, he stole side-glances about him.
"Surely I'm not in her bedroom?" he thought.
In one corner of the room, where the foliage was thickest and
tallest, under a pink awning like a funeral canopy, stood a bed not
yet made, with the bedclothes still in disorder. Close by on two
arm-chairs lay heaps of crumpled feminine garments. Petticoats and
sleeves with rumpled lace and flounces were
trailing on the carpet, on which here and there lay bits of white
tape, cigarette-ends, and the papers of caramels.
. . . Under the bed the toes, pointed and square, of slippers of
all kinds peeped out in a long row. And it seemed to the lieutenant
that the scent of the jasmine came not from the flowers, but from
the bed and the slippers.
flounce[英][flaʊns][美][flaʊns]
vi.暴跳，怒气冲冲地走动
n.挣脱，挣扎；衣裙上的荷边装饰
vt.饰以荷叶边
caramel[英][ˈk&rəmel][美][ˈk&rəməl,
-ˌmɛl, ˈkɑrməl]
n.焦糖；（含焦糖味的）太妃糖；焦糖色
"And what is the sum owing?" asked Susanna Moiseyevna.
"Two thousand three hundred."
"Oho!" said the Jewess, showing another large black eye. "And you
call that -- a small sum! However, it's just the same paying it
to-day or paying it in a week, but I've had so many payments to
make in the last two months since my father's death. . . . Such a
lot of stupid business, it makes my head go round! A nice idea! I
want to go abroad, and they keep forcing me to attend to these
silly things. Vodka, oats . . ." she muttered, half closing her
eyes, "oats, bills, percentages, or, as my head-clerk says,
'percentage.' . . . It's awful. Yesterday I simply turned the
excise officer out. He pesters me with his
Tralles. I said to him: 'Go to the devil with your
Tralles! I can't see any one!' He kissed my hand and went away. I
tell you what: can't your cousin wait two or three months?"
Jewess n. 犹太女人
excise[英][ˈekˌsaɪz][美][ˈɛkˌsaɪz]
vt.切除，删去；向……征税；向……索取高价
n.国内货物税，消费税；执照税；（英国的）国产税务局
"A cruel question!" laughed the lieutenant. "My cousin can wait a
year, but it's I who cannot wait! You see, it's on my own account
I'm acting, I ought to tell you. At all costs I must have money,
and by ill-luck my cousin hasn't a rouble to spare. I'm forced to
ride about and collect debts. I've just been to see a peasant, our
here I' from here I shall go on to
somewhere else, and keep on like that until I get together five
thousand roubles. I need money awfully!"
"Nonsense! What does a young man want with money? Whims, mischief.
Why, have you been going in for dissipation? Or
losing at cards? Or are you getting married?"
dissipation[英][ˌdisiˈpeiʃn][美][ˌdɪsəˈpeʃən]
n.（物质、感觉或精力逐渐的）消失；浪费；放荡；花天酒地
"You've guessed!" laughed the lieutenant, and rising slightly from
his seat, he clinked his spurs. "I really am going to be
Susanna Moiseyevna looked intently at her visitor, made a wry face,
and sighed.
"I can't make out what possesses people to get married!" she said,
looking about her for her pocket-handkerchief. "Life is so short,
one has so little freedom, and they must put chains on
themselves!"
"Every one has his own way of looking at things. . . ."
"Yes, yes, every one has his own way of looking at
things. . . . But, I say, are you really going to marry some one
poor? Are you passionately in love? And why must you have five
thousand? Why won't four do, or three?"
"What a tongue she has!" thought the lieutenant, and answered: "The
difficulty is that an officer is not allowed by law to marry till
he is twenty- if you choose to marry, you have to leave the
Service or else pay a deposit of five thousand."
"Ah, now I understand. Listen. You said just now that every one has
his own way of looking at things. . . . Perhaps your fianc&e is
some one special and remarkable, but . . . but I am utterly unable
to understand how any decent man can live with a woman. I can't for
the life of me understand it. I have lived, thank the Lord,
twenty-seven years, and I have never yet seen an endurable woman.
They're all affected minxes, immoral, liars. . . .
The only ones I can put up with are cooks and housemaids, but
so-called ladies I won't let come within shooting distance of me.
But, thank God, they hate me and don't force themselves on me! If
one of them wants money she sends her husband, but nothing will
induce her to come herself, not from pride -- no, but from
she's afraid of my making a scene. Oh, I understand
their hatred very well! Rather! I openly display what they do their
very utmost to conceal from God and man. How can they help hating
me? No doubt you've heard bushels of scandal about
me already. . . ."
minx[英][miŋks][美][mɪŋks]
n.轻佻女子；风骚女子；&古&妓女；荡妇
"I only arrived here so lately . . ."
"Tut, tut, tut! . . . I see from your eyes! But
your brother's wife, surely she primed you for
this expedition? Think of letting a young man come to see such an
awful woman without warning him -- how could she? Ha, ha! . . . But
tell me, how is your brother? He's a fine fellow, such a handsome
man! . . . I've seen him several times at mass. Why do you look at
me like that? I very often go to church! We all have the same God.
To an educated person externals matter less than the idea. . . .
That's so, isn't it?"
tut[英][tʌt][美][tʌt]
int.嘘（表示焦虑、责难的发声）
vi.发出嘘声
prime[英][praim][美][praɪm]
adj.最好的；首要的；最初的；基本的
n.精华；初期；全盛时期；青年
vt.使准备好；填装；事先指导
adv.极好地
vi.（为枪炮）装火药；涂底漆；修剪树枝；注水入泵引起
"Yes, of course . . ." smiled the lieutenant.
"Yes, the idea. . . . But you are not a bit like your brother. You
are handsome, too, but your brother is a great deal better-looking.
There's wonderfully little likeness!"
"That' he's not my brother, but my cousin."
"Ah, to be sure! So you must have the money to-day? Why
"My furlough is over in a few days."
furlough[英][ˈfɜ:ləʊ][美][ˈfə:lo]
n.（军队的）休假
vt.准…休假
"Well, what's to be done with you!" sighed Susanna Moiseyevna. "So
be it. I'll give you the money, though I know you'll abuse me for
it afterwards. You'll quarrel with your wife after you are married,
and say: 'If that mangy Jewess hadn't given me the
money, I should perhaps have been as free as a bird to-day!" Is
your fianc&e pretty?"
mangy[英][ˈmeindʒi][美][ˈmendʒi]
adj.（兽）疥癣的，污秽的
"Oh yes. . . ."
"H'm! . . . Anyway, better something, if it's only beauty, than
nothing. Though however beautiful a woman is, it can never make up
to her husband for her silliness."
"That's original!" laughed the lieutenant. "You are a woman
yourself, and such a woman-hater!"
"A woman . . ." smiled Susanna. "It's not my fault that God has
cast me into this mould, is it? I'm no more to blame for it than
you are for having moustaches. The violin is not responsible for
the choice of its case. I am very fond of myself, but when any one
reminds me that I am a woman, I begin to hate myself. Well, you can
go away, and I'll dress. Wait for me in the drawing-room."
The lieutenant went out, and the first thing he did was to draw a
deep breath, to get rid of the heavy scent of jasmine, which had
begun to irritate his throat and to make him feel
"What a strange woman!" he thought, looking about him. "She talks
fluently, but . . . far too much, and too freely. She must be
neurotic."
neurotic[英][nʊˈrɔtɪk,
njʊ-][美][nʊˈrɑtɪk,
njʊ-]
adj.神经官能症的；神经质的；神经过敏的；极为焦虑的
n.神经病人；神经刺激剂
The drawing-room, in which he was standing now, was richly
furnished, and had pretensions to luxury and
style. There were dark bronze dishes with patterns
in relief, views of Nice and the Rhine on the tables,
old-fashioned sconces, Japanese
statuettes, but all this striving after luxury and
style only emphasised the lack of taste which was glaringly
apparent in the gilt cornices, the
gaudy wall-paper, the bright velvet table-cloths,
the common oleographs in heavy frames. The bad
taste of the general effect was the more complete from the lack of
finish and the overcrowding of the room, which gave one a feeling
that something was lacking, and that a great deal should have been
thrown away. It was evident that the furniture had not been bought
all at once, but had been picked up at auctions and other
favourable opportunities.
sconce[英][skɔns][美][skɑns]
n.壁突式烛台，&古&头，头盖
vt.筑保垒防卫
cornice[英][ˈkɔ:nis][美][ˈkɔrnɪs]
oleograph[英][ˈəuliəuɡrɑ:f][美][ˈoliəˌɡr&f]
n.油画式的石版画
Heaven knows what taste the lieutenant could boast of, but even he
noticed one characteristic peculiarity about the whole place, which
no luxury or style could efface -- a complete absence of all trace
of womanly, careful hands, which, as we all know, give a warmth,
poetry, and snugness to the furnishing of a room. There was a
chilliness about it such as one finds in waiting-rooms at stations,
in clubs, and foyers at the theatres.
There was scarcely anything in the room definitely Jewish, except,
perhaps, a big picture of the meeting of Jacob and
Esau. The lieutenant looked round about him, and,
shrugging his shoulders, thought of his strange, new acquaintance,
of her free-and-easy manners, and her way of talking. But then the
door opened, and in the doorway appeared the lady herself, in a
long black dress, so slim and tightly laced that her figure looked
as though it had been turned in a lathe. Now the
lieutenant saw not only the nose and eyes, but also a thin white
face, a head black and as curly as lamb's-wool. She did not attract
him, though she did not strike him as ugly. He had a prejudice
against un-Russian faces in general, and he
considered, too, that the lady's white face, the whiteness of which
for some reason suggested the cloying scent of
jasmine, did not go well with her little black curls and thick
that her nose and ears were astoundingly white, as though
they belonged to a corpse, or had been moulded out of transparent
wax. When she smiled she showed pale gums as well as her teeth, and
he did not like that either.
cloying[英][ˈklɔɪɪŋ]
adj.&正&（食物、气味等）甜得发腻的，使人腻烦的；（感情过于外露而）令人腻烦的
v.&正&发腻，倒胃口（
cloy的现在分词 ）
"An&mic debility . . ." he
"she's probably as nervous as a turkey."
anaemic[英][əˈni:mɪk][美][əˈnimɪk]
adj.贫血的；患贫血症的；没有活力的；无精打采的
debility[英][dɪˈbɪlɪti:][美][dɪˈbɪlɪti]
"Here I am! Come along!" she said, going on rapidly ahead of him
and pulling off the yellow leaves from the plants as she
"I'll give you the money directly, and if you like I'll give you
some lunch. Two thousand three hundred roubles! After such a good
stroke of business you'll have an appetite for your lunch. Do you
like my rooms? The ladies about here declare that my rooms always
smell of garlic. With that culinary gibe their
stock of wit is exhausted. I hasten to assure you that I've no
garlic even in the cellar. And one day when a doctor came to see me
who smelt of garlic, I asked him to take his hat and go and spread
his fragrance elsewhere. There is no smell of garlic here, but the
place does smell of drugs. My father lay paralyzed for a year and a
half, and the whole house smelt of medicine. A year and a half! I
was sorry to lose him, but I'm glad he's dead: he suffered
gibe[英][dʒaɪb][美][dʒaɪb]
vi.嘲笑，嘲弄
She led the officer through two rooms similar to the
drawing-room, through a large reception hall, and came to a stop in
her study, where there was a lady's writing-table covered with
little knick-knacks. On the carpet near it several
books lay strewn about, opened and folded back. Through a small
door leading from the study he saw a table laid for lunch.
knick-knacks 小装饰品;小摆设:小玩意儿
同nick-nack&&
gibe[英][dʒaɪb][美][dʒaɪb]
vi.嘲笑，嘲弄
Still chatting, Susanna took out of her pocket a bunch of little
keys and unlocked an ingeniously made cupboard with a curved,
sloping lid. When the lid was raised the cupboard emitted a
plaintive note which made the lieutenant think of an
&AEolian harp. Susanna picked out another key and
clicked another lock.
n.嘲笑，嘲弄"An&mic
debility . . ." "she's probably as
nervous as a turkey."
Aeolian[i:ˈəuliən]
adj.&希神&风神的，伊俄勒斯的；伊奥利亚人的；风的；风蚀的
"I have underground passages here and secret doors," she said,
taking out a small morocco portfolio. "It's a funny cupboard, isn't
it? And in this portfolio I have a quarter of my fortune. Look how
podgy it is! You won't strangle me, will you?"
portfolio[英][pɔ:tˈfəʊli:ˌəʊ,
pəʊrt-][美][pɔrtˈfoliˌo,
n.公文包；文件夹；证券投资组合；部长[大臣]的职位
podgy[ˈpɔdʒi]
adj.矮胖的，短粗的
Susanna raised her eyes to the lieutenant and laughed
good-naturedly. The lieutenant laughed too.
"She's rather jolly," he thought, watching the keys flashing
between her fingers.
"Here it is," she said, picking out the key of the portfolio. "Now,
Mr. Creditor, trot out the IOU. What a silly thing money is really!
How paltry it is, and yet how women love it! I am
a Jewess, you know, to the marrow of my bones. I am passionately
fond of Shmuls and Yankels, but how I loathe that
passion for gain in our Semitic blood. They hoard
and they don't know what they are hoarding for. One ought to live
and enjoy oneself, but they're afraid of spending an extra
farthing. In that way I am more like an hussar
than a Shmul. I don't like money to be kept long in one place. And
altogether I fancy I'm not much like a Jewess. Does my accent give
me away much, eh?"
paltry[英][ˈpɔ:ltri:][美][ˈpɔltri]
adj.微小的；不重要的；无价值的；可鄙的
Semitic[英][səˈmɪtɪk][美][səˈmɪtɪk]
adj.闪米特人的；闪族语系的
n.闪语；闪语族
hussar[huˈzɑ:]
"What shall I say?" mumbled the lieutenant. "You speak good
Russian, but you do roll your r's."
Susanna laughed and put the little key in the lock of the
portfolio. The lieutenant took out of his pocket a little roll of
IOUs and laid them with a notebook on the table.
"Nothing betrays a Jew as much as his accent," Susanna went on,
looking gaily at the lieutenant. "However much he twists himself
into a Russian or a Frenchman, ask him to say 'feather' and he will
say 'fedder' . . . but I pronounce it correctly: 'Feather! feather!
feather!' "
Both laughed.
"By Jove, she's very jolly!" thought Sokolsky.
Susanna put the portfolio on a chair, took a step towards the
lieutenant, and bringing her face close to his, went on
"Next to the Jews I love no people so much as the Russian and the
French. I did not do much at school and I know no history, but it
seems to me that the fate of the world lies in the hands of those
two nations. I lived a long time abroad. . . . I spent six months
in Madrid. . . . I've gazed my fill at the public,
and the conclusion I've come to is that there are no decent peoples
except the Russian and the French. Take the languages, for
instance. . . . The German language is like th
as for the English . . . you can't imagine anything stupider. Fight
-- feet -- foot! Italian is only pleasant when they speak it
slowly. If you listen to Italians gabbling, you get the effect of
the Jewish jargon. And the Poles? Mercy on us! There's no language
so disgusting! 'Nie pieprz, Pietrze, pieprzem wieprza bo mozeoz
przepieprzy& wieprza pieprzem.' That means: 'Don't pepper a
sucking pig with pepper, Pyotr, or perhaps you'll over-pepper the
sucking pig with pepper.' Ha, ha, ha!"
Susanna Moiseyevna rolled her eyes and broke into such a pleasant,
infectious laugh that the lieutenant, looking at her, went
off into a loud and merry peal of laughter. She took the
visitor by the button, and went on:
"You don't like Jews, of course . . . they've many faults, like all
nations. I don't dispute that. But are the Jews to blame for it?
No, it's not the Jews who are to blame, but the Jewish women! They
are narrow-minded, there's no sort of poetry about them,
they're dull. . . . You have never lived with a Jewess, so you
don't know how charming it is!" Susanna Moiseyevna pronounced the
last words with deliberate emphasis and with no eagerness or
laughter. She paused as though frightened at her own openness, and
her face was suddenly distorted in a strange, unaccountable way.
Her eyes stared at the lieutenant without blinking, her lips parted
and showed clenched teeth. Her whole face, her throat, and even her
bosom, seemed quivering with a spiteful, catlike expression. Still
keeping her eyes fixed on her visitor, she rapidly bent to one
side, and swiftly, like a cat, snatched something from the table.
All this was the work of a few seconds. Watching her movements, the
lieutenant saw five fingers crumple up his IOUs and caught a
glimpse of the white rustling paper as it disappeared in her
clenched fist. Such an extraordinary transition from good-natured
laughter to crime so appalled him that he turned pale and stepped
back. . . .
And she, still keeping her frightened, searching eyes upon him,
felt along her hip with her clenched fist for her pocket. Her fist
struggled convulsively for the pocket, like a fish in the net, and
could not find the opening. In another moment the IOUs would have
vanished in the recesses of her feminine garments, but at that
point the lieutenant uttered a faint cry, and, moved more by
instinct than reflection, seized the Jewess by her arm above the
clenched fist. Showing her teeth more than ever, she struggled with
all her might and pulled her hand away. Then Sokolsky put his right
arm firmly round her waist, and the other round her chest and a
struggle followed. Afraid of outraging her sex or hurting her, he
tried only to prevent her moving, and to get hold of the fist with
the IOUs; but she wriggled like an eel in his arms with her supple,
flexible body, struck him in the chest with her elbows, and
scratched him, so that he could not help touching her all over, and
was forced to hurt her and disregard her
"How unusual this is! How strange!" he thought, utterly amazed,
hardly able to believe his senses, and feeling rather sick from the
scent of jasmine.
In silence, breathing heavily, stumbling against the furniture,
they moved about the room. Susanna was carried away by the
struggle. She flushed, closed her eyes, and forgetting herself,
once even pressed her face against the face of the lieutenant, so
that there was a sweetish taste left on his lips.
At last he caught hold of her clenched hand. . . . Forcing it open,
and not finding the papers in it, he let go the Jewess. With
flushed faces and dishevelled hair, they looked at
one another, breathing hard. The spiteful, catlike expression on
the Jewess's face was gradually replaced by a good-natured smile.
She burst out laughing, and turning on one foot, went towards the
room where lunch was ready. The lieutenant moved slowly after her.
She sat down to the table, and, still flushed and breathing hard,
tossed off half a glass of port.
"Listen" -- the lieutenant broke the silence -- "I hope you are
"Not a bit of it," she answered, thrusting a piece of bread into
her mouth.
"H'm! . . . How do you wish me to take all this?"
"As you choose. Sit down and have lunch!"
"But . . . it's dishonest!"
"Perhaps. But don't trouble to give me a sermon; I
have my own way of looking at things."
"Won't you give them back?"
"Of course not! If you were a poor unfortunate man, with nothing to
eat, then it would be a different matter. But -- he wants to get
"It's not my money, it's my cousin's!"
"And what does your cousin want with money? To get fashionable
clothes for his wife? But I really don't care whether your
belle-s&ur has dresses or not."
The lieutenant had ceased to remember that he was in a strange
house with an unknown lady, and did not trouble himself with
decorum. He strode up and down the room, scowled
and nervously fingered his waistcoat. The fact that the Jewess had
lowered herself in his eyes by her dishonest action, made him feel
bolder and more free-and-easy.
decorum[英][dɪˈkɔ:rəm,
-ˈkəʊr-][美][dɪˈkɔrəm,
-ˈkor-]
n.端庄得体；体统
"The devil knows what to make of it!" he muttered. "Listen. I
shan't go away from here until I get the IOUs!"
"Ah, so much the better," laughed Susanna. "If you stay here for
good, it will make it livelier for me."
Excited by the struggle, the lieutenant looked at Susanna's
laughing, insolent face, at her munching mouth, at
her heaving bosom, and grew bolder and more audacious. Instead of
thinking about the IOU he began for some reason recalling with a
sort of relish his cousin's stories of the Jewess's romantic
adventures, of her free way of life, and these reminiscences only
provoked him to greater audacity. Impulsively he sat down beside
the Jewess and thinking no more of the IOUs began to eat. . .
insolent[英][ˈɪnsələnt][美][ˈɪnsələnt]
adj.侮慢的，无礼的；张狂；傲睨一世
"Will you have vodka or wine?" Susanna asked with a laugh. "So you
will stay till you get the IOUs? Poor fellow! How many days and
nights you will have to spend with me, waiting for those IOUs!
Won't your fianc&e have something to say about it?"
Five hours had passed. The lieutenant's cousin, Alexey Ivanovitch
Kryukov was walking about the rooms of his country-house in his
dressing-gown and slippers, and looking impatiently out of window.
He was a tall, sturdy man, with a large black beard and a manly
and as the Jewess had truly said, he was handsome, though he
had reached the age when men are apt to grow too stout, puffy, and
bald. By mind and temperament he was one of those natures in which
the Russian intellectual classes are so rich: warm-hearted,
good-natured, well-bred, having some knowledge of the arts and
sciences, some faith, and the most chivalrous notions about honour,
but indolent and lacking in depth. He was fond of good eating and
drinking, was an ideal whist-player, was a
connoisseur in women and horses, but in other things he was
apathetic and sluggish as a seal, and to rouse him from his
lethargy something extraordinary and quite revolting was needed,
and then he would forget everything in the world and display
he would fume and talk of a duel, write a
petition of seven pages to a Minister, gallop at breakneck
speed about the district, call some one publicly "a
scoundrel," would go to law, and so on.
whist[英][(h)wist][美][hwɪst,
wɪst]
int.嘘！肃静！
adj.无声的，安静的
adv.无声地，安静地
n.惠斯特（扑克牌游戏的一种）
"How is it our Sasha's not back yet?" he kept asking his wife,
glancing out of window. "Why, it's dinner-time!"
After waiting for the lieutenant till six o'clock, they sat down to
dinner. When supper-time came, however, Alexey Ivanovitch was
listening to every footstep, to every sound of the door, and kept
shrugging his shoulders.
"Strange!" he said. "The rascally dandy must have stayed on at the
tenant's."
As he went to bed after supper, Kryukov made up his mind that the
lieutenant was being entertained at the tenant's, where after a
festive evening he was staying the night.
Alexandr Grigoryevitch only returned next morning. He looked
extremely crumpled and confused.
"I want to speak to you alone . . ." he said mysteriously to his
They went into the study. The lieutenant shut the door, and he
paced for a long time up and down before he began to speak.
"Something's happened, my dear fellow," he began, "that I don't
know how to tell you about. You wouldn't believe it . . ."
And blushing, faltering, not looking at his cousin, he told what
had happened with the IOUs. Kryukov, standing with his feet wide
apart and his head bent, listened and frowned.
"Are you joking?" he asked.
"How the devil could I be joking? It's no joking matter!"
"I don't understand!" muttered Kryukov, turning crimson and
flinging up his hands. "It's positively . . . immoral on your part.
Before your very eyes a hussy is up to the devil
knows what, a serious crime, plays a nasty trick, and you go and
kiss her!"
hussy[英][ˈhʌsi][美][ˈhʌzi,
ˈhʌsi]
n.贱妇，轻佻或粗野的女子
"But I can't understand myself how it happened!" whispered the
lieutenant, blinking guiltily. "Upon my honour, I don't understand
it! It's the first time in my life I've come across such a monster!
It's not her beauty that does for you, not her mind, but that . . .
you understand . . . insolence, cynicism. . . ."
"Insolence, cynicism . . . it's unclean! If you've such a longing
for insolence and cynicism, you might have picked a sow out of the
mire and have devoured her alive. It would have been cheaper,
anyway! Instead of two thousand three hundred!"
"You do express yourself elegantly!" said the lieutenant, frowning.
"I'll pay you back the two thousand three hundred!"
"I know you'll pay it back, but it's not a question of money! Damn
the money! What revolts me is your being such a limp rag . . . such
filthy feebleness! And engaged! With a fianc&e!"
"Don't speak of it . . ." said the lieutenant, blushing. "I loathe
myself as it is. I should like to sink into the
earth. It's sickening and vexatious that I shall have to
bother my aunt for that five thousand. . . ."
Kryukov continued for some time longer expressing his indignation
and grumbling, then, as he grew calmer, he sat down on the sofa and
began to jeer at his cousin.
"You young officers!" he said with contemptuous irony. "Nice
bridegrooms."
Suddenly he leapt up as though he had been stung, stamped his foot,
and ran about the study.
"No, I'm not going to leave it like that!" he said, shaking his
fist. "I will have those IOUs, I will! I'll give it
her! One doesn't beat women, but I'll break every bone in
her body. . . . I'll pound her to a jelly! I'm not
a lieutenant! You won't touch me with insolence or cynicism!
No-o-o, damn her! Mishka!" he shouted, "run and tell them to get
the racing droshky out for me!"
droshky[英][ˈdrɔʃki][美][ˈdrɑʃki]
n.（俄国的）无顶四轮马车
Kryukov dressed rapidly, and, without heeding the agitated
lieutenant, got into the droshky, and with a wave of his hand
resolutely raced off to Susanna Moiseyevna. For a long time the
lieutenant gazed out of window at the clouds of dust that rolled
after his cousin's droshky, stretched, yawned, and went to his own
room. A quarter of an hour later he was sound asleep.
At six o'clock he was waked up and summoned to dinner.
"How nice this is of Alexey!" his cousin's wife greeted him in the
dining-room. "He keeps us waiting for dinner."
"Do you mean to say he's not come back yet?" yawned the lieutenant.
"H'm! . . . he's probably gone round to see the tenant."
But Alexey Ivanovitch was not back by supper either. His wife and
Sokolsky decided that he was playing cards at the tenant's and
would most likely stay the night there. What had happened was not
what they had supposed, however.
Kryukov returned next morning, and without greeting any one,
without a word, dashed into his study.
"Well?" whispered the lieutenant, gazing at him round-eyed.
Kryukov waved his hand and gave a snort.
"Why, what's the matter? What are you laughing at?"
Kryukov flopped on the sofa, thrust his head in the pillow, and
shook with suppressed laughter. A minute later he got up, and
looking at the surprised lieutenant, with his eyes full of tears
from laughing, said:
"Close the door. Well . . . she is a fe-e-male, I beg to inform
"Did you get the IOUs?"
Kryukov waved his hand and went off into a peal of laughter
"Well! she is a female!" he went on. "Merci for the acquaintance,
my boy! She's a devil in petticoats. I I walked in
like such an avenging Jove, you know, that I felt
almost afraid of myself. . . . I frowned, I scowled, even clenched
my fists to be more awe-inspiring. . . . 'Jokes don't pay with me,
madam!' said I, and more in that style. And I threatened her with
the law and with the Governor. To begin with she burst into tears,
said she'd been joking with you, and even took me to the cupboard
to give me the money. Then she began arguing that the future of
Europe lies in the hands of the French, and the Russians, swore at
women. . . . Like you, I listened, fascinated, ass that I was. . .
. She kept singing the praises of my beauty, patted me on the arm
near the shoulder, to see how strong I was, and . . . and as you
see, I've only just got away from her! Ha, ha! She's enthusiastic
about you!"
"You're a nice fellow!" laughed the lieutenant. "A married man!
highly respected. . . . Well, aren't you ashamed? Disgusted? Joking
apart though, old man, you've got your Queen Tamara in your own
neighbourhood. . . ."
"In my own neighbourhood! Why, you wouldn't find another such
chameleon in the whole of Russia! I've never seen
anything like it in my life, though I know a good bit about women,
too. I have known regular devils in my time, but I never met
anything like this. It is, as you say, by insolence and cynicism
she gets over you. What is so attractive in her is the
diabolical suddenness, the quick transitions, the
swift shifting hues. . . . Brrr! And the IOU -- phew! Write it off
for lost. We are both great sinners, we'll go halves in our sin. I
shall put down to you not two thousand three hundred, but half of
it. Mind, tell my wife I was at the tenant's."
chameleon[英][kəˈmi:ljən,
-ˈmi:li:ən][美][kəˈmiljən,
-ˈmiliən]
n.变色蜥蜴，变色龙
diabolical[英][ˌdaɪəˈbɔlɪkəl][美][ˌdaɪəˈbɑlɪkəl]
adj.恶魔的，残忍的
Kryukov and the lieutenant buried their heads in the pillows, and
they raised their heads, glanced at one
another, and again subsided into their pillows.
"Engaged! A lieutenant!" Kryukov jeered.
"Married!" retorted Sokolsky. "Highly respected! Father of a
At dinner they talked in veiled allusions, winked
at one another, and, to the surprise of the others, were
continually gushing with laughter into their dinner-napkins. After
dinner, still in the best of spirits, they dressed up as Turks,
and, running after one another with guns, played at soldiers with
the children. In the evening they had a long argument. The
lieutenant maintained that it was mean and contemptible to accept a
dowry with your wife, even when there was passionate love on both
sides. Kryukov thumped the table with his fists and declared that
this was absurd, and that a husband who did not like his wife to
have property of her own was an egoist and a despot. Both shouted,
boiled over, did not understand each other, drank a good deal, and
in the end, picking up the skirts of their dressing-gowns, went to
their bedrooms. They soon fell asleep and slept soundly.
Life went on as before, even, sluggish and free from sorrow. The
shadows lay on the earth, thunder pealed from the clouds, from time
to time the wind moaned plaintively, as though to prove that
nature, too, could lament, but nothing troubled the
habitual tranquillity of these people. Of Susanna
Moiseyevna and the IOUs they said nothing. Both of them felt,
somehow, ashamed to speak of the incident aloud. Yet they
remembered it and thought of it with pleasure, as of a
curious farce, which life had unexpectedly and
casually played upon them, and which it would be pleasant to recall
in old age.
On the sixth or seventh day after his visit to the Jewess, Kryukov
was sitting in his study in the morning writing a
congratulatory letter to his aunt. Alexandr Grigoryevitch
was walking to and fro near the table in silence. The lieutenant
had sl he woke up depressed, and now he felt
bored. He paced up and down, thinking of the end of his furlough,
of his fianc&e, who was expecting him, of how people could live all
their lives in the country without feeling bored. Standing at the
window, for a long time he stared at the trees, smoked three
cigarettes one after another, and suddenly turned to his
"I have a favour to ask you, Alyosha," he said. "Let me have a
saddle-horse for the day. . . ."
Kryukov looked searchingly at him and continued his writing with a
"You will, then?" asked the lieutenant.
Kryukov looked at him again, then deliberately drew out a drawer in
the table, and taking out a thick roll of notes, gave it to his
"Here's five thousand . . ." he said. "Though it's not my money,
yet, God bless you, it's all the same. I advise you to send for
post-horses at once and go away. Yes, really!"
The lieutenant in his turn looked searchingly at Kryukov and
"You've guessed right, Alyosha," he said, reddening. "It was to her
I meant to ride. Yesterday evening when the washerwoman gave me
that damned tunic, the one I was wearing then, and it smelt of
jasmine, why . . . I felt I must go!"
"You must go away."
"Yes, certainly. And my furlough's just over. I really will go
to-day! Yes, by Jove! However long one stays, one has to go in the
end. . . . I'm going!"
The post-horses were brought after the
lieutenant said good-bye to the Kryukovs and set off, followed by
their good wishes.
Another week passed. It was a dull but hot and heavy day. From
early morning Kryukov walked aimlessly about the house, looking out
of window, or turning over the leaves of albums, though he was sick
of the sight of them already. When he came across his wife or
children, he began grumbling crossly. It seemed to him, for some
reason that day, that his children's manners were revolting, that
his wife did not know how to look after the servants, that their
expenditure was quite disproportionate to their income. All this
meant that "the master" was out of humour.
After dinner, Kryukov, feeling dissatisfied with the soup and the
roast meat he had eaten, ordered out his racing droshky. He drove
slowly out of the courtyard, drove at a walking pace for a quarter
of a mile, and stopped.
"Shall I . . . drive to her . . . that devil?" he thought, looking
at the leaden sky.
And Kryukov positively laughed, as though it were the first time
that day he had asked himself that question. At once the load of
boredom was lifted from his heart, and there rose a gleam of
pleasure in his lazy eyes. He lashed the horse. . . .
All the way his imagination was picturing how surprised the Jewess
would be to see him, how he would laugh and chat, and come home
feeling refreshed. . . .
"Once a month one needs something to brighten one up . . .
something out of the common round," he thought,
"something that would give the stagnant organism a good shaking up,
a reaction . . . whether it's a drinking bout, or . . . Susanna.
One can't get on without it."
It was getting dark when he drove into the yard of the vodka
distillery. From the open windows of the owner's house came sounds
of laughter and singing:
" 'Brighter than lightning, more burning than flame. . . .' "
sang a powerful, mellow, bass voice.
"Aha! she has visitors," thought Kryukov.
And he was annoyed that she had visitors.
"Shall I go back?" he thought with his hand on the bell, but he
rang all the same, and went up the familiar staircase. From the
entry he glanced into the reception hall. There were about five men
there -- all landowners and officials one, a
tall, thin gentleman, was sitting at the piano, singing, and
striking the keys with his long, thin fingers. The others were
listening and grinning with enjoyment. Kryukov looked himself up
and down in the looking-glass, and was about to go into the hall,
when Susanna Moiseyevna herself darted into the entry, in high
spirits and wearing the same black dress. . . . Seeing Kryukov, she
was petrified for an instant, then she uttered a little scream and
beamed with delight.
"Is it you?" she said, clutching his hand. "What a surprise!"
"Here she is!" smiled Kryukov, putting his arm round her waist.
"Well! Does the destiny of Europe still lie in the hands of the
French and the Russians?"
"I'm so glad," laughed the Jewess, cautiously removing his arm.
"Come, they're all friends there. . . . I'll go
and tell them to bring you some tea. Your name's Alexey, isn't it?
Well, go in, I'll come directly. . . ."
She blew him a kiss and ran out of the entry, leaving behind her
the same sickly smell of jasmine. Kryukov raised his head and
walked into the hall. He was on terms of friendly intimacy with all
the men in the room, but sca they, too,
scarcely responded, as though the places in which they met were not
quite decent, and as though they were in tacit agreement
with one another that it was more suitable for them not to
recognise one another.
tacit[英][ˈt&sɪt][美][ˈt&sɪt]
adj.缄默的；心照不宣的；&律&由法律的效力而产生的
From the hall Kryukov walked into the drawing-room, and from it
into a second drawing-room. On the way he met three or four other
guests, also men whom he knew, though they barely recognised him.
Their faces were flushed with drink and merriment. Alexey
Ivanovitch glanced furtively at them and marvelled that these men,
respectable heads of families, who had known sorrow and
privation, could demean themselves to such
pitiful, cheap gaiety! He shrugged his shoulders, smiled, and
walked on.
privation[英][praɪˈveɪʃən][美][praɪˈveʃən]
n.（生活必需品的）匮乏，贫困
"There are places," he reflected, "where a sober man feels sick,
and a drunken man rejoices. I remember I never could go to the
operetta or the gipsies when I was sober: wine
makes a man more good-natured and reconciles him with
vice. . . ."
operetta[英][ˌɔpəˈretə][美][ˌɑpəˈrɛtə]
n.轻歌剧，小歌剧
Suddenly he stood still, petrified, and caught hold of the
door-post with both hands. At the writing-table in Susanna's study
was sitting Lieutenant Alexandr Grigoryevitch. He was discussing
something in an undertone with a fat, flabby-looking Jew, and
seeing his cousin, flushed crimson and looked down at an
The sense of decency was stirred in Kryukov and the blood rushed to
his head. Overwhelmed with amazement, shame, and anger, he walked
up to the table without a word. Sokolsky's head sank lower than
ever. His face worked with an expression of agonising shame.
"Ah, it's you, Alyosha!" he articulated, making a desperate effort
to raise his eyes and to smile. "I called here to say good-bye,
and, as you see. . . . But to-morrow I am certainly going."
"What can I say to him? What?" thought Alexey Ivanovitch. "How can
I judge him since I'm here myself?"
And clearing his throat without uttering a word, he went out
" 'Call her not heavenly, and leave her on earth. . . .' "
The bass was singing in the hall. A little while after, Kryukov's
racing droshky was bumping along the dusty road.

[美]弗·纳博科夫
薛鸿时 译


　　在安东·契诃夫所创造的生活的灰暗色调里，渗透着一种从容的、微妙的幽默感。在富于哲理的或关心社会的俄国批评家看来，他是独一无二的俄罗斯典型性格的独一无二的阐述者。要我来说明这种典型过去或现在究竟是什么，是一件相当困难的事，因为它和十九世纪俄罗斯总的心理与社会的历史联系得十分紧密。有人说契诃夫总爱写一些可爱而一事无成的人物，这种说法不够准确，倒是这样的说法更确切些：他笔下的男女正是因为一事无成才显得可爱。对一个俄国读者真正具有吸引力的是，他从契诃夫笔下的人物身上认出了俄罗斯知识分子、俄罗斯理想主义者的典型——一个古怪而哀婉动人的生灵——它对于外国人来说，完全是陌生的，而且在苏维埃时代，这种人即使在俄罗斯本土也不能生存。契诃夫笔下的知识分子是兼有两种特性的人：他具有人所能达到的、最深刻的尊严感，但是在实践他的理想和原则方面却无能得几乎令人发笑；他笃信道德上的美，忠于祖国人民以及全人类的福利，但是在私生活方面却连一件有益的事都做不成；他把偏狭的生活浪费在乌托邦的梦幻烟雾里；他明知什么是善，什么是有价值的生活目标，然而他却在无聊的生活泥塘里越陷越深，恋爱只会带来不幸，什么事情都休想干得好——一个做不成好事的好心人。契诃夫所有短篇小说中的人物——无论以医生、学生、乡村教师或从事其它种种职业的人物的面貌出现——统统都是这样一类人。
　　使他的那些具有政治头脑的批评家们烦恼的是，作者从不指明这种典型属于任何特定的政党，也从不给他以任何特定的政治纲领。然而，问题的关键就在这里。契诃夫笔下那些无能的理想主义者既不是恐怖主义者，又不是社会民主党人，也不是初露头角的布尔什维克。他不是俄国无数革命政党的无数成员中的一个。重要的是，这种典型的、契诃夫式的主人公是一种模糊而美丽的人类真理的担负者，不幸的是，他对于这个重负既卸不下又担不动。在契诃夫所有的短篇小说里，我们都可以看到一种连续不断的颠踬，那是一个人因凝视星空而导致的颠踬。他是一个不幸的人，并且他还使别人不幸，他不爱他的兄弟，不爱最接近他的人们，却爱离他最遥远的人们。遐方绝域的黑人、中国的苦力、乌拉尔山僻处的劳工，这些人们的困境比他邻人的不幸和他妻子的烦恼更使他强烈地感到一种道义上的痛苦。契诃夫怀着艺术家的特殊兴趣将大战前和革命前俄罗斯知识分子典型中的各种细致、微妙的类别加以区分。那些人会梦想，但他们不会治理。他们破坏了自己以及别人的生活，他们愚蠢、软弱、无能、歇斯底里；然而，契诃夫暗示说，能够产生出这种特殊类型人物来的国家是幸运的。他们错过时机，他们逃避行动，他们为设计他们无法建成的理想世界而彻夜不寐；然而，世间确实存在这样一种人，他们充满着如此丰富的热情、强烈的自我克制、纯洁的心灵和崇高的道德，他们曾经存活过，也许在今天冷酷而污浊的俄罗斯的某个地方，他们仍然存在，仅仅这么一件事实就是整个世界将会有好事情出现的预兆——因为，美妙的自然法则之所以绝妙，也许正在于最软弱的人得以幸存。
　　正是从这一观点出发，那些对俄国人民的痛苦和俄国文学的光荣同样感兴趣的人们才欣赏契诃夫。尽管契诃夫从来不想为人们提供一种社会的、道德的教训，然而他的天才却几乎在不经意之间就揭露了那充满饥饿、前途茫茫、遭受奴役、满腔愤怒的农民的俄罗斯最黑暗的现实，而这种揭露要比那些凭借一系列着色傀儡来炫耀其社会见解的诸如高尔基那样的许多其他作家的揭露更为充分。我还要进一步说，爱陀思妥耶夫斯基或高尔基甚于爱契诃夫的人永远也不能掌握俄罗斯文学和俄罗斯生活的本质，而且，远为重要的是，他们永远不能掌握普遍的文学艺术的本质。在俄国人中间，常把自己的熟人按其是否喜爱契诃夫而分成两类，这几乎已成为一种有趣的游戏了。那些不喜爱契诃夫的人们绝不属于公正的一类。
　　我诚心诚意的建议诸位尽可能经常地拿出契诃夫的书来读读（即使经过翻译走了样也不要紧），并按照作者的意图陷入遐想。在一个到处是茁壮的歌利亚们的时代，读一读有关柔弱的大卫们的书是非常有用的。凄清的景色、排列在荒凉、泥泞的土路旁的枯萎的柳树、在阴沉的天空中鼓动着翅膀的黑乌鸦、在一个平常的角落里突然翕动起某种令人惊异的回忆——这一切勾人心魂的朦胧、这一切美丽动人的柔弱、这整个契诃夫式的鸽灰色的世界在极权国家崇拜者们许诺给我们的那个强壮、自负的世界的炫示下都是值得珍爱的。

　　契诃夫的短篇小说《带叭儿狗的女人》（1899），写来直截了当，开门见山，没有丝毫拖沓之处。主要人物——一位金发少妇——在起首第一段就带着一只白色的丝毛狗出现在黑海海滨克里米亚休养地雅尔达的一处海滩上。紧接着又出现了男主人公古洛夫。他拿和孩子们一起留在莫斯科的妻子被描绘得很生动：结实的身躯，浓黑的眉毛，老爱说自己是个“会思考的女人”。你会注意到作者收集琐事细故的奇妙本领——这位妻子写字时总爱把不发音的字母省略掉，但在称呼丈夫时却总爱用最冗长、最详尽的全名，这两项性格特征与她皱眉蹙额的脸上那种给人以深刻印象的庄严以及僵硬、刻板的姿态结合在一起恰好形成所需要的印象。她是一个生性冷酷的女人，具有她那个时代强烈的女权思想和社会意识，但是在她丈夫的内心深处却认为她胸襟褊狭，头脑愚笨，缺乏优雅的风度。事情自然发展道古洛夫不断地对她不忠实，影响他对妇女的总的态度，他把妇女称为“劣等人种”，可是离了这劣等人种他就活不下去。它暗示着这类俄罗斯式的浪漫史全然不象莫泊桑笔下发生在巴黎的浪漫史那样轻快。对于莫斯科那些体面而犹豫不决的人们说来，麻烦和问题总是不可避免的。这些人开始行动时缓慢、迟钝，但一旦行动起来就陷入无尽的困境。
　　然后，小说以开头那种简洁、直截了当的手法，用套语“于是……”来连接，使我们不知不觉地重新回到那位带狗的夫人身边。她身上的一切，包括头发的式样，都向他说明，她心里烦闷。一种冒险的精神——虽然他明明知道，他对上等人聚居的海滨休养地的一位单身女人采取这种态度，是在效法那些往往是瞎编出来的通俗小说——这种冒险精神还是激励他去逗引那只小狗，而这一行动就成了他向这位女人搭话的因由。当时他俩正在同一家公共餐厅里。

　　他打手势逗引那只丝毛狗，等它走到他面前时，又向它摇动手指。丝毛狗嗥叫起来；他又一次恫吓它。
　　那位夫人瞥了他一眼，目光立即垂了下来。
　　“它不咬人。”她说，脸红了。
　　“我可以给它一块肉骨头吃吗？”他问；当她点了点头时，他又用亲切的语气问，“您到雅尔达已经很久了吗？”
　　“大约五天。”

　　他们交谈起来。作者早就暗示说古洛夫在女性面前是很机智的；然而，出乎读者的意料（你知道，若按老的手法就会形容这场谈话“才气横溢”，但又拿不出实例来），契诃夫却让古洛夫以可爱、动人的方式开起了玩笑。“您觉得沉闷吗？一个住在……（契诃夫在这里列举出几个选择得极妙的、土气十足的城镇名）的普通老百姓倒不觉得那里沉闷，但他一旦到这里来度假，就会觉得这儿气氛沉闷、满是尘土了。人家还当他是从格林纳达来的呢”（这个地名特别能激发俄国人的想象力）。这些话足以从侧面将他们谈话的其余部分间接地反映出来了。这里初次闪现初契诃夫用最简明地对自然景色的细节描写渲染气氛的独特方法，“大海呈现出温暖的浅紫色，在月亮升起的地方有一道金色的光带”；凡是在雅尔达住过的人都会知道这句话把那里夏季夜晚的印象表达得何等真切。小说第一部分结尾处，古洛夫上床睡觉时独自在旅馆房间里思念着她，想起她那娇柔、细弱的颈项和她美丽的灰眼睛。值得注意的是，直到此刻，通过主人公想象的媒介，契诃夫才给那位夫人画下一幅鲜明、确切的图象，她的相貌与我们早就知道的、她倦怠的举止和烦闷的神情十分切合。

　　躺下睡觉时，他想：不久前她还是一个女学生，就象他女儿一样做功课；他回想起她和生人谈话时，那笑声和举止仍显得羞怯和生硬。她独自置身于这样一个环境，准还是平生第一次，在这里，人们跟踪她，盯着看她，和她搭话，隐藏的目的只有一个，对此，她不会猜不出来。他想她那纤细、精致的前颈和她那可爱的灰眼睛。
　　“然而，她身上有一种招人怜爱的模样呢。”他想着想着就睡着了。

　　小说第二部分（全篇分成四个小型的章节或部分，每一部分不超过四至五页）的开始是一周后的某个炎热的、尘土飞扬的刮风天，古洛夫从商亭里为那位夫人买回了冰镇柠檬水；傍晚时西洛可风渐渐平息，他俩走在防波堤上，瞭望着蒸汽船驶进港来。“这位夫人在人群里挤丢了她的长柄望远镜”，契诃夫简短地交代了一句，说来如此漫不经心，对故事没有任何直接影响——只是偶然提了提——但不知怎么的，它恰好符合小说早就暗示出来的那种不能自己的、使人凄恻的情调。
　　接着在她旅馆房间里的一段，细致地传达出她举动的拙涩以及带着女性温柔的局促不安。他们成了情人。现在，她坐在那里，长发在她脸庞两边披拂下来，显出某幅旧画中犯罪女子那种心灰意懒的模样。桌上摆着一只西瓜。古洛夫给自己切下一块，慢慢地吃起来。这一现实主义笔触又是典型的、契诃夫式的独创。
　　她向他叙述她来自的那个偏僻城镇上的生活，而古洛夫却对她的天真、慌乱和眼泪有点腻烦了。直到此刻，我们才知道她丈夫的姓氏：封·蒂德里兹——或许是德国人的后裔。
　　他俩在晨雾中沿着雅尔达四周漫步。

　　在奥列安达，他俩坐在离教堂不远处的一张长凳上，低头望着大海，沉默不语。透过晨雾，仅可望见雅尔达朦胧的影子；白云静静地停在山顶上。树上的叶子悄然不动，蟋蟀在唧唧地叫，从低处升起大海单调而低沉的声音，诉说着和平以及等待着我们的永恒的睡眠。当这里还没有雅尔达、没有奥列安达时，它就已经在低处这样响了；现在它响着，到我们不复存在时，它仍将发出如此淡漠、空洞的声音……这位少妇在黎明时分看来如此可爱，古洛夫坐在她身边，周围奇妙的景物——海洋、大山、云朵、辽阔的天空——给他慰藉，使他心醉，他想，只要你认真思考一下，世间的一切，除了当我们忘却人生更高的目标以及我们做人的尊严时所想和所做的事情以外，都是真正美丽的。
　　一个男人踱到了他们身边——也许是个看守人——朝他们看了看就走开了。这件小事似乎也非常神秘和美丽。他们望见一艘从费奥多西亚开来的蒸汽船，船上的灯火在黎明的霞光里熄灭。
　　“草上有露水。”沉默了一阵，安娜·谢尔盖耶夫娜说。
　　“是的，是该回去的时候了。”

　　几天以后，她不得不回家去了。

　　“我也应该回北方去了。”送她动身后，古洛夫想。

　　这一章节就到此结束。

　　第三部分把我们直接带进古洛夫在莫斯科的生活中去。一个欢快的俄罗斯冬季的丰富生活、他的家事、在俱乐部和饭店里进餐……这一切都迅速而生动地暗示出来。接着用一页篇幅描写了发生在他身上的一件怪事：他无法把那位带小狗的夫人忘怀。他有许多朋友，他怀着一种奇特的渴望，想向别人讲述他那桩冒险奇遇，然而找不到一个倾吐的机会。当他碰巧非常笼统地谈到爱情和女人时，谁也猜不出他的用意何在，只有他妻子的黑眉毛动了动，说：“别说那种蠢话了，这可不是你应该说的。”
　　接着进入了在契诃夫含蓄、平静的小说里可称为高潮的地方。这里有普通人称为浪漫史的东西以及契诃夫称为散文的东西——然而这两者在艺术家手里实质上都是诗。这种明显的差异早已由古洛夫在雅尔达旅馆房间里吃的那块西瓜暗示出来了。在那个最富于浪漫色彩的时刻，他闷坐着，大声地把那块西瓜嚼了下去。这种差异出色地趁机发展下去，一天深夜，当古洛夫和一位朋友一起走出俱乐部时，他终于不假思索地冲口说了出来：你不知道我在雅尔达遇到了一个多么可爱的女人！他的朋友——政府里的文职人员——坐上了雪橇，马拉着它往前跑，但他突然扭过头来喊古洛夫。怎么啦？古洛夫问，显然在盼望他能对自己刚才提到的事作出某种反映。顺便提一句，那个人说，你说得很对。俱乐部里的鱼肯定臭了。
　　这是一个自然的转折，下面就描写古洛夫的一种新的心境了。他感到自己生活在一群嗜赌、贪吃如命的野蛮人中间。他的家庭、他的银行、他生活的整个倾向似乎都没有价值，沉闷而无聊。圣诞节前后，他对妻子说要到圣彼得堡去办件公事，其实他动身到那位夫人所在的伏尔加河畔那座偏僻城镇去了。
　　在往昔的时代里，公民问题的狂热正席卷俄国，契诃夫的批评家往往被他的描写方式所激怒，当时，他们认为契诃夫描写的是琐细、无用的事物，而没有透彻地考察并解决资产阶级婚姻的问题。因为，当古洛夫清晨一到那座城镇并在当地旅馆租下最好的房间时，契诃夫并不描写他的心境，也不去着意渲染他在道德地位上的困难，却提供了真正富于艺术性的描写：他特别提到用军用毛料做的灰色地毯、积满灰尘因而也呈现出灰色的墨水台，那上边有一个骑马人像，骑士的手中挥舞着一顶帽子，可是脑袋却没了。就这些，似乎什么都没有，但真正的文学所要具备的一切这里都有了。还有一个同样性质的特写：旅馆茶房把德国姓封·蒂德里兹硬是读别了。古洛夫打听到了住址就到那里去看那座房子。房子对面有一道长长的、装着尖刺的灰色栅栏。一道不可逾越的栅栏，古洛夫自言自语道。在这里，我们对生活节奏的单调和灰色——这些，我们早就从地毯、墨水台和旅馆茶房缺乏教养的发音中受到了暗示——得到了总结性的音调。正是那意外的微小波折、轻巧精美的笔触使契诃夫能与果戈里和托尔斯泰肩并肩地在所有俄国小说家中占据最高的位置。
　　不久，他看见一个老仆人带着那只他熟悉的小白狗走出门来。他想喊那只狗（出于某种条件反射），但他的心突然跳得激烈起来，在兴奋中他竟忘掉了它的名字——又一个巧妙的笔触。后来，他决定到当地剧院去看戏，那里将初次上演小歌剧《盖伊霞》。契诃夫只用了六十个词就提供了一幅外省剧院的完整图画，就连谦虚地躲在他包厢的长毛绒帷幔后面，因而只能看见他的两只手的那位市长也没有漏掉。接着，那位夫人出现了。他分明意识到，对他说来，如今整个世界上再也没有比这个混在小城的人群里、手拿一架普通的长柄望远镜、似乎毫无出众之处的小女人更近、更亲、更重要的人了。他看到了她的丈夫，记得她曾把他称为奴才——他还真象个奴才。
　　以下是一个绝妙的场景，描写古洛夫设法和她谈话，两人在穿着各式外省官员制服的人群中，以疯狂而迅捷的脚步穿过各种楼梯和走廊，上楼、下楼、再上楼。契诃夫没有忘掉“楼梯上方有两个在抽烟的中学生正俯视着他俩”。

　　“你得走，”安娜·谢尔盖耶夫娜悄声说，“听见了吗，德米特里奇？我会到莫斯科来看你的。我一直没有快活过；现在我也不会快活，并且我永远、永远也不会再快活了，永远不会！所以，不要使我更加痛苦了吧！我发誓我会到莫斯科来的。但是，现在我们还是分手吧。我亲爱的好宝贝，让我们分手吧。”
　　她握了握他的手，快步走下楼去，又回头看看他，从她的眼神里，他可以看出她真的不快活。古洛夫站立片刻，倾听着，当一切都安静下来，他就找到大衣，离开了剧院。

　　短短的第四章，也就是最后一个章节，写出了他俩在莫斯科幽会的气氛。她一到那里总是立即派遣一名带红帽子的信差去通知古洛夫。有一天，他去和她幽会，他女儿和他一起走着。她去上学，正好和他同路。大片大片的湿雪正缓缓地降落下来。
　　古洛夫对他女儿说，气温表上指着零上几度（准确地说是华氏三十七度以上），然而却下起雪来了。这说明表上的温度只适用于地球表面，而高层大气的温度就大不相同了。
　　他边说边走，心想：没人知道他们的幽会，也许将永远也不会有人知道。
　　使他困惑的是，他生活中所有虚假的部分：他的银行、他的俱乐部、他的谈论、他的社会责任——这一切都是公开的，然而他生活中那真实、有趣的部分却是隐蔽着的。

　　他有两种生活：一种是公开的，任何想了解它的人都可以看见并了解它，其中充满传统的真实和传统的虚假，与他朋友们和熟人们的生活一模一样；而另一种生活是在暗中进行的。通过某些奇怪的、也许是偶然的机缘，一切他认为有趣而重要的东西、一切他认为必不可少的东西、一切他认为真诚地感觉着而并不自欺的东西、一切组成他生活核心的东西，都是瞒过别人而暗中进行的；而一切虚假的东西却是他用来掩盖自己、遮蔽真相的外壳——例如，他在银行里的工作、他在俱乐部里的议论、他关于“劣等人种”的论调、他同妻子在纪念会上的出现——这一切都是公开进行的。推己及人，他再也不能相信自己所看见的东西了，他总在猜想：一切人都在夜一般漆黑的秘密的掩盖下，过着自己真实的、最有趣的生活。每一个人的私生活都以秘密为基础，文明人如此敏感地渴望着个人秘密能得到尊重，部分原因也许正在于此。

　　最后一个场景中充满小说开始时即已暗示出来的那种使人凄恻的情调。他们相会，她啜泣，他们觉得他俩是一对最恩爱的夫妻，最亲近的朋友，他看到自己的头发开始灰白了并且意识到只有死亡才能结束他们的爱情。

　　他双手按着她温暖而颤抖的肩膀。他对这个依然如此温暖而可爱的生命感到怜惜，也许这个生命正象他的生命一样也早已开始凋谢和枯萎了。她为什么要把他爱得这样深呢？在女人眼里，他似乎总和他的本来面目不同，她们所爱的他不是他本人，而是她们在想象中创造出来、并热切地寻找了一辈子的男人；而当她们最后发现自己的错误时，却仍然爱他。她们中没有一个人能因他而得到幸福。过去他曾与一些女人遇合和分离，但他从来未曾爱过；随你怎么说都行，但那决不是爱情。直到此刻，当他的头发已经灰白，他才平生第一次实实在在、真心真意地爱上了一个女人。

　　他们商议，他们讨论他们的处境，怎样才能摆脱这种不得不然的鬼鬼祟祟，怎样才能永远在一起。他们想不出解决办法，小说没有明确的终结，而是按照生活的自然运动、以典型的契诃夫方式渐渐消隐。

　　似乎再过一会儿就能找到解决办法了，然后将开始过一种新鲜而灿烂的生活；他俩都明白结局还远得很，对他们说来，那最复杂、最困难的事情还刚刚开始。

　　在这个只有二十页左右的短篇小说里，一切传统的小说写法都被打破了。小说没有提出什么问题，没有通常的高潮，也没有一个有意义的结尾。然而这却是有史以来最伟大的短篇小说之一。


　　
　　录自《世界文学》1982年第一期



转的，没想到纳对契诃夫那么推崇，我改变一下对他的看法。。。。。他是指纳。。。
已投稿到：
以上网友发言只代表其个人观点，不代表新浪网的观点或立场。}