章节正文
afraid, and wished both to get to know and yet to deceive
himself. He carefully undid the fastening of his sheepskin,
pushed in his hand, and felt about for a long time before he
got to his waistcoat. With great difficulty he managed to draw
out his silver watch with its enamelled flower design, and
tried to make out the time. He could not see anything without
a light. Again he went down on his knees and elbows as he had
done when he lighted a cigarette, got out his matches, and
proceeded to strike one. This time he went to work more
carefully, and feeling with his fingers for a match with the
largest head and the greatest amount of phosphorus, lit it at
the first try. Bringing the face of the watch under the light
he could hardly believe his eyes. . . . It was only ten
minutes past twelve. Almost the whole night was still before
him.
'Oh, how long the night is!' he thought, feeling a cold shudder
run down his back, and having fastened his fur coats again and
wrapped himself up, he snuggled into a corner of the sledge
intending to wait patiently. Suddenly, above the monotonous
roar of the wind, he clearly distinguished another new and
living sound. It steadily strengthened, and having become
quite clear diminished just as gradually. Beyond all doubt it
was a wolf, and he was so near that the movement of his jaws as
he changed his cry was brought down the wind. Vasili
Andreevich turned back the collar of his coat and listened
attentively. Mukhorty too strained to listen, moving his ears,
and when the wolf had ceased its howling he shifted from foot
to foot and gave a warning snort. After this Vasili Andreevich
could not fall asleep again or even calm himself. The more he
tried to think of his accounts, his business, his reputation,
his worth and his wealth, the more and more was he mastered by
fear, and regrets that he had not stayed the night at Grishkino
dominated and mingled in all his thoughts.
'Devil take the forest! Things were all right without it,
thank God. Ah, if we had only put up for the night!' he said
to himself. 'They say it's drunkards that freeze,' he thought,
'and I have had some drink.' And observing his sensations he
noticed that he was beginning to shiver, without knowing
whether it was from cold or from fear. He tried to wrap
himself up and lie down as before, but could no longer do so.
He could not stay in one position. He wanted to get up, to do
something to master the gathering fear that was rising in him
and against which he felt himself powerless. He again got out
his cigarettes and matches, but only three matches were left
and they were bad ones. The phosphorus rubbed off them all
without lighting.
'The devil take you! Damned thing! Curse you!' he muttered,
not knowing whom or what he was cursing, and he flung away the
crushed cigarette. He was about to throw away the matchbox
too, but checked the movement of his hand and put the box in
his pocket instead. He was seized with such unrest that he
could no longer remain in one spot. He climbed out of the
sledge and standing with his back to the wind began to shift
his belt again, fastening it lower down in the waist and
tightening it.
'What's the use of lying and waiting for death? Better mount
the horse and get away!' The thought suddenly occurred to
him. 'The horse will move when he has someone on his back.
As for him,' he thought of Nikita--'it's all the same to him
whether he lives or dies. What is his life worth? He won't
grudge his life, but I have something to live for, thank God.'
He untied the horse, threw the reins over his neck and tried to
mount, but his coats and boots were so heavy that he failed.
Then he clambered up in the sledge and tried to mount from
there, but the sledge tilted under his weight, and he failed
again. At last he drew Mukhorty nearer to the sledge,
cautiously balanced on one side of it, and managed to lie on
his stomach across the horse's back. After lying like that for
a while he shifted forward once and again, threw a leg over,
and finally seated himself, supporting his feet on the loose
breeching-straps. The shaking of the sledge awoke Nikita. He
raised himself, and it seemed to Vasili Andreevich that he said
something.
'Listen to such fools as you! Am I to die like this for
nothing?' exclaimed Vasili Andreevich. And tucking the loose
skirts of his fur coat in under his knees, he turned the horse
and rode away from the sledge in the direction in which he
thought the forest and the forester's hut must be.
VII
From the time he had covered himself with the sackcloth and
seated himself behind the sledge, Nikita had not stirred. Like
all those who live in touch with nature and have known want, he
was patient and could wait for hours, even days, without
growing restless or irritable. He heard his master call him,
but did not answer because he did not want to move or talk.
Though he still felt some warmth from the tea he had drunk and
from his energetic struggle when clambering about in the
snowdrift, he knew that this warmth would not last long and
that he had no strength left to warm himself again by moving
about, for he felt as tired as a horse when it stops and
refuses to go further in spite of the whip, and its master sees
that it must be fed before it can work again. The foot in the
boot with a hole in it had already grown numb, and he could no
longer feel his big toe. Besides that, his whole body began to
feel colder and colder.
The thought that he might, and very probably would, die that
night occurred to him, but did not seem particularly unpleasant
or dreadful. It did not seem particularly unpleasant, because
his whole life had been not a continualholiday, but on the
contrary an unceasing round of toil of which he was beginning
to feel weary. And it did not seem particularly dreadful,
because besides the masters he had served here, like Vasili
Andreevich, he always felt himself dependent on the Chief
Master, who had sent him into this life, and he knew that when
dying he would still be in that Master's power and would not be
ill-used by Him. 'It seems a pity to give up what one is used
to and accustomed to. But there's nothing to be done, I shall
get used to the new things.'
'Sins?' he thought, and remembered his drunkenness, the money
that had gone on drink, how he had offended his wife, his
cursing, his neglect of church and of the fasts, and all the
things the priest blamed him for at confession. 'Of course they
are sins. But then, did I take them on of myself? That's
evidently how God made me. Well, and the sins? Where am I to
escape to?'
So at first he thought of what might happen to him that night,
and then did not return to such thoughts but gave himself up to
whatever recollections came into his head of themselves. Now
he thought of Martha's arrival, of the drunkenness among the
workers and his own renunciation of drink, then of their
present journey and of Taras's house and the talk about the
breaking-up of the family, then of his own lad, and of Mukhorty
now sheltered under the drugget, and then of his master who
made the sledge creak as he tossed about in it. 'I expect
you're sorry yourself that you started out, dear man,' he
thought. 'It would seem hard to leave a life such as his!
It's not like the likes of us.'
Then all these recollections began to grow confused and got
mixed in his head, and he fell asleep.
But when Vasili Andreevich, getting on the horse, jerked the
sledge, against the back of which Nikita was leaning, and it
shifted away and hit him in the back with one of its runners,
he awoke and had to change his position whether he liked it or
not. Straightening his legs with difficulty and shaking the
snow off them he got up, and an agonizing cold immediately
penetrated his whole body. On making out what was happening he
called to Vasili Andreevich to leave him the drugget which the
horse no longer needed, so that he might wrap himself in it.
But Vasili Andreevich did not stop, but disappeared amid the
powdery snow.
Left alone Nikita considered for a moment what he should do.
He felt that he had not the strength to go off in search of a
house. It was no longer possible to sit down in his old
place--it was by now all filled with snow. He felt that he
could not get warmer in the sledge either, for there was
nothing to cover himself with, and his coat and sheepskin no
longer warmed him at all. He felt as cold as though he had
nothing on but a shirt. He became frightened. 'Lord, heavenly
Father!' he muttered, and was comforted by the consciousness
that he was not alone but that there was One who heard him and
would not abandon him. He gave a deep sigh, and keeping the
sackcloth over his head he got inside the sledge and lay down
in the place where his master had been.
But he could not get warm in the sledge either. At first he
shivered all over, then the shivering ceased and little by
little he began to lose consciousness. He did not know whether
he was dying or falling asleep, but felt equally prepared for
the one as for the other.
VIII
Meanwhile Vasili Andreevich, with his feet and the ends of the
reins, urged the horse on in the direction in which for some
reason he expected the forest and forester's hut to be. The
snow covered his eyes and the wind seemed intent on stopping
him, but bending forward and constantly lapping his coat over
and pushing it between himself and the cold harness pad which
prevented him from sitting properly, he kept urging the horse
on. Mukhorty ambled on obediently though with difficulty, in
the direction in which he was driven.
Vasili Andreevich rode for about five minutes straight ahead,
as he thought, seeing nothing but the horse's head and the
white waste, and hearing only the whistle of the wind about the
horse's ears and his coat collar.
Suddenly a dark patch showed up in front of him. His heart
beat with joy, and he rode towards the object, already seeing
in imagination the walls of village houses. But the dark patch
was not stationary, it kept moving; and it was not a village
but some tall stalks of wormwood sticking up through the snow
on the boundary between two fields, and desperately tossing
about under the pressure of the wind which beat it all to one
side and whistled through it. The sight of that wormwood
tormented by the pitiless wind made Vasili Andreevich shudder,
he knew not why, and he hurriedly began urging the horse on,
not noticing that when riding up to the wormwood he had quite
changed his direction and was now heading the opposite way,
though still imagining that he was riding towards where the
hut should be. But the horse kept making towards the right,
and Vasili Andreevich kept guiding it to the left.
Again something dark appeared in front of him. Again he
rejoiced, convinced that now it was certainly a village. But
once more it was the same boundary line overgrown with
wormwood, once more the same wormwood desperately tossed by
the wind and carrying unreasoning terror to his heart. But its
being the same wormwood was not all, for beside is* there was a
horse's track partly snowed over. Vasili Andreevich stopped,
stooped down and looked carefully. It was a horse-track only
partially covered with snow, and could be none but his own
horse's hoofprints. He had evidently gone round in a small
circle. 'I shall perish like that!' he thought, and not to
give way to his terror he urged on the horse still more,
peering into the snowy darkness in which he saw only flitting
and fitful points of light. Once he thought he heard the
himself. He carefully undid the fastening of his sheepskin,
pushed in his hand, and felt about for a long time before he
got to his waistcoat. With great difficulty he managed to draw
out his silver watch with its enamelled flower design, and
tried to make out the time. He could not see anything without
a light. Again he went down on his knees and elbows as he had
done when he lighted a cigarette, got out his matches, and
proceeded to strike one. This time he went to work more
carefully, and feeling with his fingers for a match with the
largest head and the greatest amount of phosphorus, lit it at
the first try. Bringing the face of the watch under the light
he could hardly believe his eyes. . . . It was only ten
minutes past twelve. Almost the whole night was still before
him.
'Oh, how long the night is!' he thought, feeling a cold shudder
run down his back, and having fastened his fur coats again and
wrapped himself up, he snuggled into a corner of the sledge
intending to wait patiently. Suddenly, above the monotonous
roar of the wind, he clearly distinguished another new and
living sound. It steadily strengthened, and having become
quite clear diminished just as gradually. Beyond all doubt it
was a wolf, and he was so near that the movement of his jaws as
he changed his cry was brought down the wind. Vasili
Andreevich turned back the collar of his coat and listened
attentively. Mukhorty too strained to listen, moving his ears,
and when the wolf had ceased its howling he shifted from foot
to foot and gave a warning snort. After this Vasili Andreevich
could not fall asleep again or even calm himself. The more he
tried to think of his accounts, his business, his reputation,
his worth and his wealth, the more and more was he mastered by
fear, and regrets that he had not stayed the night at Grishkino
dominated and mingled in all his thoughts.
'Devil take the forest! Things were all right without it,
thank God. Ah, if we had only put up for the night!' he said
to himself. 'They say it's drunkards that freeze,' he thought,
'and I have had some drink.' And observing his sensations he
noticed that he was beginning to shiver, without knowing
whether it was from cold or from fear. He tried to wrap
himself up and lie down as before, but could no longer do so.
He could not stay in one position. He wanted to get up, to do
something to master the gathering fear that was rising in him
and against which he felt himself powerless. He again got out
his cigarettes and matches, but only three matches were left
and they were bad ones. The phosphorus rubbed off them all
without lighting.
'The devil take you! Damned thing! Curse you!' he muttered,
not knowing whom or what he was cursing, and he flung away the
crushed cigarette. He was about to throw away the matchbox
too, but checked the movement of his hand and put the box in
his pocket instead. He was seized with such unrest that he
could no longer remain in one spot. He climbed out of the
sledge and standing with his back to the wind began to shift
his belt again, fastening it lower down in the waist and
tightening it.
'What's the use of lying and waiting for death? Better mount
the horse and get away!' The thought suddenly occurred to
him. 'The horse will move when he has someone on his back.
As for him,' he thought of Nikita--'it's all the same to him
whether he lives or dies. What is his life worth? He won't
grudge his life, but I have something to live for, thank God.'
He untied the horse, threw the reins over his neck and tried to
mount, but his coats and boots were so heavy that he failed.
Then he clambered up in the sledge and tried to mount from
there, but the sledge tilted under his weight, and he failed
again. At last he drew Mukhorty nearer to the sledge,
cautiously balanced on one side of it, and managed to lie on
his stomach across the horse's back. After lying like that for
a while he shifted forward once and again, threw a leg over,
and finally seated himself, supporting his feet on the loose
breeching-straps. The shaking of the sledge awoke Nikita. He
raised himself, and it seemed to Vasili Andreevich that he said
something.
'Listen to such fools as you! Am I to die like this for
nothing?' exclaimed Vasili Andreevich. And tucking the loose
skirts of his fur coat in under his knees, he turned the horse
and rode away from the sledge in the direction in which he
thought the forest and the forester's hut must be.
VII
From the time he had covered himself with the sackcloth and
seated himself behind the sledge, Nikita had not stirred. Like
all those who live in touch with nature and have known want, he
was patient and could wait for hours, even days, without
growing restless or irritable. He heard his master call him,
but did not answer because he did not want to move or talk.
Though he still felt some warmth from the tea he had drunk and
from his energetic struggle when clambering about in the
snowdrift, he knew that this warmth would not last long and
that he had no strength left to warm himself again by moving
about, for he felt as tired as a horse when it stops and
refuses to go further in spite of the whip, and its master sees
that it must be fed before it can work again. The foot in the
boot with a hole in it had already grown numb, and he could no
longer feel his big toe. Besides that, his whole body began to
feel colder and colder.
The thought that he might, and very probably would, die that
night occurred to him, but did not seem particularly unpleasant
or dreadful. It did not seem particularly unpleasant, because
his whole life had been not a continualholiday, but on the
contrary an unceasing round of toil of which he was beginning
to feel weary. And it did not seem particularly dreadful,
because besides the masters he had served here, like Vasili
Andreevich, he always felt himself dependent on the Chief
Master, who had sent him into this life, and he knew that when
dying he would still be in that Master's power and would not be
ill-used by Him. 'It seems a pity to give up what one is used
to and accustomed to. But there's nothing to be done, I shall
get used to the new things.'
'Sins?' he thought, and remembered his drunkenness, the money
that had gone on drink, how he had offended his wife, his
cursing, his neglect of church and of the fasts, and all the
things the priest blamed him for at confession. 'Of course they
are sins. But then, did I take them on of myself? That's
evidently how God made me. Well, and the sins? Where am I to
escape to?'
So at first he thought of what might happen to him that night,
and then did not return to such thoughts but gave himself up to
whatever recollections came into his head of themselves. Now
he thought of Martha's arrival, of the drunkenness among the
workers and his own renunciation of drink, then of their
present journey and of Taras's house and the talk about the
breaking-up of the family, then of his own lad, and of Mukhorty
now sheltered under the drugget, and then of his master who
made the sledge creak as he tossed about in it. 'I expect
you're sorry yourself that you started out, dear man,' he
thought. 'It would seem hard to leave a life such as his!
It's not like the likes of us.'
Then all these recollections began to grow confused and got
mixed in his head, and he fell asleep.
But when Vasili Andreevich, getting on the horse, jerked the
sledge, against the back of which Nikita was leaning, and it
shifted away and hit him in the back with one of its runners,
he awoke and had to change his position whether he liked it or
not. Straightening his legs with difficulty and shaking the
snow off them he got up, and an agonizing cold immediately
penetrated his whole body. On making out what was happening he
called to Vasili Andreevich to leave him the drugget which the
horse no longer needed, so that he might wrap himself in it.
But Vasili Andreevich did not stop, but disappeared amid the
powdery snow.
Left alone Nikita considered for a moment what he should do.
He felt that he had not the strength to go off in search of a
house. It was no longer possible to sit down in his old
place--it was by now all filled with snow. He felt that he
could not get warmer in the sledge either, for there was
nothing to cover himself with, and his coat and sheepskin no
longer warmed him at all. He felt as cold as though he had
nothing on but a shirt. He became frightened. 'Lord, heavenly
Father!' he muttered, and was comforted by the consciousness
that he was not alone but that there was One who heard him and
would not abandon him. He gave a deep sigh, and keeping the
sackcloth over his head he got inside the sledge and lay down
in the place where his master had been.
But he could not get warm in the sledge either. At first he
shivered all over, then the shivering ceased and little by
little he began to lose consciousness. He did not know whether
he was dying or falling asleep, but felt equally prepared for
the one as for the other.
VIII
Meanwhile Vasili Andreevich, with his feet and the ends of the
reins, urged the horse on in the direction in which for some
reason he expected the forest and forester's hut to be. The
snow covered his eyes and the wind seemed intent on stopping
him, but bending forward and constantly lapping his coat over
and pushing it between himself and the cold harness pad which
prevented him from sitting properly, he kept urging the horse
on. Mukhorty ambled on obediently though with difficulty, in
the direction in which he was driven.
Vasili Andreevich rode for about five minutes straight ahead,
as he thought, seeing nothing but the horse's head and the
white waste, and hearing only the whistle of the wind about the
horse's ears and his coat collar.
Suddenly a dark patch showed up in front of him. His heart
beat with joy, and he rode towards the object, already seeing
in imagination the walls of village houses. But the dark patch
was not stationary, it kept moving; and it was not a village
but some tall stalks of wormwood sticking up through the snow
on the boundary between two fields, and desperately tossing
about under the pressure of the wind which beat it all to one
side and whistled through it. The sight of that wormwood
tormented by the pitiless wind made Vasili Andreevich shudder,
he knew not why, and he hurriedly began urging the horse on,
not noticing that when riding up to the wormwood he had quite
changed his direction and was now heading the opposite way,
though still imagining that he was riding towards where the
hut should be. But the horse kept making towards the right,
and Vasili Andreevich kept guiding it to the left.
Again something dark appeared in front of him. Again he
rejoiced, convinced that now it was certainly a village. But
once more it was the same boundary line overgrown with
wormwood, once more the same wormwood desperately tossed by
the wind and carrying unreasoning terror to his heart. But its
being the same wormwood was not all, for beside is* there was a
horse's track partly snowed over. Vasili Andreevich stopped,
stooped down and looked carefully. It was a horse-track only
partially covered with snow, and could be none but his own
horse's hoofprints. He had evidently gone round in a small
circle. 'I shall perish like that!' he thought, and not to
give way to his terror he urged on the horse still more,
peering into the snowy darkness in which he saw only flitting
and fitful points of light. Once he thought he heard the
- fastening [´fɑ:səniŋ]
n.(门等)扣绊，拴扣物 (初中英语单词) - amount [ə´maunt] n.总数；数量 v.合计 (初中英语单词)
- steadily [´stedili] ad.坚定地；不断地 (初中英语单词)
- movement [´mu:vmənt] n.活动；运动；动作 (初中英语单词)
- collar [´kɔlə] n.衣领；(狗等的)项圈 (初中英语单词)
- wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)
- beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)
- shiver [´ʃivə] v.&n.(使)颤抖；碎片 (初中英语单词)
- knowing [´nəuiŋ] a.会意的，心照不宣的 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
- stomach [´stʌmək] n.胃；胃口，食欲 (初中英语单词)
- restless [´restləs] a.没有休息的 (初中英语单词)
- warmth [wɔ:mθ] n.温暖；热情；激动 (初中英语单词)
- dreadful [´dredful] a.可怕的；讨厌的 (初中英语单词)
- holiday [´hɔlidi] n.假日，假期，节日 (初中英语单词)
- neglect [ni´glekt] vt.&n.疏忽；忽视；忽略 (初中英语单词)
- priest [pri:st] n.教士；牧师；神父 (初中英语单词)
- arrival [ə´raivəl] n.到达；到达的人(物) (初中英语单词)
- abandon [ə´bændən] vt.抛弃，放弃，离弃 (初中英语单词)
- equally [´i:kwəli] ad.相等地；平等地 (初中英语单词)
- intent [in´tent] a.专心致志的 n.意图 (初中英语单词)
- constantly [´kɔnstəntli] ad.经常地；不断地 (初中英语单词)
- harness [´hɑ:nis] vt.上马具 n.马具 (初中英语单词)
- properly [´prɔpəli] ad.适当地；严格地 (初中英语单词)
- whistle [´wisəl] v.吹哨 n.口哨；汽笛 (初中英语单词)
- imagination [i,mædʒi´neiʃən] n.想象(力) (初中英语单词)
- boundary [´baundəri] n.界线，边界 (初中英语单词)
- pressure [´preʃə] n.压榨 vt.对...施压力 (初中英语单词)
- terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
- partly [´pɑ:tli] ad.部分地；不完全地 (初中英语单词)
- evidently [´evidəntli] ad.明显地 (初中英语单词)
- perish [´periʃ] v.灭亡；消灭；(使)死去 (初中英语单词)
- patiently [´peiʃəntli] ad.有耐心地；坚韧地 (高中英语单词)
- distinguished [di´stiŋgwiʃt] a.卓越的，著名的 (高中英语单词)
- damned [dæmd] a.该死的 ad.非常，极 (高中英语单词)
- sledge [sledʒ] n.雪橇；大锤 (高中英语单词)
- unpleasant [ʌn´plezənt] a.不愉快的；不合意的 (高中英语单词)
- continual [kən´tinjuəl] a.不断的，频繁的 (高中英语单词)
- dependent [di´pendənt] a.依赖的；从属的 (高中英语单词)
- confession [kən´feʃən] n.招供；认错；交待 (高中英语单词)
- consciousness [´kɔnʃəsnis] n.意识；觉悟；知觉 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- hearing [´hiəriŋ] n.听力；听证会；审讯 (高中英语单词)
- desperately [´despəritli] ad.绝望地；拼命地 (高中英语单词)
- warning [´wɔ:niŋ] n.警告；前兆 a.预告的 (英语四级单词)
- gathering [´gæðəriŋ] n.集会，聚集 (英语四级单词)
- unrest [ʌn´rest] n.不安；不稳；动乱 (英语四级单词)
- energetic [,enə´dʒetik] a.精力旺盛的；有力的 (英语四级单词)
- happening [´hæpəniŋ] n.事件，偶然发生的事 (英语四级单词)
- stationary [´steiʃənəri, -neri] a.固定的；稳定的 (英语四级单词)
- hurriedly [´hʌridli] ad.仓促地，忙乱地 (英语四级单词)
- waistcoat [´weskət, ´weiskəut] n.背心，马甲 (英语六级单词)
- powerless [´pauələs] a.软弱的；无资源的 (英语六级单词)
- irritable [´iritəbəl] a.急躁的；过敏的 (英语六级单词)
- pitiless [´pitiləs] a.无怜悯心的；无情的 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:翻译 译文 翻译文
章节正文
京公网安备 11011202003401号
