章节正文
ducats, the remaining five you owe me, kindly
add them to the others."
"Very well," said the major; "though,
indeed, I do not understand what is the question
at issue and how you will decide it!"
Without a word Vulich went into the major's
bedroom, and we followed him. He went up to
the wall on which the major's weapons were hang-
ing, and took down at random one of the pistols
-- of which there were several of different cali-
bres. We were still in the dark as to what he
meant to do. But, when he cocked the pistol
and sprinkled powder in the pan, several of the
officers, crying out in spite of themselves, seized
him by the arms.
"What are you going to do?" they exclaimed.
"This is madness!"
"Gentlemen!" he said slowly, disengaging
his arm. "Who would like to pay twenty ducats
for me?"
They were silent and drew away.
Vulich went into the other room and sat by
the table; we all followed him. With a sign
he invited us to sit round him. We obeyed in
silence -- at that moment he had acquired a
certain mysterious authority over us. I stared
fixedly into his face; but he met my scrutinising
gaze with a quiet and steady glance, and his
pallid lips smiled. But, notwithstanding his
composure, it seemed to me that I could read the
stamp of death upon his pale countenance. I
have noticed -- and many old soldiers have cor-
roborated my observation -- that a man who is
to die in a few hours frequently bears on his
face a certain strange stamp of inevitable fate,
so that it is difficult for practised eyes to be
mistaken.
"You will die to-day!" I said to Vulich.
He turned towards me rapidly, but answered
slowly and quietly:
"May be so, may be not." . . .
Then, addressing himself to the major, he asked:
"Is the pistol loaded?"
The major, in the confusion, could not quite
remember.
"There, that will do, Vulich!" exclaimed
somebody. "Of course it must be loaded, if it
was one of those hanging on the wall there over
our heads. What a man you are for joking!"
"A silly joke, too!" struck in another.
"I wager fifty rubles to five that the pistol is
not loaded!" cried a third.
A new bet was made.
I was beginning to get tired of it all.
"Listen," I said, "either shoot yourself, or
hang up the pistol in its place and let us go to bed."
"Yes, of course!" many exclaimed. "Let
us go to bed."
"Gentlemen, I beg of you not to move," said
Vulich, putting the muzzle of the pistol to his
forehead.
We were all petrified.
"Mr. Pechorin," he added, "take a card and
throw it up in the air."
I took, as I remember now, an ace of hearts off
the table and threw it into the air. All held their
breath. With eyes full of terror and a certain
vague curiosity they glanced rapidly from the
pistol to the fateful ace, which slowly descended,
quivering in the air. At the moment it touched
the table Vulich pulled the trigger . . . a flash
in the pan!
"Thank God!" many exclaimed. "It wasn't
loaded!"
"Let us see, though," said Vulich.
He cocked the pistol again, and took aim at a
forage-cap which was hanging above the window.
A shot rang out. Smoke filled the room; when
it cleared away, the forage-cap was taken down.
It had been shot right through the centre,
and the bullet was deeply embedded in the
wall.
For two or three minutes no one was able to
utter a word. Very quietly Vulich poured my
ducats from the major's purse into his own.
Discussions arose as to why the pistol had not
gone off the first time. Some maintained that
probably the pan had been obstructed; others
whispered that the powder had been damp the
first time, and that, afterwards, Vulich had
sprinkled some fresh powder on it; but I
maintained that the last supposition was wrong,
because I had not once taken my eyes off the
pistol.
"You are lucky at play!" I said to Vulich. . .
"For the first time in my life!" he answered,
with a complacent smile. "It is better than
'bank' and 'shtoss.'"[1]
[1] Card-games.
"But, on the other hand, slightly more
dangerous!"
"Well? Have you begun to believe in pre-
destination?
"I do believe in it; only I cannot understand
now why it appeared to me that you must
inevitably die to-day!"
And this same man, who, such a short time
before, had with the greatest calmness aimed
a pistol at his own forehead, now suddenly fired
up and became embarrassed.
"That will do, though!" he said, rising to his
feet. "Our wager is finished, and now your
observations, it seems to me, are out of place."
He took up his cap and departed. The whole
affair struck me as being strange -- and not
without reason. Shortly after that, all the officers
broke up and went home, discussing Vulich's
freaks from different points of view, and, doubt-
less, with one voice calling me an egoist for having
taken up a wager against a man who wanted to
shoot himself, as if he could not have found a
convenient opportunity without my intervention.
I returned home by the deserted byways of the
village. The moon, full and red like the glow of
a conflagration, was beginning to make its appear-
ance from behind the jagged horizon of the
house-tops; the stars were shining tranquilly in
the deep, blue vault of the sky; and I was struck by
the absurdity of the idea when I recalled to mind
that once upon a time there were some exceed-
ingly wise people who thought that the stars of
heaven participated in our insignificant squabbles
for a slice of ground, or some other imaginary
rights. And what then? These lamps, lighted,
so they fancied, only to illuminate their battles
and triumphs, are burning with all their former
brilliance, whilst the wiseacres themselves, to-
gether with their hopes and passions, have long
been extinguished, like a little fire kindled at the
edge of a forest by a careless wayfarer! But, on the
other hand, what strength of will was lent them
by the conviction that the entire heavens, with
their innumerable habitants, were looking at them
with a sympathy, unalterable, though mute! . . .
And we, their miserable descendants, roaming
over the earth, without faith, without pride,
without enjoyment, and without terror -- except
that involuntary awe which makes the heart shrink
at the thought of the inevitable end -- we are no
longer capable of great sacrifices, either for the
good of mankind or even for our own happiness,
because we know the impossibility of such
happiness; and, just as our ancestors used to
fling themselves from one delusion to another,
we pass indifferently from doubt to doubt,
without possessing, as they did, either hope or
even that vague though, at the same time, keen
enjoyment which the soul encounters at every
struggle with mankind or with destiny.
These and many other similar thoughts passed
through my mind, but I did not follow them up,
because I do not like to dwell upon abstract
ideas -- for what do they lead to? In my early
youth I was a dreamer; I loved to hug to my
bosom the images -- now gloomy, now rainbow-
hued -- which my restless and eager imagination
drew for me. And what is there left to me of all
these? Only such weariness as might be felt after
a battle by night with a phantom -- only a con-
fused memory full of regrets. In that vain
contest I have exhausted the warmth of soul and
firmness of will indispensable to an active life. I
have entered upon that life after having already
lived through it in thought, and it has become
wearisome and nauseous to me, as the reading of
a bad imitation of a book is to one who has long
been familiar with the original.
The events of that evening produced a some-
what deep impression upon me and excited my
nerves. I do not know for certain whether I now
believe in predestination or not, but on that
evening I believed in it firmly. The proof was
startling, and I, notwithstanding that I had
laughed at our forefathers and their obliging
astrology, fell involuntarily into their way of
thinking. However, I stopped myself in time
from following that dangerous road, and, as I have
made it a rule not to reject anything decisively
and not to trust anything blindly, I cast meta-
physics aside and began to look at what was
beneath my feet. The precaution was well-timed.
I only just escaped stumbling over something
thick and soft, but, to all appearance, inanimate.
I bent down to see what it was, and, by the light
of the moon, which now shone right upon the
road, I perceived that it was a pig which had
been cut in two with a sabre. . . I had hardly
time to examine it before I heard the sound of
steps, and two Cossacks came running out of a
byway. One of them came up to me and
enquired whether I had seen a drunken Cossack
add them to the others."
"Very well," said the major; "though,
indeed, I do not understand what is the question
at issue and how you will decide it!"
Without a word Vulich went into the major's
bedroom, and we followed him. He went up to
the wall on which the major's weapons were hang-
ing, and took down at random one of the pistols
-- of which there were several of different cali-
bres. We were still in the dark as to what he
meant to do. But, when he cocked the pistol
and sprinkled powder in the pan, several of the
officers, crying out in spite of themselves, seized
him by the arms.
"What are you going to do?" they exclaimed.
"This is madness!"
"Gentlemen!" he said slowly, disengaging
his arm. "Who would like to pay twenty ducats
for me?"
They were silent and drew away.
Vulich went into the other room and sat by
the table; we all followed him. With a sign
he invited us to sit round him. We obeyed in
silence -- at that moment he had acquired a
certain mysterious authority over us. I stared
fixedly into his face; but he met my scrutinising
gaze with a quiet and steady glance, and his
pallid lips smiled. But, notwithstanding his
composure, it seemed to me that I could read the
stamp of death upon his pale countenance. I
have noticed -- and many old soldiers have cor-
roborated my observation -- that a man who is
to die in a few hours frequently bears on his
face a certain strange stamp of inevitable fate,
so that it is difficult for practised eyes to be
mistaken.
"You will die to-day!" I said to Vulich.
He turned towards me rapidly, but answered
slowly and quietly:
"May be so, may be not." . . .
Then, addressing himself to the major, he asked:
"Is the pistol loaded?"
The major, in the confusion, could not quite
remember.
"There, that will do, Vulich!" exclaimed
somebody. "Of course it must be loaded, if it
was one of those hanging on the wall there over
our heads. What a man you are for joking!"
"A silly joke, too!" struck in another.
"I wager fifty rubles to five that the pistol is
not loaded!" cried a third.
A new bet was made.
I was beginning to get tired of it all.
"Listen," I said, "either shoot yourself, or
hang up the pistol in its place and let us go to bed."
"Yes, of course!" many exclaimed. "Let
us go to bed."
"Gentlemen, I beg of you not to move," said
Vulich, putting the muzzle of the pistol to his
forehead.
We were all petrified.
"Mr. Pechorin," he added, "take a card and
throw it up in the air."
I took, as I remember now, an ace of hearts off
the table and threw it into the air. All held their
breath. With eyes full of terror and a certain
vague curiosity they glanced rapidly from the
pistol to the fateful ace, which slowly descended,
quivering in the air. At the moment it touched
the table Vulich pulled the trigger . . . a flash
in the pan!
"Thank God!" many exclaimed. "It wasn't
loaded!"
"Let us see, though," said Vulich.
He cocked the pistol again, and took aim at a
forage-cap which was hanging above the window.
A shot rang out. Smoke filled the room; when
it cleared away, the forage-cap was taken down.
It had been shot right through the centre,
and the bullet was deeply embedded in the
wall.
For two or three minutes no one was able to
utter a word. Very quietly Vulich poured my
ducats from the major's purse into his own.
Discussions arose as to why the pistol had not
gone off the first time. Some maintained that
probably the pan had been obstructed; others
whispered that the powder had been damp the
first time, and that, afterwards, Vulich had
sprinkled some fresh powder on it; but I
maintained that the last supposition was wrong,
because I had not once taken my eyes off the
pistol.
"You are lucky at play!" I said to Vulich. . .
"For the first time in my life!" he answered,
with a complacent smile. "It is better than
'bank' and 'shtoss.'"[1]
[1] Card-games.
"But, on the other hand, slightly more
dangerous!"
"Well? Have you begun to believe in pre-
destination?
"I do believe in it; only I cannot understand
now why it appeared to me that you must
inevitably die to-day!"
And this same man, who, such a short time
before, had with the greatest calmness aimed
a pistol at his own forehead, now suddenly fired
up and became embarrassed.
"That will do, though!" he said, rising to his
feet. "Our wager is finished, and now your
observations, it seems to me, are out of place."
He took up his cap and departed. The whole
affair struck me as being strange -- and not
without reason. Shortly after that, all the officers
broke up and went home, discussing Vulich's
freaks from different points of view, and, doubt-
less, with one voice calling me an egoist for having
taken up a wager against a man who wanted to
shoot himself, as if he could not have found a
convenient opportunity without my intervention.
I returned home by the deserted byways of the
village. The moon, full and red like the glow of
a conflagration, was beginning to make its appear-
ance from behind the jagged horizon of the
house-tops; the stars were shining tranquilly in
the deep, blue vault of the sky; and I was struck by
the absurdity of the idea when I recalled to mind
that once upon a time there were some exceed-
ingly wise people who thought that the stars of
heaven participated in our insignificant squabbles
for a slice of ground, or some other imaginary
rights. And what then? These lamps, lighted,
so they fancied, only to illuminate their battles
and triumphs, are burning with all their former
brilliance, whilst the wiseacres themselves, to-
gether with their hopes and passions, have long
been extinguished, like a little fire kindled at the
edge of a forest by a careless wayfarer! But, on the
other hand, what strength of will was lent them
by the conviction that the entire heavens, with
their innumerable habitants, were looking at them
with a sympathy, unalterable, though mute! . . .
And we, their miserable descendants, roaming
over the earth, without faith, without pride,
without enjoyment, and without terror -- except
that involuntary awe which makes the heart shrink
at the thought of the inevitable end -- we are no
longer capable of great sacrifices, either for the
good of mankind or even for our own happiness,
because we know the impossibility of such
happiness; and, just as our ancestors used to
fling themselves from one delusion to another,
we pass indifferently from doubt to doubt,
without possessing, as they did, either hope or
even that vague though, at the same time, keen
enjoyment which the soul encounters at every
struggle with mankind or with destiny.
These and many other similar thoughts passed
through my mind, but I did not follow them up,
because I do not like to dwell upon abstract
ideas -- for what do they lead to? In my early
youth I was a dreamer; I loved to hug to my
bosom the images -- now gloomy, now rainbow-
hued -- which my restless and eager imagination
drew for me. And what is there left to me of all
these? Only such weariness as might be felt after
a battle by night with a phantom -- only a con-
fused memory full of regrets. In that vain
contest I have exhausted the warmth of soul and
firmness of will indispensable to an active life. I
have entered upon that life after having already
lived through it in thought, and it has become
wearisome and nauseous to me, as the reading of
a bad imitation of a book is to one who has long
been familiar with the original.
The events of that evening produced a some-
what deep impression upon me and excited my
nerves. I do not know for certain whether I now
believe in predestination or not, but on that
evening I believed in it firmly. The proof was
startling, and I, notwithstanding that I had
laughed at our forefathers and their obliging
astrology, fell involuntarily into their way of
thinking. However, I stopped myself in time
from following that dangerous road, and, as I have
made it a rule not to reject anything decisively
and not to trust anything blindly, I cast meta-
physics aside and began to look at what was
beneath my feet. The precaution was well-timed.
I only just escaped stumbling over something
thick and soft, but, to all appearance, inanimate.
I bent down to see what it was, and, by the light
of the moon, which now shone right upon the
road, I perceived that it was a pig which had
been cut in two with a sabre. . . I had hardly
time to examine it before I heard the sound of
steps, and two Cossacks came running out of a
byway. One of them came up to me and
enquired whether I had seen a drunken Cossack
- mysterious [mi´stiəriəs]
a.神秘的；难以理解的 (初中英语单词) - countenance [´kauntinəns] n.面部表情；脸色；面容 (初中英语单词)
- observation [,ɔbzə´veiʃən] n.观测；注意；意义 (初中英语单词)
- pistol [´pistl] n.手枪 vt.用手枪射击 (初中英语单词)
- confusion [kən´fju:ʒən] n.混乱(状态)；骚乱 (初中英语单词)
- beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)
- terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
- curiosity [,kjuəri´ɔsiti] n.好奇；奇事；珍品 (初中英语单词)
- bullet [´bulit] n.子弹 (初中英语单词)
- slightly [´slaitli] ad.轻微地；细长的 (初中英语单词)
- forehead [´fɔrid] n.额，前部 (初中英语单词)
- shortly [´ʃɔ:tli] ad.立刻，马上；不久 (初中英语单词)
- horizon [hə´raizən] n.地平线；范围；视野 (初中英语单词)
- careless [´keəlis] a.粗心的；草率的 (初中英语单词)
- conviction [kən´vikʃən] n.定罪；确信，信服 (初中英语单词)
- sympathy [´simpəθi] n.同情，怜悯 (初中英语单词)
- miserable [´mizərəbəl] a.悲惨的；可怜的 (初中英语单词)
- capable [´keipəbəl] a.有能力；能干的 (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)
- reading [´ri:diŋ] n.(阅)读；朗读；读物 (初中英语单词)
- impression [im´preʃən] n.印刷；印象；效果 (初中英语单词)
- firmly [´fə:mli] ad.坚固地，稳定地 (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- drunken [´drʌŋkən] a.喝醉的；常醉的 (初中英语单词)
- random [´rændəm] n.偶然的行动 (高中英语单词)
- notwithstanding [,nɔtwiθ´stændiŋ] prep.&conj.虽然；还是 (高中英语单词)
- inevitable [i´nevitəbəl] a.不可避免的 (高中英语单词)
- hanging [´hæŋiŋ] n.绞刑 a.悬挂着的 (高中英语单词)
- illuminate [i´lju:mineit] vt.照明；阐明 (高中英语单词)
- whilst [wailst] conj.当...时候；虽然 (高中英语单词)
- innumerable [i´nju:mərəbəl] a.无数的，数不清的 (高中英语单词)
- enjoyment [in´dʒɔimənt] n.享受；愉快；乐趣 (高中英语单词)
- gloomy [´glu:mi] a.昏暗的；忧郁的 (高中英语单词)
- indispensable [,indi´spensəbəl] a.绝对必要的 (高中英语单词)
- imitation [,imi´teiʃən] n.模仿；仿制品；赝品 (高中英语单词)
- reject [ri´dʒekt] vt.拒绝；抵制；否决 (高中英语单词)
- precaution [pri´kɔ:ʃən] n.预防 vt.预先警告 (高中英语单词)
- muzzle [´mʌzəl] n.枪口，炮口 (英语四级单词)
- absurdity [əb´sə:diti] n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 (英语四级单词)
- insignificant [,insig´nifikənt] a.无意义的；无价值的 (英语四级单词)
- weariness [wiərinis] n.疲倦；厌烦 (英语四级单词)
- blindly [blaindli] ad.盲目地；没头脑地 (英语四级单词)
- trigger [´trigə] n.扳机 vt.触发，启动 (英语六级单词)
- calmness [´kɑ:mnis] n.平静；安静 (英语六级单词)
- departed [di´pɑ:tid] a.已往的；已故的 (英语六级单词)
- calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)
- involuntary [in´vɔləntəri] a.无意识的；非自愿的 (英语六级单词)
- impossibility [impɔsi´biliti] n.不可能办到的事 (英语六级单词)
- delusion [di´lu:ʒən] n.欺骗；幻觉；迷惑 (英语六级单词)
- indifferently [in´difrəntli] ad.不关心地；冷淡地 (英语六级单词)
- dreamer [´dri:mə] n.做梦的人；梦想者 (英语六级单词)
- phantom [´fæntəm] n.幽灵；幻影 a.幻想的 (英语六级单词)
- involuntarily [in´vɔləntərili] ad.不 自觉地 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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