About Love 關(guān)于愛(ài)情的種種你了解多少？
About Love
Anton Chekhov
第二天的午飯是非常美味的餡餅，小龍蝦和羊肉片。我們正吃飯時(shí)，廚子尼卡諾來(lái)問(wèn)客人們晚上想吃些什么。他是一個(gè)中等身材，胖臉，小眼睛的人，齊胡子根刮了臉，這使得看起來(lái)他的胡子仿佛不是刮掉的，而是被連根拔掉的。阿列恒告訴我們美麗的帕拉吉愛(ài)上了這個(gè)廚子，因?yàn)樗染魄倚愿翊直晾幌爰藿o她，但是愿意與他婚外同居。廚子是個(gè)很虔誠(chéng)的人，他的宗教信仰不允許他“過(guò)著有罪的生活”。他堅(jiān)持帕拉吉嫁給他，此外其它的事都答應(yīng)她，可是他喝醉時(shí)經(jīng)常大罵帕拉吉，甚至打她。無(wú)論何時(shí)廚子喝醉了酒，帕拉吉就習(xí)慣于躲到樓上哭泣，每當(dāng)這個(gè)時(shí)候阿列恒和仆人們就待在屋里準(zhǔn)備萬(wàn)一需要保護(hù)帕拉吉。
At lunch next day there were very nice pies, crayfish, and mutton cutlets; and while we were eating, Nikanor, the cook, came up to ask what the visitors would like for dinner. He was a man of medium height, with a puffy face and little eyes; he was close-shaven, and it looked as though his moustaches had not been shaved, but had been pulled out by the roots. Alehin told us that the beautiful Pelagea was in love with this cook. As he drank and was of a violent character, she did not want to marry him, but was willing to live with him without. He was very devout, and his religious convictions would not allow him to “l(fā)ive in sin”; he insisted on her marrying him, and would consent to nothing else, and when he was drunk he used to abuse her and even beat her. Whenever he got drunk she used to hide upstairs and sob, and on such occasions Alehin and the servants stayed in the house to be ready to defend her in case of necessity.
我們開(kāi)始談?wù)搻?ài)情。
“愛(ài)情是如何產(chǎn)生的呢？”阿列恒說(shuō)，“為什么帕拉吉在身心上不像愛(ài)自己一樣地愛(ài)別人，她為什么會(huì)愛(ài)上尼卡諾，那個(gè)丑陋的豬嘴——我們所有人都叫尼卡諾‘豬嘴’——個(gè)人的幸福跟愛(ài)情的結(jié)果有多大關(guān)系——所有這些問(wèn)題我們都不明所以；個(gè)人能獲得的見(jiàn)解只是他從中希望獲得的罷了。迄今為止，說(shuō)到愛(ài)唯一無(wú)可置疑的事實(shí)就是：‘愛(ài)是一個(gè)大大的謎。’關(guān)于愛(ài)所說(shuō)和所寫(xiě)下的一切都不是結(jié)論，而只是這個(gè)仍然沒(méi)有答案的問(wèn)題的陳述罷了。這個(gè)解釋似乎只適合一份份單獨(dú)的愛(ài)情，而不適用于其它眾多的例子。在我看來(lái)，最好的做法就是單獨(dú)解說(shuō)每一份愛(ài)情，而不要企圖歸納愛(ài)情。就像醫(yī)生們說(shuō)的，我們應(yīng)該個(gè)別對(duì)待每一個(gè)例子。”
“完全正確。”伯京同意。
We began talking about love.
“How love is born,” said Alehin, “why Pelagea does not love somebody more like herself in her spiritual and external qualities, and why she fell in love with Nikanor, that ugly snout—we all call him ‘The Snout’—how far questions of personal happiness are of consequence in love—all that is unknown; one can take what view ones likes of it. So far only one incontestable truth has been uttered about love: ‘This is a great mystery.’ Everything else that has been written or said about love is not a conclusion, but only a statement of questions which have remained unanswered. The explanation which would seem to fit one case does not apply in a dozen others, and the very best thing, to my mind, would be to explain every case individually without attempting to generalize. We ought, as the doctors say, to individualize each case.”
“Perfectly true,” Burkin assented.
“我們這些受過(guò)教育的俄國(guó)階層都偏愛(ài)那些還沒(méi)有答案的問(wèn)題。愛(ài)情通常都被詩(shī)意化，用玫瑰、夜鶯來(lái)裝飾。我們俄國(guó)人卻用些重大的問(wèn)題來(lái)裝飾愛(ài)情，且選擇了其中最無(wú)趣的部分。在莫斯科讀書(shū)時(shí)，我有一位與我一起生活的朋友，一位迷人的女士，每次我把她抱在懷里，她就在想我這是允許她幫我料理一個(gè)月的家務(wù)以及一磅牛肉多少錢(qián)。同樣地，墜入愛(ài)河時(shí)我們總不厭其煩地問(wèn)自己：這是合乎名譽(yù)的還是違背名譽(yù)的，明智的還是愚蠢的，這份愛(ài)在通往何處，等等。想這些問(wèn)題是好事還是壞事我不知道，但是這些問(wèn)題困擾著你，找不到答案且令人氣惱，我就十分清楚了。”
“We Russians of the educated class have a partiality for these questions that remain unanswered. Love is usually poeticized, decorated with roses, nightingales; we Russians decorate our loves with these momentous questions, and select the most uninteresting of them, too. In Moscow, when I was a student, I had a friend who shared my life, a charming lady, and every time I took her in my arms she was thinking what I would allow her a month for housekeeping and what was the price of beef a pound. In the same way, when we are in love we are never tired of asking ourselves questions: whether it is honourable or dishonourable, sensible or stupid, what this love is leading up to, and so on. Whether it is a good thing or not I don’t know, but that it is in the way, unsatisfactory, and irritating, I do know.”
看來(lái)阿列恒想吐透一些心事。過(guò)著孤獨(dú)生活的人們心底總會(huì)有些渴望傾訴的事。在城里，單身漢們?nèi)ピ杼煤惋堭^的目的就是為了跟人說(shuō)說(shuō)話，澡堂和飯館的服務(wù)員們不時(shí)能從他們那里聽(tīng)到最有趣的事。而通常，在鄉(xiāng)下，單身漢們向客人敞開(kāi)心扉。此時(shí)窗外的天空灰蒙蒙的，所有的樹(shù)木在雨中都濕透了，這樣的天氣我們哪兒都不能去，除了說(shuō)故事或者聆聽(tīng)之外無(wú)事可做。
It looked as though he wanted to tell some story. People who lead a solitary existence always have something in their hearts which they are eager to talk about. In town bachelors visit the baths and the restaurants on purpose to talk, and sometimes tell the most interesting things to bath attendants and waiters; in the country, as a rule, they unbosom themselves to their guests. Now from the window we could see a grey sky, trees drenched in the rain; in such weather we could go nowhere, and there was nothing for us to do but to tell stories and to listen.
“離開(kāi)大學(xué)后，我在沙非諾生活和務(wù)農(nóng)了很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間。”阿列恒開(kāi)始了他的故事，“我是一個(gè)受過(guò)教育的懶散的紳士，一個(gè)隨性熱心的人。可是當(dāng)我來(lái)到這兒時(shí)莊園欠下了一大筆債，而我父親之所以負(fù)債部分原因是我花費(fèi)不小的學(xué)費(fèi)。我決定不走了，而是開(kāi)始工作直到還清這筆債。我下定決心這么做并開(kāi)始工作，坦白說(shuō)，不是一點(diǎn)不動(dòng)搖的。這里的土地收益并不大，一個(gè)人經(jīng)營(yíng)農(nóng)場(chǎng)如果想不賠本必須使用農(nóng)奴或雇用勞工，這幾乎是一碼子事；或者把自己等同于農(nóng)民，就是說(shuō)，親自帶著一家人下地干活。此外，沒(méi)有折中的路子。不過(guò)那時(shí)我還沒(méi)有探究到這些微妙關(guān)系。我不漏過(guò)一塊未翻耕的土地，把附近村子里所有的農(nóng)民，無(wú)論男人女人都聚到了一起，工作以極大的速度進(jìn)展著。我親自耕地，播種，收割，可是煩透了做這一切，就像村子里的貓餓得去吃菜園里的黃瓜一樣厭惡得焦眉爛額。我全身疼痛，走路都打瞌睡。起先似乎我能輕易調(diào)和這種辛苦的生活與我有教養(yǎng)的習(xí)慣，我認(rèn)為要做到這一點(diǎn)在生活中有必要維持一種固定的表面形式。我把自己安置到樓上這兒最好的房間里，我指示仆人們午飯和晚飯后給我把咖啡和酒端到樓上，每晚上床睡覺(jué)時(shí)我都要看Vyestnik Evropi。可是一天，我們的牧師伊凡神父來(lái)了，一口氣喝完了我所有的酒，Vyestnik Evropi也到牧師的女兒們手里去了。夏季，特別是割曬牧草的時(shí)候，我根本連床都挨不到，有時(shí)睡在谷倉(cāng)的雪撬上，有時(shí)睡在某個(gè)森林人的小屋里，哪還有看書(shū)的機(jī)會(huì)？慢慢地我搬到樓下來(lái)了，開(kāi)始在仆人的廚房里吃飯，除了我服侍父親的仆人，解雇他們會(huì)令他們痛苦萬(wàn)分，我之前的奢侈蕩然無(wú)存。
“I have lived at Sofino and been farming for a long time,” Alehin began, “ever since I left the University. I am an idle gentleman by education, a studious person by disposition; but there was a big debt owing on the estate when I came here, and as my father was in debt partly because he had spent so much on my education, I resolved not to go away, but to work till I paid off the debt. I made up my mind to this and set to work, not, I must confess, without some repugnance. The land here does not yield much, and if one is not to farm at a loss one must employ serf labour or hired labourers, which is almost the same thing, or put it on a peasant footing—that is, work the fields oneself and with one’s family. There is no middle path. But in those days I did not go into such subtleties. I did not leave a clod of earth unturned; I gathered together all the peasants, men and women, from the neighbouring villages; the work went on at a tremendous pace. I myself ploughed and sowed and reaped, and was bored doing it, and frowned with disgust, like a village cat driven by hunger to eat cucumbers in the kitchen-garden. My body ached, and I slept as I walked. At first it seemed to me that I could easily reconcile this life of toil with my cultured habits; to do so, I thought, all that is necessary is to maintain a certain external order in life. I established myself upstairs here in the best rooms, and ordered them to bring me there coffee and liquor after lunch and dinner, and when I went to bed I read every night the Vyestnik Evropi. But one day our priest, Father Ivan, came and drank up all my liquor at one sitting; and the Vyestnik Evropi went to the priest’s daughters; as in the summer, especially at the haymaking, I did not succeed in getting to my bed at all, and slept in the sledge in the barn, or somewhere in the forester’s lodge, what chance was there of reading? Little by little I moved downstairs, began dining in the servants’ kitchen, and of my former luxury nothing is left but the servants who were in my father’s service, and whom it would be painful to turn away.
在最初的幾年里我當(dāng)選為這里的榮譽(yù)治安法官。我得經(jīng)常去城里參加治安協(xié)會(huì)和巡回法院的會(huì)議，這對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)令人愉快的變化。當(dāng)連續(xù)在這兒住了兩三個(gè)月后，特別是冬天，終于開(kāi)始渴望接觸有知識(shí)有教養(yǎng)的人，哪怕是穿黑外套的牧師。而在巡回法庭里穿各種衣服的人——有穿雙排扣常禮服的，有穿制服的，還有穿燕尾服的——所有的律師，男人們都接受過(guò)普通教育。我終于有了一些可以進(jìn)行思想交流的人。經(jīng)過(guò)在雪撬上睡覺(jué)和在廚房吃飯后，穿著干凈的亞麻布衣服，細(xì)薄的靴子坐在靠背椅里，某人的馬甲上還掛著表鏈，這一切是多么的奢侈了啊！
“In the first years I was elected here an honourary justice of the peace. I used to have to go to the town and take part in the sessions of the congress and of the circuit court, and this was a pleasant change for me. When you live here for two or three months without a break, especially in the winter, you begin at last to pine for a black coat. And in the circuit court there were frock-coats, and uniforms, and dress- coats, too, all lawyers, men who have received a general education; I had some one to talk to. After sleeping in the sledge and dining in the kitchen, to sit in an arm-chair in clean linen, in thin boots, with a chain on one’s waistcoat, is such luxury!
“在城里我受到熱烈歡迎，我熱切地結(jié)交各種朋友。說(shuō)實(shí)話，在我所結(jié)識(shí)的人中最親密，最合我意的是跟巡回法庭的副庭長(zhǎng)盧格諾維奇的相識(shí)。你們倆都認(rèn)識(shí)他，一個(gè)很有魅力的人。這一切就發(fā)生在那個(gè)著名的縱火案之后，初步調(diào)查持續(xù)了兩天，我們都筋疲力盡了。盧格諾維奇看著我說(shuō)：
“‘哎，我說(shuō)，來(lái)跟我一起共進(jìn)晚餐吧。’
“I received a warm welcome in the town. I made friends eagerly. And of all my acquaintanceships the most intimate and, to tell the truth, the most agreeable to me was my acquaintance with Luganovitch, the vice-president of the circuit court. You both know him: a most charming personality. It all happened just after a celebrated case of incendiarism; the preliminary investigation lasted two days; we were exhausted. Luganovitch looked at me and said:
“ ‘Look here, come round to dinner with me.’
“這有點(diǎn)出乎意料，因?yàn)槲液捅R格諾維奇并不熟，跟他只是職務(wù)上的交往，從未去過(guò)他家里。我剛剛回旅館房間換好衣服要出去吃晚飯。這是我命中注定要與盧格諾維奇的妻子，安娜·阿列克絲耶夫娜相遇。那時(shí)她還很年輕，至多二十二歲，她的第一個(gè)孩子剛剛半歲。這都是過(guò)去的事了，而現(xiàn)在我發(fā)現(xiàn)很難說(shuō)得清她到底有何例外，以及她那么吸引我的原因。當(dāng)時(shí)，在那次晚宴上，這一切對(duì)我非常清晰，我看到了一個(gè)年輕可愛(ài)，善良聰明而迷人的女人，仿佛之前我從未遇到過(guò)一個(gè)這樣的人。我立刻覺(jué)得她是某個(gè)我已經(jīng)很熟悉很親密了的人，好像那張臉，那誠(chéng)懇聰慧的眼神，我小時(shí)候已在某處——擱在我母親衣柜里的相冊(cè)里——見(jiàn)到過(guò)了。
“This was unexpected, as I knew Luganovitch very little, only officially, and I had never been to his house. I only just went to my hotel room to change and went off to dinner. And here it was my lot to meet Anna Alexyevna, Luganovitch’s wife. At that time she was still very young, not more than twenty-two, and her first baby had been born just six months before. It is all a thing of the past; and now I should find it difficult to define what there was so exceptional in her, what it was in her attracted me so much; at the time, at dinner, it was all perfectly clear to me. I saw a lovely young, good, intelligent, fascinating woman, such as I had never met before; and I felt her at once some one close and already familiar, as though that face, those cordial, intelligent eyes, I had seen somewhere in my childhood, in the album which lay on my mother’s chest of drawers.
