🔊 Very shortly after getting his four-year-old Mitya off his hands Fyodor Pavlovitch married a second time. His second marriage lasted eight years. He took this second wife, Sofya Ivanovna, also a very young girl, from another province, where he had gone upon some small piece of business in company with a Jew. Though Fyodor Pavlovitch was a drunkard and a vicious debauchee he never neglected investing his capital, and managed his business affairs very successfully, though, no doubt, not over-scrupulously. Sofya Ivanovna was the daughter of an obscure deacon, and was left from childhood an orphan without relations. She grew up in the house of a general’s widow, a wealthy old lady of good position, who was at once her benefactress and tormentor. I do not know the details, but I have only heard that the orphan girl, a meek and gentle creature, was once cut down from a halter in which she was hanging from a nail in the loft, so terrible were her sufferings from the caprice and everlasting nagging of this old woman, who was apparently not good-hearted but had become an insufferable tyrant through idleness.

费奥多尔·帕夫洛维奇刚把四岁的米佳打发掉,便很快第二次结了婚。这段婚姻持续了八年。他的第二任妻子索菲娅·伊万诺夫娜,同样是个非常年轻的姑娘,来自外省；他是因为一桩小生意,伙同一个犹太人去了那里才结识她的。费奥多尔·帕夫洛维奇虽是个酒鬼和淫邪的浪荡子,却从不疏于投资本钱,生意也打理得相当成功,尽管无疑不够光明正大。索菲娅·伊万诺夫娜是一位默默无闻的执事的女儿,自幼父母双亡,无亲无故。她在一个将军遗孀的家里长大,那是个有钱有势的老太太,既是她的恩人,也是她的折磨者。详情我不得而知,只听说这位温顺柔和的孤女,因不堪那老妇人反复无常、永无休止的唠叨,痛苦至极,竟有一次在阁楼里用绳套上吊,被人从钉子上解了下来。那老太婆显然心地不善,且因无所事事,成了个令人无法忍受的暴君。

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vicious /ˈvɪʃəs/

adj. 恶毒的,邪恶的；堕落的➕

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debauchee /ˌdebɔːˈʃiː/

n. 放荡的人,浪子➕

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over-scrupulously /ˌəʊvə ˈskruːpjʊləslɪ/

adv. 过分谨慎地,过于一丝不苟地➕

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obscure /əbˈskjʊə(r)/

adj. 不知名的,无名的；模糊的➕

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deacon /ˈdiːkən/

n. （基督教会的）执事➕

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benefactress /ˈbenɪfæktrəs/

n. 女恩人,女捐助人➕

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tormentor /tɔːˈmentə(r)/

n. 折磨者,施虐者➕

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meek /miːk/

adj. 温顺的,逆来顺受的➕

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halter /ˈhɔːltə(r)/

n. 缰绳,（尤指）马笼头；绞索➕

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caprice /kəˈpriːs/

n. 反复无常,任性； whimsical idea 异想天开➕

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nagging /ˈnæɡɪŋ/

n./adj. 唠叨不休（的）；烦扰不休（的）➕

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insufferable /ɪnˈsʌfrəbl/

adj. 难以忍受的,令人无法容忍的➕

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tyrant /ˈtaɪrənt/

n. 暴君,专制统治者；专横的人➕

🔊 Fyodor Pavlovitch made her an offer; inquiries were made about him and he was refused. But again, as in his first marriage, he proposed an elopement to the orphan girl. There is very little doubt that she would not on any account have married him if she had known a little more about him in time. But she lived in another province; besides, what could a little girl of sixteen know about it, except that she would be better at the bottom of the river than remaining with her benefactress. So the poor child exchanged a benefactress for a benefactor. Fyodor Pavlovitch did not get a penny this time, for the general’s widow was furious. She gave them nothing and cursed them both. But he had not reckoned on a dowry; what allured him was the remarkable beauty of the innocent girl, above all her innocent appearance, which had a peculiar attraction for a vicious profligate, who had hitherto admired only the coarser types of feminine beauty.

费奥多尔·帕夫洛维奇向她求了婚；人们打听他的底细后拒绝了。但就像第一次婚姻那样,他又向这孤女提议私奔。毫无疑问,倘若她当时能多了解他一点儿,是无论如何也不会嫁给他的。但她住在另一个省份；况且,一个十六岁的小姑娘又能知道什么呢？她只知道,与其留在恩人身边,倒不如投河自尽。于是,这可怜的孩子便从一个恩人手里换到了另一个恩人手里。费奥多尔这次一个子儿也没捞到,因为将军的遗孀暴跳如雷。她什么也没给他们,还把两人都诅咒了一通。但他本来也没指望什么嫁妆；吸引他的是这位纯真少女非凡的美貌,尤其是她那副天真无邪的模样,对于一个迄今只欣赏粗俗女性美的放荡之徒来说,别具一种奇特的吸引力。

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elopement /ɪˈləʊpmənt/

n. 私奔➕

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profligate /ˈprɒflɪɡət/

n./adj. 挥霍者,放荡的人 / 挥霍的,放荡的➕

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coarser /ˈkɔːsə(r)/

adj. (comparative). 较粗俗的,较粗糙的（coarse的比较级）➕

🔊 "Those innocent eyes slit my soul up like a razor," he used to say afterwards, with his loathsome snigger. In a man so depraved this might, of course, mean no more than sensual attraction. As he had received no dowry with his wife, and had, so to speak, taken her "from the halter," he did not stand on ceremony with her. Making her feel that she had "wronged" him, he took advantage of her phenomenal meekness and submissiveness to trample on the elementary decencies of marriage. He gathered loose women into his house, and carried on orgies of debauchery in his wife’s presence. To show what a pass things had come to, I may mention that Grigory, the gloomy, stupid, obstinate, argumentative servant, who had always hated his first mistress, Adelaïda Ivanovna, took the side of his new mistress. He championed her cause, abusing Fyodor Pavlovitch in a manner little befitting a servant, and on one occasion broke up the revels and drove all the disorderly women out of the house. In the end this unhappy young woman, kept in terror from her childhood, fell into that kind of nervous disease which is most frequently found in peasant women who are said to be "possessed by devils." At times after terrible fits of hysterics she even lost her reason. Yet she bore Fyodor Pavlovitch two sons, Ivan and Alexey, the eldest in the first year of marriage and the second three years later. When she died, little Alexey was in his fourth year, and, strange as it seems, I know that he remembered his mother all his life, like a dream, of course. At her death almost exactly the same thing happened to the two little boys as to their elder brother, Mitya. They were completely forgotten and abandoned by their father. They were looked after by the same Grigory and lived in his cottage, where they were found by the tyrannical old lady who had brought up their mother. She was still alive, and had not, all those eight years, forgotten the insult done her. All that time she was obtaining exact information as to her Sofya’s manner of life, and hearing of her illness and hideous surroundings she declared aloud two or three times to her retainers:

“那双无辜的眼睛像剃刀一样划开我的灵魂,”他后来常带着那种令人作呕的窃笑说。在这样一个堕落透顶的人身上,这话当然无非意味着肉欲的诱惑。既然娶妻没得到嫁妆,而且,可以说,是“从绳套上”把她娶来的,他对她便毫不客气。他让她觉得自己“亏欠”了他,并利用她那异乎寻常的温顺与服从,肆意践踏婚姻的基本体面。他把不三不四的女人带回家,当着妻子的面纵情狂欢,放浪形骸。为说明事情到了何等地步,我可以提一下,连那个一向憎恨第一位女主人阿黛拉伊达·伊万诺夫娜、性情阴郁、头脑愚钝、固执好辩的仆人格里戈里,这回也站到了新女主人一边。他维护她的权益,用不太符合仆人身份的话大骂费奥多尔·帕夫洛维奇,有一次还搅散了狂欢,把所有乌七八糟的女人都赶出了家门。最终,这个自幼在恐惧中长大的不幸少妇,患上了一种在农妇身上最常见的神经疾病--据说那叫“鬼附身”。有时在歇斯底里剧烈发作后,她甚至会神志不清。然而,她还是为费奥多尔·帕夫洛维奇生了两个儿子:伊万和阿列克谢,长子生于婚后第一年,次子则在三年后降生。她死时,小阿列克谢才四岁,而说来奇怪,我知道他一生都记得自己的母亲--当然,那记忆恍如梦境。她死后,两个小男孩的遭遇几乎和他们的哥哥米佳一模一样。他们被父亲彻底遗忘和抛弃了。还是那个格里戈里在照看他们,他们就住在他的小屋里,直到抚养他们母亲的那位专横的老太太找到了他们。她还活着,在那整整八年里,她从未忘记自己受过的侮辱。那段日子里,她一直在打探她的索菲亚的生活状况,听说她生了病,处境恶劣,便有两三次对仆人们大声宣称:

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loathsome /ˈləʊðsəm/

adj. 令人厌恶的,可恶的➕

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snigger /ˈsnɪɡə(r)/

n./v. 窃笑,暗笑➕

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depraved /dɪˈpreɪvd/

adj. 堕落的,道德败坏的➕

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sensual /ˈsenʃuəl/

adj. 肉欲的,感官的；性感的➕

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phenomenal /fəˈnɒmɪnl/

adj. 非凡的,惊人的；显著的➕

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submissiveness /səbˈmɪsɪvnəs/

n. 顺从,服从➕

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trample /ˈtræmpl/

v. 踩,践踏；无视,蔑视➕

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elementary /ˌelɪˈmentri/

adj. 基本的,初级的；基础的➕

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decencies /ˈdiːsnsiz/

n. (pl.). 礼仪,得体（的行为规范）➕

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orgies /ˈɔːdʒiz/

n. (pl.). 纵酒狂欢,狂欢聚会➕

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obstinate /ˈɒbstɪnət/

adj. 固执的,倔强的➕

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argumentative /ˌɑːɡjuˈmentətɪv/

adj. 好争论的,爱辩论的➕

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championed /ˈtʃæmpiənd/

v. (past tense). 捍卫,支持,拥护➕

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abusing /əˈbjuːzɪŋ/

v. (present participle/gerund). 辱骂；滥用；虐待➕

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revels /ˈrevlz/

n. (pl.). 狂欢,欢宴➕

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disorderly /dɪsˈɔːdəli/

adj. 混乱的,无序的；妨碍治安的➕

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hysterics /hɪˈsterɪks/

n. (pl.). 歇斯底里发作,狂野的情绪爆发➕

🔊 "It serves her right. God has punished her for her ingratitude."

“她活该。上帝惩罚她的忘恩负义。”

🔊 Exactly three months after Sofya Ivanovna’s death the general’s widow suddenly appeared in our town, and went straight to Fyodor Pavlovitch’s house. She spent only half an hour in the town but she did a great deal. It was evening. Fyodor Pavlovitch, whom she had not seen for those eight years, came in to her drunk. The story is that instantly upon seeing him, without any sort of explanation, she gave him two good, resounding slaps on the face, seized him by a tuft of hair, and shook him three times up and down. Then, without a word, she went straight to the cottage to the two boys. Seeing, at the first glance, that they were unwashed and in dirty linen, she promptly gave Grigory, too, a box on the ear, and announcing that she would carry off both the children she wrapped them just as they were in a rug, put them in the carriage, and drove off to her own town. Grigory accepted the blow like a devoted slave, without a word, and when he escorted the old lady to her carriage he made her a low bow and pronounced impressively that, "God would repay her for the orphans." "You are a blockhead all the same," the old lady shouted to him as she drove away.

索菲娅·伊万诺夫娜死后整整三个月,将军的遗孀突然出现在我们城里,径直来到费奥多尔·帕夫洛维奇的家。她在城里只待了半小时,却干了不少事。那是个傍晚。费奥多尔·帕夫洛维奇已有八年没见过她,醉醺醺地走了进来。据说她一见着他,二话不说,劈面就给了他两个结结实实、清脆响亮的耳光,揪住他一撮头发,把他上上下下摇晃了三回。然后,她一言不发,直奔小屋去找那两个男孩。一眼看见他们脸也没洗,穿着脏衣服,她当即也给了格里戈里一记耳光,并宣布要把两个孩子都带走,接着就用一条毯子把他们原样裹好,抱上马车,驶回她自己那个城里去了。格里戈里像忠心的奴隶一样默默挨了这一下,送老妇人上马车时,他深深鞠了一躬,字字铿锵地说道:“上帝会为这两个孤儿报答您的。”“你终究是个蠢货,”老妇人驱车离去时朝他喊道。

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resounding /rɪˈzaʊndɪŋ/

adj. 响亮的,洪亮的；巨大的,彻底的➕

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slaps /slæps/

n. (pl.). 耳光,巴掌➕

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tuft /tʌft/

n. 一簇,一丛（头发、草等）➕

🔊 Fyodor Pavlovitch, thinking it over, decided that it was a good thing, and did not refuse the general’s widow his formal consent to any proposition in regard to his children’s education. As for the slaps she had given him, he drove all over the town telling the story.

费奥多尔·帕夫洛维奇琢磨了一番,觉得这倒也不错,对于将军遗孀提出的任何关于孩子教育的正式提议,他都没有表示反对。至于她给他的那几记耳光,他跑遍全城,逢人便说。

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formal /ˈfɔːml/

adj. 正式的；形式上的➕

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consent /kənˈsent/

n. 同意,准许➕

🔊 It happened that the old lady died soon after this, but she left the boys in her will a thousand roubles each "for their instruction, and so that all be spent on them exclusively, with the condition that it be so portioned out as to last till they are twenty-one, for it is more than adequate provision for such children. If other people think fit to throw away their money, let them." I have not read the will myself, but I heard there was something queer of the sort, very whimsically expressed. The principal heir, Yefim Petrovitch Polenov, the Marshal of Nobility of the province, turned out, however, to be an honest man. Writing to Fyodor Pavlovitch, and discerning at once that he could extract nothing from him for his children’s education (though the latter never directly refused but only procrastinated as he always did in such cases, and was, indeed, at times effusively sentimental), Yefim Petrovitch took a personal interest in the orphans. He became especially fond of the younger, Alexey, who lived for a long while as one of his family. I beg the reader to note this from the beginning. And to Yefim Petrovitch, a man of a generosity and humanity rarely to be met with, the young people were more indebted for their education and bringing up than to any one. He kept the two thousand roubles left to them by the general’s widow intact, so that by the time they came of age their portions had been doubled by the accumulation of interest. He educated them both at his own expense, and certainly spent far more than a thousand roubles upon each of them. I won’t enter into a detailed account of their boyhood and youth, but will only mention a few of the most important events.

碰巧的是,老妇人此后不久便去世了,但她在遗嘱中给每个男孩各留了一千卢布,“供他们受教育之用,且须全部花在他们身上,条件是这笔钱须分摊使用,直至他们年满二十一岁,因为对这样的孩子来说,这已是绰绰有余的供给。若旁人觉得该乱花钱,那就随他们去。”遗嘱我本人没读过,但听说其中确有些古怪的措辞,表达得非常任性。然而,主要继承人叶菲姆·彼得罗维奇·波列诺夫,该省的贵族首领,却是个诚实人。他给费奥多尔·帕夫洛维奇写了信,立刻看出从他那里是榨不出钱来供孩子教育的（尽管费奥多尔·帕夫洛维奇从未直接回绝,只是照例拖延推诿,有时甚至还会故作姿态,感情充沛地大说一通）,叶菲姆·彼得罗维奇便亲自关心起这两个孤儿来。他尤其喜爱年幼的阿列克谢,这孩子在他家里住了很久,如同家人一般。我恳请读者从一开始就记住这一点。而叶菲姆·彼得罗维奇,这位极为罕见、慷慨仁厚的人,才是年轻人在教育和成长上最该感激的。他将将军遗孀留下的两千卢布原封不动地存着,等他们成年时,这笔钱已因利息积累而翻了一番。他自费教育他们俩,而且为每个孩子花的钱,肯定都远远超过一千卢布。他们的童年和青年时代,我不打算详细叙述,只提几件最重要的事。

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queer /kwɪə(r)/

adj. 奇怪的,古怪的；可疑的➕

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whimsically /ˈwɪmzɪkli/

adv. 异想天开地,古怪地➕

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principal /ˈprɪnsəpl/

adj. 主要的,最重要的➕

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heir /eə(r)/

n. 继承人➕

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Marshal /ˈmɑːʃl/

n. （特定领域的）高级官员,长官；元帅➕

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Nobility /nəʊˈbɪləti/

n. 贵族（阶层）；高尚➕

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extract /ɪkˈstrækt/

v. 榨取,索取；提取➕

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procrastinated /prəʊˈkræstɪneɪtɪd/

v. (past tense). 拖延,耽搁➕

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effusively /ɪˈfjuːsɪvli/

adv. 奔放地,感情洋溢地➕

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sentimental /ˌsentɪˈmentl/

adj. 感伤的,多愁善感的➕

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generosity /ˌdʒenəˈrɒsəti/

n. 慷慨,大方➕

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humanity /hjuːˈmænəti/

n. 仁慈,人道；人类➕

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indebted /ɪnˈdetɪd/

adj. 感激的,受惠的；负债的➕

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accumulation /əˌkjuːmjəˈleɪʃn/

n. 积累,积聚➕

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interest /ˈɪntrəst/

n. 利息；兴趣➕

Chapter three: The Second Marriage And The Second Family (第三章:第二次婚姻与第二个家庭)

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