Part 2. Chapter 6. Parte 2. Parte 2. Capítulo 6. Parte 2. Capítulo 6. 第 2 部分.第 6 章.

Princess Betsy drove home from the theater, without waiting for the end of the last act. La princesse Betsy rentra du théâtre en voiture, sans attendre la fin du dernier acte. She had only just time to go into her dressing room, sprinkle her long, pale face with powder, rub it, set her dress to rights, and order tea in the big drawing room, when one after another carriages drove up to her huge house in Bolshaia Morskaia. Elle n'a eu que le temps d'entrer dans sa loge, saupoudrer son long visage pâle de poudre, frotter, remettre sa robe à droite et commander du thé dans le grand salon, quand les voitures se sont succédées dans son immense maison. à Bolshaia Morskaia. Her guests stepped out at the wide entrance, and the stout porter, who used to read the newspapers in the mornings behind the glass door, to the edification of the passers-by, noiselessly opened the immense door, letting the visitors pass by him into the house. Ses invités sortirent par la grande entrée, et le gros portier, qui lisait les journaux le matin derrière la porte vitrée, à l'édification des passants, ouvrit sans bruit l'immense porte, laissant passer les visiteurs à côté de lui. la maison.

Almost at the same instant the hostess, with freshly arranged coiffure and freshened face, walked in at one door and her guests at the other door of the drawing room, a large room with dark walls, downy rugs, and a brightly lighted table, gleaming with the light of candles, white cloth, silver samovar, and transparent china tea things. Presque au même instant, l'hôtesse, avec une coiffure fraîchement arrangée et un visage rafraîchi, entra à une porte et ses invités à l'autre porte du salon, une grande pièce avec des murs sombres, des tapis en duvet et une table brillamment éclairée, brillante. avec la lumière des bougies, du tissu blanc, du samovar en argent et des choses à thé en porcelaine transparente.

The hostess sat down at the table and took off her gloves. Chairs were set with the aid of footmen, moving almost imperceptibly about the room; the party settled itself, divided into two groups: one round the samovar near the hostess, the other at the opposite end of the drawing room, round the handsome wife of an ambassador, in black velvet, with sharply defined black eyebrows. Les chaises étaient installées à l'aide de valets de pied, se déplaçant presque imperceptiblement dans la pièce; le parti s'installa, divisé en deux groupes: l'un autour du samovar près de l'hôtesse, l'autre à l'extrémité opposée du salon, autour de la belle épouse d'un ambassadeur, en velours noir, aux sourcils noirs bien définis. In both groups conversation wavered, as it always does, for the first few minutes, broken up by meetings, greetings, offers of tea, and as it were, feeling about for something to rest upon. Dans les deux groupes, la conversation a vacillé, comme toujours, pendant les premières minutes, interrompue par des réunions, des salutations, des offres de thé et, pour ainsi dire, une envie de se reposer.

"She’s exceptionally good as an actress; one can see she’s studied Kaulbach," said a diplomatic attache in the group round the ambassador’s wife. "Ze is uitzonderlijk goed als actrice; je kunt zien dat ze Kaulbach heeft bestudeerd", zei een diplomatiek attaché in de groep rond de vrouw van de ambassadeur. "Did you notice how she fell down?…" "Oh, please, don’t let us talk about Nilsson! No one can possibly say anything new about her," said a fat, red-faced, flaxen-headed lady, without eyebrows and chignon, wearing an old silk dress. Personne ne peut rien dire de nouveau à son sujet », a déclaré une grosse dame au visage rouge et à la tête de lin, sans sourcils ni chignon, vêtue d'une vieille robe en soie. This was Princess Myakaya, noted for her simplicity and the roughness of her manners, and nicknamed enfant terrible . Princess Myakaya, sitting in the middle between the two groups, and listening to both, took part in the conversation first of one and then of the other. "Three people have used that very phrase about Kaulbach to me today already, just as though they had made a compact about it. «Trois personnes m'ont déjà utilisé cette même phrase à propos de Kaulbach aujourd'hui, comme si elles avaient fait un pacte à ce sujet. And I can’t see why they liked that remark so." The conversation was cut short by this observation, and a new subject had to be thought of again.

"Do tell me something amusing but not spiteful," said the ambassador’s wife, a great proficient in the art of that elegant conversation called by the English, small talk . «Dites-moi quelque chose d'amusant mais pas de méchant», dit la femme de l'ambassadeur, très douée dans l'art de cette élégante conversation appelée par les Anglais, bavardage. She addressed the attache, who was at a loss now what to begin upon. Elle s'adressa à l'attaché, qui ne savait plus sur quoi commencer.

"They say that that’s a difficult task, that nothing’s amusing that isn’t spiteful," he began with a smile. "But I’ll try. Get me a subject. It all lies in the subject. If a subject’s given me, it’s easy to spin something round it. Si un sujet m’a été donné, il est facile d’en faire le tour. I often think that the celebrated talkers of the last century would have found it difficult to talk cleverly now. Je pense souvent que les orateurs célèbres du siècle dernier auraient eu du mal à parler intelligemment maintenant. 我经常认为，上世纪著名的演讲者现在会发现很难巧妙地交谈。 Everything clever is so stale…" Tout ce qui est intelligent est si vicié… " "That has been said long ago," the ambassador’s wife interrupted him, laughing. “早就说过了，”大使夫人笑着打断他。 The conversation began amiably, but just because it was too amiable, it came to a stop again. They had to have recourse to the sure, never-failing topic—gossip. Ils ont dû recourir au sujet sûr et qui ne manquait jamais: les potins.

"Don’t you think there’s something Louis Quinze about Tushkevitch?" he said, glancing towards a handsome, fair-haired young man, standing at the table.

"Oh, yes! He’s in the same style as the drawing room and that’s why it is he’s so often here." This conversation was maintained, since it rested on allusions to what could not be talked of in that room—that is to say, of the relations of Tushkevitch with their hostess.

Round the samovar and the hostess the conversation had been meanwhile vacillating in just the same way between three inevitable topics: the latest piece of public news, the theater, and scandal. It, too, came finally to rest on the last topic, that is, ill-natured gossip.

"Have you heard the Maltishtcheva woman—the mother, not the daughter—has ordered a costume in diable rose color?" 'Heb je gehoord dat de Maltishtcheva-vrouw - de moeder, niet de dochter - een kostuum in een roze kleur heeft besteld?' "Nonsense! No, that’s too lovely!" "I wonder that with her sense—for she’s not a fool, you know— that she doesn’t see how funny she is." Everyone had something to say in censure or ridicule of the luckless Madame Maltishtcheva, and the conversation crackled merrily, like a burning faggot-stack. Tout le monde avait quelque chose à dire pour critiquer ou ridiculiser l'infortunée madame Maltishtcheva, et la conversation crépitait joyeusement, comme une pile de pédés en feu. Iedereen had iets te zeggen om de ongelukkige Madame Maltishtcheva af te keuren of belachelijk te maken, en het gesprek knetterde vrolijk, als een brandende flikkerstapel. 每个人都对倒霉的马尔蒂什切娃夫人进行了谴责或嘲笑，谈话愉快地噼里啪啦，就像燃烧的柴堆一样。

The husband of Princess Betsy, a good-natured fat man, an ardent collector of engravings, hearing that his wife had visitors, came into the drawing room before going to his club. Le mari de la princesse Betsy, gros bonhomme, ardent collectionneur de gravures, apprenant que sa femme avait des visiteurs, entra dans le salon avant de se rendre à son club. 贝齐公主的丈夫是个和蔼的胖子，是个狂热的版画收藏家，听说他的妻子有客人来访，在去他的俱乐部之前走进客厅。 Stepping noiselessly over the thick rugs, he went up to Princess Myakaya.

"How did you like Nilsson?" he asked.

"Oh, how can you steal upon anyone like that! «Oh, comment pouvez-vous voler quelqu'un comme ça! How you startled me!" Comment tu m'as surpris! " she responded. "Please don’t talk to me about the opera; you know nothing about music. I’d better meet you on your own ground, and talk about your majolica and engravings. Ik kan je beter op je eigen terrein ontmoeten en over je majolica en gravures praten. Come now, what treasure have you been buying lately at the old curiosity shops?" Allons, quel trésor avez-vous acheté ces derniers temps dans les anciennes boutiques de curiosités? " "Would you like me to show you? But you don’t understand such things." "Oh, do show me! I’ve been learning about them at those—what’s their names?…the bankers…they’ve some splendid engravings. J'ai appris à leur sujet à ces… comment s'appellent-ils?… Les banquiers… ils ont de splendides gravures. They showed them to us." "Why, have you been at the Schützburgs?" asked the hostess from the samovar.

"Yes, ma chere . They asked my husband and me to dinner, and told us the sauce at that dinner cost a hundred pounds," Princess Myakaya said, speaking loudly, and conscious everyone was listening; "and very nasty sauce it was, some green mess. 他们请我和我丈夫吃晚饭，并告诉我们那顿晚餐的酱汁要一百英镑，”米卡亚公主大声说，意识到每个人都在听；“而且酱汁非常难吃，一些绿色的烂摊子。 We had to ask them, and I made them sauce for eighteen pence, and everybody was very much pleased with it. Nous avons dû leur demander, et je leur ai fait de la sauce pour dix-huit pence, et tout le monde en était très content. I can’t run to hundred-pound sauces." Je ne peux pas courir avec des sauces de cent livres. " "She’s unique!" said the lady of the house.

"Marvelous!" said someone.

The sensation produced by Princess Myakaya’s speeches was always unique, and the secret of the sensation she produced lay in the fact that though she spoke not always appropriately, as now, she said simple things with some sense in them. 妙夜公主的话语给人的感觉总是独一无二的，而她产生这种感觉的秘诀就在于，虽然她说话并不总是像现在这样恰当，但她说的是一些简单的事情，其中有一些道理。 In the society in which she lived such plain statements produced the effect of the wittiest epigram. Dans la société où elle vivait, de telles déclarations claires produisaient l'effet de l'épigramme le plus spirituel. In de samenleving waarin ze leefde, produceerden zulke duidelijke uitspraken het effect van het grappigste epigram. Princess Myakaya could never see why it had that effect, but she knew it had, and took advantage of it.

As everyone had been listening while Princess Myakaya spoke, and so the conversation around the ambassador’s wife had dropped, Princess Betsy tried to bring the whole party together, and turned to the ambassador’s wife.

"Will you really not have tea? You should come over here by us." "No, we’re very happy here," the ambassador’s wife responded with a smile, and she went on with the conversation that had been begun. "It was a very agreeable conversation. They were criticizing the Karenins, husband and wife.

"Anna is quite changed since her stay in Moscow. There’s something strange about her," said her friend. "The great change is that she brought back with her the shadow of Alexey Vronsky," said the ambassador’s wife. "Well, what of it? «Eh bien, qu'en est-il? There’s a fable of Grimm’s about a man without a shadow, a man who’s lost his shadow. And that’s his punishment for something. I never could understand how it was a punishment. Je n'ai jamais pu comprendre en quoi c'était une punition. But a woman must dislike being without a shadow." "Yes, but women with a shadow usually come to a bad end," said Anna’s friend. 安娜的朋友说：“是的，但有阴影的女人通常结局不好。” "Bad luck to your tongue!" “你的舌头运气不好！” said Princess Myakaya suddenly. "Madame Karenina’s a splendid woman. I don’t like her husband, but I like her very much." "Why don’t you like her husband? He’s such a remarkable man," said the ambassador’s wife. 他真是个了不起的人，”大使的妻子说。 "My husband says there are few statesmen like him in Europe." "Mon mari dit qu'il y a peu d'hommes d'État comme lui en Europe." “我丈夫说欧洲很少有像他这样的政治家。” "And my husband tells me just the same, but I don’t believe it," said Princess Myakaya. “我丈夫也这么告诉我，但我不相信，”米卡亚公主说。 "If our husbands didn’t talk to us, we should see the facts as they are. “如果我们的丈夫不和我们说话，我们应该看到事实。 Alexey Alexandrovitch, to my thinking, is simply a fool. I say it in a whisper…but doesn’t it really make everything clear? 我低声说……但它不是真的把一切都说清楚了吗？ Before, when I was told to consider him clever, I kept looking for his ability, and thought myself a fool for not seeing it; but directly I said, he’s a fool, though only in a whisper, everything’s explained, isn’t it?" Auparavant, quand on me disait de le considérer comme intelligent, je continuais à chercher ses capacités, et je me croyais stupide de ne pas les voir; mais directement j'ai dit, c'est un imbécile, mais seulement dans un murmure, tout est expliqué, n'est-ce pas? " 以前，当我被告知认为他聪明时，我一直在寻找他的能力，并认为自己是个傻瓜，因为没有看到它；但我直接说，他是个傻瓜，虽然只是低声说，一切都解释了，不是吗？” "How spiteful you are today!" "Not a bit. I’d no other way out of it. Je n'aurais pas d'autre moyen de m'en sortir. One of the two had to be a fool. And, well, you know one can’t say that of oneself." Et, eh bien, tu sais qu'on ne peut pas dire ça de soi-même. " "'No one is satisfied with his fortune, and everyone is satisfied with his wit.'" “‘没有人满足于他的财富，每个人都满足于他的智慧。’” The attaché repeated the French saying.

"That’s just it, just it," Princess Myakaya turned to him. "But the point is that I won’t abandon Anna to your mercies. She’s so nice, so charming. How can she help it if they’re all in love with her, and follow her about like shadows?" Comment peut-elle l'aider s'ils sont tous amoureux d'elle et la suivent comme des ombres? " 如果他们都爱她，像影子一样跟着她走，她怎么能帮得上忙呢？” "Oh, I had no idea of blaming her for it," Anna’s friend said in self-defense. "If no one follows us about like a shadow, that’s no proof that we’ve any right to blame her." "Si personne ne nous suit comme une ombre, ce n'est pas une preuve que nous avons le droit de la blâmer." And having duly disposed of Anna’s friend, the Princess Myakaya got up, and together with the ambassador’s wife, joined the group at the table, where the conversation was dealing with the king of Prussia.

"What wicked gossip were you talking over there?" asked Betsy.

"About the Karenins. The princess gave us a sketch of Alexey Alexandrovitch," said the ambassador’s wife with a smile, as she sat down at the table. "Pity we didn’t hear it!" said Princess Betsy, glancing towards the door. "Ah, here you are at last!" she said, turning with a smile to Vronsky, as he came in.

Vronsky was not merely acquainted with all the persons whom he was meeting here; he saw them all every day; and so he came in with the quiet manner with which one enters a room full of people from whom one has only just parted. 伏龙斯基不仅认识他在这里会见的所有人；他每天都看到他们；于是他以一种安静的方式进来了，就像一个人走进一个满是刚刚分开的人的房间一样。

"Where do I come from?" he said, in answer to a question from the ambassador’s wife. "Well, there’s no help for it, I must confess. «Eh bien, il n'y a aucune aide pour cela, je dois avouer. From the opera bouffé . I do believe I’ve seen it a hundred times, and always with fresh enjoyment. It’s exquisite! I know it’s disgraceful, but I go to sleep at the opera, and I sit out the opera bouffé to the last minute, and enjoy it. This evening…" He mentioned a French actress, and was going to tell something about her; but the ambassador’s wife, with playful horror, cut him short. Il a mentionné une actrice française, et allait dire quelque chose à son sujet; mais la femme de l'ambassadeur, avec une horreur ludique, lui coupa court. 他提到了一位法国女演员，并打算谈谈她的一些事情。但是大使的夫人带着顽皮的恐惧打断了他。

"Please don’t tell us about that horror." "All right, I won’t especially as everyone knows those horrors." "And we should all go to see them if it were accepted as the correct thing, like the opera," chimed in Princess Myakaya. "Et nous devrions tous aller les voir si cela était accepté comme la bonne chose, comme l'opéra", a sonné la princesse Myakaya. “如果它被认为是正确的东西，我们都应该去看他们，就像歌剧一样，”Myakaya公主附和道。