NEW YEAR’S EVE. Nellie, the daughter of a landowner and general, a young and pretty girl, dreaming day and night of being married, was sitting in her room, gazing with exhausted, half-closed eyes into the looking- glass. —-
除夕夜时分，奈莉，一个地主和将军的女儿，一个年轻漂亮的女孩，日夜梦想着结婚，她坐在房间里，疲惫不堪地凝视着镜子。 —-

She was pale, tense, and as motionless as the looking-glass.
她面色苍白，紧张，像镜子一样一动不动。

The non-existent but apparent vista of a long, narrow corridor with endless rows of candles, the reflection of her face, her hands, of the frame—all this was already clouded in mist and merged into a boundless grey sea. —-
通往尽头的长长走廊，无尽的蜡烛排列，她的脸庞、双手和镜框的倒影，这一切都已经被迷雾笼罩，融入了无边的灰色海洋。 —-

The sea was undulating, gleaming and now and then flaring crimson. . . .
这片海洋在起伏，闪闪发光，偶尔还会泛起红光……

Looking at Nellie’s motionless eyes and parted lips, one could hardly say whether she was asleep or awake, but nevertheless she was seeing. —-
看着奈莉静止的眼睛和微张的嘴唇，人们几乎无法确定她是睡着了还是醒着，但她确实在见梦。 —-

At first she saw only the smile and soft, charming expression of someone’s eyes, then against the shifting grey background there gradually appeared the outlines of a head, a face, eyebrows, beard. —-
一开始，她只看到了一个某人的眼睛，微笑而柔和的表情，然后在变幻的灰色背景中，逐渐出现了一个头部、一个脸庞、眉毛和胡须的轮廓。 —-

It was he, the destined one, the object of long dreams and hopes. —-
就是他，注定的那个人，长久的梦想和希望的对象。 —-

The destined one was for Nellie everything, the significance of life, personal happiness, career, fate. —-
在奈莉看来，预定的那个人代表了一切，生活的意义、个人的幸福、事业和命运。 —-

Outside him, as on the grey background of the looking-glass, all was dark, empty, meaningless. —-
在他之外，如同镜子的灰色背景上，一切都是黑暗、空虚、无意义的。 —-

And so it was not strange that, seeing before her a handsome, gently smiling face, she was conscious of bliss, of an unutterably sweet dream that could not be expressed in speech or on paper. —-
所以看到一个英俊、温柔微笑的面庞，她感受到了幸福，一种无法用语言或文字表达的甜蜜梦想。 —-

Then she heard his voice, saw herself living under the same roof with him, her life merged into his. Months and years flew by against the grey background. —-
接着她听到了他的声音，看到自己和他生活在同一屋檐下，她的生活与他融为一体。月份和年份在灰色背景上飞逝而过。 —-

And Nellie saw her future distinctly in all its details.
奈莉清楚地看到了她未来的一切细节。

Picture followed picture against the grey background. —-
一幅幅画面在灰色背景上接踵而至。 —-

Now Nellie saw herself one winter night knocking at the door of Stepan Lukitch, the district doctor. The old dog hoarsely and lazily barked behind the gate. —-
现在，奈莉看到自己在一个冬夜敲打着斯捷潘·卢奇奇（Stepan Lukitch）的门。门后的老狗嘶哑地懒洋洋地叫着。 —-

The doctor’s windows were in darkness. All was silence.
医生的窗户黑暗一片。一切都静悄悄的。

“For God’s sake, for God’s sake!” whispered Nellie.
“求求你，求求你！”尼莉小声说道。

But at last the garden gate creaked and Nellie saw the doctor’s cook.
最后，花园的门吱呀一声打开了，尼莉看到了医生家的厨师。

“Is the doctor at home?”
“医生在家吗？”

“His honour’s asleep,” whispered the cook into her sleeve, as though afraid of waking her master.
“他挺睡着的，”厨师小声说着，仿佛怕吵醒她的主人。

“He’s only just got home from his fever patients, and gave orders he was not to be waked.”
“他刚从治病的病人那回来，吩咐不要把他叫醒。”

But Nellie scarcely heard the cook. Thrusting her aside, she rushed headlong into the doctor’s house. —-
但尼莉几乎没有听到厨师的话。她把她推开，脑袋发热地冲进了医生的房子。 —-

Running through some dark and stuffy rooms, upsetting two or three chairs, she at last reached the doctor’s bedroom. —-
她穿过一些黑暗、闷热的房间，撞倒了两三把椅子，最后来到了医生的卧室。 —-

Stepan Lukitch was lying on his bed, dressed, but without his coat, and with pouting lips was breathing into his open hand. —-
斯捷潘·卢基奇躺在床上，穿着衣服，但没有穿外套，嘟着嘴巴往手心里呼气。 —-

A little night-light glimmered faintly beside him. —-
床边微弱地闪烁着一点夜灯的光芒。 —-

Without uttering a word Nellie sat down and began to cry. —-
尼莉没有说一句话，坐下来开始哭泣。 —-

She wept bitterly, shaking all over.
她伤心地哭泣着，浑身颤抖。

“My husband is ill!” she sobbed out. Stepan Lukitch was silent. —-
“我丈夫病了！”她忍住了哭声。 —-

He slowly sat up, propped his head on his hand, and looked at his visitor with fixed, sleepy eyes. —-
斯捷潘·卢基奇保持着沉默，慢慢地坐起身，用手撑着头，用困倦的眼神看着来访者。 —-

“My husband is ill!” Nellie continued, restraining her sobs. —-
“我丈夫病了！”尼莉继续说着，控制住了哭声。 —-

“For mercy’s sake come quickly. Make haste. —-
“求求你快点过来。赶紧。” —-

. . . Make haste!”
“快些！”

“Eh?” growled the doctor, blowing into his hand.
“嗯？”医生嘟囔着，对着自己的手吹气。

“Come! Come this very minute! Or . . . it’s terrible to think! For mercy’s sake!”
“来！现在就来！要不然……想想都可怕！求求您了！”

And pale, exhausted Nellie, gasping and swallowing her tears, began describing to the doctor her husband’s illness, her unutterable terror. —-
苍白虚弱的娜莉，喘息着，含着泪水，开始向医生描述她丈夫的病情，她无法形容的恐惧。 —-

Her sufferings would have touched the heart of a stone, but the doctor looked at her, blew into his open hand, and—not a movement.
她的痛苦足以感动一颗石头的心，但是医生看着她，对着手掌吹气，并没有其他动作。

“I’ll come to-morrow!” he muttered.
“我明天去！”他喃喃自语。

“That’s impossible!” cried Nellie. “I know my husband has typhus! —-
“那不可能！”娜莉喊道。“我知道我丈夫得了伤寒！ —-

At once . . . this very minute you are needed!”
立刻……就现在，你需要来！”

“I . . . er . . . have only just come in,” muttered the doctor. —-
“我…… 呃……刚刚回来，”医生嘟囔道。 —-

“For the last three days I’ve been away, seeing typhus patients, and I’m exhausted and ill myself. —-
“过去三天我一直在外面，看伤寒病人，我也累坏了，自己也病了。” —-

. . . I simply can’t! Absolutely! I’ve caught it myself! There!”
“……我根本不能来！绝对不行！我自己也感染了！就是这样！”

And the doctor thrust before her eyes a clinical thermometer.
医生把一支体温计放到她面前。

“My temperature is nearly forty. . . . I absolutely can’t. —-
“我的体温接近四十……我绝对不能来。” —-

I can scarcely sit up. Excuse me. I’ll lie down. . . .”
我几乎无法坐起来。打扰了，我要躺下……”

The doctor lay down.
医生躺了下来。

“But I implore you, doctor,” Nellie moaned in despair. “I beseech you! —-
“但我恳求您，医生。”妮莉绝望地呻吟道。“我恳求您！ —-

Help me, for mercy’s sake! Make a great effort and come! —-
求求您了，求您开恩！竭尽全力过来吧！ —-

I will repay you, doctor!”
我会报答您的，医生！”

“Oh, dear! . . . Why, I have told you already. Ah!”
“哦，亲爱的！…我已经告诉过你了。啊！”

Nellie leapt up and walked nervously up and down the bedroom. —-
妮莉跳了起来，在卧室里紧张地来回踱步。 —-

She longed to explain to the doctor, to bring him to reason. . . . —-
她渴望向医生解释，使他理解过来… —-

She thought if only he knew how dear her husband was to her and how unhappy she was, he would forget his exhaustion and his illness. —-
她觉得，只要他知道她是多么珍爱她的丈夫，多么不幸，他就会忘记自己的疲惫和病痛。 —-

But how could she be eloquent enough?
但她又怎能有足够的口才呢？

“Go to the Zemstvo doctor,” she heard Stepan Lukitch’s voice.
“去找地方医生吧，”她听到斯捷潘·卢基奇的声音说道。

“That’s impossible! He lives more than twenty miles from here, and time is precious. —-
“那不可能！他住在二十多英里之外，时间宝贵。 —-

And the horses can’t stand it. It is thirty miles from us to you, and as much from here to the Zemstvo doctor. —-
马受不了。离我们这里有30英里，离地方医生那里也有一样多。 —-

No, it’s impossible! Come along, Stepan Lukitch. —-
不，不可能！快来，斯捷潘·卢基奇。 —-

I ask of you an heroic deed. Come, perform that heroic deed! —-
我请求您做一件英勇的事。来吧，完成那件英勇的事情！ —-

Have pity on us!”
可怜可怜我们吧！”

“It’s beyond everything. . . . I’m in a fever . . . —-
“这真是太离谱了…我发着烧呢… —-

my head’s in a whirl . . . and she won’t understand! Leave me alone!”
我的脑袋乱成一团……而她不会理解！让我一个人呆着吧！

“But you are in duty bound to come! You cannot refuse to come! It’s egoism! —-
但是你有责任来！你不能拒绝！这是自私自利！ —-

A man is bound to sacrifice his life for his neighbour, and you . . . —-
人应该为邻居牺牲自己的生命，而你……你拒绝来！我会将你传唤到法庭上。 —-

you refuse to come! I will summon you before the Court.”
尽管妮莉感到自己说了一句虚假而不应该的侮辱，但是为了丈夫的缘故，她能够忘记逻辑，圆滑和对他人的同情。

Nellie felt that she was uttering a false and undeserved insult, but for her husband’s sake she was capable of forgetting logic, tact, sympathy for others. —-
作为对她的威胁的回应，医生贪婪地喝了一杯冷水。 —-

. . . In reply to her threats, the doctor greedily gulped a glass of cold water. —-
妮莉开始恳求和请求，就像一个最卑微的乞丐一样…… —-

Nellie fell to entreating and imploring like the very lowest beggar. . . . —-
最后医生妥协了。他慢慢地站起来，喘着粗气，找着他的外套。 —-

At last the doctor gave way. He slowly got up, puffing and panting, looking for his coat.
“在这里！”妮莉喊道，帮助他穿上外套。“走吧！我会报答你的……我一辈子都会感激你……”

“Here it is!” cried Nellie, helping him. “Let me put it on to you. Come along! —-
但是多么痛苦啊！穿上外套后，医生又躺了下去。 —-

I will repay you. . . . All my life I shall be grateful to you. . . .”
妮莉把他叫醒，拖着他走进了走廊。

But what agony! After putting on his coat the doctor lay down again. —-
然后，关于他的雨鞋、大衣等等发生了非常痛苦的事情……他的帽子也丢了…… —-

Nellie got him up and dragged him to the hall. —-
但最后，妮莉和医生一起坐进了马车里。 —-

Then there was an agonizing to-do over his goloshes, his overcoat. . . . His cap was lost. . . . —-
现在，他们只需要开车30英里，丈夫就能得到医生的帮助了。 —-

But at last Nellie was in the carriage with the doctor. —-
Please note that this line contains an incorrect punctuation. Please provide a revised version of the text. —-

Now they had only to drive thirty miles and her husband would have a doctor’s help. —-
No text provided. —-

The earth was wrapped in darkness. One could not see one’s hand before one’s face. . . . —-
大地笼罩在黑暗中。一个人连自己的手都看不见…… —-

A cold winter wind was blowing. There were frozen lumps under their wheels. —-
寒冷的冬风呼啸着。他们的车轮下有结冻的块块。 —-

The coachman was continually stopping and wondering which road to take.
车夫不断停下来，犹豫不决地想要选择哪条路。

Nellie and the doctor sat silent all the way. —-
娜莉和医生一路上沉默不语。 —-

It was fearfully jolting, but they felt neither the cold nor the jolts.
虽然颠簸得厉害，但他们既不觉得冷，也不觉得颠簸。

“Get on, get on!” Nellie implored the driver.
“继续走，快点！” 娜莉恳求着驾驶员。

At five in the morning the exhausted horses drove into the yard. —-
早上五点，精疲力竭的马儿驶入院子。 —-

Nellie saw the familiar gates, the well with the crane, the long row of stables and barns. —-
娜莉看到了熟悉的大门，水井上的起重机，一排长长的马厩和谷仓。 —-

At last she was at home.
终于回到了家。

“Wait a moment, I will be back directly,” she said to Stepan Lukitch, making him sit down on the sofa in the dining-room. —-
“等一会儿，我马上回来。” 娜莉对斯捷潘·卢基奇说着，让他坐在餐厅的沙发上。 —-

“Sit still and wait a little, and I’ll see how he is going on.”
“坐在那里等一下，我去看看他怎么样了。”

On her return from her husband, Nellie found the doctor lying down. —-
娜莉从丈夫那里回来时，发现医生正在躺着。 —-

He was lying on the sofa and muttering.
他躺在沙发上喃喃自语。

“Doctor, please! . . . doctor!”
“医生，请快点……医生！”

“Eh? Ask Domna!” muttered Stepan Lukitch.
“嗯？去问多姆娜！” 斯捷潘·卢基奇喃喃地说道。

“What?”
“什么？”

“They said at the meeting . . . Vlassov said . . . Who? . . . what?”
“他们在会议上说……弗拉索夫说……谁？……什么？”

And to her horror Nellie saw that the doctor was as delirious as her husband. What was to be done?
看到医生和她丈夫一样神智不清，纳丽惊恐地不知该怎么办。

“I must go for the Zemstvo doctor,” she decided.
“我必须去找地方自治机构的医生。”她决定道。

Then again there followed darkness, a cutting cold wind, lumps of frozen earth. —-
然后又是黑暗，刺骨的冷风，冻结的土块。 —-

She was suffering in body and in soul, and delusive nature has no arts, no deceptions to compensate these sufferings. . . .
她的身心都受到折磨，虚幻的大自然没有任何技巧、欺骗可以弥补这些痛苦…

Then she saw against the grey background how her husband every spring was in straits for money to pay the interest for the mortgage to the bank. —-
然后她看到在灰色的背景下，丈夫每年春天都为支付房贷逼得入不敷出。 —-

He could not sleep, she could not sleep, and both racked their brains till their heads ached, thinking how to avoid being visited by the clerk of the Court.
他无法入睡，她也无法入睡，两人都苦苦思索，头痛欲裂，想方设法躲避法院书记的访问。

She saw her children: the everlasting apprehension of colds, scarlet fever, diphtheria, bad marks at school, separation. —-
她看到了自己的孩子们：永恒的担心感冒、猩红热、白喉、学校成绩差，分离。 —-

Out of a brood of five or six one was sure to die.
在一群五六个孩子中，总会有一个人死去。

The grey background was not untouched by death. That might well be. —-
这个灰色的背景也不乏死亡。那是很可能的。 —-

A husband and wife cannot die simultaneously. Whatever happened one must bury the other. —-
一个丈夫和妻子不可能同时死去。无论发生什么，都必须有一个人埋葬另一个人。 —-

And Nellie saw her husband dying. This terrible event presented itself to her in every detail. —-
纳丽看到了她丈夫快要死去。这可怕的事件以每一个细节展现在她面前。 —-

She saw the coffin, the candles, the deacon, and even the footmarks in the hall made by the undertaker.
她看到了棺材，蜡烛，领唱者，甚至是葬礼办理人在门厅里留下的脚印。

“Why is it, what is it for?” she asked, looking blankly at her husband’s face.
“为什么，为什么要这样？”她茫然地看着丈夫的脸问道。

And all the previous life with her husband seemed to her a stupid prelude to this.
以前和丈夫的生活对她来说都是一个愚蠢的序幕。

Something fell from Nellie’s hand and knocked on the floor. —-
尼莉的手里掉下了东西，砸在地板上。 —-

She started, jumped up, and opened her eyes wide. —-
她吓了一跳，跳了起来，睁大了眼睛。 —-

One looking-glass she saw lying at her feet. —-
一面镜子就在她的脚边。 —-

The other was standing as before on the table.
另一面镜子仍然放在桌子上。

She looked into the looking-glass and saw a pale, tear-stained face. —-
她望着镜子，看到一个苍白、泪痕满面的脸。 —-

There was no grey background now.
现在没有灰色的背景了。

“I must have fallen asleep,” she thought with a sigh of relief.
“我一定是睡着了，”她松了口气地想道。