THE CHIEF ACTION of the battle of Borodino was fought on the space seven thousand feet in width between Borodino and Bagration’s flèches. —
博罗金诺与巴格拉季昂的短枪之间的七千尺宽度的空间上发生了博罗金诺战役的主要行动。 —

Outside that region, on one side there was the action on the part of Uvarov’s cavalry in the middle of the day; —
在那个地区之外，一方面是乌瓦罗夫骑兵在白天中间进行的行动； —

on the other side, behind Utitsa, there was the skirmish between Poniatovsky and Tutchkov; —
另一方面，在乌提察背后，是波尼亚托夫斯基和图奇科夫之间的小规模战斗； —

but those two actions were detached and of little importance in comparison with what took place in the centre of the battlefield. —
但是与战场中心所发生的相比，这两个行动都是独立的，意义不大。 —

The chief action of the day was fought in the simplest and the most artless fashion on the open space, visible from both sides, between Borodino and the flèches by the copse.
战斗的主要行动以最简单和最朴素的方式在博罗金诺和短枪之间的开放空地上进行，这个空地可以从两面看到，靠近小树丛。

The battle began with a cannonade from several hundreds of guns on both sides. —
战斗以双方几百门大炮的轰鸣开始。 —

Then, when the whole plain was covered with smoke, on the French side the two divisions of Desaix and Compans advanced on the right upon the flèches, and on the left the viceroy’s regiments advanced upon Borodino. —
然后，当整个平原都被烟雾覆盖时，法军的德塞和孔帕斯两个师向右侧的短枪发起进攻，副王的军队向左侧的博罗金诺发起进攻。 —

The flèches were a verst from the Shevardino redoubt, where Napoleon was standing; —
短枪距离红oub #306;凡点英里，拿破仑站在那里； —

but Borodino was more than two versts further, in a straight line, and therefore Napoleon could not see what was passing there, especially as the smoke, mingling with the fog, completely hid the whole of that part of the plain. —
但是博罗金诺在直线上距离更远，超过两个verst，因此拿破仑无法看到那里正在发生的事情，特别是由于烟雾与雾气混合在一起，完全遮盖了平原上那一部分。 —

The soldiers of Desaix’s division, advancing upon the flèches, were in sight till they disappeared from view in the hollow that lay between them and the flèches. —
德塞希部门的士兵向短枪进发时，一直可以看到他们，直到他们消失在山谷之间。 —

As soon as they dropped down into the hollow, the smoke of the cannon and muskets on the flèches became so thick that it concealed the whole slope of that side of the hollow. —
一旦他们下到山谷中，短枪上的大炮和步枪的烟雾变得如此浓厚，以至于完全遮盖了山谷这一侧的斜坡。 —

Through the smoke could be caught glimpses of something black, probably men, and sometimes the gleam of bayonets. —
通过浓烟可以隐约看到一些黑色的东西，可能是人，有时闪烁着刺刀的光芒。 —

But whether they were stationary or moving, whether they were French or Russian, could not be seen from Shevardino.
但无论它们是静止还是移动，是法国人还是俄罗斯人，都无法从谢瓦尔季诺看到。

The sun had risen brightly, and its slanting rays shone straight in Napoleon’s face as he looked from under his hand towards the flèches. —
太阳明亮地升起，它的斜光笔直地照在拿破仑的脸上，他从手下向短枪望去。 —

The smoke hung over the flèches, and at one moment it seemed as though it were the smoke that was moving, at the next, the troops moving in the smoke. —
烟雾笼罩着箭楼，有时烟雾似乎在移动，下一刻则是那些在烟雾中移动的士兵。 —

Sometimes cries could be heard through the firing; —
有时可以听到射击声中传来呼喊声； —

but it was impossible to tell what was being done there.
但是不可能知道在那里发生了什么。

Napoleon, standing on the redoubt, was looking through a field-glass, and in the tiny circle of the glass saw smoke and men, sometimes his own, sometimes Russians. —
拿破仑站在防御工事上，透过望远镜看着，镜子的小圆圈里看到了烟雾和人，有时是他自己的人，有时是俄国人。 —

But where what he had seen was, he could not tell when he looked again with the naked eye.
但是当他用肉眼再次看时，他无法确定他所看到的东西在哪里。

He came down from the redoubt, and began walking up and down before it.
他从防御工事上下来，开始在前面来回走动。

At intervals he stood still, listening to the firing and looking intently at the battlefield.
他时不时地站立不动，倾听射击声，并专注地观察战场。

It was not simply impossible from below, where he was standing, and from the redoubt above, where several of his generals were standing, to make out what was passing at the flèches; —
无论是在他所站的下方，还是在几位将军所站的防御工事上，都无法看清箭楼处发生了什么； —

but on the flèches themselves, occupied now together, now alternately by French and Russians, living, dead, and wounded, the frightened and frantic soldiers had no idea what they were doing. —
但是在箭楼上，被法国人和俄国人一起或交替占领过，生活着、死去的和受伤的人，这些受惊和疯狂的士兵根本不知道自己在做什么。 —

For several hours together, in the midst of incessant cannon and musket fire, Russians and French, infantry and cavalry, had captured the place in turn; —
在持续的炮火和步枪射击声中，俄国人和法国人，步兵和骑兵，交替占领了这个地方； —

they rushed upon it, fell, fired, came into collision, did not know what to do with each other, screamed, and ran back again.
他们冲上去，倒下，开枪，碰撞在一起，不知道如何应对彼此，尖叫着，再次逃跑。

From the battlefield adjutants were continually galloping up to Napoleon with reports from his marshals of the progress of the action. —
从战场上，副官们不断骑马赶到拿破仑那里，向他报告行动的进展。 —

But all those reports were deceptive; both because in the heat of battle it is impossible to say what is happening at any given moment, and because many of the adjutants never reached the actual battlefield, but simply repeated what they heard from others, and also because, while the adjutant was galloping the two or three versts to Napoleon, circumstances had changed, and the news he brought had already become untrue. —
但是所有这些报告都是虚假的；一是因为在战斗激烈的时候，不可能说出任何特定时刻发生了什么，二是因为许多副官根本没有到达实际战场，只是简单地重复了他们从其他人那里听到的内容，还有因为，当副官骑马奔向拿破仑的时候，情况已经发生了变化，他带来的消息已经不准确了。 —

Thus an adjutant came galloping from the viceroy with the news that Borodino had been taken and the bridge on the Kolotcha was in the hands of the French. —
因此，一名副总督派来的副官飞驰而来，带来了博罗金诺已被夺取的消息，科罗奇亚上的桥梁已落入法军手中。 —

The adjutant asked Napoleon should the troops cross the bridge. —
副官询问拿破仑，是否应该让部队渡过桥梁。 —

Napoleon’s command was to form on the further side and wait; —
拿破仑的命令是在桥梁的另一边集结并等待。 —

but long before he gave that command, when the adjutant indeed had only just started from Borodino, the bridge had been broken down and burnt by the Russians in the very skirmish Pierre had taken part in at the beginning of the day.
但在他下达命令之前很久，事实上当那名副官刚刚从博罗金诺出发时，俄军已在该日开始时的战斗中将桥梁破坏并焚毁了。

An adjutant, galloping up from the flèches with a pale and frightened face, brought Napoleon word that the attack had been repulsed, and Compans wounded and Davoust killed; —
一名副官从箭形堡上骑马而来，面色苍白而恐惧，向拿破仑报告了进攻被击退，康帕斯受伤，达武夫丧生的消息；与此同时，箭形堡已被另一部队占领，达武夫除了轻微的擦伤外还是健在。 —

while meantime the flèches had been captured by another division of the troops, and Davoust was alive and well, except for a slight bruise. —
拿破仑基于这些不可避免的误导性报告下达了指令，但这些指令在他下达之前大部分已经执行，或者根本没有执行，也永远无法执行。 —

Upon such inevitably misleading reports Napoleon based his instructions, which had mostly been carried out before he made them, or else were never, and could never, be carried out at all.
距离战斗现场更近的元帅和将军们，与拿破仑一样，并未亲身参战，只是不时在了解子弹射程内情况的范围内骑马，他们在未向拿破仑征询的情况下制定了计划，并下达了指示以确定射击方向，骑兵的冲锋方向以及步兵的奔跑方向。

The marshals and generals who were closer to the scene of action, but, like Napoleon, not actually taking part in it, and only at intervals riding within bullet range, made their plans without asking Napoleon, and gave their orders from where and in what direction to fire, and where the cavalry were to gallop and the infantry to run. —
但是，即使是他们的命令，也和拿破仑的命令一样，很少被执行，且幅度有限。 —

But even their orders, like Napoleon’s, were but rarely, and to a slight extent, carried out.
在大部分情况下，实际情况与他们所要求的相反。

For the most part what happened was the opposite of what they commanded to be done. —
那些被命令前进的士兵发现自己处在散弹火力的射击下，然后逃跑了。 —

The soldiers ordered to advance found themselves under grapeshot fire, and ran back. —
被命令停留在一个地方的士兵看到俄军突然出现在他们面前，要么逃之夭夭，要么冲向他们； —

The soldiers commanded to stand still in one place seeing the Russians appear suddenly before them, either ran away or rushed upon them; —
而未受命令的骑兵则追随逃跑的俄军进行了冲锋。 —

and the cavalry unbidden galloped in after the flying Russians. —
—

In this way two cavalry regiments galloped across the Semyonovskoye hollow, and as soon as they reached the top of the hill, turned and galloped headlong back again. —
就这样，两个骑兵团疾驰过塞梅诺夫斯科埃凹地，一到山顶就转头狂奔回来。 —

The infantry, in the same way, moved sometimes in the direction opposite to that in which they were commanded to move.
同样地，步兵有时朝与他们所接到的命令相反的方向移动。

All decisions as to when and where to move the cannons, when to send infantry to fire, when to send cavalry to trample down the Russian infantry—all such decisions were made by the nearest officers in the ranks, without any reference to Ney, Davoust, and Murat, far less to Napoleon himself. —
所有关于何时何地移动大炮、何时派遣步兵射击、何时派遣骑兵冲击俄军全部的决策都由最近的军官在队列中决定，与内伊、达沃斯特和穆拉不相关，更不用说拿破仑自己了。 —

They did not dread getting into trouble for nonfulfilment of orders, nor for assuming responsibility, because in battle what is at stake is what is most precious to every man—his own life; —
他们不害怕因疏忽执行命令、承担责任而遭受惩罚，因为在战斗中每个人最宝贵的东西就是自己的生命； —

and at one time it seems as though safety is to be found in flying back, sometimes in flying forward; —
有时逃回去似乎是安全的，有时向前冲似乎是安全的； —

and these men placed in the very thick of the fray acted in accordance with the temper of the moment.
这些置身于混战的人会根据当时情绪的导向行动。

In reality all these movements forward and back again hardly improved or affected the position of the troops. —
事实上，这些前进后退的动作几乎没有改变或影响到部队的位置。 —

All their onslaughts on one another did little harm; —
彼此的进攻对彼此几乎都没造成伤害； —

the harm, the death and disablement was the work of the cannon balls and bullets, that were flying all about the open space, where those men ran to and fro. —
所造成的伤害、死亡和伤残都是炮弹和子弹的作品，它们在那些人奔跑来回的空地上飞来飞去。 —

As soon as they got out of that exposed space, over which the balls and bullets were flying, their superior officer promptly formed them in good order, and restored discipline, and under the influence of that discipline led them back under fire again; —
他们一离开那个暴露的区域，那些炸弹和子弹飞来飞去的地方，他们的高级军官就会迅速让他们整齐排列，恢复秩序，并在秩序的影响下再次带领他们冲到火力下； —

and there again, under the influence of the terror of death, they lost all discipline, and dashed to and fro at the chance promptings of the crowd.
在那里，由于死亡的恐惧的影响，他们失去了所有纪律，按照人群的随机指示来回冲突。