THE RUSSIAN ARMY, retreating from Borodino, halted at Fili. Yermolov, who had been inspecting the position, rode up to the commander-in-chief.
从波罗的军队撤退后，停在菲利。正在检查该地位置的耶尔莫洛夫骑马走到总指挥面前。

“There is no possibility of fighting in this position,” he said.
“在这个位置上没有可能作战，”他说。

Kutuzov looked at him in wonder, and made him repeat the words he had just uttered. —
库图佐夫惊奇地看着他，并让他重复刚才所说的话。 —

When he had done so, he put out his hand to him.
当他这样做时，他伸手给他。

“Give me your hand,” he said; and turning it so as to feel his pulse, he said: —
“给我你的手，”他说着，并转过手脉，他说： —

“You are not well, my dear boy. Think what you are saying.”
“亲爱的孩子，你身体不适。想清楚你在说什么。”

Kutuzov could not yet take in the idea of its being possible to retreat, abandoning Moscow without a battle.
库图佐夫仍不能接受可能在没有战斗的情况下撤退，放弃莫斯科的想法。

On the Poklonnaya Hill, six versts from Dorogomilovsky gate, Kutuzov got out of his carriage and sat down on a bench by the side of the road. —
在离多罗戈米洛夫斯基门六公里的波克隆纳亚山上，库图佐夫下了车，坐在路边的长凳上。 —

A great crowd of generals gathered about him. —
许多将军聚集在他周围。 —

Count Rastoptchin, who had come out from Moscow, joined them. —
从莫斯科出来的拉斯托普钦伯爵也加入了他们。 —

All this brilliant company broke up into several circles, and talked among themselves of the advantages and disadvantages of the position, of the condition of the troops, of the plans proposed, of the situation of Moscow—in fact, of military questions generally. —
这个杰出的团队分散成几个小组，并互相讨论着位置的优势和劣势、部队的状况、提出的计划、莫斯科的情况等等，实际上，如果不是名义上，这真的是一个军事会议。 —

All felt that though they had not been summoned for the purpose, it was really, if not ostensibly, a military council. —
所有人都知道，尽管他们没有被召集来为此目的，但实际上是军事会议。 —

All conversation was confined to public questions. —
所有的谈话都限于公共问题。 —

If any one did repeat or inquire any piece of personal news, it was in a whisper, and the talk passed at once back to general topics. —
如果有人重复或询问个人消息，那只是小声说的，然后谈话立即转回到了一般的话题上。 —

There was not a jest, not a laugh, not even a smile, to be seen among all these men. —
在所有这些人中，没有一个笑话、没有一个笑声，甚至没有一个微笑。 —

They was all making an obvious effort to rise to the level of the situation. —
他们都表现得很明显地努力提升到这个情况的水平。 —

And all the groups, while talking among themselves, tried to keep close to the commander-in-chief, whose bench formed the centre of the whole crowd, and tried to talk so that he might hear them. —
而所有的团体，在他们自己之间交谈的时候，都试图靠近总指挥，他的座位形成了整个人群的中心，并试图说话让他听到。 —

The commander-in-chief listened, and sometimes asked what had been said near him, but did not himself enter into conversation or express any opinion. —
总指挥听着，有时候询问附近的人说了些什么，但自己不参与对话，也不表达任何意见。 —

For the most part, after listening to the talk of some group, he turned away with an air of disappointment, as though they were not speaking of anything he cared to hear about at all. —
大多数情况下，听完一些团体的讨论后，他都带着一种失望的神情转身离开，好像他们谈论的根本不是他关心的事情。 —

Some were discussing the position, criticising not so much the position itself as the intellectual qualifications of those who had selected it. —
有些人在讨论形势，批评的重点不是形势本身，而是选择了这个形势的人的智力素质。 —

Others argued that a blunder had been made earlier, that a battle ought to have been fought two days before. —
其他人认为之前犯了个错误，两天前应该打一场战斗。 —

Others talked of the battle of Salamanca, which a Frenchman, Crosart, wearing a Spanish uniform, was describing to them. —
还有一些人在谈论撒拉曼卡之战，一个穿着西班牙军服的法国人克罗萨特正在给他们描述。 —

(This Frenchman, who had just arrived, had with one of the German princes serving in the Russian army been criticising the siege of Saragossa, foreseeing a possibility of a similar defence of Moscow. —
（这个刚到的法国人和一个在俄军中服役的德国亲王一起，批评了萨拉戈萨的围城战，看到了莫斯科有可能发生类似的防御。） —

) In the fourth group, Count Rastoptchin was saying that he, with the Moscow city guard, was ready to die under the walls of the city, but that still he could not but complain of the uncertainty in which he had been left, and that had he known it earlier, things would have been different. —
在第四个团体中，拉斯托普钦伯爵在说，他和莫斯科城警备队准备在城墙下牺牲，但他还是不能不抱怨他们被置身于不确定之中，如果早些知道，情况就会不同。 —

… A fifth group was manifesting the profundity of their tactical insight by discussing the direction the troops should certainly take now. —
… 第五个团体正在通过讨论军队现在应该采取的方向来表现他们对战术的深刻洞察。 —

A sixth group were talking arrant nonsense.
第六个团体在胡言乱语。

Kutuzov’s face grew more and more careworn and gloomy. —
库图佐夫的脸越来越消瘦和阴沉。 —

From all this talk Kutuzov saw one thing only: —
从所有的谈话中，库图佐夫只看到了一件事： —

the defence of Moscow was a physical impossibility in the fullest sense of the words. —
莫斯科的防御在字面上来说是完全不可能的。 —

It was so utterly impossible that even if some insane commander were to give orders for a battle, all that would follow would be a muddle, and no battle would be fought. —
这是如此绝对的不可能，即使有些疯狂的指挥官下达了战斗指令，结果只会是一片混乱，根本不会进行战斗。 —

There would be no battle, because all the officers in command, not merely recognised the position to be impossible, but were only engaged now in discussing what was to be done after the inevitable abandonment of that position. —
不会有任何战斗发生，因为所有指挥官不仅认识到这个位置是不可能坚守的，而且他们现在只在讨论在必然放弃这个位置之后应该做什么。 —

How could officers lead their men to a field of battle which they considered it impossible to hold? —
军官们怎么能够引导他们的士兵走向一个他们认为不可能坚守的战场呢？ —

The officers of lower rank, and even the soldiers themselves (they too form their conclusions), recognised that the position could not be held, and so they could not advance into battle with the conviction that they would be defeated. —
低级军官甚至士兵们自己（他们也会得出结论）都认识到这个位置无法坚守，所以他们无法带着必败的信心进入战斗。 —

That Bennigsen urged the defence of this position, and others still discussed it, was a fact that had no significance in itself, but only as a pretext for dissension and intrigue. Kutuzov knew that.
本尼金坚持保卫这个阵地，其他人仍在讨论这个问题，这个事实本身并没有意义，只是为了引发纷争和阴谋。库图佐夫明白这一点。

Bennigsen was warmly manifesting his Russian patriotism (Kutuzov could not listen to him without wincing), by insisting on the defence of Moscow. —
本尼金强烈表达着他的俄罗斯爱国主义（库图佐夫听他说这些话时不禁皱了皱眉），坚持保卫莫斯科。 —

To Kutuzov, his object was as clear as daylight: —
对库图佐夫来说，他的目标是如此清晰明了: —

in case of the defence being unsuccessful, to throw the blame on Kutuzov, who had brought the army as far as the Sparrow Hills without a battle; —
如果防守失利，将责备库图佐夫，他将军队推至雀鸟山而未进行战斗； —

in case of its being successful, to claim the credit; —
如果防守成功，要声称功劳属于自己； —

in case of it not being attempted, to clear himself of the crime of abandoning Moscow.
如果未进行防守，为以避免被指控罪责而澄清自己未放弃莫斯科的罪名；

But these questions of intrigue did not occupy the old man’s mind now. —
但是这些阴谋问题现在并不占据老人的思考； —

One terrible question absorbed him. And to that question he heard no reply from any one. —
一个可怕的问题吸引了他的注意。但没有人回答他这个问题； —

The question for him now was this: “Can it be that I have let Napoleon get to Moscow, and when did I do it? —
他现在所关心的问题是：“难道我让拿破仑进入了莫斯科吗？我是何时做到的？ —

When did it happen? Was it yesterday, when I sent word to Platov to retreat, or the evening before when I had a nap and bade Bennigsen give instructions? —
是在昨天，当我派人告诉普拉托夫撤退时，还是在前一天晚上，当我小睡片刻并命令本尼亚斯办事时？ —

Or earlier still? … When, when was it this fearful thing happened? —
或者更早？……是什么时候发生了这可怕的事情？ —

Moscow must be abandoned. The army must retire, and I must give the order for it.”
莫斯科必须被放弃。军队必须撤退，我必须下令。”

To give that terrible order seemed to him equivalent to resigning the command of the army. —
发出那可怕的命令对他来说相当于辞去指挥军队的职务。 —

And apart from the fact that he loved power, and was used to it (the honours paid to Prince Prozorovsky, under whom he had been serving in Turkey, galled him), he was convinced that he was destined to deliver Russia, and had only for that cause been chosen commander-in-chief contrary to the Tsar’s wishes by the will of the people. —
除了他喜爱权力，并习惯了权力（普罗佐罗夫斯基亲王受人尊敬，他在土耳其服役期间都感到烦心），他深信自己命中注定要拯救俄国，而且正是出于这个目的，他在民众的意愿下，违背了沙皇的意愿而被选为总司令。 —

He was persuaded that in these difficult circumstances he was the one man who could maintain his position at the head of the army, that he was the only man in the world capable of meeting Napoleon as an antagonist without panic. —
他相信在这些困难的环境中，只有他一个人能够坚守军队的领导地位，相信只有他一个人能够毫不恐慌地与拿破仑对抗。 —

And he was in terror at the idea of having to resign the command. —
想到必须辞去指挥的念头他感到恐惧。 —

But he must decide on some step, he must cut short this chatter round him, which was beginning to assume too free a character.
但是他必须决定接下来的行动，必须打断周围的闲聊，它们开始变得太过自由了。

He beckoned the senior generals to him.
他向高级将领们招手。

“Ma tête, f?t-elle bonne ou mauvaise, n’a qu’à s’aider d’elle-même,” he said, getting up from his bench, and he rode off to Fili, where his carriages were waiting.
“他站起身来，从长椅上走了起来，骑车去了菲利，那里有他的马车等着。”