ELLEN had accompanied the court on its return from Vilna to Petersburg, and there found herself in a difficult position.
埃伦陪同法庭从维尔纳返回圣彼得堡，发现自己处于困境中。

In Petersburg Ellen had enjoyed the special patronage of a great personage, who occupied one of the highest positions in the government. —
在圣彼得堡，埃伦得到了一个高位政府官员的特殊庇护。 —

In Vilna she had formed a liaison with a young foreign prince.
她在维尔纳与一位年轻的外国王子建立了联系。

When she returned to Petersburg the prince and the great dignitary were both in that town; —
当她回到圣彼得堡时，王子和大官员都在那里；两者都宣称自己的权利，埃伦面临一个之前从未出现过的难题 - 在与两者保持最亲密关系的同时，不冒犯任何一方。 —

both claimed their rights, and Ellen was confronted with a problem that had not previously arisen in her career—the preservation of the closest relations with both, without giving offence to either.
这对任何其他女人来说可能是困难甚至不可能的任务，但是对于被当之无愧地认为是最聪明的女人的贝祖霍夫伯爵夫人来说根本不需要思考一刻钟。

What might have seemed to any other woman a difficult or impossible task never cost a moment’s thought to Countess Bezuhov, who plainly deserved the reputation she enjoyed of being a most intelligent woman. —
如果她试图隐瞒，如果她允许自己通过诡计摆脱局势，她将以承认自己是罪魁祸首的方式破坏自己的案子。 —

Had she attempted concealment; had she allowed herself to get out of her awkward position by subterfuges, she would have spoilt her own case by acknowledging herself the guilty party. —
但像一个真正伟大的人一样，总是可以做自己想做的事情，埃伦立刻承担起了她自己位置的正直，她确实相信这一点，并且对其他所有人的有罪责任负有责任。 —

But like a truly great man, who can always do everything he chooses, Ellen at once assumed the rectitude of her own position, of which she was indeed genuinely convinced, and the guilty responsibility of every one else concerned.
当年轻的外国王子第一次冒昧责备她时，她抬起美丽的头，对他以傲慢的口气坚定地说：

The first time the young foreign prince ventured to reproach her, she lifted her beautiful head, and, with a haughty tone towards him, said firmly:
“这是男人的自私和残忍。我早就预料到了。

“This is the egoism and the cruelty of men. I expected nothing else. —
女人为你牺牲自己；她忍受，而这就是她的回报。 —

Woman sacrifices herself for you; she suffers, and this is her reward. —
你高贵的殿下，你有什么权利责备我对我的友谊、情感？ —

What right have you, your highness, to call me to account for my friendships, my affections? —
他是一个对我而言超过父亲的人！” —

He is a man who has been more than a father to me!”
王子想说些什么。埃伦打断了他。

The prince would have said something. Ellen interrupted him.
“是的，也许他对我有除了父亲之外的感情，但这并不是我应该关上他的门的理由。

“Well, yes, perhaps he has sentiments for me other than those of a father, but that is not a reason I should shut my door on him. —
我们相互关心，我们互相扶持，我们的心灵相通，这是无论谁都无法破坏的牢不可破的纽带。” —

I am not a person to be ungrateful. Know, your highness, that in all that relates to my private sentiments I will account only to God and to my conscience! —
我不是一个不知恩图报的人。殿下，请知道，在我个人感受方面，我只向上帝和我的良心负责！ —

” she concluded, laying her hand on her beautiful, heaving bosom, and looking up to heaven.
“但请听我说，上帝的名义！”她结束时，把手放在她美丽的、起伏的胸膛上，仰望着天空。

“But listen to me, in God’s name!”…
“但请听我说，上帝的名义！”……

“Marry me, and I will be your slave!”
“嫁给我，我愿成为你的奴隶！”

“But it is impossible.”
“但这是不可能的。”

“You do not deign to stoop to me, you…” Ellen burst into tears.
“你不屑于屈尊接近我，你……”埃伦哭了起来。

The prince attempted to console her. Ellen, as though utterly distraught, declared through her tears that there was nothing to prevent her marrying; —
王子试图安慰她。埃伦却在眼泪中宣称，没有任何事情能阻止她结婚； —

that there were precedents (they were but few at that time, but Ellen quoted the case of Napoleon and some other persons of exalted rank); —
有先例（尽管那时很少，但埃伦引用了拿破仑和其他名人的例子）； —

that she had never been a real wife to her husband; —
她从未真正成为她丈夫的妻子； —

that she had been dragged an unwilling victim into the marriage.
她是被逼婚的无辜受害者。

“But the law, religion …” murmured the prince, on the point of yielding.
“但法律，宗教……”王子喃喃自语，快要屈服了。

“Religion, laws … what can they have been invented for, if they are unable to manage that?” said Ellen.
“宗教，法律……若是无法解决这个问题，那它们存在的意义是什么？”埃伦说。

The prince was astonished that so simple a reflection had never occurred to him, and applied to the council of the brotherhood of the Society of Jesus, with which he was in close relations.
王子对于如此简单的反思从未发生在他身上感到惊讶，于是他去寻求他与耶稣会密切联系的协会的兄弟会的意见。

A few days later, at one of the fascinating fêtes Ellen used to give at her summer villa at Kamenny Ostrov, a certain fascinating M. Jobert was presented to her; —
几天后，在埃伦在卡门尼奥斯特罗夏季别墅举办的一场迷人的盛会上，出现了一个迷人的莫斯约贝尔先生； —

a man no longer young, with snow-white hair and brilliant black eyes, un Fésuite à robe courte, who walked for a long while with Ellen among the illuminations in the garden to the strains of music, conversing with her of the love of God, of Christ, of the heart of the Holy Mother, and of the consolations afforded in this life and the next by the one true Catholic faith. —
他已不再年轻，头发雪白，黑眼睛明亮，是一位穿短袍的耶稣会士，他与埃伦一起漫步在花园的彩灯中，伴随音乐，与她交谈着上帝的爱、基督、圣母心脏，以及唯一真正的天主教信仰在此生和来世中提供的安慰。 —

Ellen was touched, and several times tears stood both in her eyes and in M. Jobert’s, and their voices trembled. —
爱伦被触动了，眼里和乔贝尔先生的眼里都多次涌起了泪水，他们的声音也颤抖着。 —

A dance, to which her partner fetched Ellen away, cut short her conversation with the future “director of her conscience,” but the next evening M. Jobert came alone to see Ellen, and from that day he was a frequent visitor.
在她与未来的“良心导演”交谈被一个男伴带走跳舞后，切断了她的谈话，但第二天晚上乔贝尔先生独自来看爱伦，从那天起他成了常客。

One day he took the countess into a Catholic church, where she fell on her knees before the altar, up to which she was conducted. —
一天他带伯爵夫人去了一个天主教堂，在前去领她的时候她跪在祭坛前。 —

The fascinating, middle-aged Frenchman laid his hands on her head, and as she herself afterwards described it, she felt something like a breath of fresh air, which seemed wafted into her soul. —
这个迷人的中年法国人把手放在她的头上，就像她后来描述的那样，她感到一丝像清新的空气，仿佛飘入了她的灵魂。 —

It was explained to her that this was the “grace of God.”
给她解释说这就是“上帝的恩典”。

Then an abbé à robe longue was brought to her; he confessed her, and absolved her from her sins. —
然后有一个身穿长袍的神父被带给她；他给她忏悔，并赦免了她的罪行。 —

Next day a box was brought containing the Sacred Host, and left for her to partake of at her house. —
第二天送来了一个盒子，里面是圣体，留下让她在家里领受。 —

Several days later Ellen learned to her satisfaction that she had now been admitted into the true Catholic Church, and that in a few days the Pope himself would hear of her case, and send her a document of some sort.
几天后，爱伦高兴地得知她现在被接纳到真正的天主教会中，并且在几天后，教皇本人将会得知她的情况，并给她寄来某种文件。

All that was done with her and around her at this period, the attention paid her by so many clever men, and expressed in such agreeable and subtle forms, and her dovelike purity during her conversion (she wore nothing but white dresses and white ribbons all the time)—all afforded her gratification. —
在这段时间里，她周围和对她的一切行为都是通过许多聪明人对她的关注所表达出来的，而且以如此愉快而又微妙的方式表达出来，她的皈依也表现得如此纯净（她一直穿的都是白色的衣服和白色的丝带）－所有这一切都使她感到满意。 —

But this gratification never led her for one instant to lose sight of her object. —
但这种满足感从未让她丝毫放松对自己目标的追求。 —

And, as always happens in contests of cunning, the stupid person gains more than the cleverer; —
并且，就像在计谋的争斗中永远发生的一样，愚蠢的人比聪明人获得更多。 —

Ellen, fully grasping that the motive of all these words and all this man? —
爱伦完全意识到所有这些言辞和活动的动机是为了她皈依天主教，以便从她那里获取一大笔款项以使耶稣会受益（确实有这种暗示），所以她拖延着支付这笔钱，同时坚决要求各种操作，以使她摆脱婚姻的束缚。 —

uvring was by her conversion to Catholicism to get a round sum from her for the benefit of the Jesuit order (this was hinted at, indeed), held back the money, while insisting steadily on the various operations that would set her free from her conjugal bonds. —
和她在这段时间里经历的和周围的一切，她受到了许多聪明人的关注，并以一种愉快和微妙的方式表达出来，她的柔顺大概也是如此（她一直穿着白色的衣服和白色的丝带）－这一切都让她感到满意。 —

To her notions, the real object of every religion was to provide recognised forms of propriety for the satisfaction of human desires. —
根据她的观点，每个宗教的真正目的是提供被认可的礼仪形式来满足人类的欲望。 —

And with this end in view, she insisted, in one of her conversations with her spiritual adviser, on demanding an answer to the question how far her marriage was binding.
为了达到这个目的，她坚持与她的精神指导者之一进行对话，要求回答她的婚姻有多大的约束力。

They were sitting in the drawing-room window. It was dusk. —
他们坐在客厅的窗口。天色渐暗。 —

There was a scent of flowers from the window. —
窗子里传来花的香气。 —

Ellen wore a white dress, transparent over the bosom and shoulders. —
埃伦穿着一件白色连衣裙，透明的罩在胸前和肩膀上。 —

The sleek, well-fed abbé, with his plump, clean-shaven chin, his amiable, strong mouth, and his white hands, clasped mildly on his knees, was sitting close by Ellen. With a subtle smile on his lips, and a look of discreet admiration in his eyes, he gazed from time to time at her face, as he expounded his views on the subject. —
那个光滑、饱食的神父，他的下巴干净、温和，白皙的手放在膝盖上，紧靠在埃伦身边。他面带微笑，眼里流露出不显眼的钦佩之情，时不时地凝视她的脸庞，同时又阐述他对这个问题的看法。 —

Ellen, with a restless smile, stared at his curly hair and his smooth-shaven, blackish cheeks, and seemed every minute to be expecting the conversation to take a new turn. —
埃伦带着无聊的微笑，盯着神父的卷发和他光滑的黑脸颊看，似乎每时每刻都期待着谈话能够转个弯。 —

But the abbé, though unmistakably aware of the beauty of his companion, was also interested in his own skilful handling of the question. —
但是神父虽然明显意识到自己的伴侣的美，但也对自己熟练地处理这个问题感兴趣。 —

The spiritual adviser adopted the following chain of reasoning:—
精神指导者采用了以下的推理链：—

“In ignorance,” said he, “of the significance of your promise, you took a vow of conjugal fidelity to a man who, on his side, was guilty of sacrilege in entering on the sacrament of matrimony with no faith in its religious significance. —
“在你对这个承诺的意义不明的情况下，你对一个在宗教意义上没有信仰而进行婚姻圣礼的男人发表了婚姻诺言。 —

That marriage had not the dual binding force it should have had. —
那个婚姻没有应有的双重约束力。 —

But in spite of that, your vow was binding upon you. You broke it. What did you commit? —
但是尽管如此，你的诺言对你是有约束力的。你背叛了它。你犯了什么罪？ —

Venial sin or mortal sin? A venial sin, because you committed it with no intention of acting wrongly. —
小罪还是大罪？小罪，因为你没有不当行事的意图。 —

If now, with the object of bearing children, you should enter into a new marriage, your sin might be forgiven. —
如果现在，为了生儿育女，你要进入一段新的婚姻，你的罪可能会被宽恕。 —

But the question again falls into two divisions. First …”
但问题又分为两个部分。首先…”

“But, I imagine,” Ellen, who was getting bored, said suddenly, with her fascinating smile, “that after being converted to the true religion, cannot be bound by any obligations laid upon me by a false religion.”
“但是，我想象中，”埃伦突然说道，带着她迷人的微笑，“一旦被转变为真正的宗教信仰，我就不能被任何由虚假宗教所施加的义务约束。”

Her spiritual adviser was astounded at the simplicity of this solution, as simple as the solution of Columbus’s egg. —
她的灵性顾问对这个解决办法的简洁性感到惊讶，就像哥伦布的蛋一样简单。 —

He was enchanted at the unexpected rapidity of his pupil’s progress, but could not abandon the edifice of subtle argument that had cost him mental effort.
他对他的学生进步的出乎意料的快感到陶醉，但不能放弃他费了精神努力构建的微妙论证的建筑。

“Let us understand each other,” he said, with a smile; —
“让我们相互理解，”他笑着说； —

and began to find arguments to refute his spiritual daughter’s contention.
并开始找理由反驳他的灵性女儿的观点。