When he was dressed, Stepan Arkadyevitch sprinkled some scent1 on himself, pulled down his shirt-cuffs, distributed into his pockets his cigarettes, pocketbook, matches, and watch with its double chain and seals, and shaking out his handkerchief, feeling himself clean, fragrant2, healthy, and physically3 at ease, in spite of his unhappiness, he walked with a slight swing on each leg into the dining-room, where coffee was already waiting for him, and beside the coffee, letters and papers from the office.
He read the letters. One was very unpleasant, from a merchant who was buying a forest on his wife's property. To sell this forest was absolutely essential; but at present, until he was reconciled with his wife, the subject could not be discussed. The most unpleasant thing of all was that his pecuniary4 interests should in this way enter into the question of his reconciliation5 with his wife. And the idea that he might be let on by his interests, that he might seek a reconciliation with his wife on account of the sale of the forest--that idea hurt him.
When he had finished his letters, Stepan Arkadyevitch moved the office-papers close to him, rapidly looked through two pieces of business, made a few notes with a big pencil, and pushing away the papers, turned to his coffee. As he sipped6 his coffee, he opened a still damp morning paper, and began reading it.
Stepan Arkadyevitch took in and read a liberal paper, not an extreme one, but one advocating the views held by the majority. And in spite of the fact that science, art, and politics had no special interest for him, he firmly held those views on all these subjects which were held by the majority and by his paper, and he only changed them when the majority changed them--or, more strictly7 speaking, he did not change them, but they imperceptibly changed of themselves within him.
Stepan Arkadyevitch had not chosen his political opinions or his views; these political opinions and views had come to him of themselves, just as he did not choose the shapes of his hat and coat, but simply took those that were being worn. And for him, living in a certain society--owing to the need, ordinarily developed at years of discretion8, for some degree of mental activity--to have views was just as indispensable as to have a hat. If there was a reason for his preferring liberal to conservative views, which were held also by many of his circle, it arose not from his considering liberalism more rational, but from its being in closer accordance with his manner of life. The liberal party said that in Russia everything is wrong, and certainly Stepan Arkadyevitch had many debts and was decidedly short of money. The liberal party said that marriage is an institution quite out of date, and that it needs reconstruction9; and family life certainly afforded Stepan Arkadyevitch little gratification, and forced him into lying and hypocrisy10, which was so repulsive11 to his nature. The liberal party said, or rather allowed it to be understood, that religion is only a curb12 to keep in check the barbarous classes of the people; and Stepan Arkadyevitch could not get through even a short service without his legs aching from standing13 up, and could never make out what was the object of all the terrible and high-flown language about another world when life might be so very amusing in this world. And with all this, Stepan Arkadyevitch, who liked a joke, was fond of puzzling a plain man by saying that if he prided himself on his origin, he ought not to stop at Rurik and disown the first founder14 of his family--the monkey. And so Liberalism had become a habit of Stepan Arkadyevitch's, and he liked his newspaper, as he did his cigar after dinner, for the slight fog it diffused15 in his brain. He read the leading article, in which it was maintained that it was quite senseless in our day to raise an outcry that radicalism16 was threatening to swallow up all conservative elements, and that the government ought to take measures to crush the revolutionary hydra17; that, on the contrary, "in our opinion the danger lies not in that fantastic revolutionary hydra, but in the obstinacy18 of traditionalism clogging19 progress," etc., etc. He read another article, too, a financial one, which alluded20 to Bentham and Mill, and dropped some innuendoes22 reflecting on the ministry23. With his characteristic quickwittedness he caught the drift of each innuendo21, divined whence it came, at whom and on what ground it was aimed, and that afforded him, as it always did, a certain satisfaction. But today that satisfaction was embittered24 by Matrona Philimonovna's advice and the unsatisfactory state of the household. He read, too, that Count Beist was rumored25 to have left for Wiesbaden, and that one need have no more gray hair, and of the sale of a light carriage, and of a young person seeking a situation; but these items of information did not give him, as usual, a quiet, ironical26 gratification. Having finished the paper, a second cup of coffee and a roll and butter, he got up, shaking the crumbs27 of the roll off his waistcoat; and, squaring his broad chest, he smiled joyously28: not because there was anything particularly agreeable in his mind--the joyous29 smile was evoked30 by a good digestion31.
But this joyous smile at once recalled everything to him, and he grew thoughtful.
Two childish voices (Stepan Arkadyevitch recognized the voices of Grisha, his youngest boy, and Tanya, his eldest32 girl) were heard outside the door. They were carrying something, and dropped it.
"I told you not to sit passengers on the roof," said the little girl in English; "there, pick them up!"
"Everything's in confusion," thought Stepan Arkadyevitch; "there are the children running about by themselves." And going to the door, he called them. They threw down the box, that represented a train, and came in to their father.
The little girl, her father's favorite, ran up boldly, embraced him, and hung laughingly on his neck, enjoying as she always did the smell of scent that came from his whiskers. At last the little girl kissed his face, which was flushed from his stooping posture33 and beaming with tenderness, loosed her hands, and was about to run away again; but her father held her back.
"How is mamma?" he asked, passing his hand over his daughter's smooth, soft little neck. "Good morning," he said, smiling to the boy, who had come up to greet him. He was conscious that he loved the boy less, and always tried to be fair; but the boy felt it, and did not respond with a smile to his father's chilly34 smile.
"Mamma? She is up," answered the girl.
Stepan Arkadyevitch sighed. "That means that she's not slept again all night," he thought.
"Well, is she cheerful?"
The little girl knew that there was a quarrel between her father and mother, and that her mother could not be cheerful, and that her father must be aware of this, and that he was pretending when he asked about it so lightly. And she blushed for her father. He at once perceived it, and blushed too.
"I don't know," she said. "She did not say we must do our lessons, but she said we were to go for a walk with Miss Hoole to grandmamma's."
"Well, go, Tanya, my darling. Oh, wait a minute, though," he said, still holding her and stroking her soft little hand.
He took off the matelpiece, where he had put it yesterday, a little box of sweets, and gave her two, picking out her favorites, a chocolate and a fondant.
"For Grisha?" said the little girl, pointing to the chocolate.
"Yes, yes." And still stroking her little shoulder, he kissed her on the roots of here hair and neck, and let her go.
"The carriage is ready," said Matvey; "but there's some one to see you with a petition."
"Been here long?" asked Stepan Arkadyevitch.
"Half an hour."
"How many times have I told you to tell me at once?"
"One must let you drink your coffee in peace, at least," said Matvey, in the affectionately gruff tone with which it was impossible to be angry.
"Well, show the person up at once," said Oblonsky, frowning with vexation.
The petitioner35, the widow of a staff captain Kalinin, came with a request impossible and unreasonable36; but Stepan Arkadyevitch, as he generally did, made her sit down, heard her to the end attentively37 without interrupting her, and gave her detailed38 advice as to how and to whom to apply, and even wrote her, in his large, sprawling39, good and legible hand, a confident and fluent little note to a personage who might be of use to her. Having got rid of the staff captain's widow, Stepan Arkadyevitch took his hat and stopped to recollect40 whether he had forgotten anything. It appeared that he had forgotten nothing except what he wanted to forget--his wife.
"Ah, yes!" He bowed his head, and his handsome face assumed a harassed41 expression. "To go, or not to go!" he said to himself; and an inner voice told him he must not go, that nothing could come of it but falsity; that to amend42, to set right their relations was impossible, because it was impossible to make her attractive again and able to inspire love, or to make him an old man, not susceptible43 to love. Except deceit and lying nothing could come of it now; and deceit and lying were opposed to his nature.
"It must be some time, though: it can't go on like this," he said, trying to give himself courage. He squared his chest, took out a cigarette, took two whiffs at it, flung it into a mother-of-pearl ashtray44, and with rapid steps walked through the drawing room, and opened the other door into his wife's bedroom.
收听单词发音 |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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reconstruction
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| n.重建，再现，复原 | |
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hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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radicalism
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| n. 急进主义, 根本的改革主义 | |
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hydra
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| n.水螅；难于根除的祸患 | |
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obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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clogging
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| 堵塞，闭合 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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innuendo
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| n.暗指，讽刺 | |
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innuendoes
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| n.影射的话( innuendo的名词复数 )；讽刺的话；含沙射影；暗讽 | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rumored
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| adj.传说的，谣传的v.传闻( rumor的过去式和过去分词 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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ironical
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| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
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crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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joyously
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| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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evoked
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| [医]诱发的 | |
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digestion
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| n.消化，吸收 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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petitioner
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| n.请愿人 | |
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unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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42
amend
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| vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿 | |
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43
susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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44
ashtray
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| n.烟灰缸 | |
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