"Come, it's all over, and thank God!" was the first thought that came to Anna Arkadyevna, when she had said good-bye for the last time to her brother, who had stood blocking up the entrance to the carriage till the third bell rang. She sat down on her lounge beside Annushka, and looked about her in the twilight1 of the sleeping-carriage. "Thank God! tomorrow I shall see Seryozha and Alexey Alexandrovitch, and my life will go on in the old way, all nice and as usual."
Still in the same anxious frame of mind, as she had been all that day, Anna took pleasure in arranging herself for the journey with great care. With her little deft2 hands she opened and shut her little red bag, took out a cushion, laid it on her knees, and carefully wrapping up her feet, settled herself comfortably. An invalid3 lady had already lain down to sleep. Two other ladies began talking to Anna, and a stout4 elderly lady tucked up her feet, and made observations about the heating of the train. Anna answered a few words, but not foreseeing any entertainment from the conversation, she asked Annushka to get a lamp, hooked it onto the arm of her seat, and took from her bag a paper knife and an English novel. At first her reading made no progress. The fuss and bustle5 were disturbing; then when the train had started, she could not help listening to the noises; then the snow beating on the left window and sticking to the pane6, and the sight of the muffled7 guard passing by, covered with snow on one side, and the conversations about the terrible snowstorm raging outside, distracted her attention. Farther on, it was continually the same again and again: the same shaking and rattling8, the same snow on the window, the same rapid transitions from steaming heat to cold, and back again to heat, the same passing glimpses of the same figures in the twilight, and the same voices, and Anna began to read and to understand what she read. Annushka was already dozing9, the red bag on her lap, clutched by her broad hands, in gloves, of which one was torn. Anna Arkadyevna read and understood, but it was distasteful to her to read, that is, to follow the reflection of other people's lives. She had too great a desire to live herself. If she read that the heroine of the novel was nursing a sick man, she longed to move with noiseless steps about the room of a sick man; if she read of a member of Parliament making a speech, she longed to be delivering the speech; if she read of how Lady Mary had ridden after the hounds, and had provoked her sister-in-law, and had surprised everyone by her boldness, she too wished to be doing the same. But there was no chance of doing anything; and twisting the smooth paper knife in her little hands, she forced herself to read.
The hero of the novel was already almost reaching his English happiness, a baronetcy and an estate, and Anna was feeling a desire to go with him to the estate, when she suddenly felt that HE ought to feel ashamed, and that she was ashamed of the same thing. But what had he to be ashamed of? "What have I to be ashamed of?" she asked herself in injured surprise. She laid down the book and sank against the back of the chair, tightly gripping the paper cutter in both hands. There was nothing. She went over all her Moscow recollections. All were good, pleasant. She remembered the ball, remembered Vronsky and his face of slavish adoration10, remembered all her conduct with him: there was nothing shameful11. And for all that, at the same point in her memories, the feeling of shame was intensified12, as though some inner voice, just at the point when she thought of Vronsky, were saying to her, "Warm, very warm, hot." "Well, what is it?" she said to herself resolutely13, shifting her seat in the lounge. "What does it mean? Am I afraid to look it straight in the face? Why, what is it? Can it be that between me and this officer boy there exist, or can exist, any other relations than such as are common with every acquaintance?" She laughed contemptuously and took up her book again; but now she was definitely unable to follow what she read. She passed the paper knife over the window pane, then laid its smooth, cool surface to her cheek, and almost laughed aloud at the feeling of delight that all at once without cause came over her. She felt as though her nerves were strings14 being strained tighter and tighter on some sort of screwing peg15. She felt her eyes opening wider and wider, her fingers and toes twitching16 nervously17, something within oppressing her breathing, while all shapes and sounds seemed in the uncertain half-light to strike her with unaccustomed vividness. Moments of doubt were continually coming upon her, when she was uncertain whether the train were going forwards or backwards18, or were standing19 still altogether; whether it were Annushka at her side or a stranger. "What's that on the arm of the chair, a fur cloak or some beast? And what am I myself? Myself or some other woman?" she was afraid of giving way to this delirium20. But something drew her towards it, and she could yield to it or resist it at will. She got up to rouse herself, and slipped off her plaid and the cape21 of her warm dress. For a moment she regained22 her self-possession, and realized that the thin peasant who had come in wearing a long overcoat, with buttons missing from it, was the stoveheater, that he was looking at the thermometer, that it was the wind and snow bursting in after him at the door; but then everything grew blurred23 again.... That peasant with the long waist seemed to be gnawing24 something on the wall, the old lady began stretching her legs the whole length of the carriage, and filling it with a black cloud; then there was a fearful shrieking25 and banging, as though someone were being torn to pieces; then there was a blinding dazzle of red fire before her eyes and a wall seemed to rise up and hide everything. Anna felt as though she were sinking down. But it was not terrible, but delightful26. The voice of a man muffled up and covered with snow shouted something in her ear. She got up and pulled herself together; she realized that they had reached a station and that this was the guard. She asked Annushka to hand her the cape she had taken off and her shawl, put them on and moved towards the door.
"Do you wish to get out?" asked Annushka.
"Yes, I want a little air. It's very hot in here." And she opened the door. The driving snow and the wind rushed to meet her and struggled with her over the door. But she enjoyed the struggle.
She opened the door and went out. The wind seemed as though lying in wait for her; with gleeful whistle it tried to snatch her up and bear her off, but she clung to the cold door post, and holding her skirt got down onto the platform and under the shelter of the carriages. The wind had been powerful on the steps, but on the platform, under the lee of the carriages, there was a lull27. With enjoyment28 she drew deep breaths of the frozen, snowy air, and standing near the carriage looked about the platform and the lighted station.
1 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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2 deft | |
adj.灵巧的,熟练的(a deft hand 能手) | |
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3 invalid | |
n.病人,伤残人;adj.有病的,伤残的;无效的 | |
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5 bustle | |
v.喧扰地忙乱,匆忙,奔忙;n.忙碌;喧闹 | |
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6 pane | |
n.窗格玻璃,长方块 | |
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7 muffled | |
adj.(声音)被隔的;听不太清的;(衣服)裹严的;蒙住的v.压抑,捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 );用厚厚的衣帽包着(自己) | |
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8 rattling | |
adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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9 dozing | |
v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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10 adoration | |
n.爱慕,崇拜 | |
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11 shameful | |
adj.可耻的,不道德的 | |
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12 intensified | |
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13 resolutely | |
adj.坚决地,果断地 | |
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14 strings | |
n.弦 | |
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15 peg | |
n.木栓,木钉;vt.用木钉钉,用短桩固定 | |
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16 twitching | |
n.颤搐 | |
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17 nervously | |
adv.神情激动地,不安地 | |
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18 backwards | |
adv.往回地,向原处,倒,相反,前后倒置地 | |
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19 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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20 delirium | |
n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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21 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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22 regained | |
复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 ); 赢回; 重回; 复至某地 | |
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23 blurred | |
v.(使)变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 );(使)难以区分;模模糊糊;迷离 | |
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24 gnawing | |
a.痛苦的,折磨人的 | |
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25 shrieking | |
v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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26 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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27 lull | |
v.使安静,使入睡,缓和,哄骗;n.暂停,间歇 | |
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28 enjoyment | |
n.乐趣;享有;享用 | |
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