A PINK STOCKING 才女

原作契訶夫 Translated by Constance Garnett 1886

A DULL, rainy day. The sky is completely covered with heavy clouds, and there is no prospect of the rain ceasing. Outside sleet, puddles, and drenched jackdaws. Indoors it is half dark, and so cold that one wants the stove heated.

在一個沉悶的雨天，外面濃云密布，陰雨連綿，下起來沒完沒了。雨夾雜著雪花在空中飛舞，打濕了寒鴉的羽毛，填滿了地上的水洼。屋子里半明半昏，冷得想讓人把爐子點上。

Pavel Petrovitch Somov is pacing up and down his study, grumbling at the weather. The tears of rain on the windows and the darkness of the room make him depressed. He is insufferably bored and has nothing to do.... The newspapers have not been brought yet; shooting is out of the question, and it is not nearly dinner-time....

周文茂在書房里來回走著，為天氣發(fā)著牢騷。家里昏昏暗暗的，雨滴時不時從窗前滑落，此情此景使得他意志消沉。他無事可做，沒勁透了……今兒的報紙還沒送來，出去打獵也不是時候，這會兒又不到飯點……

Somov is not alone in his study. Madame Somov, a pretty little lady in a light blouse and pink stockings, is sitting at his writing table. She is eagerly scribbling a letter. Every time he passes her as he strides up and down, Ivan Petrovitch looks over her shoulder at what she is writing. He sees big sprawling letters, thin and narrow, with all sorts of tails and flourishes. There are numbers of blots, smears, and finger-marks. Madame Somov does not like ruled paper, and every line runs downhill with horrid wriggles as it reaches the margin....

周太太也在書房。周太太生得嬌小玲瓏，上著一件淺色襯衫，腿上套著粉色長襪，正坐在書桌旁興致勃勃地寫信。周先生時不時走到她身后，瞅一眼她在寫什么。紙上寫滿了大大小小、歪歪扭扭、潦潦草草的字，還沾上了五花八門的墨漬、油污和手指印。周太太向來不用格子紙，結果每行字都歪扭七八地寫成了斜坡，都快寫到桌子上了……

“Lidotchka, who is it you are writing such a lot to?” Somov inquires, seeing that his wife is just beginning to scribble the sixth page.

“小麗，這是給誰寫信哪？”周先生問道，周太太正寫到第六頁。

“To sister Varya.”

“給我妹妹寫的?！?/p>

“Hm... it’s a long letter! I’m so bored — let me read it!”

“嚯，這么一大篇！我看看行嗎？反正閑著也是閑著?！?/p>

“Here, you may read it, but there’s nothing interesting in it.”

“喏，看吧，就是嘮嘮家常?！?/p>

Somov takes the written pages and, still pacing up and down, begins reading. Lidotchka leans her elbows on the back of her chair and watches the expression of his face.... After the first page his face lengthens and an expression of something almost like panic comes into it.... At the third page Somov frowns and scratches the back of his head. At the fourth he pauses, looks with a scared face at his wife, and seems to ponder. After thinking a little, he takes up the letter again with a sigh.... His face betrays perplexity and even alarm. . . .

周先生接過信，一邊讀著一邊來回溜達。周太太把胳膊搭在椅背上，觀察著丈夫的臉色……讀完第一頁，周先生拉長了臉，神情好像有點慌張……讀完第三頁，周先生皺起了眉，撓著后腦勺。讀完第四頁他停下了，惶恐地看了周太太一眼，顯然心里有事。不一會兒他嘆了口氣，又接著往下讀……他神色困惑，甚至有幾分驚恐……

“Well, this is beyond anything!” he mutters, as he finishes reading the letter and flings the sheets on the table, “It’s positively incredible!”

“不像話！”他讀完了信，嘟囔著把信紙摔在書桌上，“太不像話了！”

“What’s the matter?” asks Lidotchka, flustered.

“怎么了？”周太太連忙問道。

“What’s the matter! You’ve covered six pages, wasted a good two hours scribbling, and there’s nothing in it at all! If there were one tiny idea! One reads on and on, and one’s brain is as muddled as though one were deciphering the Chinese wriggles on tea chests! Ough!”

“怎么了？怎么了？我的天，你花了兩個鐘頭寫了六頁廢話??！你這信有什么內容？有什么意義？我看了半天把我腦子都看糊涂了！你寫的是人話嗎？啊？”

“Yes, that’s true, Vanya, . . .” says Lidotchka, reddening. “I wrote it carelessly. . . .”

“別這么大氣啊，文茂……”周太太臉紅了，慚愧道，“我就是隨便寫寫……”

“Queer sort of carelessness! In a careless letter there is some meaning and style — there is sense in it —while yours... excuse me, but I don’t know what to call it! It’s absolute twaddle! There are words and sentences, but not the slightest sense in them. Your whole letter is exactly like the conversation of two boys: ‘We had pancakes to-day! And we had a soldier come to see us!’ You say the same thing over and over again! You drag it out, repeat yourself.... The wretched ideas dance about like devils: there’s no making out where anything begins, where anything ends.... How can you write like that?”

“隨便寫寫？你這不叫隨便寫寫，你這叫浪費紙！人家寫得再隨便也能看出點意思，可你寫得…唉，怎么說你！你這叫胡寫！亂寫！你這字是字，話是話，連在一塊什么內容都沒有。識字班的小學生也比你強！你這叫車轱轆話來回轉，翻來覆去說的都是同一件事！你也不嫌累，說來說去說來說去……寫得還沒頭沒尾的，誰知道哪兒是開始，哪兒是結束……你說你怎么寫的？”

“If I had been writing carefully,” Lidotchka says in self defence, “then there would not have been mistakes. . . .”

“都說了我沒認真寫嘛，”周太太辯解道，“我仔細點肯定就沒那么多錯了……”

“Oh, I’m not talking about mistakes! The awful grammatical howlers! There’s not a line that’s not a personal insult to grammar! No stops nor commas — and the spelling... brrr! ‘Earth’ has an a in it!! And the writing! It’s desperate! I’m not joking, Lida.... I’m surprised and appalled at your letter.... You mustn’t be angry, darling, but, really, I had no idea you were such a duffer at grammar.... And yet you belong to a cultivated, well-educated circle: you are the wife of a University man, and the daughter of a general! Tell me, did you ever go to school?”

“你還好意思提錯！你哪一行沒個錯！不加標點，不會空行，滿篇錯別字……我的親娘嘞！‘好的’的‘的’是白勺的，不是白勻的！我算是開了眼了，哪兒有你這么寫的！我說小麗啊，你太過分了……你這封信差點沒把我氣死……說句難聽的，你要是認識字天下就沒有文盲了……你這還是受過教育、知書達禮的人?。∧慵蘖藗€大學教授，你爸又在部隊當干部，你怎么就這點出息？你到底上沒上過學？”

“What next! I finished at the Von Mebke’s boarding school. . . .”

“你留點口德吧！我在慧文畢的業(yè)……”

Somov shrugs his shoulders and continues to pace up and down, sighing. Lidotchka, conscious of her ignorance and ashamed of it, sighs too and casts down her eyes.... Ten minutes pass in silence.

周先生聳聳肩，又來回溜達上了，嘴里的嘆息一刻不停。周太太自知道學問太淺，丟丑了，也止不住地嘆氣，眼淚嘩嘩地掉……十分鐘過去，倆人一句話沒說。

“You know, Lidotchka, it really is awful!” says Somov, suddenly halting in front of her and looking into her face with horror. “You are a mother... do you understand? A mother! How can you teach your children if you know nothing yourself? You have a good brain, but what’s the use of it if you have never mastered the very rudiments of knowledge? There — never mind about knowledge... the children will get that at school, but, you know, you are very shaky on the moral side too! You sometimes use such language that it makes my ears tingle!”

“小麗，你怎么能這樣呢？”周先生突然在她面前站定，驚慌失措地望著她，“你都是當媽的人了…你知道嗎？??？你這樣怎么教孩子？你腦筋再好，連最起碼的知識都不懂還有什么用？得，不說知識了……知識有老師教，關鍵你思想品德上問題也不小?。∧憧纯茨阌玫亩际鞘裁丛~，正經人有說那些話的嗎？”

Somov shrugs his shoulders again, wraps himself in the folds of his dressing-gown and continues his pacing.... He feels vexed and injured, and at the same time sorry for Lidotchka, who does not protest, but merely blinks.... Both feel oppressed and miserable.... Absorbed in their woes, they do not notice how time is passing and the dinner hour is approaching.

周先生又一聲長嘆，把睡袍一裹繼續(xù)來回溜達……他很生氣，很受傷，又心疼連句話也不說、光會眨眼的周太太……夫妻倆都覺得委屈，難過……就這么難過著難過著，不知不覺到了飯點。

Sitting down to dinner, Somov, who is fond of good eating and of eating in peace, drinks a large glass of vodka and begins talking about something else. Lidotchka listens and assents, but suddenly over the soup her eyes fill with tears and she begins whimpering.

周先生是個好吃的主兒，坐到飯桌上，干掉一口杯白酒，他又聊起了別的話題。周太太一旁附和著，卻突然哭了出來，淚水滴進了湯里。

“It’s all mother’s fault!” she says, wiping away her tears with her dinner napkin. “Everyone advised her to send me to the high school, and from the high school I should have been sure to go on to the University!”

“都怨我媽！”她拿餐巾揩著眼淚，說道，“人家都勸她送我上高中，讀完高中再念大學的！”

“University... high school,” mutters Somov. “That’s running to extremes, my girl! What’s the good of being a blue stocking! A blue stocking is the very deuce! Neither man nor woman, but just something midway: neither one thing nor another. . . I hate blue stockings! I would never have married a learned woman. . . .”

“大學……高中?！敝芟壬止镜?，“我說你是要上天?。∧阋蚕氘斒裁床排怀?？才女沒一個好東西！既不是男人，也不算女人，什么也不是……我最討厭的就是才女！我就是死也不娶有文化的媳婦……”

“There’s no making you out . . .,” says Lidotchka. “You are angry because I am not learned, and at the same time you hate learned women; you are annoyed because I have no ideas in my letter, and yet you yourself are opposed to my studying. . . .”

“你這個人怎么這樣……”周太太說道，“我沒文化你生氣，有文化你也生氣。我不會寫信你生氣，我想多學點你又不許……”

“You do catch me up at a word, my dear,” yawns Somov, pouring out a second glass of vodka in his boredom.

“有意思嗎，老計較這些?！敝芟壬蛄藗€呵欠，悶悶無事又倒了一杯酒。

Under the influence of vodka and a good dinner, Somov grows more good-humoured, lively, and soft.... He watches his pretty wife making the salad with an anxious face and a rush of affection for her, of indulgence and forgiveness comes over him.

吃著熱飯，喝著小酒，周先生的好脾氣上來了……看著自己美貌的妻子在廚房忙活，一股憐愛之情油然而生。

“It was stupid of me to depress her, poor girl... ,” he thought. “Why did I say such a lot of dreadful things? She is silly, that’s true, uncivilised and narrow; but... there are two sides to the question, and audiatur et altera pars.... Perhaps people are perfectly right when they say that woman’s shallowness rests on her very vocation. Granted that it is her vocation to love her husband, to bear children, and to mix salad, what the devil does she want with learning? No, indeed!”

“我不該那么說她，看把她難過的……”他想道，“我說的都是什么話?。克潜?，是傻，但什么事總得翻過來看吧……老話說的也有道理，女人笨是天生的。不然怎么能心甘情愿忙里忙外，相夫教子呢？學習？學習有什么用？女人就不該學習！”

At that point he remembers that learned women are usually tedious, that they are exacting, strict, and unyielding; and, on the other hand, how easy it is to get on with silly Lidotchka, who never pokes her nose into anything, does not understand so much, and never obtrudes her criticism. There is peace and comfort with Lidotchka, and no risk of being interfered with.

周先生想道，那些有文化的才女無不是沒事找事的杠頭，哪有小麗這么好說話。她從來不多管閑事，從來不胡思亂想，從來不說這道那。和小麗過日子很和睦，沒有鬧別扭的風險。

“Confound them, those clever and learned women! It’s better and easier to live with simple ones,” he thinks, as he takes a plate of chicken from Lidotchka.

“去她的才女吧！還是我家的傻丫頭好?！彼聊ブ?，隨手從小麗手中接過一盤燒雞。

He recollects that a civilised man sometimes feels a desire to talk and share his thoughts with a clever and well-educated woman. “What of it?” thinks Somov. “If I want to talk of intellectual subjects, I’ll go to Natalya Andreyevna... or to Marya Frantsovna.... It’s very simple! But no, I shan’t go. One can discuss intellectual subjects with men,” he finally decides.

他又想道，男人有時候也想和博學多才的女人交流一下想法?！昂伪啬?？”他心想，“想聊點深刻的找?guī)讉€女教授不就得了，多大點事。嗨，算了吧。這種事和男的聊聊就好了?！彼麤Q定道。