-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Chapter 2
“He’s coming!” shouted the signaler at that moment.
The regimental commander, flushing, ran to his horse, seized the stirrup with trembling hands, threw his body across the saddle, righted himself, drew his saber, and with a happy and resolute2 countenance3, opening his mouth awry4, prepared to shout. The regiment1 fluttered like a bird preening5 its plumage and became motionless.
“Att-ention!” shouted the regimental commander in a soul-shaking voice which expressed joy for himself, severity for the regiment, and welcome for the approaching chief.
Along the broad country road, edged on both sides by trees, came a high, light blue Viennese caleche, slightly creaking on its springs and drawn6 by six horses at a smart trot7. Behind the caleche galloped8 the suite9 and a convoy10 of Croats. Beside Kutuzov sat an Austrian general, in a white uniform that looked strange among the Russian black ones. The caleche stopped in front of the regiment. Kutuzov and the Austrian general were talking in low voices and Kutuzov smiled slightly as treading heavily he stepped down from the carriage just as if those two thousand men breathlessly gazing at him and the regimental commander did not exist.
The word of command rang out, and again the regiment quivered, as with a jingling11 sound it presented arms. Then amidst a dead silence the feeble voice of the commander in chief was heard. The regiment roared, “Health to your ex . . . len . . . len . . . lency!” and again all became silent. At first Kutuzov stood still while the regiment moved; then he and the general in white, accompanied by the suite, walked between the ranks.
From the way the regimental commander saluted12 the commander in chief and devoured13 him with his eyes, drawing himself up obsequiously14, and from the way he walked through the ranks behind the generals, bending forward and hardly able to restrain his jerky movements, and from the way he darted15 forward at every word or gesture of the commander in chief, it was evident that he performed his duty as a subordinate with even greater zeal16 than his duty as a commander. Thanks to the strictness and assiduity of its commander the regiment, in comparison with others that had reached Braunau at the same time, was in splendid condition. There were only 217 sick and stragglers. Everything was in good order except the boots.
Kutuzov walked through the ranks, sometimes stopping to say a few friendly words to officers he had known in the Turkish war, sometimes also to the soldiers. Looking at their boots he several times shook his head sadly, pointing them out to the Austrian general with an expression which seemed to say that he was not blaming anyone, but could not help noticing what a bad state of things it was. The regimental commander ran forward on each such occasion, fearing to miss a single word of the commander in chief’s regarding the regiment. Behind Kutuzov, at a distance that allowed every softly spoken word to be heard, followed some twenty men of his suite. These gentlemen talked among themselves and sometimes laughed. Nearest of all to the commander in chief walked a handsome adjutant. This was Prince Bolkonsky. Beside him was his comrade Nesvitski, a tall staff officer, extremely stout18, with a kindly19, smiling, handsome face and moist eyes. Nesvitski could hardly keep from laughter provoked by a swarthy hussar officer who walked beside him. This hussar, with a grave face and without a smile or a change in the expression of his fixed20 eyes, watched the regimental commander’s back and mimicked21 his every movement. Each time the commander started and bent22 forward, the hussar started and bent forward in exactly the same manner. Nesvitski laughed and nudged the others to make them look at the wag.
Kutuzov walked slowly and languidly past thousands of eyes which were starting from their sockets23 to watch their chief. On reaching the third company he suddenly stopped. His suite, not having expected this, involuntarily came closer to him.
“Ah, Timokhin!” said he, recognizing the red-nosed captain who had been reprimanded on account of the blue greatcoat.
One would have thought it impossible for a man to stretch himself more than Timokhin had done when he was reprimanded by the regimental commander, but now that the commander in chief addressed him he drew himself up to such an extent that it seemed he could not have sustained it had the commander in chief continued to look at him, and so Kutuzov, who evidently understood his case and wished him nothing but good, quickly turned away, a scarcely perceptible smile flitting over his scarred and puffy face.
“Another Ismail comrade,” said he. “A brave officer! Are you satisfied with him?” he asked the regimental commander.
And the latter — unconscious that he was being reflected in the hussar officer as in a looking glass — started, moved forward, and answered: “Highly satisfied, your excellency!”
“We all have our weaknesses,” said Kutuzov smiling and walking away from him. “He used to have a predilection24 for Bacchus.”
The regimental commander was afraid he might be blamed for this and did not answer. The hussar at that moment noticed the face of the red-nosed captain and his drawn-in stomach, and mimicked his expression and pose with such exactitude that Nesvitski could not help laughing. Kutuzov turned round. The officer evidently had complete control of his face, and while Kutuzov was turning managed to make a grimace25 and then assume a most serious, deferential26, and innocent expression.
The third company was the last, and Kutuzov pondered, apparently27 trying to recollect28 something. Prince Andrey stepped forward from among the suite and said in French:
“You told me to remind you of the officer Dolokhov, reduced to the ranks in this regiment.”
“Where is Dolokhov?” asked Kutuzov.
Dolokhov, who had already changed into a soldier’s gray greatcoat, did not wait to be called. The shapely figure of the fair-haired soldier, with his clear blue eyes, stepped forward from the ranks, went up to the commander in chief, and presented arms.
“Have you a complaint to make?” Kutuzov asked with a slight frown.
“This is Dolokhov,” said Prince Andrey.
“Ah!” said Kutuzov. “I hope this will be a lesson to you. Do your duty. The Emperor is gracious, and I shan’t forget you if you deserve well.”
The clear blue eyes looked at the commander in chief just as boldly as they had looked at the regimental commander, seeming by their expression to tear open the veil of convention that separates a commander in chief so widely from a private.
“One thing I ask of your excellency,” Dolokhov said in his firm, ringing, deliberate voice. “I ask an opportunity to atone29 for my fault and prove my devotion to His Majesty30 the Emperor and to Russia!”
Kutuzov turned away. The same smile of the eyes with which he had turned from Captain Timokhin again flitted over his face. He turned away with a grimace as if to say that everything Dolokhov had said to him and everything he could say had long been known to him, that he was weary of it and it was not at all what he wanted. He turned away and went to the carriage.
The regiment broke up into companies, which went to their appointed quarters near Braunau, where they hoped to receive boots and clothes and to rest after their hard marches.
“You won’t bear me a grudge31, Prokhor Ignatych?” said the regimental commander, overtaking the third company on its way to its quarters and riding up to Captain Timokhin who was walking in front. (The regimental commander’s face now that the inspection32 was happily over beamed with irrepressible delight.) “It’s in the Emperor’s service . . . it can’t be helped . . . one is sometimes a bit hasty on parade . . . I am the first to apologize, you know me! . . . He was very pleased!” And he held out his hand to the captain.
“Don’t mention it, General, as if I’d be so bold!” replied the captain, his nose growing redder as he gave a smile which showed where two front teeth were missing that had been knocked out by the butt33 end of a gun at Ismail.
“And tell Mr. Dolokhov that I won’t forget him — he may be quite easy. And tell me, please — I’ve been meaning to ask — how is to ask — how is he behaving himself, and in general . . . ”
“As far as the service goes he is quite punctilious34, your excellency; but his character . . . ” said Timokhin.
“And what about his character?” asked the regimental commander.
“It’s different on different days,” answered the captain. “One day he is sensible, well educated, and good-natured, and the next he’s a wild beast. . . . In Poland, if you please, he nearly killed a Jew.”
“Oh, well, well!” remarked the regimental commander. “Still, one must have pity on a young man in misfortune. You know he has important connections . . . Well, then, you just . . . ”
“I will, your excellency,” said Timokhin, showing by his smile that he understood his commander’s wish.
“Well, of course, of course!”
“After the next affair . . . epaulettes.”
Dolokhov looked round but did not say anything, nor did the mocking smile on his lips change.
“Well, that’s all right,” continued the regimental commander. “A cup of vodka for the men from me,” he added so that the soldiers could hear. “I thank you all! God be praised!” and he rode past that company and overtook the next one.
“Well, he’s really a good fellow, one can serve under him,” said Timokhin to the subaltern beside him.
“In a word, a hearty36 one . . . ” said the subaltern, laughing (the regimental commander was nicknamed King of Hearts).
The cheerful mood of their officers after the inspection infected the soldiers. The company marched on gaily37. The soldiers’ voices could be heard on every side.
“And they said Kutuzov was blind of one eye?”
“And so he is! Quite blind!”
“No, friend, he is sharper-eyed than you are. Boots and leg bands . . . he noticed everything . . . ”
“When he looked at my feet, friend . . . well, thinks I . . . ”
“And that other one with him, the Austrian, looked as if he were smeared38 with chalk — as white as flour! I suppose they polish him up as they do the guns.”
“I say, Fedeshon! . . . Did he say when the battles are to begin? You were near him. Everybody said that Buonaparte himself was at Braunau.”
“Buonaparte himself! . . . Just listen to the fool, what he doesn’t know! The Prussians are up in arms now. The Austrians, you see, are putting them down. When they’ve been put down, the war with Buonaparte will begin. And he says Buonaparte is in Braunau! Shows you’re a fool. You’d better listen more carefully!”
“What devils these quartermasters are! See, the fifth company is turning into the village already . . . they will have their buckwheat cooked before we reach our quarters.”
“Give me a biscuit, you devil!”
“And did you give me tobacco yesterday? That’s just it, friend! Ah, well, never mind, here you are.”
“They might call a halt here or we’ll have to do another four miles without eating.”
“Wasn’t it fine when those Germans gave us lifts! You just sit still and are drawn along.”
“And here, friend, the people are quite beggarly. There they all seemed to be Poles — all under the Russian crown — but here they’re all regular Germans.”
“Singers to the front “ came the captain’s order.
And from the different ranks some twenty men ran to the front. A drummer, their leader, turned round facing the singers, and flourishing his arm, began a long-drawn-out soldiers’ song, commencing with the words: “Morning dawned, the sun was rising,” and concluding: “On then, brothers, on to glory, led by Father Kamenski.” This song had been composed in the Turkish campaign and now being sung in Austria, the only change being that the words “Father Kamenski” were replaced by “Father Kutuzov.”
Having jerked out these last words as soldiers do and waved his arms as if flinging something to the ground, the drummer — a lean, handsome soldier of forty — looked sternly at the singers and screwed up his eyes. Then having satisfied himself that all eyes were fixed on him, he raised both arms as if carefully lifting some invisible but precious object above his head and, holding it there for some seconds, suddenly flung it down and began:
“Oh, my bower new . . .!” chimed in twenty voices, and the castanet player, in spite of the burden of his equipment, rushed out to the front and, walking backwards40 before the company, jerked his shoulders and flourished his castanets as if threatening someone. The soldiers, swinging their arms and keeping time spontaneously, marched with long steps. Behind the company the sound of wheels, the creaking of springs, and the tramp of horses’ hoofs41 were heard. Kutuzov and his suite were returning to the town. The commander in chief made a sign that the men should continue to march at ease, and he and all his suite showed pleasure at the sound of the singing and the sight of the dancing soldier and the gay and smartly marching men. In the second file from the right flank, beside which the carriage passed the company, a blue-eyed soldier involuntarily attracted notice. It was Dolokhov marching with particular grace and boldness in time to the song and looking at those driving past as if he pitied all who were not at that moment marching with the company. The hussar cornet of Kutuzov’s suite who had mimicked the regimental commander, fell back from the carriage and rode up to Dolokhov.
Hussar cornet Zherkov had at one time, in Petersburg, belonged to the wild set led by Dolokhov. Zherkov had met Dolokhov abroad as a private and had not seen fit to recognize him. But now that Kutuzov had spoken to the gentleman ranker, he addressed him with the cordiality of an old friend.
“My dear fellow, how are you?” said he through the singing, making his horse keep pace with the company.
“How am I?” Dolokhov answered coldly. “I am as you see.”
The lively song gave a special flavor to the tone of free and easy gaiety with which Zherkov spoke17, and to the intentional42 coldness of Dolokhov’s reply.
“And how do you get on with the officers?” inquired Zherkov.
“I was attached; I’m on duty.”
Both were silent.
“She let the hawk44 fly upward from her wide right sleeve,” went the song, arousing an involuntary sensation of courage and cheerfulness. Their conversation would probably have been different but for the effect of that song.
“Is it true that Austrians have been beaten?” asked Dolokhov.
“The devil only knows! They say so.”
“I say, come round some evening and we’ll have a game of faro!” said Zherkov.
“Why, have you too much money?”
“Do come.”
“I can’t. I’ve sworn not to. I won’t drink and won’t play till I get reinstated.”
“Well, that’s only till the first engagement.”
“We shall see.”
They were again silent.
“Come if you need anything. One can at least be of use on the staff . . . ”
Dolokhov smiled. “Don’t trouble. If I want anything, I won’t beg — I’ll take it!”
“Well, never mind; I only . . . ”
“And I only . . . ”
“Good-by.”
“Good health . . . ”
“It’s a long, long way.
To my native land . . . ”
点击收听单词发音
1 regiment | |
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 resolute | |
adj.坚决的,果敢的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 awry | |
adj.扭曲的,错的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 preening | |
v.(鸟)用嘴整理(羽毛)( preen的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 trot | |
n.疾走,慢跑;n.老太婆;现成译本;(复数)trots:腹泻(与the 连用);v.小跑,快步走,赶紧 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 galloped | |
(使马)飞奔,奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 ); 快速做[说]某事 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 suite | |
n.一套(家具);套房;随从人员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 convoy | |
vt.护送,护卫,护航;n.护送;护送队 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 jingling | |
叮当声 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 saluted | |
v.欢迎,致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 );赞扬,赞颂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 devoured | |
吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 obsequiously | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 darted | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 stout | |
adj.强壮的,粗大的,结实的,勇猛的,矮胖的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 mimicked | |
v.(尤指为了逗乐而)模仿( mimic的过去式和过去分词 );酷似 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 sockets | |
n.套接字,使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 );孔( socket的名词复数 );(电器上的)插口;托座;凹穴 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 predilection | |
n.偏好 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 grimace | |
v.做鬼脸,面部歪扭 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 deferential | |
adj. 敬意的,恭敬的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 recollect | |
v.回忆,想起,记起,忆起,记得 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 atone | |
v.赎罪,补偿 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 grudge | |
n.不满,怨恨,妒嫉;vt.勉强给,不情愿做 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 inspection | |
n.检查,审查,检阅 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 butt | |
n.笑柄;烟蒂;枪托;臀部;v.用头撞或顶 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 punctilious | |
adj.谨慎的,谨小慎微的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 reining | |
勒缰绳使(马)停步( rein的现在分词 ); 驾驭; 严格控制; 加强管理 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 hearty | |
adj.热情友好的;衷心的;尽情的,纵情的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 gaily | |
adv.欢乐地,高兴地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 smeared | |
弄脏; 玷污; 涂抹; 擦上 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 bower | |
n.凉亭,树荫下凉快之处;闺房;v.荫蔽 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 backwards | |
adv.往回地,向原处,倒,相反,前后倒置地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 hoofs | |
n.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 intentional | |
adj.故意的,有意(识)的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 wriggled | |
v.扭动,蠕动,蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 );(使身体某一部位)扭动;耍滑不做,逃避(应做的事等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 hawk | |
n.鹰,骗子;鹰派成员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 briefly | |
adv.简单地,简短地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 pranced | |
v.(马)腾跃( prance的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|