O! how this spring of love resembleth The uncertain glory of an April day, Which now shows all the beauty of the sun, And by and by a cloud takes all away!
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
唉！青春的恋爱就像阴晴不定的四月天气，太阳的光彩刚刚照耀大地，片刻间就遮上了黑沉沉的乌云一片。
《维洛那二绅士》
One evening as the sun set, sitting by his mistress, at the end of the orchard, safe from disturbance, he was deep in thought. 'Will such delicious moments,' he was wondering, 'last for ever?' His thoughts were absorbed in the difficulty of adopting a profession, he was deploring this great and distressing problem which puts an end to boyhood and spoils the opening years of manhood when one has no money.
一天，日落时分，在果园深处，他坐在女友身旁，远离了那些讨厌的人，不禁浮想联翩。“这样甜蜜的时刻，”他想，“会永远继续下去吗？”他一心想着谋个前程的困难，慨叹这巨大的不幸，它结束了一个穷人的童年，又断送了他青年时代的最初几年。
'Ah!' he cried, 'Napoleon was indeed the man sent by God to help the youth of France! Who is to take his place? What will the poor wretches do without him, even those who are richer than I, who have just the few crowns needed to procure them a good education, and not enough money to purchase a man at twenty and launch themselves in a career!Whatever happens,' he added with deep sigh, 'that fatal memory will for ever prevent us from being happy!'
“啊！”他叫起来，“拿破仑的确是天主给法国青年派来的人，谁能代替他？没有他，那些不幸的人，即使比我富有，刚好有几个埃居受到良好教育，但是不能在二十岁上买一个人替他服兵役，不能从事一种事业，他们又能怎么样呢？无论怎么做，”他深深地叹了口气，“这摆脱不掉的回忆使我们永远不能幸福！”
He saw Madame de Renal frown suddenly; she assumed a cold, disdainful air; this line of thought seemed to her worthy of a servant.
他突然看见德·莱纳夫人皱起眉头，神情变得冰冷和轻蔑；在她看来，只有当仆人的才会这么想。
Brought up in the idea that she was extremely rich, it seemed to her a thing to be taken for granted that Julien was also. She loved him a thousand times more than life itself, and money to her meant nothing.
她从小到大一直知道自己很富有，她觉得于连也是如此，这是理所当然的。她爱他胜过爱生命一千倍，她根本没有想到过钱。
Julien was far from guessing what was in her mind. This frown brought him back to earth. He had presence of mind enough to arrange his sentence and to make it plain to the noble lady, seated so close beside him on the bank of verdure, that the words he had just uttered were some that he had heard during his expedition to his friend the timber merchant. This was the reasoning of the impious.
于连万万想不到她会有这些念头。她的皱眉头一下子把他拉回到地上。他的脑子够灵活的，话头一转，告诉这位挨着他坐在青草墩上的高贵夫人，他刚才说的话是他这次出门在那位木材商朋友家里听到的。这是那些亵渎宗教的人的说法。
'Very well! Don't mix any more with such people,' said Madame de Renal, still preserving a trace of that glacial air which had suddenly taken the place of an expression of the tenderest affection.
“那好！别再跟这些人搅在一起了，”德·莱纳夫人说，冷冰冰的神色刚才突然间取代了最亲切的温柔表情，现在还残留着几分。
This frown, or rather his remorse for his imprudence, was the first check administered to the illusion that was bearing Julien away. He said to himself: 'She is good and kind, her feeling for me is strong, but she has been brought up in the enemy's camp. They are bound to be specially afraid of that class of men of spirit who, after a good education, have not enough money to enter upon a career. What would become of these nobles, if it were granted us to fight them with equal weapons? Myself,for instance, as Mayor of Verrieres, well intentioned, honest as M. de Renal is at heart, how I should deal with the vicar, M. Valenod and all their rascalities! How justice should triumph in Verrieres. It is not their talents that would prove an obstacle. They are endlessly feeling their way.'
她的皱眉头，或更可以说，他对这种冒失的悔恨，是于连的幻想所遭受的第一次挫折。他心想：“她善良，温柔，对我有强烈的兴趣，但 她是在敌对阵营中被教养成人的。他们理应特别害怕这个由受过良好教育却没有足够的钱奔前程的勇敢者组成的阶级。这些贵族，如果让我们以同等的武器与之搏斗，他们会变成什么呢？比方说我，假使我做了维里埃的市长，我会怀着良好的愿望，像德·莱纳先生实际的那样正直，看我不把副本堂神甫、瓦勒诺先生和他们那些欺骗行为统统除掉！让正义在维里埃取得胜利！他们的才干并不是我的障碍。他们始终在瞎撞。”
Julien's happiness was, that day, on the point of becoming permanent.What our hero lacked was the courage to be sincere. He needed the courage to give battle, but on the spot; Madame de Renal had been surprised by his speech, because the men whom she was in the habit of meeting were always saying that the return of Robespierre was made possible especially by these young men of the lower orders, who had been too well educated. Madame de Renal's cold manner persisted for some time, and seemed to Julien to be marked. This was because the fear of having said to him indirectly something unpleasant followed her repugnance at his unfortunate speech. This distress was clearly shown on her pure countenance; so simple when she was happy and away from bores.
那一天，于连的幸福眼看着就可以久长了。我们的主人公缺的是敢于真诚。必须要有投入战斗的勇气，而且要说干就干。德·莱纳夫人所以对于连的话感到吃惊，是因为她那个圈子里的人总是说，罗伯斯庇尔卷土重来的可能性主要在于下等阶级的这些所受教育过于良好的年轻人，德·莱纳夫人的冷淡持续得相当久。而且于连觉得很明显。这是因为她先是对于连的错话表示厌恶，接着又害怕间接地对他说了一件令人不快的事情。这不幸强烈地反映在她的脸上，当她感到幸福和远离那些讨厌的人的时候，这张脸是多么地纯洁、多么地天真啊。
Julien no longer dared give himself up freely to his dreams. More calm and less amorous, he decided that it was imprudent in him to go to Madame de Renal in her room. It would be better if she came to him; if a servant saw her moving about the house, there would be a score of possible reasons to account for her action.
于连不再敢纵情遐想了。多了些冷静，少了些爱情，他发现去德·莱纳夫人房里看她是不谨慎的。她到他那里去要好些，如果哪个仆人看见她在房子里走动，能有二十种不同的借口加以解释。
But this arrangement also had its drawbacks. Julien had received from Fouque certain books for which he, as a student of divinity, could never have asked a bookseller. He ventured to open them only at night. Often he would have been just as well pleased not to be interrupted by an assignation, the tension of waiting for which, even before the little scene in the orchard, would have left him incapable of reading.
然而这种安排也有不便之处。于连从富凯那里收到一些书，作为一个学神学的学生，这些书他是永远也不能向书店订购的。他只敢晚上看。他常想安安静静地读书而不被一次来访打断，就说果园里的那一次吧，他因等得心焦而无心读书。
He was indebted to Madame de Renal for an entirely new understanding of the books he read. He had ventured to ply her with questions as to all sorts of little things ignorance of which seriously handicaps the intelligence of a young man born outside the ranks of society, whatever natural genius one may choose to attribute to him.
多亏德·莱纳夫人，他才能以一种全新的方式理解那些书，他曾经大着胆子向她问起许许多多小事情。一个出生在上流社会之外的青年，如果不知道这些小事情，理解便立刻停止不前，不管别人认为他多么有天分。
This education in love, given by an extremely ignorant woman, was a blessing. Julien was at once enabled to see society as it is today. His mind was not perplexed by accounts of what it was in the past, two thousand years ago, or sixty years ago merely, in the days of Voltaire and Louis XV. To his unspeakable joy a cloud passed from before his eyes; he understood at last the things that were happening at Verrieres.
接受一个极其无知的女人通过爱情给予的教育，是一种幸福，于连能够直接地看到今日之上流社会是一副什么样子。他的精神没有受到关于两千年前、或者仅仅六十年前伏尔泰和路易十五时代的上流社会的描述所蒙蔽。他有说不出的喜悦，一重面纱在他眼前落下，他终于明白了维里埃发生的种种事情。
In the foreground appeared the highly complicated intrigues woven,for the last two years, round the Prefect at Besancon. They were supported by letters that came from Paris, and bore all the most illustrious signatures. It was a question of making M. de Moirod, the most bigoted man in the place, the Principal instead of the Second Deputy to the May or of Verrieres.
出现在前景中的，是近两年在贝藏松的省长身边策划的一些很复杂的阴谋。支持这些阴谋的是一些来自巴黎、出于最著名的人士之手的信件。目的是让穆瓦罗先生，本地最笃信宗教的人，担任维里埃市长的第一助理而不是第二助理。
His rival was an extremely rich manufacturer, whom it was absolutely essential to confine to the post of Second Deputy.
他的竞争者是一位很有钱的制造商，必须把他压到第二助理的位置上去。
Julien at last understood the hints that he had overheard, when the cream of local society came to dine with M. de Renal. This privileged class was greatly taken up with this selection of a Principal Deputy, of which the rest of the town and especially the Liberals did not even suspect the possibility. What gave it its importance was that, as everybody knew, the eastern side of the main street of Verrieres must be moved back more than nine feet, for this street was now a royal highway.
当地上层人士有时到德·莱纳家中吃饭，说些遮遮掩掩的话，于连无意中听见，现在才明白是怎么回事，这个特权阶层对于挑选穆瓦罗先 生担任第一助理极为关注，而城里其他人特别是自由党人则根本没有想到这种可能。这种选择的重要件在于，尽人皆知，维里埃大街的东边要缩进九尺多，因为这条街成了王家大道。
Well, if M. de Moirod, who owned three houses that would have to be moved back, succeeded in becoming Principal Deputy, and so Mayor in the event of M. de Renal's being returned to Parliament, he would shut his eyes, and it would be possible to make little, imperceptible repairs to the houses that encroached on the public thoroughfare, as a result of which they would be good for a hundred years. Despite the great piety and admitted probity of M. de Moirod, it was certain that he could be managed, for he had a large family. Among the houses that would have to be moved back, nine belonged to the very best people in Verrieres.
穆瓦罗先生有三幢房子要往后缩，如果他当上市长第一助理，再由于德·莱纳先生被任命为议员而继任市长，他就会闭上眼睛，让人们对那些占了公共道路的房子进行些不显眼的小修补，如此则可以历百年而不动。尽管穆瓦罗先生的虔诚正直谁都承认，但人们确信他会顺水推舟的，因为他孩子多。在需要后缩的房子中，有九座是属于维里埃拔尖儿的人家的。
In Julien's eyes, this intrigue was far more important than the history of the battle of Fontenoy, a name which he saw for the first time in one of the books that Fouque had sent him. Many things had astonished Julien during the five years since he had begun to spend his evenings with the cure. But discretion and a humble spirit being the chief qualities required in a divinity student, it had always been impossible for him to ask any questions.
在于连的眼里，这个阴谋远比封特诺瓦战役的历史更为重要，这名字他还是在富凯寄给的一本书中第一次看到的。自于连开始出入本堂神甫家的五年以来，有许多事情让他吃惊，然而谨慎和精神谦卑乃是学神学者之首要品质，所以他一直不能就此询问。
One day, Madame de Renal had given an order to her husband's valet,Julien's enemy.
有一天，德·莱纳夫人吩咐她丈夫的随身仆人，此人是于连的对头。
'But, Ma'am, today is the last Friday of the month,' the man answered her with a curious expression.
“可是夫人，今天是本月最后一个星期五呀，”那人回答道，神情古怪。
'Go,' said Madame de Renal.
“算了，”德·莱纳夫人说。
'Well,' said Julien, 'he is going to that hay store, which used to be a church, and was recently restored to the faith; but why? That is one of the mysteries which I have never been able to penetrate.'
“哼！”于连说，“他要去干草仓库了，那儿过去是教堂，最近又在里边举行礼拜了，可他们要干什么呢？这秘密我一直猜不透。”
'It is a most beneficial, but a very strange institution,' replied Madame de Renal. 'Women are not admitted; all that I know of it is that they all address one another as tu. For instance, this servant will find M. Valenod there, and that conceited fool will not be in the least annoyed at hearing himself called tu by Saint Jean, and will answer him in the same tone. If you really want to know what they do there, I can ask M. de Maugiron and M. Valenod for details. We pay twenty francs for each servant so that they do not cut our throats.'
“那是一个很有益的组织，但很古怪，”德·莱纳夫人答道，“不接纳女人，我只知道里面大家都以你我相称。比方说，这仆人会在那儿 见到瓦勒诺先生，这个那么傲慢愚蠢的人听见圣让跟自己说话你呀你的，一点儿也不生气，也用同样的口吻回答他。如果您一定要知道他们在里面干些什么，我去详细地问问德·莫吉隆先生和瓦勒诺先生。我们为每个仆人付二十法郎，为了有一天他们不掐我们的脖子。”
The time flew. The memory of his mistress's charms distracted Julien from his black ambition. The necessity to refrain from speaking to her of serious, reasonable matters, since they were on opposite sides, added, without his suspecting it, to the happiness that he owed to her and to the power which she was acquiring over him.
光阴似箭。回味着情妇的魅力，于连忘记了阴暗的野心。因为他们分属敌对双方，所以他不能对她说令人不快的事情，也不能说合乎情理的事情，这无形中增强了他得之于她的幸福和她施之于他的控制。
At those moments when the presence of quick-eared children confined them to the language of cold reason, it was with a perfect docility that Julien, gazing at her with eyes that burned with love, listened to her explanations of the world as it really was. Often, in the middle of an account of some clever piece of roguery, in connection with the laying out of a road, or of some astounding contract, Madame de Renal's mind would suddenly wander to the point of delirium; Julien was obliged to scold her, she allowed herself to caress him in the same way as she caressed her children. This was because there were days on which she imagined that she loved him like a child of her own. Had she not to reply incessantly to his artless questions about a thousand simple matters of which a child of good family is not ignorant at fifteen? A moment later, she was admiring him as her master. His intelligence positively frightened her; she thought she could perceive more clearly every day the future great man in this young cleric. She saw him as Pope, she saw him as First Minister, like Richelieu.
孩子们太聪明了，有他们在场，他们俩就只能使用冷静理智的语言。这时，于连极其温顺地望着她，眼睛里情意绵绵，听她解释交际场中的情况。常常是正说着某个涉及道路或供货的巧妙的骗局时，德·莱纳夫人的思想会突然走神，发起狂来。于连不得不责备她，她竟让自己对他做出像对孩子那样的一些亲热举动。这是因为在有些日子里，她产生了一种幻觉，觉得像爱孩子一样地爱他。她不是不断地回答他那些天真的问题吗？这许许多多简单的事情，一个出身良好的孩子十五岁上就全知道了。转眼间，她又佩服他如同自己的主子。他的才华甚至高到使她害怕，她相信他在这位年轻教士身上一天比一天清楚地看见了未来的一位伟人。她看见他成了教皇，成了黎塞留一样的首相。
'Shall I live long enough to see you in your glory?' she said to Julien;'there is a place waiting for a great man; the Monarchy, the Church need one; these gentlemen say so every day. If some Richelieu does not stem the torrent of private judgment, all is lost.'
“我能活着看见您享尽荣华富贵吗？”她对于连说，“一个伟人自有其位置，王国和教会需要他。”