精彩导读
霍里和卡里内奇
Hor And KaIinitCh
并不是所有的村庄都是从一个模子里刻出来的，
卡卢加省的村庄弥漫着一股温馨而恬静的田园气氛。
农民们穿着简朴而合适的衣装，夕阳的余晖笼罩着每
一家屋后那整齐的树林，悠远的牧歌伴着禽鸟的呜叫
，在一片炊烟袅袅中飘荡向远方。猎人是这里的常客
，他在打猎的途中遇到了一位当地的小地主，这位名
叫波鲁特金的地主充分展现了他热情好客的特质，他
邀请猎人到他的佃户霍里家去参观。霍里家像一幅被
细致描画过的田园风景画，独幢的小屋散发出松木特
有的芳香，干净整洁的场院显示出主人一丝不苟的生
活态度。迎接这两位来客的是霍里的儿子们，他们都
像小牛犊一样强壮而富有生机，他们在椴木的桌子上
摆上酸甜可口的菜蔬，眼睛里透露出忠厚而又聪慧的
光芒。霍里是一位奇人，他早已过上了富足的生活，
但是却坚持不肯赎身，这其中自然有他认可的人生哲
学。第二日，猎人在随波鲁特金打猎的过程中又遇到
了另外一位佃户——卡里内奇。他是一位和善而又快
活的汉子，同时又是一位打猎的好手，他一边哼唱着
轻快的小调，一边身手敏捷地帮波鲁特金捕获猎物。
他对丛林中的法则谙熟于心，他细心地割下蜂蜜，为
两位老爷调制出甘甜的蜜汁。
霍里与卡里内奇是至交好友，在猎人的眼里他们
之间散发出浓浓的温情，听着两个人的谈话也能感受
到彼此之间的默契。不过他们两人的性格却完全不同
，霍里如水一般理智冷静，而卡里内奇却如火一般温
暖热情。霍里的每一根花白的胡须中都写满了生活的
智慧，这种智慧包括如何建屋修房，如何积累家产，
如何维护人际关系等等。卡里内奇因为笑容而堆起的
皱纹中充斥着自然的玄机，他庞学杂用无所不知，大
到打猎养蜂，小到咒语驱虫，他都做得游刃有余。老
霍里并不识字，但是他那双深邃的眼睛却看透很多社
会问题，他常常向猎人询问国外的政治制度，并用简
洁的话语道出优劣。卡里内奇能够识字读书，不过他
的心常常驰骋在自然的鬼斧神工中。他并不爱思考艰
深的社会问题，远山、峡谷、瀑布、幽径、密林常常
令他心驰神往。霍里在家中犹如一位至高无上的国王
，他那蛮横的老婆见了他也唯唯诺诺，他的一群儿子
也个个矫健顺从。卡里内奇却生性惧内，至今膝下还
没有一男半女。夜深人静的时候，两位老朋友开着无
伤大雅的玩笑，卡里内奇弹着悠扬的三弦琴，伴着老
霍里低沉而悲怆的歌声，在静谧的夜里飘向远方。
Anyone who has chanced to pass from the
Bolhovsky district into the Zhizdrinsky
district, must have been impressed by the
striking difference between the race of
people in the province of Orel and the
population of the province of Kaluga. The
peasant of Orel is not tall, is bent in
figure, sullen and suspicious in his looks;
he lives in wretched little hovels of
aspen-wood,labours as a serf in the fields,
and engages in no kind of trading, is
miserably fed, and wears slippers of bast:
the rent-paying peasant of Kaluga lives in
roomy cottages of pine-wood; he is tall,
bold, and cheerful in his looks, neat and
clean of countenance; he carries on a trade
in butter and tar, and on holidays he wears
boots. The village of the Orel province （we
are speaking now of the eastern part of the
province） is usually situated in the midst
of ploughed fields, near a water-course
which has been converted into a filthy pool.
Except for a few of the ever- accommodating
willows, and two or three gaunt birch-trees,
you do not see a tree for a mile round; hut
is huddled up against hut,their roofs
covered with rotting thatch The villages of
Kaluga, on the contrary, are generally
surrounded by forest; the huts stand more
freely, are more upright, and have boarded
roofs; the gates fasten closely, the hedge
is not broken down nor trailing about; there
are no gaps to invite the visits of the
passing pig And things are much better in
the Kaluga province for the sportsman. In
the Orel province the last of the woods and
copses will have disappeared five years
hence, and there is no trace of moorland
left; in Kaluga,on the contrary, the moors
extend over tens, the forest over hundreds
of miles,and a splendid bird, the grouse, is
still extant there; there are abundance of
the friendly larger snipe, and the loud-
clapping partridge cheers and startles the
sportsman and his dog by its abrupt upward
flight.
On a visit to the Zhizdrinsky district
in search of sport, I met in the fields a
petty proprietor of the Kaluga province
called Polutikin, and made his acquaintance.
He was an enthusiastic sportsman; it
follows, therefore, that he was an excellent
fellow. He was liable, indeed, to a few
weaknesses; he used,for instance, to pay his
addresses to every unmarried heiress in the
province,and when he had been refused her
hand and house, broken-hearted he confided
his sorrows to all his friends and
acquaintances, and continued to shower
offerings of sour peaches and other raw
produce from his garden upon the young
lady's relatives; he was fond of repeating
one and the same anecdote,which, in spite of
Mr. Polutikin's appreciation of its merits,
had certainly never amused anyone; he
admired the works of Akim Nahimov and the
novel Pinna;he stammered; he called his dog
Astronomer; instead of 'however' said
'howsomever'; and had established in his
household a French system of cookery, the
secret of which consisted, according to his
cook's interpretation, in a complete
transformation of the natural taste of each
dish; in this artiste's hands meat assumed
the flavour of fish, fish of mushrooms,
macaroni of gunpowder; to make up for this,
not a single carrot went into the soup
without taking the shape of a rhombus or a
trapeze. But, with the exception of these
few and insignificant failings, Mr.
Polutikin was, as has been said already, an
excellent fellow.
P1-4
