The smallest living idea seems an outrage, so accustomed are people there to words without colour. Woe to the man who innovates while he speaks!
FAUBLAS
稍微有点生气的想法在那儿被看成是粗野，那儿的人是如此习惯于平淡地奇的话，谁说出有独到见解的话，谁就该倒霉。
福布拉斯
After many months of trial, this is the stage that Julien had reached on the day when the steward of the household paid him his third quarter's salary. M. de La Mole had set him to study the management of his estates in Brittany and Normandy. Julien made frequent journeys to those parts. His principal duty was to take charge of the correspondence relative to the famous lawsuit with the abbe de Frilair. M. Pirard had given him the necessary instructions.
经过几个月的试用，于连站住了，一天，管家给他送来了第三季的薪水。德·拉莫尔先生让他监督布列塔尼和诺曼底的地产管理。于连因此常去那儿旅行。他还负责和德·福利莱神甫的那桩著名讼案的通信工作。这宗案子彼拉神甫告诉过他。
From the brief notes which the Marquis used to scribble on the margins of the papers of all kinds that came to him, Julien composed letters almost all of which were signed.
侯爵在他收到的各种文件的空白处草草写上几句批语，于连据此写成信，这些信差不多每一封都可以签字了。
At the school of theology, his teachers complained of his lack of industry, but regarded him none the less as one of their most distinguished pupils. These several labours, taken up with all the ardour of a chafed ambition, had soon robbed Julien of the fresh complexion he had brought with him from the country. His pallor was a merit in the eyes of the young seminarists his companions; he found them much less irritating, much less inclined to fall upon their knees before a coin of the realm than those at Besancon; they, for their part, supposed him to be consumptive. The Marquis had given him a horse.
在神学院，老师们抱怨他不用功，但仍把他看作最出色的学生之一。于连怀着痛苦的野心激发出的全部热情抓紧各种各样的工作，很快便失去了他从外省带来的那种鲜丽的气色。他的苍白在他的同学、那些年轻的神学院学生眼中，倒成了一个优点；他觉得他们远不像贝藏松的同学那样坏，那样拜倒在一个埃居面前；而他们则以为他得了肺病。侯爵送了他一匹马。
Afraid of their seeing him when he was out riding, Julien had told them that this exercise had been ordered him by the doctors. The abbe Pirard had taken him to a number of Jansenist societies. Julien was astonished; the idea of religion was inseparably linked in his mind with that of hypocrisy, and the hope of making money. He admired these devout and stern men who took no interest in the budget. Several of the Jansenists had formed an affection for him and gave him advice. A new world opened before him. He met among the Jansenists a certain Conte Altamira, a man six feet in height, a Liberal under sentence of death in his own country, and a devout Catholic. This strange incongruity, religion wedded to a love of freedom, impressed him.
于连担心骑马出去被人碰见，就对他们说进行这项活动是遵医嘱。彼拉神甫带他去过好几个詹森派的团体。于连感到惊奇；原来在他心里，宗教的观念是和伪善的观念、有望发财的观念紧密联系在一起的。他钦佩这些虔诚、严厉的人，他们不想钱。好几位詹森派教徒待他很友善，给他出主意。一个新的世界敞开在他的面前。他在詹森派教徒中认识了一位阿尔塔米拉伯爵，此人差不多有六尺高，是一个在他自己的国家里被判处死刑的自由党人，而且笃信宗教。笃信宗教和热爱自由，这种奇特的对比使他大为感动。
Julien was out of favour with the young Count. Norbert had found that he replied with too much warmth to the pleasantries of certain of his friends. Julien after being guilty once or twice of a breach of good manners, had pledged himself never to address another word to Mademoiselle Mathilde. They were always perfectly civil to him at the Hotel de La Mole; but he felt that he had fallen in their esteem. His provincial common sense explained this change in the words of the popular proverb:'new is beautiful(familiarity breeds contempt).'
于连和年轻的伯爵疏远了。诺贝尔觉得他对他的几位朋友的玩笑，反应过于激烈。于连有过一、二次举措失度，决心永不再跟德·拉莫尔小姐说话。在德·拉莫尔府上，大家对他一直是彬彬有礼的，然而他自觉失宠了。他那外省人的常识用一句俗谚解释这种结果：新的就是好的。
Perhaps his perception was now a little clearer than at first, or else the first fascination produced by the urbanity of Paris had ceased.
也许是他比初来时看得稍微清楚些了，或者是巴黎都市风情所产生的最初的狂喜已经过去了。
As soon as he stopped working, he fell into the clutches of a deadly boredom; this was the withering effect of the politeness, admirable in itself, but so measured, so perfectly graduated according to one's position, which is a mark of high society. A heart that is at all sensitive discerns the artificiality.
他一放下工作，就感到不胜厌倦；这是上流社会特有的礼貌所产生的一种使一切都变得枯燥乏味的结果，这种礼貌是令人赞赏的，却又根据地位分得极为细腻，极为有序。一颗稍许有些敏感的心都会看出它的矫揉造作。
No doubt, provincials may be accused of a trace of vulgarity, or of a want of politeness; but they do show a little warmth in answering one.Never, in the Hotel de La Mole, was Julien's self-esteem wounded; but often, at the end of the day he felt inclined to weep. In the provinces, a waiter in a cafe takes an interest in you if you meet with some accident on entering his cafe; but if that accident involves anything capable of wounding your vanity, then, in condoling with you, he will repeat again and again the word that makes you wince. In Paris they are so considerate as to turn their backs to laugh at you, but you will always remain a stranger.
当然，人们可以指责外省人举止平庸，或者礼貌不周；然而，外省人在回答您的时候，总还有点儿热情。在德·拉莫尔府，于连的自尊心从未受过伤害，但是他常常在一天结束的时候想大哭一场。在外省，您走进咖啡馆时若发生意外，咖啡馆的伙计会关心您；当然，如果这意外令人不快有伤自尊心，他也会一边安慰您一边把那让您难受的话说上十遍。在巴黎，人们会注意躲起来笑，不过您永远是个外来人。
We pass without comment over a multitude of minor adventures which would have brought Julien into ridicule had he not been in a sense beneath ridicule. An insane self-consciousness made him commit thousands of blunders. All his pleasures were forms of precaution; he practised with his pistol every day, and was numbered among the more promising pupils of the most famous fencing masters. Whenever he had a moment to spare, instead of spending it with a book as at one time, he would dash to the riding school and as ask for the most vicious horses.In his outings with the riding master, he was almost invariably thrown.
一大堆小事情，我们就略去不讲了，倘若于连多少是那种可笑之人的话，这些小事情会使他显得可笑的。异常的敏感让他干出许许多多笨抽的事来。他的全部消遣都用在了防范上：他每天都去打枪，他是那几位最著名的击剑教师的好学生。他一有空，不像从前那样用于阅读，而是跑练马场，并且要最劣的马。他跟骑术教师骑马出去，几乎总要从马上摔下来。
The Marquis found him useful owing to his persistent hard work, his reticence and his intelligence, and, by degrees, entrusted him with the handling of all his business that was at all complicated. In those moments in which his lofty ambition allowed him some relaxation, the Marquis did his business with sagacity; being in a position to hear all the latest news, he speculated with success. He bought houses, timber; but he took offence easily. He gave away hundreds of louis and went to law over hundreds of francs. Rich men with big ideas seek amusement and not results from their private undertakings. The Marquis needed a chief of staff who would put all his financial affairs into an easily intelligible order.
由于他工作努力，不多说话，聪明，侯爵觉得颇顺手，渐渐地派他接办各种有些棘手的事情。侯爵虽野心勃勃，总有空闲的时候，这时他就很精明地做生意；他消息灵通，搞公债投机得心应手。他买进房屋、森林，但是易动肝火。他白送几百路易，却为了几百法郎打官司。有钱人心气高远，在官司里寻求的是乐趣，不是成果。侯爵需要一位参谋长，能把他的财务安排得井然有序，一目了然。
Madame de La Mole, albeit of so restrained a character, would sometimes make fun of Julien. The unexpected, an outcome of sensibility, horrifies great ladies; it is a direct challenge to all the conventions. On two or three occasions the Marquis took his part: 'If he is absurd in your drawing-room, in his own office he reigns supreme.' Julien, for his part, thought he could divine the Marquise's secret. She deigned to take an interest in everything as soon as her servants announced the Baron de La Joumate. This was a chilly creature, with expressionless features. He was small, thin, ugly, very well dressed, he spent all his time at the Chateau and, as a rule, had nothing to say about anything. His speech revealed his mind. Madame de La Mole would have been passionately happy, for the first time in her life, if she could have secured him as a husband for her daughter.
德·拉莫尔夫人虽然生性审慎，有时却也嘲笑于连。敏感产生的意外之举，是贵妇人最反感的，那正是礼仪的对立面。有两、三次，侯爵为他辩护：“他在您的客厅里是可笑的，可他在办公室里却是成功的。”于连呢，他认为掌握了侯爵夫人的秘密。只要一通报德·拉茹玛特男爵到，她就突然对什么都上心了。那是一个冷冰冰的、不动声色的人。身材矮小，瘦削，丑陋，但穿得极好，整天泡在宫里，通常是对任何事情都三缄其口。这是他的思想方式。德·拉莫尔夫人如果能让他当女儿的丈夫，那她一生中将头一次感到幸福得发狂。