|
| They were three, all told: Lieutenant Vi?tkin, a bald, moustached man of thirty-three, a jovial fellow, chatterbox, singer, and particularly fond of his glass; Sub-Lieutenant Romashov, who had hardly served two years in the regiment; and, lastly, Sub-Ensign Lbov, a lively, well-shaped young man, with an expression of shrewd geniality in his pale eyes and an eternal smile on his thick, innocent lips. He passed for a peripatetic storehouse of anecdotes, specially crammed with old and worn-out officers' stories. | Их было трое: поручик Веткин - лысый, усатый человек лет тридцати трех, весельчак, говорун, певун и пьяница, подпоручик Ромашов, служивший всего второй год в полку, и подпрапорщик Лбов, живой стройный мальчишка с лукаво-ласково-глупыми глазами и с вечной улыбкой на толстых наивных губах, - весь точно начиненный старыми офицерскими анекдотами. |
| "This is an out-and-out scandal," said Vi?tkin, as he looked at his dainty little watch, the case of which he angrily closed with a little click. | - Свинство, - сказал Веткин, взглянув на свои мельхиоровые часы и сердито щелкнув крышкой. |
| "What the devil does he mean by keeping the company all this time?" | - Какого черта он держит до сих пор роту? Эфиоп! |
| "You should ask him that question, Pavel Pavlich," replied Lbov, with a sly look. | - А вы бы ему это объяснили, Павел Павлыч, -посоветовал с хитрым лицом Лбов. |
| "Oh, go to the devil! | - Черта с два. |
| Go and ask him yourself. | Подите, объясняйте сами. |
| But the point which I want to emphasize is that the whole business is utterly futile; there is always this fuss before the review, and every time they overdo it. | Главное - что? Главное - ведь это все напрасно. Всегда они перед смотрами горячку порют. И всегда переборщат. |
| The soldiers are so worried and badgered, that at the review they stand like blockheads. | Задергают солдата, замучат, затуркают, а на смотру он будет стоять, как пень. |
| Do you know that story about the two captains who made a pretty heavy bet as to which of them had in his company the best trencher-man? | Знаете известный случай, как два ротных командира поспорили, чей солдат больше съест хлеба? |
| When one of the 'champions' had consumed seven pounds of bread he was obliged to acknowledge himself beaten. His Captain, furious with indignation, sent for his sergeant-major, and said: 'What made you send me a creature like that? After his seventh pound he had to give up, and I've lost my wager!' |
