CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
作者简介：
杜思妥也夫斯基(Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky，1821-1881)是俄国近代最伟大的小说家之一。杜思妥也夫斯基1821年生于莫斯科一家贫民医院。1843年毕业于列宁格勒的一所兵工学校，随即进入俄国国防部工程局。翌年辞职后，他便开始专心写作。1846年出版了第一本小说「穷人」(Poor Folk)。此时期杜思妥也夫斯基的作品，常藉故事中小人物的悲苦，强调俄国社会问题的倾向。1949年，他因参加革命组织被捕，判处死刑。临刑前，意外地获得沙皇赦令，改判为四年监禁，四年流放。这段期间他的心理与思想深受圣经的影响。1859年底，获准返乡，他又重新开始他的文学创作生涯，直到1881年因肺出血死于彼得堡。杜思妥也夫斯基的重要作品有：「罪与罚」(Crime and Punishment；1866)，「白痴」(The Idiot；1869)，「恶魔」(The Devils；1871-72)，「卡拉马助夫兄弟们」(The Brothers Karamazov；1879-80)等。「罪与罚」一书，主要在描述主角拉斯可尼可夫(Raskolnikov)犯罪前、犯罪期间及犯罪之后的心理状况。廿世纪的许多批评家认为杜思妥也夫斯基对人类心灵的剖析、探讨，其深刻程度，当代作家无人可与之匹敌。
Ridion Romanovish Raskolnikov was a poor, dark-looking young law student in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was so preoccupied with new and unconventional ideas from the West that he decided not to continue his studies. He was of the opinion that men were divided into two classes: the ordinary people whose lives were as worthless as fleas and those few who felt they were Napoleonic and could live without the traditional laws.
In order to prove that he was one of the Napoleonic men, he decided to kill a hateful person. He chose Alonya Ivanovna, a grasping 60-year-old pawnbroker, as his victim. He took an axe with him and nervously broke into Alonya Ivanovna's room. He found Alonya there alone and struck her on the head three times. Then he began to pick up some valuables from her safe. At that moment Alonya's simple-minded sister Lizaveta entered unexpectedly. Without letting her have time to call for help, he killed her too. As he was about to leave, two customers came to the door. The two customers, sensing that there must be something wrong inside the pawnshop, called for the porter. Seizing this opportunity, Rodion managed to escape unnoticed.
Staggering home, he hid the valuables, concealed the possible evidence, and then collapsed on his bed. When he woke up the next day, to his great dismay he was summoned to the police station. He went with a feeling of both bravado and fear, only to learn that he was accused of failing to pay for the overdue rent. While he was there he heard the murder case being discussed. He fainted in the presence of the police officers. Then he was carried back to his room where Dmitri Prokofich Pazumihin, a student friend, took good care of him for several days during which time he was delirious from fever.
When Rodion recovered, he discovered 35 rubles his mother had sent him. He also learned that Nikolai, a painter, had gone to the police station and confessed to the crime. Luzhin, Rodion's sister's fiance, called on him but was driven away by Rodion who disliked the man. After getting dressed he slipped away from Razumihin. He went to a tavern and stayed for a while. Leaving the travern, he wandered about the street and found Marmeladov, an unemployed drunkard, seriously injured by a cab. He took him home, where Rodion met and fell in love with Marmeladov's 18-year-old daughter, Sonia, who had become a prostitute in order to support her family. He left the family after giving 20 rubles to them.
Meanwhile, Rodion's mother and his sister, Dounia, arrived to prepare for Dounia's wedding to Luzhin. Rodion acted coldly toward them and quarreled with Luzhin. Finally Razumihin took the mother and the sister to Luzhin's rented room and ascribed Rodion's bad conduct to his illness.
Many times Rodion's nervousness and unusual behavior nearly betrayed him as a murderer. For example, as he listened to Dmitri's discussing the murder by his bedside, he became so emotionally affected that he felt like revealing everything. He put himself in the limelight by visiting the murder scene. Moreover, he went back to the police station to claim his watch which had been previously pawned with the dead old woman. There he was interviewed by Porfiry Petrovich, who had been suspicious of Rodion for some time. Porfiry, a distant relative of Razumihin, mentioned an article by Rodion in which Rodion had contended that a truly great man had the right to murder without sin. The officer played "cat and mouse" with Rodion and, at one point, drove him to the verge of total confession.
Svidrigailov, Dounia's former admirer, also came to visit. His wife had passed away and he wished to marry Dounia.
He wanted to give her 10,000 rubles in addition to the 3,000 rubles his dead wife left for Dounia. Rodion and his sister rejected his proposal. Meanwhile, Dounia dimissed the miserly Luzhin, too. Azumihin, who was present, had already fallen in love with Dounia.
Although there are no solid evidence for his crime, the urge to confess was so strong that he went to Sonia and told her the whole thing. Incidentally, while he was speaking, Svidrigailov listened to his confession outside the door. Instead of despising him, Sonia pitied and forgave him. She advised him to go to the police to confess his crime. Eventually Rodion broke down and cried: "I murdered myself, not the old woman! "
Soon afterwards, Porfiry Petrovich approached him with the same suggestion. Nikolai the painter had been proven innocent. The clues pointed to Rodion. Later, Rodion was shocked to learn that Svidrigailov, who lived next door to Sonia, was eavesdropping during his confession.
Svidrigailov lured Dounia to his room where he told her that her brother murdered the old pawnbroker. He threatened to use this information if she refused to marry him. If she would consent, Svidrigailov would help her brother Rodion leave Russia in safety. When Svidrigailov attempted to seduce her, she defended herself by trying to shoot him. Svidrigailov was lucky enough not to be killed, but he realized he could never win her heart. In humiliation and disappointment he took the gun away from her and shot himself after leaving the room.
Eventually Rodion, broken more in spirit than in his Napoleonic conviction, went to the police station to admit to his crime. He was sentenced to hard labor in Siberia to serve for a term of eight years. Sonia accompanied him there, waiting for his release. Keeping the cross Sonia gave him, he finally turned to religion with the same fervor as Sonia had.
注解：
to be preoccupied with：为……所盘据
unconventional：不合习俗的
flea：跳蚤
Napoleonic：似拿破仑的(野心勃勃的)
grasping：贪心的
pawnbroker：开当铺者
victim：受害者
simple-minded：愚笨的
pawnshop：当铺
to stagger：蹒跚
to collapse：突然(因失去体力而)倒下
to one's dismay：令(人)感到害怕地
bravado：虚张的勇气
only to：却
in the presence of：在……的面前
delirious：不省人事的
tavern：客栈
to ascribe A to B：把A归诸B
to betray：显示；暴露
in the limelight：吸引众人的注意
to contend：宣称……为事实
verge：边缘
to pass away：死亡
proposal：求婚
to dismiss：拒绝
miserly：吝啬的
to break down：(因感情冲动而)开始痛哭
to point to：指向
to eavesdrop：窃听
to lure：引诱
humiliation：屈辱
fervor：热心