作品简介：索菲亚•托尔斯泰，列夫•托尔斯泰的妻子，在她的日记中详述了两人的婚姻逐渐走向不幸的过程。索菲亚和托尔斯泰都喜欢记日记，在这本日记中，我们也许能触摸到这对举世闻名的夫妻的人生中，不为人知的一面。

The Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy

So you think you have an unhappy marriage? On Oct 8 1862, just two weeks after she wed the 34-year-old novelist Leo Tolstoy, the former Sofia Behrs was writing in her diary:"The whole of my husband's past is so ghastly that I don't think I shall ever be able to accept it " Tolstoy had just let his sheltered , 18-year-old bride read his own youthful diaries , in which he described his gambling , drunkenness and debaucheries . A few days later , Sofia confesses that she doesn't make her husband happy and that his " coldness will soon be unbearable."By Nov.23, she is talking of killing him. Later, she spoke frequently of killing herself and attempted to do so on at least two occasions .

On Nov 13 1863, the young wife describes her existence:

“ I am left alone morning , afternoon and night. I am to gratify his pleasure and nurse his child , I am a piece of household furniture . I am a woman . I try to suppress all human feeling .When the machine is working properly it heats the milk , knits a blanket , makes little requests and bustles about trying not to think and life is tolerable . But the moment I am alone and allow myself to think , everything seems insufferable. Whenever Sofia shows a little spirit or playfulness , Tolstoy finds her “stupid and irritating ” She starts to copy his manuscripts for him-she would go on to transcribe the manuscript of War and Peace over and over , parts of it seven times –and there she does find a kind of peace:” As I copy I experience a whole new world of emotions , thoughts and impressions . Nothing touches me so deeply as his ideas , his genius.

词汇注释：
ghastly:恐怖的,惊人的
1. You look ghastly ; are you all right? 你脸色很难看，是不舒服了吗?

gambling:赌博
2. Gambling is a compulsion with him 赌博对他来说是一种冲动

confesses:承认
3 .He confessed to the priest before he died 临死前他向神父忏悔

gratify 使满足
4. The act of gratifying 使人满意的

suppress 压抑
5.The police suppressed the riot. 警察镇压了暴动

bustle 闹哄哄的
6. We must bustle up a bit. 我们必须稍微快点儿

insufferable难以忍受的
7. His insufferable insolence cost him many friends.
他那令人难以容忍的蛮横态度使他失掉了许多朋友

manuscript 手稿
8.The editor labored over the manuscript till early morning.
编辑辛辛苦苦修改稿件直到清晨

transcribe 抄写誊写
9.a word transcribed literatim 逐字抄下的词

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