删减并不多。
1924: Anonymity
还让我们认识到一个时代的逝去是个极其缓慢的过程这句话不无道理。
But under certain circumstances, the Count finally acknowledged, this process can occur in the comparative blink of an eye. Popular upheaval, political turmoil, industrial progress—any combination of these can cause the evolution of a society to leapfrog generations, sweeping aside aspects of the past that might otherwise have lingered for decades. And this must be especially so, when those with newfound power are men who distrust any form of hesitation or nuance, and who prize self-assurance above all.
伯爵微笑着说，这样或那样的事都过去多少年了，比如他写诗的日子，他的旅行还有恋爱。
1946
（毛泽东）
接下来是十个来自格鲁吉亚的农民……这些拥护者正一个挨一个地等着去瞻仰一位逝世于二十多年前的人的遗骸。
To a foreigner, it must have seemed that Russia had become the land of ten thousand lines. For there were lines at the tram stops, lines before the grocer, lines at the agencies of labor, education, and housing. But in point of fact, there were not ten thousand lines, or even ten. There was one all-encompassing line, which wound across the country and back through time. This had been Lenin’s greatest innovation: a line that, like the Proletariat itself, was universal and infinite. He established it by decree in 1917 and personally took the first slot as his comrades jostled to line up behind him.
One by one every Russian took his place, and the line grew longer and longer until it shared all of the attributes of life. In it friendships were formed and romances kindled; patience was fostered; civility practiced; even wisdom attained.
那位形单影只的人狡黠地笑了，心想：别的有没有学会我不知道，至少排队我们是学会了。 那个形单影只的人在想，如果人们为了买面包都情愿排上八小时的队，那花一两小时免费观瞻一具遗体又算得了什么呢。
Antics, Antitheses, an Accident
（古拉格）
“你在教书？”伯爵试探着问道。
“没有，”米什卡把头一摇，说道，“他们不鼓励我们教书，也不鼓励我们读书和写作，连吃饭都几乎不鼓励。” 就这样，米什卡开始描述他在亚瓦斯的生活。在描述的过程中，他用了很多第一人称复数，伯爵听了还以为有劳改营的狱友和他一起搬去了那里。可慢慢地他才听出来，原来当他说“我们”的时候，他其实并没有指其他什么人。对米什卡而言，“我们”包括了他和他所有的狱友，不仅仅是他在阿尔汉格尔斯克认识的那些，还包括了上百万甚至更多在索洛维茨基群岛上，谢夫沃斯特拉格劳改营里或者白海运河上艰苦工作的那些人，不论他们已经在那里工作了二十年、三十年，还是会一直干下去。 注
Stripped of their names and family ties, of their professions and possessions, herded together in hunger and hardship, the residents of the Gulag—the zeks—became indistinguishable from one another. That, of course, was part of the point. Not content with the toll exacted by means of incarceration and forced labor in inhospitable climes, the supreme authorities sought to efface the Enemies of the People.
But an unanticipated consequence of this strategy was the creation of a new polis. Having been stripped of their identities, henceforth the zeks—though millions in number—would move in perfect unison, sharing in their privations as well as their will to persist. Henceforth, they would know each other whenever and wherever they met. They would make room for each other under their roofs and at their tables, addressing each other as brother and sister and friend; but never, ever, under any circumstance, as comrade.
米什卡沉默着。
“到了夜里，就更有趣了。”片刻之后，他接着说。
An Announcement
千百年来，全世界的文明社会都知道，宴会上的主宾席是个享有殊荣的位子。只要向布置完毕的宴会会场看上一眼，你就会本能地感觉到，主宾席绝对比两侧的座位更有吸引力。因为它不可避免地赋予了那个座位上的人权力、地位和合法性。由此引申，你也就知道，离主宾席越远，就越没有权力、地位和合法性。所以，当你将四十六位党政要员请来出席晚宴，让他们围坐在一个U字形长桌旁用餐，却又未事先安排好座次，那场面免不了会相当混乱。
……
让-雅克·卢梭也会从十八世纪中叶跑过来参加这场讨论。他会告诉洛克和霍布斯，终于从社会契约的暴政之下解脱出来的这四十六位来宾，会把桌子推到一边，手捧着大地结出的果实，在一种幸福的自然状态下共同分享。
But the Communist Party was not a “State of Nature.” Quite to the contrary, it was one of the most intricate and purposeful constructions ever manufactured by man. In essence: the hierarchy of all hierarchies.
当宾客抵达之时，伯爵内心已经相当肯定。他觉得，赤裸裸地挥拳相向，抽签，或者大家无拘无束地共同分享果实，这些场面都不会出现。相反，在轻微的推挤和争抢过后，这四十六位赴宴者中的每一位都会很快在宴会桌旁找到最适合自己的位置
An Announcement
伯爵刚发出信号，通向417号套房的门便于晚上九点准时打开了。到了九点十五分，四十六位级别和资历各异的官员都找到了与自己的身份及地位相符的座位并坐了下来。尽管没有人出面提醒，但大家自动地将主宾席的座位留给了布尔加宁、赫鲁晓夫、马林科夫、米高扬、莫洛托夫和伏罗希洛夫这六位党内最负名望的成员。而主宾席正中的两个座位则留给了身为总理的马林科夫和总书记赫鲁晓夫。注
The studious reader will recall that upon Stalin’s death there were eight men of eminence at the pinnacle of the Party. Where were the other two at the time of this dinner? Lazar Kaganovich, a fine old Stalinist in the iron-fisted mold, had been sent on an administrative mission to Ukraine. Within a few years, he would be presiding over a potassium factory a thousand miles from Moscow. But at least he fared better than Lavrentiy Beria. The former head of the secret police, who many Western observers thought well positioned to inherit the throne when Stalin died, instead was decorated by the Party with a pistol shot to the head. And then there were six.