Dear letter ru (I am writing to you for the fifth time), please help me construct the sentence correctly: By buses - electric buses, trolleybuses, trams in regular regular and high-speed regular services (hereinafter referred to as buses, trolleybuses, trams). Question 1: Is the abbreviation in the text in brackets entered correctly (correctly), assuming that a bus and an electric bus are one and the same? Question 2: Is it correct (correct) to use the “-” sign in both cases? What is more appropriate to use: a hyphen, a dash (long or short) or a slash? Thank you in advance.
| Question No. 300050 | ||
Hello, dear Gramota employees! Well, I just can’t wait for an answer from you((1. Is a comma necessary in the case of “In the new, 2018 – 2019 academic year”? A colleague insists that this is an established expression and a comma is not needed, but I think it’s the same as in the case “ Happy New Year 2019" - the numeral is an explanation. 2. In the order: “On the staff of IP Ivanova I.I. or teaching staff attracted by him (her) on another legal basis..." What should be consistent with: with the individual entrepreneur or the female surname? 3. Recently, schoolchildren took the test Unified State Examination. There was a task to put the emphasis in the word pepper. The only correct answers were perchit. And for those who put the emphasis on and, the answer was considered incorrect. But both forms are equal. How can this be?
Russian help desk response
1. You are right, the comma is correct. Please note that it is customary to write the academic year using a slash: In the new 2018/2019 academic year.
2. On the staff of IP Ivanova I.I. or teaching staff attracted by it on other legal grounds...
3. Unfortunately, the Unified State Exam requirements regarding spelling standards are more stringent than the requirements of standard dictionaries. Option pepper as an incorrect one was recorded in the dictionary-reference book “Russian literary pronunciation and stress” 1959 “Dictionary of difficulties of the Russian language. Emphasis. Grammatical Forms” by N. A. Eskova 2014 allows two options: pepper And pepper. In this case, the first one is marked as preferred. In the “Dictionary of Stresses of the Russian Language” by I. L. Reznichenko 2015 pepper And pepper are already presented as equal options. The same is in the “Dictionary of Difficulties of the Russian Language for Media Workers” by M. A. Studiner, 2016, however, on air, this dictionary recommends giving preference to stress on the first syllable.
Tell me if spaces are needed before and after the slash, and in this case: seller/manufacturer of the product; borrower/one of the co-borrowers; borrower/co-borrower/guarantor.
Thank you!
Russian help desk response
No spaces required.
| Question No. 275822 | ||
Hello!
Please tell me how to correctly pronounce the word slash (slash):
"slash" or "slash"? Why?Sincerely, Geoffrey Oneal
Russian help desk response
| Question No. 275428 | ||
Hello! I just can’t understand how abbreviations are written using slashes - with or without a dot. I'm especially interested in the spelling after the slash a. For example, I often come across rubles/pcs. How will it be true? Is there a need for a period after pc? Please, help! I've been looking for an answer to this question for a long time, but I haven't found it from you. Thank you in advance)
Russian help desk response
Here is a quote from the complete academic reference book “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation” (M., 2006 and subsequent editions):
“Oblique-linear abbreviations are used instead of phrases, less often - complex words, for example: and I(PO Box), k/t(cinema), cotton(cotton), rpm(revolutions per minute), r/s And cash account(checking account); in these cases, periods are not placed after abbreviated elements of words.”
| Question No. 256872 | ||
Hello! Actually, it's crazy when the help desk doesn't answer questions. As they say, you called yourself a load, climb into the back...
So, please tell me, when and in what cases are spaces placed before and after slashes? In answers No. 183946, 213343, 241178, spaces are placed and a general rule is formulated that they should not be inserted, but in answer No. 241930, point 2, spaces are already included. Sorry, I don't want to offend anyone...
Russian help desk response
The help desk tries to answer questions related to the Russian language. The question of slashes and spaces is difficult to consider as such. But still. The slash sign is used: 1) instead of the dividing conjunction “or”; 2) as a fraction sign in formulas, quantities ( km/hour, rub./kg). In both cases, spaces are not needed.
| Question No. 255054 | ||
How would you recommend formatting dates indicated with slashes in the old and new styles - with or without spaces: May 18/31, May 19/June 1?
Russian help desk response
Dates of the old (more precisely, new) style are usually enclosed in brackets: May 18 (31), May 19 (June 1).
| Question No. 254104 | ||
And one more question please. It is well known that the following reference entry is correct: Ivanov I. I. How to kill time. M.: Higher. school, 2000. P. 11.
The author of the book is I. I. Ivanov. Tell me, how should this same reference be written if I. I. Ivanov is not the author, but the compiler? In this case, would the entry begin with the title of the book, and information about the compiler be given after the slash, for example: How to kill time / Compiled by I. I. Ivanov. M.: Higher. school, 2000. P. 11. Thank you!
Russian help desk response
Yes, Peter, you are absolutely right here.
| Question No. 241178 | ||
Hello, I have not received answers to my questions for the last few days!!!
Should there be a space before and after the slash in such abbreviations and which reference book records this: km/h, rub. / kg?
Russian help desk response
No space needed. See “Russian Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Academy of Sciences” and “Directory of the Publisher and Author” by A. E. Milchin and L. K. Cheltsova.
| Question No. 234618 | ||
Good afternoon. Please tell me what point of view should be followed in the spelling of the word “slash” (I mean slash). In your spelling dictionary through E, and in the explanatory dictionary through E? Thank you in advance.
Russian help desk response
You should follow the recommendations of the spelling dictionary.
| Question No. 232567 | ||
For God's sake, tell me how you can format a poem if one line does not fit entirely (a narrow column in a newspaper). Is it possible to type in a selection (without breaking it into lines); do I need to separate the lines with a slash?
Russian help desk response
In this case, there are two design options: you can move part of the poetic line to the next line (aligned to the right) or print without breaking into lines, but separate the poetic lines with two slashes: _I’ll sing you a song about five minutes, // This song let them sing mine..._
If we are talking about an agricultural year, say 2007-2008, then is it correct to write numbers separated by a dash or slash? In the 2007/2008 agricultural year... Thank you!
Russian help desk response
The correct spelling is separated by a slash.
| Question No. 223222 | ||
Hello. Please tell me the origin of the word "slash" and what it means. Thank you.
Russian help desk response
_Slash_ - from the English slash "slash (symbol or mathematical sign)".
What is a slash and in what cases is it used?
The answer to this question is given in the material below.
Definition
A slash is a typewritten character in the form of a slash, directed from left to right or from right to left.
It is usually depicted slightly higher than other capital letters, with the upper part extending beyond the line line.
You can type this character using the key located under the Backspace button.
With the Russian keyboard layout, you can type the “\” sign without holding down the Shift button, or the “/” sign while holding it.
The key for printing the “/” sign is also located at the top of the number block.
And in addition, such a character can be printed using the “.” button. with an English keyboard layout and without holding down Shift.
Kinds
There are two types of slashes. They are printed using different keys and have different meanings in printing and areas of application.
- The forward slash is indicated by a "/" and is used much more often than the second type;
- Backslash is indicated by "\"/
Both symbols are widely used and are used in a wide variety of areas. They can, depending on the purpose, occur either separately or together, and be placed either one at a time (/) or two at a time (//).
Triple slashes, forward or backward, are almost never used.
<Рис. 2 Прямой слэш>
Scope of application
Where is this symbol used? It is not very common in the Russian language and is found much less often in Russian-language texts than in English-language ones.
However, sometimes it can be used to prepare certain documents.
Where else is slash found?
- Both backslashes and forward slashes are often found in the texts of links to Internet sites, separating one part of the link from another (site/page/section, etc.);
- In Russian-language text, this symbol (in its direct form) serves as an indicator of variability, that is, it can replace the word “or”, and sometimes also “and” (for example, price/quality);
- The symbol is often used to create emoji;
- Most often, it is used when creating page scripts, manually writing application codes and elements, when laying out a web resource, etc. In this case, it has the function of separating one part of the code from another;
- In mathematics it can replace the division sign;
- It is also actively used as a fraction sign when writing indices, numbers, etc.;
- Occurs in outdated or incorrect abbreviations, such as railway (instead of railway);
- Older typewriters may not have had bracket keys. Therefore, before the widespread use of computers and the classical keyboard, such a symbol often replaced parentheses;
- When giving poetic quotations, the symbol is placed in the place where the line ends (when the poem is written in a line, and not in a column);
- The symbol is also placed in bibliographic data to separate the title of a book from information about its author or compiler;
- The double slash “//” is used in the same case, but when we are talking about a periodical and you need to separate the title of the article from the title of the periodical itself;
- This is how years that differ from calendar ones in duration are marked (for example, the 2010/11 academic year);
- It is sometimes used when designating dates (for example, 02/12/17), but this approach is more common in the USA, while in Russia it is considered outdated and undesirable;
- Found in rooms in corner houses.
Until recently, the symbol was used extremely rarely. Its use in the text was almost never allowed.
Slash
The origin of the slash dates back to the times of the Roman Empire. In the early stages of modernity, in Fraktur, which was widespread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, the slash (/) was used instead of a comma, while the double slash (//) was used instead of a dash. The double slash eventually evolved into a symbol similar to the equal sign (=), and was later further simplified to a dash or hyphen.Backslash
Bob Boehmer introduced the backslash (\) into the ASCII character set on September 18, 1961, as a result of studying the frequency of use of characters encountered particularly in ALGOL programs. At the same time, square brackets were included in the standard along with the backslash.Specifically, \ was introduced so that ALGOL's Boolean operators AND and OR could be represented using ASCII characters as "/\" and "\/" respectively [ , ].
How did it happen that the historically Orthodox slash was replaced by its mirror image, introduced as an auxiliary symbol specifically for an already dead language?
The Russian-language Wikipedia says this:
In DOS and Windows operating systems from Microsoft and their analogues from other developers, backslashes are used to separate directory names when specifying the path to a file. The forward slash used for this in Unix could not be used in MS-DOS because it was already used to specify command line options (a legacy from CP/M, where the MS-DOS command “dir /w” was written as “dir” /w").
Since this explanation did not satisfy me too much, I had to find the article “ Why is the DOS path character "\"?", which completely satisfied my curiosity. Free translation of selected parts performed by me:
The fact that the "/" character conflicted with the path separator of another relatively popular OS was not directly related to the developers - after all, DOS did not support directories, just files in the same root directory.
For MS-DOS 2.0 (which introduced directory support), DOS designers chose a hybrid version - they already had drive names inherited from DOS 1.0, so the developers had to use them. And in addition to the drive names, they decided to use a *nix-style method of defining directory hierarchy - instead of using the directory in the filename (as was done in VMS and DEC-20), they simply made the directory and filename integral parts of the path. But there was a problem with this. It was not possible to use the *nix path separator (/) because the slash was already used as a key separator.
What were they supposed to do? They certainly could have used "." like DEC, but the dot was already used as a separator between the file name and extension. Therefore, they chose the best option from the remaining ones - the "\" character, which was visually similar to "/". This is how the "\" character was chosen to separate paths in DOS.
By the way, there is a little secret about MS-DOS. The DOS developers were not happy with this state of affairs - they used Xenix for mail and other things, so they were familiar with the *nix command structure. So they added to the OS the ability to accept both "/" and "\" as path separators (this still works today, by the way - try running "notepad c:/boot.ini" under XP (if your user has admin rights)) . Further more. They added an undocumented system call to change the key separator character. And we updated the utilities to support this flag. They even added a parameter to config.sys, SWITCHAR, which will allow the user to set the key delimiter to "-". Thus, it was possible to turn MS-DOS into a *nix-style OS using "-switch", and paths separated by "/".
What exactly is this all about?
The following situation prompted me to look into this topic.The task was set to set up a reporting system for automated tests. We use two types of tests – Selenium (functional) and Jmeter (load). Actually, there was nothing complicated about this - for these purposes there is quite an open-source project called logging selenium and a plugin for maven - chronos. Having configured everything and tested the reports locally, I set about integrating with our CI - TeamCity. It was here that the very surprise that became the reason for writing this article awaited me.
After running all the tests, the Selenium test report looked like this:
Everything was displayed perfectly, and there were no differences from the local version.
But the report that was displayed for Jmeter tests was not encouraging:
All the images on the page were completely missing.
After viewing the source code of the page, it became clear that backslash was to blame. Links to images were provided in this format:
To be fair, the images were missing in Firefox, but were displayed perfectly in IE. Although, if IE had not displayed resources in URIs containing a backslash, as a path separator for Windows, then another hole would have formed in the already tarnished reputation of Indian programmers.
In general, after some thought, it became clear that somewhere inside chronos "a File.separator is used, which is to blame for the appearance of backslashes in resource paths and problems with displaying graphs in reports. Download the plugin sources and correct the corresponding line in which URL was generated, solved the problem and made it possible to enjoy the beautiful graphs that are generated based on the results of running JMeter tests.
In conclusion, I would like to warn against thoughtless use of the native File.separator - this does not always lead to cross-platform functionality, and in some cases it can even cause new bugs. An ordinary slash works in Windows (often), works in *nix, Java, and finally it should be respected at least by right of seniority, since it is one and a half thousand years older than its mirror brother.
P.S.: Thanks to the hubbrowser
Or oblique- a symbol in the form of a thin straight line, slanted to the right (that is, forward in the European writing direction).
The backslash symbol is usually depicted as extending slightly up and down beyond the line of capital letters and numbers in the font.
Other names:
Application in Russian language
Non-letter spelling mark
Until very recently, the use of a slash in Russian text outside of formulas and symbols was not allowed; the use of this sign was limited to typewriting:
- Cheap models of typewriters might not have parentheses, so a slash was used instead of parentheses;
- surrogate skew abbreviations (like railway instead of the correct [ ] and. d."railway" and railway“railroad”) were used to save space, as they required fewer positions: in the example given, only three instead of four or five.
According to § 114 of the new “Rules”, the “slash” sign is used in scientific and business speech.
It is used in the following functions:
- In a function close to unions And And or, as a sign of alternative concepts or designation of a single complex concept, for example: animate/inanimate category, problem of combined/separate spellings…
This function can use not only a slash, but also a hyphen.- To denote the relationship of any quantities, parameters (including in the mathematical sense), for example: In terms of parameters - price/quality, ease of use, ease of use - the model has taken a leading position in its class of duplicating equipment…
The same function uses a slash in abbreviations for composite units of measurement, for example: c/ha(centner per hectare), rpm(revolutions per minute)…
According to § 210 of the same “Rules”, the slash is also used in graphic abbreviations.
Oblique abbreviations are used instead of phrases, less often - complex words, for example: and I(PO Box), k/t(cinema), cotton(cotton), rpm(revolutions per minute), r/s And cash account(checking account); in these cases, periods are not placed after abbreviated elements of words...
Service typographic sign
1. A forward slash is used when quoting a source exactly (indicating line breaks), unless it is reproduced line by line. Most often this applies to poetic quotations, but the slash is used (along with the vertical bar) also when publishing ancient documents, etc.:
I remember a wonderful moment: / You appeared before me, / Like a fleeting vision / Like a genius of pure beauty(Pushkin).To indicate the boundaries of larger units of text (stanzas, pages, etc.), the slash is doubled.
2. In bibliographic descriptions, the slash is one of the conventional delimiters.
- A single slash separates the title from the statement of responsibility (editor or compiler, multiple authors, organization, etc.):
- A double slash separates information about the article from the name of the periodical or collection in which the article is published:
3. A slash is used to indicate dates: 9/V 1945, 9/5/1945, etc. Such designations may vary in different countries; in Russian typography they are considered obsolete and undesirable.
4. Years other than the usual calendar are written through a slash (various educational, financial, budget, etc. years, the beginning and end of which do not coincide with the calendar; theater and sports seasons, etc.): 2006/7 academic year G. The same entry is used when recalculating dates from calendars with a different beginning of the year: In summer 6749 (1241/1242). Prince Alexander came to Novgorod, and the Novgorodians were glad.
5. The numbers of corner buildings (simultaneously included in the numbering of two intersecting streets), apartment buildings built on the site of several demolished buildings, or buildings are written through a slash: Zastava Ilyich, 8/1; in this case the sign is read as a “fraction”: In the house there are eight fraction one(S.V. Mikhalkov).
Application in other languages
The use of the slash originates in Ancient Rome and extends through early modern times, when the sign was used in fraktur, a form of Gothic writing, replacing the comma sign.
In English
Being more common in English text than in Russian, the slash, in addition to its standard use as a replacement for a conjunction or (male/female- male/female or male/female [gender]) and for abbreviations ( n/a - not available- not available), used instead of a hyphen or en dash to create a clear, strong connection of words or phrases, as in the phrase the Hemingway/Faulkner generation(Hemingway/Faulkner generation).
As in Russian, it is used to indicate line breaks in poetic quotations (in this case it is called virgule).
When a slash is used between single words, it is usually not separated by spaces. The authoritative Chicago Manual of Style (English)(in paragraph 6.104) indicates the possibility of such a break when one of the parts it separates already contains a space ( Our New Zealand / Western Australia trip- our trip around Australia / New Zealand).
In German
The rules of the German language indicate the use of the slash in three different situations:
In addition to the indicated cases, the slash is one of the used options for gender-neutral address in collective descriptions (along with brackets, gender asterisk and gender gap) to indicate both masculine and feminine gender at the same time: ein/e Lehrer/in(= ein Lehrer oder eine Lehrerin), ein/e Schüler/in(= ein Schüler oder eine Schülerin), Bürger/-innen(= Bürger und Bürgerinnen), etc. However, such use is not regulated by rules.
According to § 114 of the new “Rules”, the “slash” sign is used in scientific and business speech.
It is used in the following functions:
- In a function close to unions And And or, as a sign of alternative concepts or designation of a single complex concept, for example: animate/inanimate category, problem of combined/separate spellings…
This function can use not only a slash, but also a hyphen.- To denote the relationship of any quantities, parameters (including in the mathematical sense), for example: In terms of parameters - price/quality, ease of use, ease of use - the model has taken a leading position in its class of duplicating equipment…
The same function uses a slash in abbreviations for composite units of measurement, for example: c/ha(centner per hectare), rpm(revolutions per minute)…
According to § 210 of the same “Rules”, the slash is also used in graphic abbreviations.
Oblique abbreviations are used instead of phrases, less often - complex words, for example: and I(PO Box), k/t(cinema), cotton(cotton), rpm(revolutions per minute), r/s And cash account(checking account); in these cases, periods are not placed after abbreviated elements of words...
Service typographic sign
1. A forward slash is used when quoting a source exactly (indicating line breaks), unless it is reproduced line by line. Most often this applies to poetic quotations, but the slash is used (along with the vertical bar) also when publishing ancient documents, etc.:
I remember a wonderful moment: / You appeared before me, / Like a fleeting vision / Like a genius of pure beauty(Pushkin).To indicate the boundaries of larger units of text (stanzas, pages, etc.), the slash is doubled.
2. In bibliographic descriptions, the slash is one of the conventional delimiters.
- A single slash separates the title from the statement of responsibility (editor or compiler, multiple authors, organization, etc.):
- A double slash separates information about the article from the name of the periodical or collection in which the article is published:
3. A slash is used to indicate dates: 9/V 1945, 9/5/1945, etc. Such designations may vary in different countries; in Russian typography they are considered obsolete and undesirable.
4. Years other than the usual calendar are written through a slash (various educational, financial, budget, etc. years, the beginning and end of which do not coincide with the calendar; theater and sports seasons, etc.): 2006/7 academic year G. The same entry is used when recalculating dates from calendars with a different beginning of the year: In summer 6749 (1241/1242). Prince Alexander came to Novgorod, and the Novgorodians were glad.
5. The numbers of corner buildings (simultaneously included in the numbering of two intersecting streets), apartment buildings built on the site of several demolished buildings, or buildings are written through a slash: Zastava Ilyich, 8/1; in this case the sign is read as a “fraction”: In the house there are eight fraction one(S.V. Mikhalkov).
Application in other languages
The use of the slash originates in ancient Rome and extends through early modern times, when the sign was used in fraktur, a form of Gothic writing, replacing the comma sign.
In English
Being more common in English text than in Russian, the slash, in addition to its standard use as a replacement for a conjunction or (male/female- male/female or male/female [gender]) and for abbreviations ( n/a - not available- not available), used instead of a hyphen or em dash, to create a clear, strong connection of words or phrases, as in the phrase the Hemingway/Faulkner generation(Hemingway/Faulkner generation).
As in Russian, it is used to indicate line breaks in poetic quotations (in this case it is called virgule).
When a slash is used between single words, it is usually not separated by spaces. The authoritative Chicago Manual of Style ( English) (in paragraph 6.104) indicates the possibility of such a break when one of the parts it separates already contains a space ( Our New Zealand / Western Australia trip- our trip around Australia / New Zealand).
Mathematics
Typically, the slash is used to denote the mathematical operation of division (along with the colon and horizontal bar), separating the dividend from the divisor. In particular, fractions are usually written separated by a slash. Examples:
3/ 8 (three eighths); x = a / b (x equals a, divided by b).
In English typography, it is customary to distinguish the sign used for fractions from a slash and call this sign solidus. The Unicode for this character is U+2044 ⁄ fraction slash (HTML: ⁄ ⁄) and for the forward slash: U+002F /
Programming and Computer Science
Used in the following situations:
- in most programming languages /
serves as a division operation;
- in combination with the equal sign in /C++ and others. etc. is used in operators of the form a /= b; meaning "to divide" a on b and write the result in a»;
- in combination with an asterisk limits comments in /C++, Java, SQL and others. etc. Such commenting is called block commenting, since you can comment not on a line, but on a specific block:
- double slash ( // ) in the languages C99, C/C++, Java, Delphi and others. other indicates the beginning of a comment that continues until the end of the line;
- in markup languages (HTML, XML, etc., as well as in wiki markup) used at the beginning of closing tags: for example, in the HTML tag means the beginning of bolding, and its paired- end of such selection (return to the original font);
- on UNIX-like systems and in URLs it is used to indicate hierarchical paths to the file : pictures /
image.jpg en.wikipedia.org /
wiki /
Slash
- A slash at the very beginning of a file path on UNIX-like systems indicates that the path is relative to the root directory rather than the current directory. This way of writing a path is referred to as an “absolute path”:
- in the URL, a double bar after the colon separating the protocol name from the request body indicates that the request is addressed:
- On operating systems like RSX-11M, MS-DOS or Windows, a slash distinguishes command parameters (called "switches" or "options") from command arguments: dir / s*.txt
- In IRC and most chats built into computer games, a slash precedes the text of commands (such as entering a room/channel, indicating a first-person action, sending a hidden message, and others): /join#services (entrance to the IRC channel “#services”); /me(sings songs).
- in the names of some composite entities - connects the names of the components:
- TCP/IP - protocol stack based on TCP and ;
- GNU/Linux - operating system based on GNU and Linux;
- Ogg/Vorbis is a file format based on the Ogg media container and the Vorbis audio codec.
Recording cash amounts
Before the conversion of the monetary system in Great Britain to the decimal system, the symbol / used to separate the values of pounds sterling, shillings and pence. The dash meant "zero".
Currently, a similar notation system is used in Tanzania: 10/- or 10/= is 10 Tanzanian shillings.
Church singing
In modern church singing, a slash is used to separate knees in vocal chants, two slashes are used to separate the final knee (when typing text in the so-called “civil font”).
see also
Notes
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Notes
Passage characterizing Slash
- What are we going to sing? – she asked.“The key,” answered Nikolai.
- Well, let's hurry up. Boris, come here,” Natasha said. - Where is Sonya?
She looked around and, seeing that her friend was not in the room, ran after her.
Running into Sonya’s room and not finding her friend there, Natasha ran into the nursery - and Sonya was not there. Natasha realized that Sonya was in the corridor on the chest. The chest in the corridor was the place of sorrows of the younger female generation of the Rostov house. Indeed, Sonya in her airy pink dress, crushing it, lay face down on her nanny’s dirty striped feather bed, on the chest and, covering her face with her fingers, cried bitterly, shaking her bare shoulders. Natasha's face, animated, with a birthday all day, suddenly changed: her eyes stopped, then her wide neck shuddered, the corners of her lips drooped.
- Sonya! what are you?... What, what's wrong with you? Wow wow!…
And Natasha, opening her big mouth and becoming completely stupid, began to roar like a child, not knowing the reason and only because Sonya was crying. Sonya wanted to raise her head, wanted to answer, but she couldn’t and hid even more. Natasha cried, sitting down on the blue feather bed and hugging her friend. Having gathered her strength, Sonya stood up, began to wipe away her tears and tell the story.
- Nikolenka is leaving in a week, his... paper... came out... he told me himself... Yes, I still wouldn’t cry... (she showed the piece of paper she was holding in her hand: it was poetry written by Nikolai) I still wouldn’t cry, but you didn’t you can... no one can understand... what kind of soul he has.
And she again began to cry because his soul was so good.
“You feel good... I don’t envy you... I love you, and Boris too,” she said, gathering a little strength, “he’s cute... there are no obstacles for you.” And Nikolai is my cousin... I need... the metropolitan himself... and that’s impossible. And then, if mamma... (Sonya considered the countess and called her mother), she will say that I am ruining Nikolai’s career, I have no heart, that I am ungrateful, but really... for God’s sake... (she crossed herself) I love her so much too , and all of you, only Vera... For what? What did I do to her? I am so grateful to you that I would be glad to sacrifice everything, but I have nothing...
Sonya could no longer speak and again hid her head in her hands and the feather bed. Natasha began to calm down, but her face showed that she understood the importance of her friend’s grief.
- Sonya! - she said suddenly, as if she had guessed the real reason for her cousin’s grief. – That’s right, Vera talked to you after dinner? Yes?
– Yes, Nikolai himself wrote these poems, and I copied others; She found them on my table and said that she would show them to mamma, and also said that I was ungrateful, that mamma would never allow him to marry me, and he would marry Julie. You see how he is with her all day... Natasha! For what?…
And again she cried more bitterly than before. Natasha lifted her up, hugged her and, smiling through her tears, began to calm her down.
- Sonya, don’t believe her, darling, don’t believe her. Do you remember how all three of us talked with Nikolenka in the sofa room; remember after dinner? After all, we decided everything how it would be. I don’t remember how, but you remember how everything was good and everything was possible. Uncle Shinshin’s brother is married to a cousin, and we are second cousins. And Boris said that this is very possible. You know, I told him everything. And he is so smart and so good,” Natasha said... “You, Sonya, don’t cry, my dear darling, Sonya.” - And she kissed her, laughing. - Faith is evil, God bless her! But everything will be fine, and she won’t tell mamma; Nikolenka will say it himself, and he didn’t even think about Julie.
And she kissed her on the head. Sonya stood up, and the kitten perked up, his eyes sparkled, and he seemed ready to wave his tail, jump on his soft paws and play with the ball again, as was proper for him.
- You think? Right? By God? – she said, quickly straightening her dress and hair.
- Really, by God! – Natasha answered, straightening a stray strand of coarse hair under her friend’s braid.
And they both laughed.
- Well, let's go sing "The Key."
- Let's go to.
“You know, this fat Pierre who was sitting opposite me is so funny!” – Natasha suddenly said, stopping. - I'm having a lot of fun!
And Natasha ran down the corridor.
Sonya, shaking off the fluff and hiding the poems in her bosom, to her neck with protruding chest bones, with light, cheerful steps, with a flushed face, ran after Natasha along the corridor to the sofa. At the request of the guests, the young people sang the “Key” quartet, which everyone really liked; then Nikolai sang the song he had learned again.
On a pleasant night, in the moonlight,
Imagine yourself happily
That there is still someone in the world,
Who thinks about you too!
As she, with her beautiful hand,
Walking along the golden harp,
With its passionate harmony
Calling to itself, calling you!
Another day or two, and heaven will come...
But ah! your friend won't live!
And he had not yet finished singing the last words when the young people in the hall were preparing to dance and the musicians in the choir began to knock their feet and cough.
Pierre was sitting in the living room, where Shinshin, as if with a visitor from abroad, began a political conversation with him that was boring for Pierre, to which others joined. When the music started playing, Natasha entered the living room and, going straight to Pierre, laughing and blushing, said:
- Mom told me to ask you to dance.
“I’m afraid of confusing the figures,” said Pierre, “but if you want to be my teacher...”
And he offered his thick hand, lowering it low, to the thin girl.
While the couples were settling down and the musicians were lining up, Pierre sat down with his little lady. Natasha was completely happy; she danced with a big one, with someone who came from abroad. She sat in front of everyone and talked to him like a big girl. She had a fan in her hand, which one young lady had given her to hold. And, assuming the most secular pose (God knows where and when she learned this), she, fanning herself and smiling through the fan, spoke to her gentleman.
- What is it, what is it? Look, look,” said the old countess, passing through the hall and pointing at Natasha.
Natasha blushed and laughed.
- Well, what about you, mom? Well, what kind of hunt are you looking for? What's surprising here?
In the middle of the third eco-session, the chairs in the living room, where the count and Marya Dmitrievna were playing, began to move, and most of the honored guests and old people, stretching after a long sitting and putting wallets and purses in their pockets, walked out the doors of the hall. Marya Dmitrievna walked ahead with the count - both with cheerful faces. The Count, with playful politeness, like a ballet, offered his rounded hand to Marya Dmitrievna. He straightened up, and his face lit up with a particularly brave, sly smile, and as soon as the last figure of the ecosaise was danced, he clapped his hands to the musicians and shouted to the choir, addressing the first violin:
- Semyon! Do you know Danila Kupor?
This was the count's favorite dance, danced by him in his youth. (Danilo Kupor was actually one figure of the Angles.)
“Look at dad,” Natasha shouted to the whole hall (completely forgetting that she was dancing with a big one), bending her curly head to her knees and bursting into her ringing laughter throughout the hall.
Indeed, everyone in the hall looked with a smile of joy at the cheerful old man, who, next to his dignified lady, Marya Dmitrievna, who was taller than him, rounded his arms, shaking them in time, straightened his shoulders, twisted his legs, slightly stamping his feet, and with a more and more blooming smile on his round face, he prepared the audience for what was to come. As soon as the cheerful, defiant sounds of Danila Kupor, similar to a cheerful chatterbox, were heard, all the doors of the hall were suddenly filled with men's faces on one side and women's smiling faces of servants on the other, who came out to look at the merry master.
- Father is ours! Eagle! – the nanny said loudly from one door.
The count danced well and knew it, but his lady did not know how and did not want to dance well. Her huge body stood upright with her powerful arms hanging down (she handed the reticule to the Countess); only her stern but beautiful face danced. What was expressed in the count's entire round figure, in Marya Dmitrievna was expressed only in an increasingly smiling face and a twitching nose. But if the count, becoming more and more dissatisfied, captivated the audience with the surprise of deft twists and light jumps of his soft legs, Marya Dmitrievna, with the slightest zeal in moving her shoulders or rounding her arms in turns and stamping, made no less an impression on merit, which everyone appreciated her obesity and ever-present severity. The dance became more and more animated. The counterparts could not attract attention to themselves for a minute and did not even try to do so. Everything was occupied by the count and Marya Dmitrievna. Natasha pulled the sleeves and dresses of all those present, who were already keeping their eyes on the dancers, and demanded that they look at daddy. During the intervals of the dance, the Count took a deep breath, waved and shouted to the musicians to play quickly. Quicker, quicker and quicker, faster and faster and faster, the count unfolded, now on tiptoes, now on heels, rushing around Marya Dmitrievna and, finally, turning his lady to her place, made the last step, raising his soft leg up from behind, bending his sweaty head with a smiling face and roundly waving his right hand amid the roar of applause and laughter, especially from Natasha. Both dancers stopped, panting heavily and wiping themselves with cambric handkerchiefs.
“This is how they danced in our time, ma chere,” said the count.
- Oh yes Danila Kupor! - Marya Dmitrievna said, letting out the spirit heavily and for a long time, rolling up her sleeves.
While the Rostovs were dancing the sixth anglaise in the hall to the sounds of tired musicians out of tune, and tired waiters and cooks were preparing dinner, the sixth blow struck Count Bezukhy. The doctors declared that there was no hope of recovery; the patient was given silent confession and communion; They were making preparations for the unction, and in the house there was the bustle and anxiety of expectation, common at such moments. Outside the house, behind the gates, undertakers crowded, hiding from the approaching carriages, awaiting a rich order for the count's funeral. The Commander-in-Chief of Moscow, who constantly sent adjutants to inquire about the Count’s position, that evening himself came to say goodbye to the famous Catherine’s nobleman, Count Bezukhim.
The magnificent reception room was full. Everyone stood up respectfully when the commander-in-chief, having been alone with the patient for about half an hour, came out of there, slightly returning the bows and trying as quickly as possible to pass by the gazes of doctors, clergy and relatives fixed on him. Prince Vasily, who had lost weight and turned pale during these days, saw off the commander-in-chief and quietly repeated something to him several times.
Having seen off the commander-in-chief, Prince Vasily sat down alone on a chair in the hall, crossing his legs high, resting his elbow on his knee and closing his eyes with his hand. After sitting like this for some time, he stood up and with unusually hasty steps, looking around with frightened eyes, walked through the long corridor to the back half of the house, to the eldest princess.
Those in the dimly lit room spoke in an uneven whisper to each other and fell silent each time and, with eyes full of question and expectation, looked back at the door that led to the dying man’s chambers and made a faint sound when someone came out of it or entered it.
“The human limit,” said the old man, a clergyman, to the lady who sat down next to him and naively listened to him, “the limit has been set, but you cannot pass it.”
“I’m wondering if it’s too late to perform unction?” - adding the spiritual title, the lady asked, as if she had no opinion of her own on this matter.
“It’s a great sacrament, mother,” answered the clergyman, running his hand over his bald spot, along which ran several strands of combed, half-gray hair.
-Who is this? was the commander in chief himself? - they asked at the other end of the room. - How youthful!...
- And the seventh decade! What, they say, the count won’t find out? Did you want to perform unction?
“I knew one thing: I had taken unction seven times.”
The second princess just left the patient’s room with tear-stained eyes and sat down next to Doctor Lorrain, who was sitting in a graceful pose under the portrait of Catherine, leaning his elbows on the table.
