在从公众视野消失十天之后，本周一俄罗斯总统普京现身，对于他在“失踪”期间有关他身体健康等传言一笑置之。

　　The 62-year-old leader met the president of Kyrgyzstan at a lavish Tsarist-era palace outside St Petersburg in his first appearance since March 5. His absence had fuelled rumours he was ill, had been overthrown by the army or had even flown abroad to attend the birth of a love child.

　　今年已经62岁的普京在圣彼得堡市市郊的康斯坦丁宫与吉尔吉斯斯坦总统会晤，这是普京自3月5日后的首次露面。在普京消失期间有关他的各种谣言满天飞：生病、被军队赶下台、新添了一个孩子等。

　　"It would be boring without gossip," Putin said, smiling easily before television cameras. He looked relaxed, if pale.“

　　如果没有八卦，我们会觉得很无聊的。”面对镜头普京笑称。他看起来很轻松。

　　His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, mocked the press for its interest, referring sarcastically to the various rumours: "So you've seen the broken, paralysed president, who has been captured by generals? He's only just flown in from Switzerland, where he attended a birth as you know."

　　普京的发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫在网上发布了一段话，通过引用各种传言讽刺了媒体：“现在你们终于看到那个健康状况不佳的总统了吧，他之前不是被军队抓起来了么？其实他只是刚从瑞士飞回来，他刚添了个孩子这事你们不都知道了么！”

　　In a choreographed double-act, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev vouched for the Russian leader's health, saying that Putin "just now drove me around the grounds; he himself sat at the wheel."

　　吉尔吉斯斯坦总统阿坦巴耶夫也间接澄清了普京的健康谣言。他说，在两人举行会晤前，普京“还亲自坐上驾驶席，开车带着我到处转转”。

　　Putin's return to public view coincided with Russia's biggest military exercises since ties with the West sank to a post-Cold War low over the Ukraine crisis.

　　普京的重新回归恰好迎来了俄罗斯最大的军事演习，自从乌克兰危机之后俄罗斯同西方的关系降到了冷战后的水平。

　　Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Putin had ordered nearly 40,000 troops to be at combat readiness for exercises in Russia's Arctic North and elsewhere, which appeared meant to dwarf war games in neighbouring NATO-member Norway.

　　俄国防部长谢尔盖·绍伊古称，普京已经下令，近4万名军人已在北极圈北部及其他地方做好了演习的各种准备，这让俄罗斯的邻国—北约成员国挪威的军事演习规模相形见绌。

　　The Russian leader prides himself on his macho image. In 2008 he said he worked like a "galley slave" to run Russia. Typically, he is shown most days on state-controlled television, meeting officials in Moscow or travelling to Russia's far-flung regions.

　　普京总统一直以自己的英汉形象为骄傲。2008年他曾说他像一名苦役一样为俄罗斯工作。确实，他经常数天出现在国家电视台中，不是在莫斯科接见官员就是在俄罗斯的辽阔土地上奔波。

　　During his absence, the Kremlin unexpectedly cancelled a trip to Kazakhstan and a high profile meeting with officers of the main successor agency to the KGB. Pictures were posted on the Kremlin website of meetings Putin had with public figures, which, it later emerged, had been taken several days earlier.

　　普京消失期间，克里姆林宫意外地取消了其访问哈萨克斯坦的行程，以及会见克格勃继任人员的会议。克里姆林宫的官网上出现的都是普京之前一些活动的照片。

　　Throughout his absence Russian officials had said that Putin had been working. Peskov said he had answered "10 times over" what Putin was doing during his absence. "It is impossible to say anymore," he said.

　　俄官方人员称“失踪”期间普京一直都在工作。佩斯科夫说有关“普京失踪期间到底在干什么”的问题他已经回答了十余次了。“其他的确实无可奉告。”

　　The military exercises are due to last for much of the week, during which Russia will celebrate the anniversary of its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

　　俄罗斯本次的军事演习会持续几周时间，这期间俄罗斯还会庆祝兼并乌克兰克里米亚半岛纪念日。