本卷收入契诃夫1887年创作的短篇小说53篇，这些作品反映了作者的思想探索活动，从中可以看到托尔斯泰主义对契诃夫的影响。《乞丐》描写了一个善良的厨娘，她以宽容的精神和高尚的行动感化、挽救了一个酗酒行乞的叫花子，使他改邪归正，成为一个自食其力的劳动者。《仇视》通过老爷阿包金请医生基利洛夫出诊而发生的道德冲突，揭露了有钱人的自私和卑俗。《幸福》叙述了一个饶有诗意的故事，展示了一幅美妙的草原风景画、夜晚、晨光、古墓、羊群和三个人影被勾勒得栩栩如生，一老一少两个牧羊人和地主家的管事在辽阔的大草原上愉快地谈论着离奇的、神秘的人间幸福，反映了普通百姓对美好生活的憧憬。 (About 53 short and excellent novels composed by Cheknov in 1887 are collected in this volume. These works reflected the thought and exploration of the author and we can see the influence of Tolstoy doctrine. As depicted in the Beggar, a good woman cook influenced a hard-drinking beggar with her tolerance and nobility and changed the beggar into a labor worker. As written in the Hatred, a rich man asked doctor Kilinov to pay him a visit. Both had moral conflict, revealing the selfishness and vulgar of the rich. As for the story in Happiness, this is a poetic story, showing us a beautiful grassland landscape, with three figures and sheep at night, dawn and the tomb, respectively. An old and a young shepherd and the landlord's steward talked about bizarre and mysterious human happiness at the vast prairie. This reflected the vision of a better life of ordinary people.)