Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
Шрифт:
and the lean saturnine (мрачный, угрюмый ['sжt:nain]) Tessio inspired confidence.
The job itself went off without a hitch (зацепка, заминка). Vito Corleone felt no fear,
much to his astonishment, when his two comrades flashed guns and made the driver
get out of the silk truck. He was also impressed with the coolness of Clemenza and
Tessio. They didn't get excited but joked with the driver, told him if he was a good lad
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they'd send his wife a few dresses. Because Vito thought it stupid to peddle (торговать
вразнос) dresses himself and so gave his whole share of stock to the fence (забор,
ограда;
dollars. But this was a considerable sum of money in 1919.
The next day on the street, Vito Corleone was stopped by the cream-suited, white-
fedoraed Fanucci. Fanucci was a brutal-looking man and he had done nothing to
disguise the circular scar that stretched in a white semicircle from ear to ear, looping
(loop – петля; to loop – делать петлю) under his chin. He had heavy black brows and
coarse features which, when he smiled, were in some odd way amiable.
He spoke with a very thick Sicilian accent. "Ah, young fellow," he said to Vito. "People
tell me you're rich. You and your two friends. But don't you think you've treated me a
little shabbily (shabby – протертый, потрепанный; низкий, подлый)? After all, this is
my neighborhood and you should let me wet my beak (клюв)." He used the Sicilian
phrase of the Mafia, "Fari vagnari a pizzu." Pizzu means the beak of any small bird such
as a canary. The phrase itself was a demand for part of the loot.
As was his habit, Vito Corleone did not answer. He understood the implication (намек,
подтекст; to implicate – вовлекать, впутывать; заключать в себе, подразумевать)
immediately and was waiting for a definite demand.
Fanucci smiled at him, showing gold teeth and stretching his noose-like scar tight
around his face. He mopped his face with a handkerchief and unbuttoned his jacket for
a moment as if to cool himself but really to show the gun he carried stuck in the
waistband of his comfortably wide trousers. Then he sighed and said, "Give me five
hundred dollars and I'll forget the insult. After all, young people don't know the
courtesies due a man like myself."
Vito Corleone smiled at him and even as a young man still unblooded (еще не
запятнанный кровью), there was something so chilling in his smile that Fanucci
hesitated a moment before going on. "Otherwise the police will come to see you, your
wife and children will be shamed and destitute (останется
лишенный средств /к существованию/). Of course if my information as to your gains is
incorrect I'll dip (погружать /в жидкость/, окунать) my beak just a little. But no less than
three hundred dollars. And don't try to deceive me."
For the first time Vito Corleone spoke. His voice was reasonable, showed no anger. It
was courteous, as befitted a young man speaking to an older man of Fanucci's
eminence (высота; высокое положение). He said softly, "My two friends have my
share of the money, I'll have to speak to them."
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Fanucci was reassured. "You can tell your two friends that I expect them to let me wet
my beak in the same manner. Don't be afraid to tell them," he added reassuringly.
"Clemenza and I know each other well, he understands these things. Let yourself be
guided by him. He has more experience in these matters."
Vito Corleone shrugged. He tried to look a little embarrassed. "Of course," he said.
"You understand this is all new to me. Thank you for speaking to me as a godfather."
Fanucci was impressed. "You're a good fellow," he said. He took Vito's hand and
clasped it in both of his hairy ones. "You have respect," he said. "A fine thing in the
young. Next time speak to me first, eh? Perhaps I can help you in your plans."
In later years Vito Corleone understood that what had made him act in such a perfect,
tactical way with Fanucci was the death of his own hot-tempered father who had been
killed by the Mafia in Sicily. But at that time all he felt was an icy rage that this man
planned to rob him of the money he had risked his life and freedom to earn. He had not
been afraid. Indeed he thought, at that moment, that Fanucci was a crazy fool. From
what he had seen of Clemenza, that burly Sicilian would sooner give up his life than a
penny of his loot. After all, Clemenza had been ready to kill a policeman merely to steal
a rug. And the slender Tessio had the deadly air of a viper (гадюка ['vaip]).
But later that night, in Clemenza's tenement apartment across the air shaft, Vito
Corleone received another lesson in the education he had just begun. Clemenza cursed,
Tessio scowled (to scowl [skaul] – хмуриться, смотреть сердито), but then both men
started talking about whether Fanucci would be satisfied with two hundred dollars.