Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
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misfortune and I must bear it, not make the innocent world around me suffer with me.
And so I say, I give my honor, that I will never seek vengeance, I will never seek
knowledge of the deeds that have been done in the past. I will leave here with a pure
heart.
"Let me say that we must always look to our interests. We are all men who have
refused to be fools, who have refused to be puppets dancing on a string pulled by the
men on high. We have been fortunate here in this country. Already most of our children
have found a better life. Some of you have sons who are professors, scientists,
musicians, and you are fortunate. Perhaps your grandchildren will become the new
pezzonovanti. None of us here want to see our children follow in our footsteps, it's too
hard a life. They can be as others, their position and security won by our courage. I
have grandchildren now and I hope their children may someday, who knows, be a
governor, a President, nothing's impossible here in America. But we have to progress
with the times. The time is past for guns and killings and massacres. We have to be
cunning like the business people, there's more money in it and it's better for our children
and our grandchildren.
"As for our own deeds, we are not responsible to the .90 calibers, the pezzonovantis
who take it upon themselves to decide what we shall do with our lives, who declare
wars they wish us to fight in to protect what they own. Who is to say we should obey the
laws they make for their own interest and to our hurt? And who are they then to meddle
when we look after our own interests? Sonna cosa nostra," Don Corleone said, "these
are our own affairs. We will manage our world for ourselves because it is our world,
cosa nostra. And so we have to stick together to guard against outside meddlers.
Otherwise they will put the ring in our nose as they have put the ring in the nose of all
the millions of Neapolitans and other Italians in this country.
"For this reason I forgo my vengeance for my dead son, for the common good. I
swear now that as long as I am responsible for the actions of my Family there will not be
one finger lifted against any man here without just cause and utmost provocation. I am
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willing to sacrifice my commercial interests for the common good. This is my word, this
is my honor, there are those of you here who know I have never betrayed either.
"But I have a selfish interest. My youngest son had to flee, accused of Sollozzo's
murder and that of a police captain. I must now make arrangements so that he can
come home with safety, cleared of all those false charges. That is my affair and I will
make those arrangements. I must find the real culprits (culprit –
преступник, виновный ['klprit]) perhaps, or perhaps I must convince the authorities of
his innocence, perhaps the witnesses and informants will recant (отрекаться,
отказываться от своего мнения [ri'kжnt]) their lies. But again I say that this is my affair
and I believe I will be able to bring my son home.
"But let me say this. I am a superstitious man, a ridiculous failing but I must confess it
here. And so if some unlucky accident should befall my youngest son, if some police
officer should accidentally shoot him, if he should hang himself in his cell, if new
witnesses appear to testify to his guilt, my superstition will make me feel that it was the
result of the ill will still borne me by some people here. Let me go further. If my son is
struck by a bolt of lightning I will blame some of the people here. If his plane should fall
into the sea or his ship sink beneath the waves of the ocean, if he should catch a mortal
fever, if his automobile should be struck by a train, such is my superstition that I would
blame the ill will felt by people here. Gentlemen, that ill will, that bad luck, I could never
forgive. But aside from that let me swear by the souls of my grandchildren that I will
never break the peace we have made. After all, are we or are we not better men than
those pezzonovanti who have killed countless millions of men in our lifetimes?"
With this Don Corleone stepped from his place and went down the table to where Don
Phillip Tattaglia was sitting. Tattaglia rose to greet him and the two men embraced,
kissing each other's cheeks. The other Dons in the room applauded and rose to shake
hands with everybody in sight and to congratulate Don Corleone and Don Tattaglia on
their new friendship. It was not perhaps the warmest friendship in the world, they would
not send each other Christmas gift greetings, but they would not murder each other.
That was friendship enough in this world, all that was needed.
Since his son Freddie was under the protection of the Molinari Family in the West,
Don Corleone lingered with the San Francisco Don after the meeting to thank him.
Molinari said enough for Don Corleone to gather that Freddie had found his niche out