Английский язык с У. С. Моэмом. На окраине империи. Рассказы
Шрифт:
He paused (он сделал паузу).
"I think this place was beautiful (я думаю, это место было красивым) because here for a period (потому что здесь на некоторое время) the ecstasy of love had invested it with beauty (восторг любви окутал его красотой)." And now he shrugged his shoulders (и тотчас же он пожал плечами). "But perhaps it is only (но, может быть, это просто) that my aesthetic sense is gratified (моему эстетическому чувству доставляет удовольствие) by the happy conjunction of young love and a suitable setting (удачное сочетание молодой любви и подходящей обстановки)."
unearthly [An`WTlI], fragrance [`freIgr(q)ns], meadow [`medqu]
"And presently I found out why the spot had such an unearthly loveliness. Here love had tarried for a moment like a migrant bird that happens on a ship in mid-ocean and for a little while folds its tired wings. The fragrance of a beautiful passion hovered over it like the fragrance of hawthorn in May in the meadows of my home. It seems to me that the places where men have loved or suffered keep about them always some faint aroma of something that has not wholly died. It is as though they had acquired a spiritual significance which mysteriously affects those who pass. I wish I could make myself clear." He smiled a little. "Though I cannot imagine that if I did you would understand."
He paused.
"I think this place was beautiful because here for a period the ecstasy of love had invested it with beauty." And now he shrugged his shoulders. "But perhaps it is only that my aesthetic sense is gratified by the happy conjunction of young love and a suitable setting."
Even a man less thick-witted than the skipper (даже
He was silent for an instant (он замолчал на мгновение) and looked at the captain with eyes (и посмотрел на капитана глазами) in which there was a sudden perplexity (в которых неожиданно мелькнуло: «было неожиданное» недоумение/растерянность).
"You know, I can’t help thinking (вы знаете, я не могу удержаться от мысли; tohelp— помогать; избегать, удерживать/ся/;to think— думать) that I’ve seen you before somewhere or other (что я видел вас раньше где-то)," he said.
"I couldn’t say as I remember you (а я не припоминаю вас: «я не мог бы сказать, что я помню вас»)," returned the skipper (возразил шкипер).
"I have a curious feeling (у меня /такое/ странное чувство) as though your face were familiar to me (как будто бы ваше лицо мне знакомо). It’s been puzzling me for some time (это мучило меня некоторое время; to puzzle— озадачивать; ставить в тупик). But I can’t situate my recollection in any place or at any time (но я не могу вспомнить, где и когда /я вас видел/: «но я не могу поместить свои воспоминания в какое бы то ни было место или время»)."
The skipper massively shrugged his heavy shoulders (шкипер тяжело пожал своими крупными плечами).
"It’s thirty years since I first come to the islands (/прошло уже/ тридцать лет, с тех пор как я впервые приехал на эти острова). A man can’t figure on (нельзя
laugh [lRf], sentimentality ["sentImen`txlItI], folk [fquk]
Even a man less thick-witted than the skipper might have been forgiven if he were bewildered by Neilson’s words. For he seemed faintly to laugh at what he said. It was as though he spoke from emotion which his intellect found ridiculous. He had said himself that he was a sentimentalist, and when sentimentality is joined with scepticism there is often the devil to pay.
He was silent for an instant and looked at the captain with eyes in which there was a sudden perplexity.
"You know, I can’t help thinking that I’ve seen you before somewhere or other," he said.
"I couldn’t say as I remember you," returned the skipper.
"I have a curious feeling as though your face were familiar to me. It’s been puzzling me for some time. But I can’t situate my recollection in any place or at any time."
The skipper massively shrugged his heavy shoulders.
"It’s thirty years since I first come to the islands. A man can’t figure on remembering all the folk he meets in a while like that."
The Swede shook his head (швед /отрицательно/ покачал головой).
"You know how one sometimes has the feeling (вы знаете, как иногда охватывает чувство; one— один; также употребляется в неопределенно-личных предложениях) that a place one has never been to before (что какое-то место, /где/ никогда /не/ был раньше) is strangely familiar (странным образом знакомо /тебе/). That’s how I seem to see you (вот каким образом, кажется, я /и/ вижу вас)." He gave a whimsical smile (он странно улыбнулся;whimsical — причудливый). "Perhaps I knew you in some past existence (может быть, я знал вас в какой-нибудь прошлой жизни). Perhaps, perhaps you were the master of a galley in ancient Rome (может быть, вы были управляющим на галере в Древнем Риме; master — хозяин, владелец; господин;мастер) and I was a slave at the oar (а я был рабом у весла). Thirty years have you been here (вы тридцать лет /уже/ здесь)?"
"Every bit of thirty years (все тридцать лет до одного; every— каждый;bit— кусочек, небольшое количество)."
"I wonder if you knew a man called Red (интересно, знали ли вы человека по имени Рыжий)?"
"Red?"
"That is the only name I’ve ever known him by (только под этим именем я его всегда /и/ знал). I never knew him personally (я никогда /не/ знал его лично). I never even set eyes on him (я никогда даже /не/ видел его; to set— класть, ставить, размещать;eye— глаз; взгляд). And yet I seem to see him more clearly than many men (и все же, кажется, я вижу его более ясно, чем многих /других/ людей), my brothers, for instance (моих братьев, например), with whom I passed my daily life for many years (с которыми я проводил все дни: «мою ежедневную жизнь» в течение многих лет). He lives in my imagination with the distinctness of a Paolo Malatesta or a Romeo (он живет в моем воображении также ясно, как какой-нибудь Паоло Малатеста или Ромео; with— с;distinctness— отчетливость, ясность). But I daresay you have never read Dante or Shakespeare (но полагаю: «осмелюсь сказать», вы никогда /не/ читали Данте или Шекспира)?"