Английский язык с У. С. Моэмом. На окраине империи. Рассказы
Шрифт:
cousin [kAzn], wrinkle [rINkl], business [`bIznIs]
"Well, when Red came to the island it had recently been visited by one of those epidemics which the white man brought to the South Seas, and one third of the inhabitants had died. It seems that the girl had lost all her near kin and she lived now in the house of distant cousins. The household consisted of two ancient crones, bowed and wrinkled, two younger women, and a man and a boy. For a few days he stayed there. But perhaps he felt himself too near the shore, with the possibility that he might fall in with white men who would reveal his hiding-place; perhaps the lovers could not bear that the company of others should rob them for an instant of the delight of being together. One morning they set out, the pair of them, with the few things that belonged to the girl, and walked along a grassy path under the coconuts, till they came to the creek you see. They had to cross the bridge you crossed, and the girl laughed gleefully because he was afraid. She held his hand till they came to the end of the first tree, and then his courage failed him and he had to go back. He was obliged to take off all his clothes before he could risk it, and she carried them over for him on her head. They settled down in the empty hut that stood there. Whether she had any rights over it (land tenure is a complicated business in the islands), or whether the owner had died during the epidemic, I do not know, but anyhow no one questioned them, and they took possession. Their furniture consisted of a couple of grass-mats on which they slept, a fragment of looking-glass, and a bowl or two. In this pleasant land that is enough to start housekeeping on.
"They say that happy people have no history (говорят,
lethargic [le`TRGIk], delicious [dI`lISqs], breadfruit [`bredfrHt]
"They say that happy people have no history, and certainly a happy love has none. They did nothing all day long and yet the days seemed all too short. The girl had a native name, but Red called her Sally. He picked up the easy language very quickly, and he used to lie on the mat for hours while she chattered gaily to him. He was a silent fellow, and perhaps his mind was lethargic. He smoked incessantly the cigarettes which she made him out of the native tobacco and pandanus leaf, and he watched her while with deft fingers she made grass mats. Often natives would come in and tell long stories of the old days when the island was disturbed by tribal wars. Sometimes he would go fishing on the reef, and bring home a basket full of coloured fish. Sometimes at night he would go out with a lantern to catch lobster. There were plantains round the hut and Sally would roast them for their frugal meal. She knew how to make delicious messes from coconuts, and the breadfruit tree by the side of the creek gave them its fruit. On feast-days they killed a little pig and cooked it on hot stones.
"They bathed together in the creek (они вместе купались в речке); and in the evening they went down to the lagoon (а вечером они спускались к лагуне) and paddled about in a dugout, with its great outrigger (и катались туда-сюда в челноке с его огромным стабилизатором; to paddle — грести; плыть в лодке, используя весла; outrigger — кусок дерева или бамбука в форме лодки, устанавливаемый параллельно корпусу лодки для придания устойчивости). The sea was deep blue (море было темно-синим; deep — глубокий; насыщенный, темный), wine-coloured at sundown (бордовым: «цвета /красного/ вина» на закате солнца), like the sea of Homeric Greece (словно море гомеровской Греции); but in the lagoon the colour had an infinite variety (но в лагуне /же/ этот цвет был бесконечно многообразен: «имел бесконечное многообразие»), aquamarine and amethyst and emerald (аквамариновый, аметистовый и изумрудный); and the setting sun turned it for a short moment to liquid gold (а заходящее солнце превращало его на короткое мгновение в жидкое золото). Then there was the colour of the coral (потом там был /еще/ цвет кораллов), brown (коричневых), white (белых), pink (розовых), red (красных), purple (фиолетовых); and the shapes it took were marvellous (и формы, /которые/ они принимали, были изумительны). It was like a magic garden (это было похоже на волшебный сад), and the hurrying fish were like butterflies (а спешащие /куда-то/ рыбки были словно бабочки). It strangely lacked reality (/все/ это было удивительно нереальным; to lack— испытывать недостаток;reality— реальность). Among the coral were pools with a floor of white sand (между кораллов были небольшие пространства с дном, /покрытым/ белым песком) and here, where the water was dazzling clear (и здесь, где вода была изумительно чистой), it was very good to bathe (было очень хорошо купаться). Then, cool and happy (после, освеженные и счастливые; cool— прохладный, свежий), they wandered back in the gloaming over the soft grass road to the creek (они брели назад в сумерках по /заросшей/ мягкой травой дороге к речке), walking hand in hand (шагая рука об руку), and now the mynah birds filled the coconut trees with their clamour (а в то время птицы майна наполняли кокосовые пальмы своими криками). And then the night, with that great sky shining with gold (а потом эта ночь с этим огромным небом, /как бы/ сиявшим золотом), that seemed to stretch more widely than the skies of Europe (которое, казалось, тянулось = было шире, чем небеса в Европе), and the soft airs that blew gently through the open hut (и этот теплый ветерок, который ласково продувал /их/ открытую хижину; air— воздух; атмосфера; легкий ветерок, дуновение), the long night again was all too short (длинная ночь опять /же/ была слишком короткой). She was sixteen and he was barely twenty (ей было шестнадцать, а ему едва ли двадцать). The dawn crept in among the wooden pillars of the hut (рассвет проникал между деревянных столбов хижины; to creep— ползти; to creep in— просачиваться, постепенно появляться) and looked at those lovely children sleeping in one another’s arms (и
aquamarine ["xkwqmq`rJn], liquid [`lIkwId], butterfly [`bAtqflaI]
"They bathed together in the creek; and in the evening they went down to the lagoon and paddled about in a dug-out, with its great outrigger. The sea was deep blue, wine-coloured at sundown, like the sea of Homeric Greece; but in the lagoon the colour had an infinite variety, aquamarine and amethyst and emerald; and the setting sun turned it for a short moment to liquid gold. Then there was the colour of the coral, brown, white, pink, red, purple; and the shapes it took were marvellous. It was like a magic garden, and the hurrying fish were like butterflies. It strangely lacked reality. Among the coral were pools with a floor of white sand and here, where the water was dazzling clear, it was very good to bathe. Then, cool and happy, they wandered back in the gloaming over the soft grass road to the creek, walking hand in hand, and now the mynah birds filled the coconut trees with their clamour. And then the night, with that great sky shining with gold, that seemed to stretch more widely than the skies of Europe, and the soft airs that blew gently through the open hut, the long night again was all too short. She was sixteen and he was barely twenty. The dawn crept in among the wooden pillars of the hut and looked at those lovely children sleeping in one another’s arms. The sun hid behind the great tattered leaves of the plantains so that it might not disturb them, and then, with playful malice, shot a golden ray, like the outstretched paw of a Persian cat, on their faces. They opened their sleepy eyes and they smiled to welcome another day.
"The weeks lengthened into months (недели постепенно перешли в месяцы), and a year passed (и /вот/ прошел год). They seemed to love one another as (они, казалось, любили друг друга также; as… as… — так же…как) — I hesitate to say passionately (я не решаюсь сказать страстно; to hesitate — колебаться), for passion has in it always a shade of sadness (ибо в страсти всегда присутствует оттенок печали), a touch of bitterness or anguish (налет горечи или страдания), but as whole-heartedly (но так же искренно: «от всего сердца»), as simply and naturally as on that first day (также просто и естественно, как в тот первый день) on which, meeting, they had recognised that a god was in them (в который, встречаясь/знакомясь, они осознали, что в них был бог).
If you had asked them (если бы вы спросили их) I have no doubt (я не сомневаюсь) that they would have thought it impossible to suppose (что они бы подумали, /что/ это невозможно /даже/ предположить) their love could ever cease (/что/ их любовь могла бы когда-нибудь закончиться; to cease— прекращаться). Do we not know that the essential element of love (разве мы не знаем, что неотъемлемая часть любви; essential — существенный; необходимый) is a belief in its own eternity (это вера в ее собственное бессмертие; eternity — вечность)? And yet perhaps in Red there was already a very little seed (и все же, может быть, в Рыжем уже зародилось: «было» очень маленькое зернышко), unknown to himself and unsuspected by the girl (неизвестное ему самому и незаподозренное девушкой), which would in time have grown to weariness (которое бы со временем переросло в скуку). For one day one of the natives from the cove told them (ибо однажды один из туземцев из той бухты рассказал им) that some way down the coast at the anchorage was a British whaling-ship (что где-то недалеко от берега на якоре стояло английское китобойное судно; down — вниз; ниже по, вдоль по; anchorage — якорная стоянка).
"‘Gee,’ he said (вот здорово, — сказал он), ‘I wonder if I could make a trade of some nuts and plantains (интересно, смог бы я совершить сделку = обменять немного орехов и диких бананов) for a pound or two of tobacco (на один-два фунта табака).’
lengthen [`leNT(q)n], touch [tAC], weariness [`wIqrInIs]
"The weeks lengthened into months, and a year passed. They seemed to love one another as — I hesitate to say passionately, for passion has in it always a shade of sadness, a touch of bitterness or anguish, but as whole-heartedly, as simply and naturally as on that first day on which, meeting, they had recognised that a god was in them.
If you had asked them I have no doubt that they would have thought it impossible to suppose their love could ever cease. Do we not know that the essential element of love is a belief in its own eternity? And yet perhaps in Red there was already a very little seed, unknown to himself and unsuspected by the girl, which would in time have grown to weariness. For one day one of the natives from the cove told them that some way down the coast at the anchorage was a British whaling-ship.
"‘Gee,’ he said, ‘I wonder if I could make a trade of some nuts and plantains for a pound or two of tobacco.’
"The pandanus cigarettes that Sally made him with untiring hands (пандановые сигареты, которые Салли неустанно: «неутомимыми руками» делала ему) were strong and pleasant enough to smoke (были достаточно крепкими и приятными, «чтобы курить»), but they left him unsatisfied (но они не удовлетворяли его /до конца/: «оставляли его неудовлетворенным»); and he yearned on a sudden for real tobacco (и он затосковал вдруг по настоящему табаку), hard, rank, and pungent (крепкому, вонючему и едкому). He had not smoked a pipe for many months (он не курил трубку /уже/ много месяцев). His mouth watered at the thought of it (у него текли слюнки: «его рот увлажнялся» при мысли об этом). One would have thought (можно было подумать) some premonition of harm would have made Sally seek to dissuade him (/что/ некое предчувствие недоброго заставит Салли попытаться отговорить его), but love possessed her so completely (но любовь захватила ее настолько всецело; to possess — обладать, владеть; овладевать) that it never occurred to her (что ей никогда /и не/ приходило в голову) any power on earth could take him from her (/что/ какая-нибудь сила на земле смогла бы забрать его у нее). They went up into the hills together (они вместе поднялись на холмы) and gathered a great basket of wild oranges (и собрали большую корзину диких апельсинов), green, but sweet and juicy (зеленых, но сладких и сочных); and they picked plantains from around the hut (и они нарвали диких бананов около хижины), and coconuts from their trees (и кокосовых орехов со своих деревьев), and breadfruit and mangoes (и плодов хлебного дерева, и манго); and they carried them down to the cove (и они отнесли их вниз к бухте). They loaded the unstable canoe with them (они нагрузили ими неустойчивое каноэ), and Red and the native boy (и Рыжий и = вместе с местным мальчиком) who had brought them the news of the ship (который сообщил: «принес» им новость о корабле) paddled along outside the reef (поплыли за риф; to paddle — грести; along — в направлении; outside — за пределы).