Английский язык с У. С. Моэмом. На окраине империи. Рассказы
Шрифт:
"It was the last time she ever saw him (это был последний раз, /когда/ она вообще видела его).
"Next day the boy came back alone (на следующий день мальчик вернулся: «пришел назад» один). He was all in tears (он был весь в слезах). This is the story he told (вот история, /которую/ он рассказал).
yearn [jWn], dissuade [dI`sweId], occur [q`kW]
"The pandanus cigarettes that Sally made him with untiring hands were strong and pleasant enough to smoke, but they left him unsatisfied; and he yearned on a sudden for real tobacco, hard, rank, and pungent. He had not smoked a pipe for many months. His mouth watered at the thought of it. One would have thought some premonition of harm would have made Sally seek to dissuade him, but love possessed her so completely that it never occurred to her any power on earth could take him from her. They went up into the hills together and gathered a great basket of wild oranges, green, but sweet and juicy; and they picked plantains from around the hut, and coconuts from their trees, and breadfruit and mangoes; and they carried them down to the cove. They loaded the unstable canoe with them, and Red and the native boy who had brought them the news of the ship paddled along outside the reef.
"It was the last time she ever saw him.
"Next day the boy came back alone. He was all in tears. This is the story he told.
"When after their long paddle they reached the ship (когда
rough [rAf], seize [sJz], canoe [kq`nH]
"When after their long paddle they reached the ship and Red hailed it, a white man looked over the side and told them to come on board. They took the fruit they had brought with them and Red piled it up on the deck. The white man and he began to talk, and they seemed to come to some agreement. One of them went below and brought up tobacco. Red took some at once and lit a pipe. The boy imitated the zest with which he blew a great cloud of smoke from his mouth. Then they said something to him and he went into the cabin. Through the open door the boy, watching curiously, saw a bottle brought out and glasses. Red drank and smoked. They seemed to ask him something, for he shook his head and laughed. The man, the first man who had spoken to them, laughed too, and he filled Red’s glass once more. They went on talking and drinking, and presently, growing tired of watching a sight that meant nothing to him, the boy curled himself up on the deck and slept. He was awakened by a kick; and jumping to his feet, he saw that the ship was slowly sailing out of the lagoon. He caught sight of Red seated at the table, with his head resting heavily on his arms, fast asleep. He made a movement towards him, intending to wake him, but a rough hand seized his arm, and a man, with a scowl and words which he did not understand, pointed to the side. He shouted to Red, but in a moment he was seized and flung overboard. Helpless, he swam round to his canoe, which was drifting a little way off, and pushed it on to the reef. He climbed in and, sobbing all the way, paddled back to shore.
"What had happened was obvious enough (/то/, что произошло, было довольно очевидным). The whaler, by desertion or sickness (китобойному судну из-за дезертирства или болезней), was short of hands (не хватало матросов; short— короткий; недостаточный;hand— рука; работник; матрос), and the captain when Red came aboard (и капитан, когда Рыжий поднялся на борт) had asked him to sign on (попросил его присоединиться /к ним/; to sign on— нанимать/ся/); on his refusal (на его отказ = когда он отказался) he had made him drunk and kidnapped him (он сделал его пьяным = напоил его и похитил).
"Sally was beside herself with grief (Салли была вне себя от горя). For three days she screamed and cried (в течение трех дней она кричала и плакала; to scream — пронзительно кричать; вопить; to cry — плакать; кричать). The natives did what they could to comfort her (туземцы
aboard [q`bLd], exhaust [Ig`zLst], through [TrH]
"What had happened was obvious enough. The whaler, by desertion or sickness, was short of hands, and the captain when Red came aboard had asked him to sign on; on his refusal he had made him drunk and kidnapped him.
"Sally was beside herself with grief. For three days she screamed and cried. The natives did what they could to comfort her, but she would not be comforted. She would not eat. And then, exhausted, she sank into a sullen apathy. She spent long days at the cove, watching the lagoon, in the vain hope that Red somehow or other would manage to escape. She sat on the white sand, hour after hour, with the tears running down her cheeks, and at night dragged herself wearily back across the creek to the little hut where she had been happy. The people with whom she had lived before Red came to the island wished her to return to them, but she would not; she was convinced that Red would come back, and she wanted him to find her where he had left her. Four months later she was delivered of a still-born child, and the old woman who had come to help her through her confinement remained with her in the hut. All joy was taken from her life. If her anguish with time became less intolerable it was replaced by a settled melancholy.
"You would not have thought that among these people (вы бы /даже/ не подумали, что среди этих людей), whose emotions, though so violent, are very transient (чьи чувства, хоть /и/ столь страстные, /все же/ очень недолговечны; violent — сильный; неистовый;transient — временный; мимолетный), a woman could be found (можно было бы найти женщину) capable of so enduring a passion (способную на такую длительную страсть). She never lost the profound conviction (она ни на миг не теряла глубокой убежденности; never — никогда) that sooner or later Red would come back (что рано или поздно Рыжий вернется). She watched for him (она поджидала его), and every time someone crossed this slender little bridge of coconut trees (и каждый раз, /когда/ кто-то переходил через этот тонкий мостик из кокосовых пальм; little — маленький) she looked (она смотрела). It might at last be he (это мог бы наконец быть он)."
Neilson stopped talking and gave a faint sigh (Нилсон прекратил свой рассказ: «прекратил говорить» и слегка вздохнул: «издал слабый вздох»).
"And what happened to her in the end (и что /же/ случилось с ней потом: «в конце»)?" asked the skipper.
Neilson smiled bitterly (Нилсон улыбнулся с горечью: «горько»).
"Oh, three years afterwards she took up with another white man (о, тремя годами позже она сблизилась с другим белым мужчиной)."
The skipper gave a fat, cynical chuckle (шкипер издал сальный, циничный смешок).
"That’s generally what happens to them (это обычно и случается с ними)," he said.
The Swede shot him a look of hatred (швед бросил на него взгляд, /полный/ ненависти; to shoot— стрелять; бросать). He did not know why that gross, obese man (он не мог понять: «не знал», почему тот грубый, тучный мужчина) excited in him so violent a repulsion (вызывал в нем такое сильное отвращение). But his thoughts wandered (но его мысли ушли в сторону; to wander— блуждать; отклоняться) and he found his mind filled with memories of the past (и он понял: «обнаружил», /что/ его ум занят: «наполнен» воспоминаниями /из/ прошлого). He went back five and twenty years (он вернулся назад на двадцать пять лет). It was when he first came to the island (это было, когда он впервые приехал на этот остров), weary of Apia, with its heavy drinking (уставший от Апии с ее разгульным пьянством; heavy— тяжелый; обильный), its gambling and coarse sensuality (ее азартными играми и грубой похотливостью), a sick man, trying to resign himself to the loss of the career (больной человек, пытающийся смириться с потерей того жизненного пути) which had fired his imagination with ambitious thought (который воспламенял его воображение честолюбивыми помыслами). He set behind him resolutely all his hopes of making a great name for himself (он оставил позади себя решительно все свои надежды стать знаменитым: «сделать себе великое имя») and strove to content himself with the few poor months of careful life (и старался довольствоваться теми немногими жалкими месяцами осторожной жизни) which was all that he could count on (которые были всем, на что он мог рассчитывать).
gross [grqus], obese [qu`bJs], ambitious [xm`bISqs]
"You would not have thought that among these people, whose emotions, though so violent, are very transient, a woman could be found capable of so enduring a passion. She never lost the profound conviction that sooner or later Red would come back. She watched for him, and every time someone crossed this slender little bridge of coconut trees she looked. It might at last be he."
Neilson stopped talking and gave a faint sigh.