Английский язык с У. С. Моэмом. Театр

Франк Илья

and their quiet gossip, excited her compassion. Nothing had happened to them for

years, nothing now would ever happen to them till they died, and then how little

would their lives have signified. The strange thing was that they were content.

They knew neither malice nor envy. They had achieved the aloofness from the

common ties of men that Julia felt in herself when she stood at the footlights

bowing to the applause of an enthusiastic audience. Sometimes she had thought

that aloofness her most precious possession. In her it was born of pride; in them of

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humility. In both cases it brought one precious thing, liberty of spirit; but with

them it was more secure.

Michael wrote to her once a week (Майкл писал ей раз в неделю), brisk,

businesslike letters (живые, деловые письма) in which he told her what her

takings were at the Siddons (в которых он рассказывал ей, какая была /ее/

выручка в «Сиддонс-театре») and the preparations he was making for the next

production (и о тех приготовлениях, что он делал для следующей

постановки); but Charles Tamerley wrote to her every day (но Чарльз Тэмерли

писали ей каждый день). He told her the gossip of the town (он рассказывал ей

всю светскую хронику: «все сплетни» города), he talked in his charming,

cultivated way of the pictures he saw and the books he read (он рассказывал в

своей очаровательной, образованной манере о картинах, которые он видел и

о книгах, которые он прочитал). He was tenderly allusive and playfully erudite

(он был нежно символичен и игриво эрудирован; allusive — намекающий,

иносказательный, содержащий ссылку на что-либо). He philosophized without

pedantry (он философствовал без педантичности). He told her that he adored

her (он говорил ей, что он преклоняется перед ней: «обожает ее»). They were

the most beautiful love-letters Julia had ever received (это были: «они были»

самые красивые любовные письма, которое Джулия когда-либо получала)

and for the sake of posterity (и, ради последующий поколений: «потомства»)

she made up her mind to keep them (она решила сохранить их). One day perhaps

someone would publish them (однажды, может случится так: «может быть»,

что кто-нибудь опубликует их) and people would go to the National Portrait

Gallery and look at her portrait (и люди пойдут в Национальную портретную

галерею и посмотрят на ее портрет), the one McEvoy had painted (тот самый,

что Мак-Эвой нарисовал), and sigh when they thought of the sad, romantic love-

story of which she had been the heroine (и

вздохнут, когда они подумают о той

печальной, романтической истории любви, в которой она была главным

действующим лицом: «героиней»).

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preparation ["prepq'reIS(q)n] cultivated ['kAltIveItId] philosophize [fI'lOsqfaIz]

Michael wrote to her once a week, brisk, businesslike letters in which he told her

what her takings were at the Siddons and the preparations he was making for the

next production; but Charles Tamerley wrote to her every day. He told her the

gossip of the town, he talked in his charming, cultivated way of the pictures he saw

and the books he read. He was tenderly allusive and playfully erudite. He

philosophized without pedantry. He told her that he adored her. They were the

most beautiful love-letters Julia had ever received and for the sake of posterity she

made up her mind to keep them. One day perhaps someone would publish them

and people would go to the National Portrait Gallery and look at her portrait, the

one McEvoy had painted, and sigh when they thought of the sad, romantic love-

story of which she had been the heroine.

Charles had been wonderful to her during the first two weeks of her bereavement

(Чарльз был удивительным /по отношению/ к ней во время первых двух

недель с момента ее ужасной потери), she did not know what she would have

done without him (она не знала, что бы она делала без него). He had always

been at her beck and call (он всегда был всецело в ее распоряжении; to be at

smb.'s beck and call — быть у кого-либо на побегушках, beck — мановение,

сигнал рукой или головой). His conversation, by taking her into a different world,

had soothed her nerves (его беседа, унося: «забирая» ее в другой мир,

успокоила ее нервы). Her soul had been muddied (ее душа была запачкана; mud

— грязь, слякоть), and in his distinction of spirit (и в его духовной