Stephen King - Английский язык с Стивеном Кингом Кошка из ада

The cat was in a double-thickness shopping bag (кот был в сумке для покупок = в хозяйственной сумке с двойными стенками; double — двойной; thick — толстый; плотный; thickness — толщина ), tied at the top with heavy twine (стянутой сверху толстой бечевкой; heavy — тяжелый; грубый, толстый ). The bag was in the passenger bucket seat (сумка стояла на пассажирском сидении; bucket seat — ковшеобразное сиденье /в автомобиле/; bucket — ведро; бадья ). The cat had been sleepy and purring when Halston put it in (кот был сонным = дремал и урчал, когда Хэлстон укладывал его /в сумку/), and it had purred through the entire ride (и он урчал в течение всей поездки = всю дорогу; entire — полный; целый ). It sensed, perhaps, that Halston liked it and felt at home with it (возможно, он чувствовал симпатию к себе со стороны Хэлстона, и что тому приятно быть рядом с ним; to feel at home — чувствовать себя как дома; /with smb./ чувствовать себя непринужденно, свободно /с кем-либо/ ). Like himself, the cat was a one-stick(как и сам /Хэлстон/, кот был одиночкой).

crescent ['kresnt], clothes [klqVDz], guard [gRd], thoroughly ['TArqlI], simile ['sImIlI], skeleton ['skelItn], passenger ['pxsInGq], entire [In'taIq], perhaps [pq'hxps]

He left the Drogan house at a little past 9:30. A cold rind of crescent moon rode overhead through the tattering November clouds. He rode with all the windows open, because that yellow stench of age and terror seemed to have settled into his clothes and he didn't like it. The cold was hard and sharp, eventually numbing, but it was good. It was blowing that yellow stench away. He got off the turnpike at Placer's Glen and drove through the silent town, which was guarded by a single yellow blinker at the intersection, at a thoroughly respectable thirty-five. Out of town, moving up S. R. 35, he opened the Plymouth up a little, letting her walk. The tuned Spoiler engine purred like the cat had purred on his lap earlier this evening. Halston grinned at the simile. They moved between frost-white November fields full of skeleton cornstalks at a little over seventy.

The cat was in a double-thickness shopping bag, tied at the top with heavy twine. The bag was in the passenger bucket seat. The cat had been sleepy and purring when Halston put it in, and it had purred through the entire ride. It sensed, perhaps, that Halston liked it and felt at home with it. Like himself, the cat was a one-stick.

Strange hit, Halston thought (странный заказ, подумал Хэлстон), and was surprised to find that he was taking it seriously as a hit (и удивился, обнаружив, что воспринимает это как серьезный заказ; to take seriously — восприниматьвсерьез ). Maybe the strangest thing about it was that he actually liked the cat (может быть, самым странным было то, что ему, действительно, нравился этот кот), felt a kinship with it (/что он/ чувствовал /некое/ родство/сходство с ним). If it had managed to get rid of those three old crocks, more power to it (если он сумел избавиться от тех трех старых развалин, то так им и надо: «желаю ему успеха/ну и молодец»; to manage — руководить; ухитриться, суметь; power — сила )... especially Gage, who had been taking it to Milford for a terminal date with a crew-cutveterinarian (особенно Гейджу, который вез его в Милфорд на последнее свидание с коротко стриженным ветеринаром; date — дата; свидание; crew-cut — мужскаякороткаястрижка“ежик” ) who would have been more than happy to bundle it into a ceramic-lined gas chamber the size of a microwave oven (который был бы очень рад запихнуть его в облицованную керамикой газовую камеру размером с микроволновую печь; to line — кластьнаподкладку; облицовывать; chamber — комната; /тех./ камера ). He felt a kinship but no urge to renege on the hit (он чувствовал родство, но никакого желания отказаться от обязательства; urge — побуждение; to renege — изменять своему слову ). He would do it the courtesy of killing it quickly and well (он окажет этому коту любезность = услугу , убив его быстро и профессионально; would — вспомогательный глагол; используется для образования будущего в прошедшем времени; courtesy — учтивость, вежливость; well — хорошо; со знанием дела ). He would park off the road beside one of those November-barren fields (он остановится/припаркуется на обочине, /на краю/ одного из этих голых ноябрьских полей; beside — рядом, около; barren — бесплодный ) and take it out of the bag and stroke it (вытащит его из сумки и погладит его) and then snap its neck and sever its tail with his pocketknife (а затем свернет ему шею и отрежет ему хвост своим карманным = перочинным ножом; to sever — отделять; отрезать ). And, he thought, the body I'll bury honorably, saving it from the scavengers (и, думал он, тело я похороню с уважением = как полагается , чтобы оно не досталось падальщикам: «спасая его от падальщиков»; honorably — честно; достойно, с уважением; scavenger —мусорщик; животное, питающиеся отбросами, падалью ). I can't save it from the worms, but I can save it from the maggots (я не могу уберечь его от червяков, но я могу защитить его от личинок).

surprise [sq'praIz], seriously ['sIqrIqslI], veterinarian ["vet(q)rI'nFqrIqn], ceramic [sI'rxmIk], chamber ['CeImbq], oven ['Avn], renege [rI'nJg]

Strange hit, Halston thought, and was surprised to find that he was taking it seriously as a hit. Maybe the strangest thing about it was that he actually liked the cat, felt a kinship with it. If it had managed to get rid of those three old crocks, more power to it...especially Gage, who had been taking it to Milford for a terminal date with a crew-cut veterinarian who would have been more than happy to bundle it into a ceramic-lined gas chamber the size of a microwave oven. He felt a kinship but no urge to renege on the hit. He would do it the courtesy of killing it quickly and well. He would park off the road beside one of those November-barren fields and take it out of the bag and stroke it and then snap its neck and sever its tail with his pocketknife. And, he thought, the body I'll bury honorably, saving it from the scavengers. I can't save it from the worms, but I can save it from the maggots.