Ivan Bunin - Dark Avenues / Темные аллеи. Книга для чтения на английском языке

“I pressed up behind a fir tree and they didn’t see me,” said Grishka fervently with his eyes popping out, “but I saw everything. She was terribly pretty, only all red, it was still terribly hot, and, of course, she’d spent too long bathing, I mean, she always sits in the water and swims for two hours at a time – I spied on that too – naked she’s simply a naiad [121] naiad – наяда (водяная нимфа, русалка) , and he was talking and talking, really and truly like a Turk…”

Grishka swore it, but he liked inventing all sorts of silly things, and Zoyka both did and did not believe it.

On Saturdays and Sundays, the trains that came to their station from Moscow were crammed full of people, weekend guests of the dacha-dwellers, even in the morning. Sometimes there was that delightful rain through sunshine, when the green carriages were washed down by it and shone like new, the white clouds of smoke from the steam engine seemed especially soft, and the green tops of the pines, standing elegant and thick behind the train, drew circles unusually high in the bright sky. The new arrivals vied with each other to grab the cab men’s chaises on the rutted hot sand behind the station, and drove with the joy of the dacha down the sandy roads in the cuttings of the forest under the ribbons of sky above them. The complete happiness of the dacha set in when in the forest, which endlessly hid the dry, slightly undulating land all around. Dacha-dwellers taking their Muscovite friends for a walk said that bears were the only thing lacking here, they declaimed, “Both of resin and wild strawb’rries smells the shady wood,” [122] Both of resin… the shady wood : From the poem ‘Ilya Muromets’ (1871) by Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817–75). (прим. перев.) «И смолой и земляникой пахнет темный бор» and hallooed one another, enjoyed their summer well-being, their idleness and freedom of dress – kosovorotkas with embroidered hems worn outside of trousers [123] outside of trousers – навыпуск , the long braids of coloured belts, peaked canvas caps: the odd Muscovite acquaintance, some professor or journal editor, bearded and wearing glasses, was not even immediately recognizable in such a kosovorotka and such a cap.

Amidst all this dacha happiness Levitsky was doubly unhappy. Feeling himself from morning till evening pitiful, deceived, superfluous, he suffered all the more for understanding very well how vulgar his unhappiness was. Day and night he had one and the same thought: why, why had she so quickly and pitilessly let him close to her, made him not quite her friend, not quite her slave, and then her lover, who had had to be content with the rare and always unexpected happiness of kisses alone, why had she sometimes been intimate with him, sometimes formal, and how had she had the cruelty so simply and so easily to cease even noticing him all of a sudden on the very first day of her acquaintance with Titov? He was burning up with shame over his brazen loitering on the estate too. Tomorrow he should disappear, flee in secret to Moscow, hide from everyone with this ignominious unhappiness of deceived dacha love, so evident even for the servants in the house! But at this thought he was so pierced by the recollection of the velvetiness of her cherry-red lips that he lost the power of his arms and legs. If he was sitting on the balcony alone and she by chance was passing, she would with excessive naturalness say something particularly insignificant to him as she went – “Now where ever can my aunt be? You haven’t seen her?” – and he would hasten to answer her in the same tone, while ready to break into sobs [124] to break into sobs – разрыдаться

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tarantass: A large, springless carriage. (прим. перев.)

peaked cap– фуражка

to bear resemblance– иметь сходство

Nicholas I’s… Alexander II: Russian Emperors of the nineteenth century: Nicholas I (b.1796) ruled 1825–55 and was succeeded by his son Alexander II (b.1818), who ruled until his assassination in 1881. (прим. перев.)

to come to a halt– остановиться

dress uniform– мундир

to make a living– зарабатывать на жизнь

Thou shalt remember… away: “Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away.” Job 11:16. (прим. перев.) «Тогда забудешь горе: как о воде протекшей будешь вспоминать о нем» (Книга Иова).

at a trot– рысцой

to lend money on interest– давать деньги в рост

All round… dark limes stood: A slightly inaccurate quotation from the poem ‘An Ordinary Tale’ (1842) by Nikolai Platonovich Ogaryov (1813–77): “all round” should be “nearby”. (прим. перев.) «Кругом шиповник алый цвел, стояли темных лип аллеи… » (в повести И. А. Бунина) «Вблизи шиповник алый цвел, стояла темных лип аллея» (оригинальный текст Н. П. Огарева)

to put up at (some place)– остановиться где-либо

to commit to memory– запоминать

cab men’s droshkies– пролетки извозчиков (пролетка – легкий открытый двухместный экипаж)

The second bell rang– Ударил второй звонок (для извещения пассажиров и паровозной прислуги о наступлении времени отправления поездов использовались станционные наружные колокола, которые размещались на стенах пассажирских зданий и платформах)

Narzan: Mineral water from the Caucasus. (прим. перев.)

pressed dung– кизяк (высушенный или переработанный навоз, используемый в качестве топлива)