Уильям Моэм - Английский язык с У. С. Моэмом. На окраине империи. Рассказы

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 ).