James Baldwin - Английский язык с Робинзоном Крузо (в пересказе для детей) (ASCII-IPA)

umbrella [Vm'brel@], hair ['he@], pretty ['prItI], whole ['h@ul], suit [sju:t], rather ['rA:D@], common ['kOm@n], busy ['bIzI], divide [dI'vaId], duty ['dju:tI], custom ['kVst@m]

AS the years went by the things which I had brought from the ship were used up or worn out. My biscuits lasted more than a year; for I ate only one cake each day.

My ink soon gave out, and then I had no more use for pens or paper.

At last my clothes were all worn out.

The weather was always warm on my island and there was little need for clothes. But I could not go without them.

It so happened that I had saved the skins of all the animals I had killed.

I stretched every skin on a framework of sticks, and hung it up in the sun to dry.

In time I had a great many of these skins. Some were coarse and stiff and fit for nothing. Others were soft to the touch and very pretty to look at.

One day I took one of the finest and made me a cap of it. I left all the hair on the outside, so as to shoot off the rain.

It was not very pretty; but it was of great use, and what more did I want?

I did so well with the cap that I thought I would try something else. So, after a great deal of trouble, I made me a whole suit.

I made me a waistcoat and a pair of knee breeches. I wanted them to keep me cool rather than warm. So I made them quite loose.

You would have laughed to see them. They were funny things, I tell you. But when I went out in the rain, they kept me dry.

This, I think, put me in mind of an umbrella.

I had seen umbrellas in Brazil, although they were not yet common in England. They were of much use in the summer when the sun shone hot.

I thought that if they were good in Brazil, they would be still better here, where the sun was much hotter.

So I set about the making of one.

I took great pains with it, and it was a long time before it pleased me at all.

I could make it spread, but it did not let down. And what would be the use of an umbrella that could not be folded?

I do not know how many weeks I spent at this work. It was play work rather than anything else, and I picked it up only at odd times.

At last I had an umbrella that opened and shut just as an umbrella should.

I covered it with skins, with the hair on the outside. In the rain it was as good as a shed. In the sun it made a pleasant shade.

I could now go out in all kinds of weather. I need not care whether the rain fell or the sun shone.

For the next five years I lived very quietly. I kept always busy and did not allow myself to feel lonely.

I divided each day into parts according to my several duties.

After reading in my Bible, it was my custom to spend about three hours every morning in search of food. Through the heat of the day, I busied myself in the shade of my castle or bower.

In the evening, when the sun was low, I worked in my fields. But sometimes I went to work very early in the morning and left my hunting until the afternoon.

(я переживаю опасное приключение; peril — опасность; риск, угроза)

I HAD never given up the idea of having a canoe (я никогда не оставлял идею иметь каноэ; to give up — оставить, отказаться; бросить /например, привычку/) .

My first trial, as you have seen, was a failure (моя первая попытка, как вы видели, была провалом) . I had made too big a boat (я сделал слишком большую лодку) , and I had made it too far from the water (и я сделал ее слишком далеко от воды) . I could do better another time (я мог сделать лучше в другой раз) .

One day after I had harvested my grain (однажды после того, как я собрал зерно) , I set to work (принялся за работу) .

There was no tree near the river that was fit for a canoe (около реки не было дерева, которое подходило для каноэ) . But I found a fine one nearly half a mile away (но я нашел хорошее /дерево/ примерно в полумиле) .

Before I began to chop the tree (прежде чем я начал рубить дерево) , I made all my plans for taking the canoe to the water (я разработал все планы /как/ доставить каноэ к воде) .

I worked now with a will (теперь я работал с желанием) , for I felt sure that I would succeed (так как я чувствовал себя уверенным, что преуспею) .

In a few weeks the little vessel was finished (через несколько недель маленькое судно было готово) . It was a very pretty canoe (это было красивое каноэ) , and large enough for only two or three persons (и достаточно большое только для двух или трех человек) .

Small as it was (маленькое, каким оно было = хотя оно было таким маленьким) , it was quite heavy (оно было довольно тяжелым) . For you must remember that it was a part of the tree (так как вы должны помнить, что это была часть дерева) , hollowed out and shaped like a boat (выдолбленная внутри в форме лодки) . It was as much as I could do to lift one end of it (все, что я мог сделать, это поднять один конец его /каноэ/) .

How should I ever get it to the river (как я должен когда-либо доставить его к реке = как же мне было доставить его к реке) ?

I have already told you that I had made plans for this (я уже говорил вам, что я подготовил планы для этого = уже продумал, как это сделать) .

Through the soft ground between the river and the canoe I dug a big ditch (в мягкой земле между рекой и каноэ я прокопал большую канаву; through — сквозь, через; to dig — копать) . It was four feet deep and six feet wide (она была четыре фута глубиной и шесть футов шириной) and nearly half a mile long (и почти полмили длиной) .

I worked at this ditch for nearly two years (я работал над этой канавой почти два года) . When it was done and filled with water from the river (когда она была закончена: «сделана» и наполнена водой из реки) , I slid my canoe into it (я спустил мое каноэ в нее) . It floated (оно поплыло) , as I knew it would (как я и думал, что он будет = сделает) .

As I pushed it along to the end of the great ditch and out into the river, it looked very small (когда я протолкал его до конца большой канавы и в реку, оно выглядело очень маленьким) . I could never hope to make a long voyage in it (я вовсе не мог надеяться совершить большое путешествие на нем; long — длинный; долгий, длительный) !