Array Коллектив авторов - 75 лучших рассказов / 75 Best Short Stories

chariot– an open vehicle of ancient times with two or four wheels; it originated in about 3000 BC in Mesopotamia.

calico– a cotton fabric with simple design, first made in Calicut, India, in the 11th century

castanet– a musical instrument of a clapper type consisting of two pieces hinged by a cord, usually held in the hand and used by dancers in Spain and some parts of Italy

elfish– in Germanic folklore, an elf is a spirit in a tiny human form; it usually causes disease and brings mischief.

s’prise= surprise

Lord Mayor– the title given to the mayor of London or some other large city

Ohio– the US state in the Midwest (106 125 sq. km), joined the USA after the American Revolutionary War in 1783

Indiana– the US state in the Midwest (93 491 sq. km), joined the USA after the American Revolutionary War

Sandusky– a city on Lake Erie in northern Ohio, founded by the British in 1745

Lake Erie– one of the five Great Lakes on the USA-Canadian border

Wapping– an area in eastern London

the old Globe Theatre– a theatre built in 1599 on the south bank of the Thames and famous for the performance of the greatest Shakespeare’s plays; it remained in use until 1644.

Covent Garden– 1) London’s wholesale flower, fruit and vegetable market in central London at the time when the story was written; 2) the Royal Opera House which is near the place where the market used to be.

the Strand– the street in central London linking the West End and the City of London

Waterloo Station– a main line railway station in London

hors de combat– disabled due to the wound or injury

K. C. – King’s Counsel

Kingsway– a street in central London where companies’ offices are located

the Aldwych Theatre– a theatre on the corner of Drury Lane in the West End, built in 1905

Lancashire– a county in northwestern England

Bakkan– a province and city in Vietnam

M. P. – Member of Parliament

Chancery Lane– a street in central London where lawyers’ offices are located

the Law Courts– the main building of the House of Justice where all important judicial decisions are adopted

New Oxford Street– a street in central London, the shopping centre of the city

Lincoln’s Inn Fields– a street in central London

inamorata= sweetheart, beloved ( Italian )

Knightsbridge– an area in west-central London with expensive jewellers’ and antique shops

sine qua non– necessary conditions ( Latin )

St. George and his Dragon– a Christian martyr of the 3d century and the patron saint of England; St. George saved a Libyan king’s daughter from the dragon and killed the monster in return for the promise that the people of Libya would be baptized.

cromlechs– in prehistoric architecture, a cromlech is an acircle of stones enclosed by a broad rampant

Cornwall– a historic county on the Atlantic coast in southwestern England

St. Yves– a coastal town in Cornwall

Wesleyanism– the Wesleyan church, one of the Protestant churches, founded by John Wesley (1703–1791), a clergyman and church reformer; the members of the Wesleyan church promise to live a sinless life.

Sarah– a biblical figure, in the Old Testament, the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac

Abraham– in the Old Testament, the first of the Hebrew patriarchs, revered in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Hagar– in the Old Testament, Sarah’s maid and Abraham’s mistress, the mother of his illegitimate son, Ishmael

Britannia metal– the alloy composed of tin, antimony and copper, used for making household utensils

Penzance– a town in Cornwall where the English Channel joins the Atlantic Ocean

escutcheon– a metal plate placed on a wooden article either to decorate it or to protect the wood

chartreuse– the liqueur made from more than 130 different plants by the monks of La Grande Chartreuse in France

Derby– one of the most famous English horse races, an annual event since 1730; the Derby is run on the first Saturday of June.

cheroot– a thin cigar open at both ends

claret– famous Bordeaux wine made since Roman times in the region around the city of Bordeaux in France; the word claret is not used in modern French.

hansom– a low two-wheeled open carriage with the elevated driver’s seat

West Kensington– a fashionable district in central London

W. – West

brougham– a four-wheeled one-horse carriage designed in 1838 by Henry Brougham, a former lord chancellor of England

kept me on tenter-hooks– idiom kept me in a state of anxiety

Alabama– the US state in the south (131 334 sq. km); the first Europeans who came there were the Spanish, the first settlement was founded by the French in 1701; after the war of 1763, the territory was ceded to England.

the Federal army– the army of the federal government in the American Civil War of 1861–1865 with 11 Southern states

the Southern cause– the southern states seceded from the Union in 1860–1861; the Northern and the Southern states had different economies, different attitude to slavery, trade and the very idea of states’ rights.