Джеймс
Барри (1860 - 1937) - шотландский писатель, драматург, журналист, в
своё время весьма успешный. В наши дни он известен большинству читателей
как автор сказки о Питере Пэне. Авторские права на эту чудесную
историю Барри передал лондонской детской больнице Great Ormond Street
Hospital, ставшей одной из лучших в мире.
(...) No
words of mine can tell you how Wendy despised those pirates. To the
boys there was at least some glamour in the pirate calling; but all that
she saw was that the ship had not been scrubbed for years. There was
not a porthole on the grimy glass of which you might not have written
with your finger “Dirty pig”; and she had already written it on several.
But as the boys gathered round her she had no thought, of course, save
for them.
“So, my beauty,” said Hook, as if he
spoke in syrup, “you are to see your children walk the plank.”
Fine
gentleman though he was, the intensity of his communings had soiled his
ruff, and suddenly he knew that she was gazing at it. With a hasty
gesture he tried to hide it, but he was too late.
“Are
they to die?” asked Wendy, with a look of such frightful contempt that he nearly fainted.
“They are,” he snared. “Silence all,” he called gloatingly, “for a mother’s last words to her children.”
At
this moment Wendy was grand. “These are my last words, dear boys,” she
said firmly. “I feel that I have a message to you from your real
mothers, and it is this: ‘We hope our sons will die like English
gentlemen.’”
Even
the pirates were awed; and Tootles cried out hysterically, “I am going
to do what my mother hopes. What are you to do, Nibs?”
“What
my mother hopes. What are you to do, Twin?”
“What
my mother hopes. John, what are -”
But Hook had found
his voice again.
“Tie her up,” he shouted.
It was Smee who tied her to the mast. “See here, honey,”
he whispered, “I’ll save you if you promise to be my mother.”
But not even for Smee would she make such a promise. “I would almost rather have no children at all,” she said disdainfully.
It
is sad to know that not a boy was looking at her as Smee tied her to
the mast; the eyes of all were on the plank: that last little walk they
were about to take. They were no longer able to hope that they would
walk it manfully, for the capacity to think had gone from them; they
could stare and shiver only.
Hook
smiled on them with his teeth closed, and took a step toward Wendy. His
intention was to turn her face so that she should see the boys walking
the plank one by one. But he never reached her, he never heard the cry
of anguish he hoped to wring from her. He heard something else instead.
It was the terrible tick-tick of the crocodile. (...) ---------------------------------- to despise: [di’spaiz] - презирать, относиться с презрением
the ship had not been scrubbed for years: - корабль не мыли долгие годы
a porthole: [‘pO:thэul] - зд. мор. (бортовой) иллюминатор
a plank: [plEnk] - зд. обшивная доска, обшивка корабля
the intensity of his communings had soiled his ruff: [rAf] - интенсивность (предшествовавших) переговоров загрязнила его (сильно накрахмаленный гофрированный круглый) воротник
with
a look of such frightful contempt that he nearly fainted: - с
выражением такого испепеляющего презрения, что он едва ли не побледнел
to snare: - поймать в ловушку, силки (птицу, небольшого зверька);
поймать в ловушку; запутать, обмануть, завлечь
gloatingly:
[‘glэutiNli] - злорадно; со злорадством
were awed: [O:d]
- исполнились благоговения
a mast: [ma:st] - мачта
disdainfully: [dis’deinf(э)li] - презрительно, с презрением, пренебрежительно;
высокомерно; с негодованием
the capacity to think: [kэ’pEsэti]
- способность думать
to shiver: [‘шivэ] - зд. трепетать; дрожать, трястись (обычно от холода или страха)
the cry of anguish he hoped to wring from her: [‘ENgwiш] wring-wrung-wrung - крик тоски, который он надеялся у неё вырвать ---------------------------------- (James Matthew Barrie. “Peter Pan”)
До новых встреч!
(При подготовке выпуска была использована wikipedia)
