Джон ле Карэ - псевдоним британского писателя Дэвида Корнуэлла (род. 1931), который не мог публиковаться под собственным именем согласно требованиям, распространяющимся на штатных работников иностранной разведки. Возможно, ныне это один из лучших пишущих по-английски романистов.
(...) The Dip is a piece of Thursgood folklore. It lies in a patch of wasteland between the orchard, the fruit house, and the stable yard. To look at, it is no more than
a depression in the ground, grass covered, with hummocks on the northern side, each about boy height and covered in tufted thickets which in summer grow spongy.
It is these hummocks that give the Dip its special virtue as a playground and also its reputation, which varies with the fantasy of each new generation of boys. They are the traces of an open-cast silver mine, says one year, and digs enthusiastically for wealth. They are a Romano-British fort, says another, and stages battles with sticks
and clay missiles. To others Dip is a bomb-crater from the war and the hummocks are seated bodies buried in the blast.
The truth is more prosaic. Six years ago, and not long before his abrupt elopement with a receptionist from the Castle Hotel, Thursgood’s father had launched an appeal for a swimming pool and persuaded the boys to dig a large hole with a deep and a shallow end. But the money that came in was never quite enough to finance the ambition, so it was frittered away on other schemes,
such as a new projector for the art school, and a plan to grow mushrooms in the school cellars. And even, said the cruel ones, to feather a nest for certain illicit lovers when they eventually took flight to Germany, the lady’s native home.
Jim was unaware of these associations. The fact remains that by sheer luck he had chosen the one corner of Thunsgood’s academy which, as far as Roach was concerned, was endowed with supernatural properties. (...) ---------------------------------------- a patch of wasteland: [pEtш] [‘weistlEnd] - небольшая часть пустыря
and covered in tufted thickets which in summer grow spongy: [tAftid] [‘Tikit] [‘spAndжi] - и покрытый клочковатыми зарослями, которые летом порастают грибами
its special virtue: [‘vэ:tшu:] - его особое преимущество
the traces of
an open-cast silver mine: - следы карьера серебряного рудника
and digs enthusiastically for wealth: [in,Tju:zi’Estikэli] - и восторженно копает в поисках богатства
stages battles with sticks and clay missiles: [klei] [‘misailz] - инсценирует сражения с палками и глиняными ракетами
blast: [bla:st] - зд. взрыв
abrupt elopement with a receptionist: [э‘brApt] [i’lэupmэnt] [ri’sepш(э)nist] - неожиданное тайное бегство с секретаршей
to persuade: [pэ’sweid] - убеждать (в чём-л.); урезонивать; пенять; склонить (к чему-л.), уговорить (на что-л.); понуждать, подстрекать (к чему-л.)
thief: [Ti:f] - вор, похититель; нагар ---------------------------------------- (Детская считалка, для которой, как утверждает “Оксфордский словарь детских
прибауток”, можно использовать вишнёвые косточки, пуговицы жилета, лепестки маргаритки или семена тимофеевки луговой).
