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Английский без правил

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За последние 60 дней 2 выпусков (1-2 раза в 2 месяца)


Открыта: 20-08-2011

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Английский без правил


Добрый день, друзья!


Дональд Биссет (1910 - 1995) - британский актёр, автор детских книг, переведённых на 16 языков. Сначала Биссет рассказывал свои сказки по телевидению, и когда их набралось порядочно, он объединил их в книгу “Расскажу, когда захотите” (“Anytime Stories”). За ней последовали сборники “Расскажу когда-нибудь” (“Some Time Stories”), “Расскажу в другой раз” (“Next Time Stories”), “Расскажу хоть сейчас” (“This Time Stories”), “Расскажу потом” (“Another Time Stories”) и другие. Все свои книги Д.Биссет иллюстрировал сам.



The Lost Birthday

Once upon a time there was a big father elephant who lived at Whipsnade Zoo with a mother elephant and their little elephant, whose name was Yalmar.

Father elephant was very very big. Mother elephant was quite big. And even Yalmar wasn’t very little. Elephants aren’t!

One day they saw the father elephant standing on his head.

“Whatever are you doing?” said the mother elephant.

“I’m trying to remember something,” said the father elephant.

“What are you trying to remember?”

“If I knew that,” said the father elephant, “I wouldn’t be trying to remember it, my dear, would I!” And he walked off.

“Now, run along, Yalmar,” said the mother elephant, “and see if you can find what your father’s forgotten.”

Yalmar ambled off by himself. After a while he climbed a little hill by a bamboo wood and sat down and watched the clouds chasing each other across the sky.

Presently he heard the sound of crying. He couldn’t see anything but the crying seemed to come from quite near. So he said, “Please don’t cry. I’ll help you.”

The crying stopped.

“Who are you,” said Yalmar, “I can’t see you.”

“I’m a lost birthday,” said a voice, “and I don’t know who I belong to.”

“Oh dear!” said Yalmar. “That is sad. And is there a birthday cake, too?”

“Of course! There’s always birthday cake on birthdays,” said the lost birthday. “This one’s got six candles. Someone’s six today.”

“How nice to be six!” thought Yalmar. “That’s a very nice age. Almost as nice as being seven. Five is nice, too, and so is four. And as for eight, well, when you’re eight, you’re nearly half-way to being grown up. Still, I think I’d like being six best. I’m terribly sorry, though, that I can’t help you. I don’t know who’s forgotten a birthday.”

Yalmar started off home. When he got there his father had stopped standing on his head and was eating some hay.

“I remembered!” he said. “I knew it was yesterday or tomorrow or perhaps today. And it is...”
“It is what?” asked Yalmar.
“Your birthday!” said his mother, coming in. “You’re six today.”

Yalmar was excited. He trundled off as quickly as he could to the little hill by the bamboo wood.

“Hallo!” ha called out. “You’re my birthday. I’m six today.”

“Hoorray!” said the birthday. “Hoorray, hoorray, hoorray!”

That afternoon at tea-time, Yalmar had a birthday cake with six candles and he curled his trunk round and blew all the candles out at once.

“It is fun!” he thought. “I like being six.”

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Whipsnade Zoo: [‘wipsneid ‘zu:] - Уипснейдский зоопарк (в Лондоне)

to amble: [‘Embl] - идти иноходью; ехать на иноходце; идти лёгким шагом

and watched the clouds chasing each other across the sky: - и стал смотреть на облака, которые гонялись друг за другом в небе

presently: [‘prez(э)ntli] - лично, собственной персоной; ныне, сегодня, сейчас, теперь; некоторое время спустя; с необходимостью, с неизбежностью

hay: [hei] - сено; награда, премия, приз; разг. небольшая сумма денег; разг. кровать, ложе, постель; нарк. жарг. солома, трава, марихуана

to trundle: [trAndl] - катиться, ехать; катить, везти; быстро или легко передвигаться; отправляться, уходить; идти неровным шагом

he curled his trunk round: [kэ:ld] [trAnk] - он скрутил свой хобот кольцом
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(Donald Bisset)



До новых встреч!

(При подготовке выпуска было использовано издание
Биссет Д. Забытый день рождения. Адаптация, примечания и словарь Н.В.Шерешевской. Москва, 1974)

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