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Английский без правил

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Английский без правил


Добрый день, друзья!



Роман классика литературы ХХ века Фрэнсиса Скотта Фицджеральда (1896 - 1940) “Великий Гетсби” представляет читателю драму идеализма и практичности американского характера. Невозможно верить одновременно в два противоречащих друг другу мифа: в красоту гордой судьбы потомка отцов-пилигримов и в упрощённую растиражированную “американскую мечту”, приравнивающую счастье к богатству.

(...)
Almost before I had grasped her meaning there was the flutter of a dress and the crunch of leather boots, and Tom and Daisy were back at the table.

“It couldn’t be helped!” cried Daisy with tense gayety.

She sat down, glanced searchingly at Miss Baker and then at me, and continued: “I looked outdoors for a minute, and it’s very romantic outdoors. There’s a bird on the lawn that I think must be a nightingale come over on the Cunard or White Star Line. He’s singing away - “ her voice sang: “It’s romantic, isn’t it Tom?”

“Very romantic”, he said, and then miserably to me: “If it’s light enough after dinner, I want to take you down to the stables”.

The telephone rang inside, startlingly, and as Daisy shook her head decisively at Tom, the subject of the stables, in fact all subjects, vanished into air. Among the broken fragments of the last five minutes at table I remember the candles being lit again, pointlessly, and I was conscious of wanting to look squarely at every one, and yet to avoid all eyes. I couldn’t guess what Daisy and Tom were thinking, but I doubt if even Miss Baker, who seemed to have mastered a certain hardy scepticism, was able utterly to put this fifth guest’s shrill metallic urgency out of mind. To a certain temperament the situation might have seemed intriguing - my own instinct was to telephone immediately for the police.

The horses, needless to say, were not mentioned again. Tom and Miss Baker, with several feet of twilight between them, strolled back into the library, as if to a vigil beside a perfectly tangible body, while, trying to look pleasantly interested and a little deaf, I followed Daisy around a chain of connecting verandas to the porch in front. In its deep gloom we sat down side by side on a wicker settee.

Daisy took her face in her hand as if feeling its lovely shape, and her eyes moved gradually out into the velvet dusk. I saw that turbulent emotions possessed her, so I asked what I thought would be some sedative questions about her little girl.

“We don’t know each other very well, Nick”, she said suddenly. “Even if we are cousins. You didn’t come to my wedding”.

“I wasn’t back from the war”.
“That’s true”. She hesitated. “Well, I’ve had a very bad time, Nick, and I’m pretty cynical about everything”.

Evidently she had reason to be. I waited but she didn’t say any more, and after a moment I returned rather feebly to the subject of her daughter.

“I suppose she talks, and - eats, and everything”.
“Oh, yes”. She looked at me absently. “Listen, Nick, let me tell you what I said when she was born. Would you like to hear?”
“Very much”.

“It’ll show you how I’ve gotten to feel about - things. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right’, I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool - that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”.

“You see I think everything’s terrible anyhow”, she went on in a convinced way. “Everybody thinks so - the most advanced people. And I know. I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything”. Her eyes flashed around her in a defiant way, rather like Tom’s, and she laughed with thrilling scorn. “Sophisticated - God, I’m sophisticated!”

The instant her voice broke off, ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said.
(...)
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the flutter of a dress: [‘flAtэ] - трепетание платья

the crunch of leather boots: [krAnч] [‘leЗэ] - скрип кожаных сапог

“It couldn’t be helped!”: - “Ничего нельзя было поделать!”

with tense gayety: [ten(t)s] [‘geiэti] - с деланой весёлостью

outdoors: [,aut’dO:z] - на открытом воздухе; на улице; улица, двор; внешнее пространство

lawn: [lO:n] - батист; газон, лужайка

I want to take you down to the stables: - я хочу проводить тебя к конюшням

the telephone rang inside, startlingly: [‘sta:tliNli] - в глубине комнат зазвонил телефон, заставив всех вздрогнуть от неожиданности

vanished into air: [‘vEniшt] - растворились в воздухе

squarely: [‘skwEэli] - прямо; лицом к лицу

hardy scepticism: [‘skeptisiz(э)m] - отчаянный скептицизм

was able utterly: [‘Atэli] - могла начисто

to put this fifth guest’s shrill metallic urgency out of mind: - выбросить из головы визгливую металлическую назойливость этого пятого гостя

twilight: [‘twailait] - сумерки; полумрак, сумрак; неточность представления или понятия; неясность (чего-л.); промежуточное состояние; далёкое прошлое, о котором мало что известно; период упадка, заката; сумеречный (относящийся к сумеркам); проявляющийся в сумерках; сумеречный; неясный; оторванный от реальности; неотчётливый, смутный; тёмный, тусклый

strolled: [strэuld] - медленно прошли

tangible: [‘tEndжэbl] - вещественный, материальный, осязаемый; ясный; ощутимый, заметный; отчётливый, реальный; реальность, факт

vigil: [‘vidжil] - бодрствование; дежурство; бессонница; пикетирование, демонстрация (у зданий официальныхорганизаций); рел.  канун праздника; пост накануне праздника

porch: [pO:ч] -  крыльцо, подход, подъезд;  амер. веранда; балкон

gradually: [‘grEdjuэli], [‘grEdжuэli] - исподволь, мало-помалу, понемногу, постепенно

velvet dusk: [’velvit] [dAsk] - бархатистые сумерки

turbulent emotions possessed her: [‘tэ:bjulэnt] [pэ’zest] - она была охвачена бурными чувствами

sedative: [‘sedэtiv] - седативный; успокаивающий, успокоительный; болеутоляющий; успокаивающее, успокоительное средство (лекарство)

she hesitated: [‘heziteitid] - она поколебалась

cynical: [‘sinik(э)l] - циничный; бесстыдный

evidently: [‘evid(э)ntli] - очевидно; несомненно; явно

feebly: [‘fi:bli] - слабо, немощно, неэнергично; тускло, неярко (о свете); мало, недостаточно, скудно

absently: [‘Ebs(э)ntli] - рассеянно

ether: [‘i:Tэ] - хим. эфир (органическое соединение); небеса; заоблачная высь; разг. эфир (радио- и телеканалы); астр. ист. эфир (среда, которая передаёт световые волны; заполняет пространство между Солнцем и планетами; по одной из древнейших теорий о движении планет и других небесных тел)

with an utterly abandoned feeling: [‘Atэli] [э’bEndэnd] - с чувством полной покинутости

she went on in a convinced way: [kэn’vin(t)s] - убеждённо продолжила она

her eyes flashed around her in a defiant way: [di’faiэnt] - она с каким-то вызовом обежала глазами кругом

she laughed with thrilling scorn: - она засмеялясь с поразившим меня презрением

ceasing to compel my attention: [si:siN] [kэm’pel] - перестав занимать меня

insincerity: [,insin’serэti] - лживость, лицемерие, неискренность, фальшь
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(Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. “The Great Gatsby”, 1925)



До новых встреч!

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