УAnd what might that have been?Ф asked Mr Lackland.

УWilliam, as you may know, was a curious, silent man; you could feel when he came near Тee*; and if he was in the house or anywhere behind you without your seeing him, there seemed to be something clammy in the air, as if a cellar door opened close by your elbow. Well, one Sunday, at a time that William was in very good health to all appearance, the bell that was ringing for church went very heavy all of a sudden; the sexton, who told me oТt**, said he had not known the bell go so heavy in his hand for yearsЧit was just as if thegudgeons wanted oiling. That was on the Sunday, as I say.

УDuring the week after, it chanced that WilliamТs wife was staying up late one night to finish her ironing, she doing the washing for Mr and Mrs Hardcome. Her husband had finished his supper, and gone to bed as usual some hour or two before. While she ironed she heard him coming downstairs; he stopped to put on his boots at the stair-foot, where he always left them, and then came on into the living-room where she was ironing, passing through it towards the door, this being the only way from the staircase to the outside of the house. No word was said on either side, William not being a man given too much speaking, and his wife being occupied with her work. He went out and closed the door behind him. As her husband had now and then gone out in this way at night before when unwell, or unable to sleep for want of a pipe, she took no particular notice, and continued at her ironing. This she finished shortly after, and, as he had not come in, she waited awhile for him, putting away the irons and things, and preparing the table for his breakfast in the morning. Still he did not return, but supposing him not far off, and wanting to go to bed herself, tired as she was, she left the door unbarred and went to the stairs, after writing on the back of the door with chalk: Mind and do the door (because he was a forgetful man).

УTo her great surprise, and I might say alarm, on reaching the foot of the stairs his boots were standing there as they always stood when he had gone to rest. Going up to their chamber, she found him in bed sleeping as sound as a rock. How he could have got back again without her seeing or hearing him was beyond her comprehension. It could only have been by passing behind her very quietly while she was bumping with the iron. But this notion did not satisfy her: it was surely impossible that she should not have seen him come in through a room so small. She could not unravel the mystery, and felt very queer and uncomfortable about it. However, she would not disturb him to question him then, and went to bed herself.

УHe rose and left for his work very early the next morning, before she was awake, and she waited his return to breakfast with much anxiety for an explanation, for thinking over the matter by daylight made it seem only the more startling. When he came in to the meal he said, before she could put her question, СWhatТs the meaning of them words chalked on the door?Т

УShe told him, and asked him about his going out the night before. William declared that he had never left the bedroom after entering it, having in fact undressed, lain down, and fallen asleep directly, never once waking till the clock struck five, and he rose up to go to his labour.

УBetty Privett was as certain in her own mind that he did go out as she was of her own existence, and was little less certain that he did not return. She felt too disturbed to argue with him, and let the subject drop as though she must have been mistaken. When she was walking down Longpuddle Street later in the day she met Jim WeedleТs daughter Nancy, and said: СWell Nancy, you do look sleepy to-day!Т

УСYes, Mrs Privett,Т said Nancy. СNow, donТt tell anybody, but I donТt mind letting you know what the reason oТt is. Last night, being Old Midsummer Eve, some of us church porch, and didnТt get home till near one.Т

УСDid ye***?Т says Mrs Privett. СOld Midsummer yesterday was it? Faith, I didnТt think wheТr Тtwas**** Midsummer or Michaelmas; IТd too much work to do.Т

УСYes. And we were frightened enough, I can tell Тee by what we saw.Т

УСWhat did ye see?Т

У(You may not remember, sir, having gone off to foreign parts so young, that on Midsummer Night it is believed hereabout that the faint shapes of all the folk in the parish who are going to be at deathТs door within the year can be seen entering the church. Those who get over their illness come out again after awhile; those that are doomed to die do not return.)

УСWhat did you see?Т asked WilliamТs wife.

У СWell,Т says Nancy, backwardlyЧСwe neednТt tell what we saw or who we saw.Т

УСYou saw my husband,Т said Betty Privettin a quiet way.

УСWell, since you put it so,Т says Nancy, hanging fire, СweЧthought we did see him; but it was darkish and we was frightened, and of course it might not have been he.Т

УСNancy, you neednТt mind letting it out, though Тtis ***** kept back in kindness. And he didnТt come out of the church again: I know it as well as you.Т

УNancy did not answer yes or no to that, and no more was said. But three days after, William Privett was mowing with John Chiles in Mr HardcomeТs meadow, and in the heat of the day they sat down to their bit oТ lunch under a tree, and empty their flagon. Afterwards both of Тem fell asleep as they sat. John Chiles was the first to wake, and, as he looked towards his fellow-mower, he saw one of those great white millerТs-souls as we call Тem******Чthat is to say, a miller moth*Чcome from WilliamТs open mouth while he slept and fly straight away. John thought it odd enough, as William had worked in a mill for several years when he was a boy. He then looked at the sun, and found by the place oТt that they had slept a long while, and, as William did not wake, John called to him and said it was high time to begin work again. He took no notice, and then John went up and shook him and found he was dead.

УNow on that very day old Philip Hookhorn was down at Longpuddle Spring, dipping up a pitcher of water; and, as he turned away, who should he see coming down to the spring on the other side but William, looking very pale and old? This surprised Philip Hookhorn very much, for years before that time WilliamТs little sonЧhis only childЧhad been drowned in that spring while at play there, and this had so preyed upon WilliamТs mind that heТd never been seen near the spring afterwards, and had been known to go half a mile out of his way to avoid the place. On enquiry, it was found that William in body could not have stood by the spring, being in the mead two miles off; and it also came out that at the time at which he was seen at the spring was the very time when he died.Ф

УA rather melancholy story,Ф observed the emigrant, after a minuteТs silence.

УYes, yes. Well, we must take ups and downs together,Ф said the seedmanТs father.

* miller moths -разноусые бабочки

* Тee - you

** oТt - of it

***ye - you

**** Тtwas - it was

***** Тtis - it is

****** Тem - them

superstitious ["sjHpq'stISqs] суеверный

hitherto ['hIDq'tH] до насто€щего времени, до сих пор

clammy ['klxmI] клейкий, липкий, в€зкий; неприветливый

sexton ['sekst(q)n] церковный сторож

gudgeon ['gAG(q)n] болт

pipe [paIp] курительна€ трубка

awhile [q'waIl] ненадолго

alarm [q'lRm] см€тение, страх

chamber ['tSeImbq] спальн€

comprehension ["kOmprI'henS(q)n] понимание

to unravel [An'rxv(q)l] раскрывать, разгадывать

queer [kwIq] сомнительный

startling ['stRlIN] изумительный, удивительный

porch [pLtS] крыльцо; подъезд

Michaelmas ['mIklmqs] ћихайлов день

parish ['pxrIS] приход (территори€, наход€ща€с€ в ведении одного

св€щенника)

to doom [dHm] обрекать, предопредел€ть

meadow ['medqu] луг

mower ['mquq] косарь

moth [mOT] мотылек

to dip up [dIp] вычерпывать

pitcher ['pItSq] большой кувшин

to drown [draun] тонуть

to prey [preI] оказывать пагубное вли€ние

While the two-piece swimsuit we know of today as the bikini has only been marketed and sold as the УbikiniФ for 60 years, the fashion that inspired it is nearly as old as civilization itself. Years ago, archaeologists discovered Minoan wall paintings from 1600 B.C. and Roman mosaics from 300 A.D. that depict the bikini. Six years after the introduction of the bikini to the modern world, one Italian archaeologist was stunned to uncover wall paintings in the gymnasium of a traditional Sicilian villa that portray eight female gymnasts indiaper-like panties and strapless, bandeau-style tops. Clearly, the history of the bikini begins much earlier than 1946. Still, it is the explosive, modern debut of the bikini in the year 1946 and subsequent modifications of the bikini that truly define the popular two-piece swimsuit.

The bikini was invented and launched almost simultaneously by two French fashion designers: Jacques Heim and Louis Reard. Heim was a swimsuit designer who had created a two-piece suit to be sold in his beach shop in Cannes. He marketed the swimsuit as the УAtome,Ф (named for its small size and meant to be compared with the atom, the smallest particle of matter yet known). To market his new innovation, Heim hired skywriters to advertise his new, scandalously tiny swimsuit.

The same summer of 1946 in which Heim was introducing his УAtome,Ф Louis Reard was creating his own similar, two-piece swimsuit. He named and marketed his swimsuit as the bikini, proclaiming that it was Уsmaller than the smallest bathing suit in the world.Ф Reard christened his swimsuit the bikini in honor of post-WWII, experimental atomic bombs being detonatedin the South Pacific, near the Bikini Reef. The bikini swimsuit was supposed to have caused the same earth-shattering reaction among those who viewed it as was inspired by the rising mushroom clouds of atomic bombs. The bikini soon superseded the УAtomeФ as the official appellation of the two-piece swimsuit.

The bikini received its first official induction into swimwear fashion on July 5, 1946 when a nude dancer Micheline Bernardini paraded onto the runway in it at a poolside fashion show in Paris, since no reputable French fashion model would. A number of American correspondents responsible for reporting the fashion show were both shocked and titillated by the modelТs skimpy attire. While many Americans believed the bikini was simply too scandalous for virtuous American women to adopt, the bikini would make its debut into American fashion only one year later.

The original bikinis of the 1940s and 1950s were fairly modest in their coverage, as compared to current standards. Bottoms were cut above the navel, and tops provided full coverage of the bust. Despite this rather modest beginning, the bikini would undergo several transformations as the decades progressed. Fashion designers practiced with many varieties and innovations for the swimsuit, including a bikini top with attached propellers, a suit made entirely of red hair, and a rather discomforting version constructed of porcupine quills. In the 1940s and 1950s, the bikini was so small that it could easily be packed into a matchbook, but the suit would undergo even more drastic shrinkage as the years went on.

In the 1970s, following a shocking sexual revolution in the United States, fashion designers revamped the bikini to be even more revealing and titillating. The string bikinis of the 1970s exposed the navel for the first time by fitting the bottoms just on the hips. The top left little to the imagination, providing only minimal bra-style coverage. In the 1980s, the popular thong bikini was introduced into American fashion. Fashion designers claimed the origin of the thong bikini to be from the traditional clothing of Amazonian tribal groups in Brazil. The thong bikini offered the scantiest coverage yet imagined in the rear of the suit.

In the 1990s and 2000s, fashion designers have continued to revamp the old bikini and have innovated new styles for the two-piece swimsuit. While the thong bikini and string bikini have only grown in popularity, the tankini has recently been added to the growing selection of bikini swimwear.

In its short, modern history of 60 years, the bikini has managed to repeatedly shock the world with its ever more revealing nature. Nonetheless, the history of the bikini is hardly finished. Fashion designers will, without a doubt, continue to experiment with the Уsmallest bathing suit in the world.Ф

Evolution of the bikini

In recent years, the term monokini has come into use for topless bathing by women: where the bikini has two parts, the monokini is the lower part. Where monokinis are in use, the word bikini may jokingly refer to a two-piece outfit consisting of a monokini and a sun hat. The term was coined by Rudi Gernreich.

The tankini is a swimsuit combining a tank top and a bikini bottom. A string bikini is a more revealing alternative style where both top and bottom are reduced to triangles of cloth connected by strings.

The lower part of the bikini was further reduced in size in the 1970s to the Brazilian thong, where the back of the suit is so thin that it disappears into the buttocks. Recently bikinis have been getting smaller. This trend started with the top piece, but after shrinking the top so much that it barely covers the nipples, swimsuit manufacturers have moved on to reducing the size of the bottom piece. One can see the trend toward reduction in the following styles: slingshot, mini, teardrop, minimini, micro, and, what could be called a double g-string, the minimicro.

The name Bikini is from the Marshallese language, spoken by about 30,000 people in the Marshall Islands. It belongs to the Micronesian subgroup of Eastern Malayo-Polynesian. No other words from Marshallese have made their way into present-day English.

A WORD OF WISDOM

Better to be envied than pitied

entrenched [In'trentSt] закрепившийс€, укоренившийс€

to depict [dI'pIkt] изображать

to stun [stAn] ошеломл€ть, поражать

diaper ['daIqpq] подгузник; памперсы

strapless ['strxplqs] не имеющий бретелек (о платье)

bandeau ['bxndqu] бюстгальтер без бретелек

subsequent ['sAbsIkwqnt] более поздний, последующий

simultaneously ["sIm(q)l'teInjqslI] совместно

sky-writer ['skaI"raItq] самолет дл€ воздушной рекламы

to detonate ['detquneIt] взрывать(с€)

earth-shattering ['WTSxtqrIN] изумительный, шокирующий

to supersede ["sjHpq'sJd] вытесн€ть; занимать (чье-л.) место

to titillate ['tItIleIt] при€тно возбуждать

attire [q'taIq] оде€ние, нар€д

current ['kAr(q)nt] современный

navel ['neIv(q)l] пупок

quill [kwIl] крупное птичье перо

drastic ['drxstIk] радикальный, резкий

shrinkage ['SrINkIG] уменьшение

to revamp ['rJ'vxmp] поправл€ть

thong [TON] трусики "танга"

scanty ['skxntI] недостаточный, ограниченный

nonetheless ["nAnDq'les] несмотр€ на, однако

jokingly ['GqukINlI] забавно, шутливо

to coin [kOIn] выдумывать

buttocks ['bAtqks] €годицы

garment ['gRmqnt] одежда

urn [Wn] могила, гробница

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