perhaps
[p'hps]
- возможно; early - [':li]
рано; stupid - ['stju:pid] глупый; wind - [wind] ветер; stay - [stei] оставаться, находиться; cape - [keip] мыс;
fast [fa:st] = quick;
get tired [taid] - устать;
look after - присматривать за.
CHAPTER FIVE
A Long Cold
Winter
It
was dark for four months. Outside the wooden house at Framheim, it was often
-60 degrees Centigrade. The dogs lived in warm holes under the snow. The
men stayed in the house, and worked in their rooms under the snow.
The
skis and sledges came from the best shops in Norway, but Bjaaland wasn't
happy with them. He changed a lot of things on the skie and sledges. Soon
the sledges were stronger than before. The skie were better and faster,
too.
change
[ein]
- изменить; soon - вскоре;
All
the Norwegians worked hard. They looked after their dogs, and worked on
their equipment - the sledges, skis, tents. Every day they thought about
their journey to the Pole, and talked about it. And every day, Amundsen
thought about Scott. One day, in midwinter, he talked to his men.
"Let's
start early, before Scott," Amundsen said. "Remember, Scott has
more men than us, and he has motor sledges, too. Perhaps they can go faster
than us."
Bjaaland
laughed. "Oh no, they can't go faster than me," he said. "On
snow, nothing can go faster than a good man on skis."
nothing
['ni]
- ничего;
"We
don't know," Amundsen said. "You're the best skier in Norway,
but you get tired, and dogs get tired, too. Motor sledges don't get tired.
They can go all day and all night."
Johansen
laughed angrily. "That's stupid," he said "Perhaps the motor
sledges can go all night, but the Englishmen can't. The English can't win,
Roald - they don't understand snow, but we do. And they're too slow."
"Perhaps,"
Amundsen said. "But I want to win this race. So we're going to start
early! Do you understand?"
It
was quiet and warm inside Framheim. Bjaaland looked at Amundsen, and thought
about the long, cold journey in front of him. He thought about the dogs
in their holes under the snow, and listened to the wind over th house. "When,
Roald?" he said quietly.
"On
August 24th. The sun comes back on that day. We start then."
sun
[sn] - солнце;
"But
we can't!" Johansen said. He looked angrily, and unhappy. "That's
too early! We can't start then - it's dangerous and stupid!"
Amundsen
looked at Johansen coldly. "You're wrong, Johansen," he said.
"We want to win, remember? So we start on August 24th."
wrong
[r]
- неправ(ый);
Bjaaland
listen to the winter wind outside.
***
In Scott's
camp, at Cape Evans, no one talked about Amundsen and no one worked hard.
They had good food, and they played football on the snow. They wrote a
newspaper - The South Polar Times - read books. No one learnt
to ski, no one worked on the motor sledges. Twice, men went for long journeys
across the snow. They walked, and pulled the sledges themselves. Oates
stayed at Cape Evans and looked after his ponies.
Over
the window in Cape Evans, Scott put a map of Antarctica. With a pen, he
made a line from Cape Evans to the South Pole, and he put a little British
Flag at the Pole. Under the map, Scott wrote the day for the start of their
journey.