James Baldwin - Английский язык с Робинзоном Крузо (в пересказе для детей) (ASCII-IPA)

I had all the comforts of life (у меня были все удобства жизни) .

I had food in plenty (у меня была еда в изобилии) .

I might raise shiploads of grain (я мог бы вырастить корабли зерна; shipload — судовой груз) , but there was no market for it (но для него не было рынка) .

I had thousands of trees for timber and fuel (у меня были тысячи деревьев для древесины топлива) , but no one wished to buy (но никто не хотел покупать) .

I counted the money which I had brought from the ship (я пересчитал деньги, которые я принес с корабля) . There were above a hundred pieces of gold and silver (свыше ста монет золота и серебра) ; but of what use were they (но какая польза от них) ?

I would have given all for a handful of peas or beans to plant (я отдал бы все за горсть гороха и бобов /которые можно было бы/ посеять) . I would have given all for a bottle of ink (я отдал бы все за бутылку чернил) .

escape [Is'keIp], reach [ri:tS], distant ['dIst(@)nt], danger ['deIndZ@], enough [I'nVf], canoe [k@'nu:], chisel ['tSIz(@)l], discontented [,dIsk@n'tentId], market ['mA:kIt], fuel ['fju:@l]

WHILE I was doing these things I was always trying to think of some way to escape from the island. True, I was living there with much comfort. I was happier than I had ever been while sailing the seas.

But I longed to see other men. I longed for home and friends.

You will remember that when I was over at the farther side of the island I had seen land in the distance. Fifty or sixty miles of water lay between me and that land. Yet I was always wishing that I could reach it.

It was a foolish wish. For there was no telling what I might find on that distant shore.

Perhaps it was a far worse place than my little island. Perhaps there were savage beasts there. Perhaps wild men lived there who would kill me and eat me.

I thought of all these things; but I was willing to risk every kind of danger rather than stay where I was.

At last I made up my mind to build a boat. It should be large enough to carry me and all that belonged to me. It should be strong enough to stand a long voyage over stormy seas.

I had seen the great canoes which Indians sometimes make of the trunks of trees. I would make one of the same kind.

In the woods I found a cedar tree which I thought was just the right thing for my canoe.

It was a huge tree. Its trunk was more than five feet through at the bottom.

I chopped and hewed many days before it fell to the ground. It took two weeks to cut a log of the right length from it.

Then I went to work on the log. I chop and hewed and shaped the outside into the form of a canoe. With hatchet and chisel I hollowed out the inside.

For full three months I worked on that cedar log. I was both proud and glad when the canoe was finished. I had never seen so big a boat made from a single tree.

It was well shaped and handsome. More than twenty men might find room to sit in it.

But now the hardest question of all must answered.

How was I to get my canoe into the water?

It lay not more than three hundred feet from the little river where I had first landed with my raft.

But how was I to move it three hundred feet, or even one foot? It was so heavy that I could not even roll it over.

I thought of several plans. But when I came to reckon the time and the labor, I found that even by the easiest plan it would take twenty years to get the canoe into the water.

What could I do but leave it in the woods where it lay?

How foolish I had been! Why had I not thought of the weight of the canoe before going to the labor of making it?

The wise man will always look before he leaps. I certainly had not acted wisely.

I went back to my castle, feeling sad and thoughtful.

Why should I be discontented and unhappy?

I was the master of all that I saw. I might call myself the king of the island.

I had all the comforts of life.

I had food in plenty.

I might raise shiploads of grain, but there was no market for it.

I had thousands of trees for timber and fuel, but no one wished to buy.

I counted the money which I had brought from the ship. There were above a hundred pieces of gold and silver; but of what use were they?

I would have given all for a handful of peas or beans to plant. I would have given all for a bottle of ink.

(я делаю зонтик)

AS the years went by (пока проходили годы) the things which I had brought from the ship were used up or worn out (вещи, которые я принес с корабля, использовались /до конца/ и износились; to wear — носить /обувь, одежду/; to wear out — изнашивать) .

My biscuits lasted more than a year (моего печенья хватило более чем на год) ; for I ate only one cake each day (так как я ел только одно печенье каждый день; cake — кекс; пирожное; торт) .

My ink soon gave out (чернила вскоре иссякли; to give out — иссякать, кончаться /о запасах, силах и т. п./) , and then I had no more use for pens or paper (и затем = в дальнейшем я не мог больше использовать перья и бумагу) .

At last my clothes were all worn out (наконец, одежда моя была вся изношена) .

The weather was always warm on my island (погода была всегда/постоянно теплой на моем острове) and there was little need for clothes (и была малая необходимость в одежде) . But I could not go without them (но я не мог обходиться без нее; to go without smth. — обходиться без /чего-л./, мириться с отсутствием /чего-л./) .

It so happened that I had saved the skins of all the animals I had killed (так случилось, что я сохранял шкуры всех животных, /которых/ я убил) .

I stretched every skin on a framework of sticks (я растягивал каждую шкуру на каркасе из палок) and hung it up in the sun to dry (и вешал на солнце сушиться) .

In time I had a great many of these skins (со временем у меня было = скопилось очень много этих шкур) . Some were coarse (некоторые были грубыми) and stiff (и жесткими; stiff — тугой, негибкий, неэластичный, жесткий) and fit for nothing (и не подходили ни для чего; fit — подходящий, годный, пригодный) . Others were soft to the touch and very pretty to look at (другие были мягкие на ощупь и приятные глазу: «и очень симпатичные, чтобы смотреть на них») .

One day I took one of the finest and made me a cap of it (однажды я взял одну из лучших и сделал себе шапочку из нее) . I left all the hair on the outside (я оставил всю шерсть: «волосы» снаружи: «на наружней стороне») , so as to shoot off the rain (так, чтобы сбрасывать дождь = защищаться от дождя) .

It was not very pretty (она была не очень красивой) ; but it was of great use (но была очень полезна: «была большой пользы») , and what more did I want (а чего же больше мне было желать) ?

I did so well with the cap that I thought I would try something else (у меня получилось так хорошо с шапочкой, что я подумал, что я бы попытался что-нибудь еще /сделать/) . So, after a great deal of trouble (после многих мучений/трудностей) , I made me a whole suit (я сделал себе целый костюм) .

I made me a waistcoat (я сделал жилет) and a pair of knee breeches (и пару бриджей; knee — колено; breeches — штаны, брюки) . I wanted them to keep me cool rather than warm (я хотел, чтобы они «держали» меня скорее в прохладе, чем в тепле) . So I made them quite loose (поэтому я сделал их довольно свободными; loose — свободный; непривязанный, неприкрепленный; просторный, широкий /об одежде/) .

You would have laughed to see them (вы бы посмеялись, увидев их) . They were funny things, I tell you (это были забавные вещи, скажу я вам) . But when I went out in the rain (но когда я выходил наружу под дождь) , they kept me dry (они не давали мне промокнуть: «сохраняли меня сухим») .

This, I think, put me in mind of an umbrella (это, я думаю, подсказало мне идею сделать зонт) .

I had seen umbrellas in Brazil (я видел зонты в Бразилии) , although they were not yet common in England (хотя они еще не были еще распространены в Англии; common — общий, всеобщий; общепринятый, распространенный) . They were of much use in the summer when the sun shone hot (они были очень полезны летом, когда солнце светило жарко; to shine — светить) .

I thought that if they were good in Brazil (я подумал, что если они были хороши в Бразилии) , they would be still better here (они будут еще лучше здесь) , where the sun was much hotter (где солнце было намного жарче) .

So I set about the making of one (поэтому я приступил к тому, чтобы делать зонт) .

I took great pains with it (это потребовало больших усилий от меня; pain — боль; мука) , and it was a long time before it pleased me at all (и прошло долгое время, прежде чем он понравился мне вообще) .

I could make it spread (я мог развернуть его: «заставить его развернуться»; to spread — развертывать/ся/) , but it did not let down (но он не складывался: «не опускался») . And what would be the use of an umbrella that could not be folded (и какая была бы польза от зонта, который нельзя было бы сложить: «который не мог быть сложенным») ?