Елизавета Хундаева - Tender is the night. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Учим английский, читая мировую классику

Rosemary laid her face on the water and swam a choppy (сбивчивый, неровный) little four-beat (удар) crawl (кроль) out to the raft (паром; наплавной мост). The water reached up for her, pulled her down tenderly (мягко, нежно) out of the heat (жара), seeped (просачиваться; проникать, протекать) in her hair and ran into the corners of her body. She turned round and round in it, embracing (обнимать, обхватывать) it, wallowing (барахтаться; купаться) in it. Reaching the raft she was out of breath (запыхаться), but a tanned (загорелый) woman with very white teeth looked down at her, and Rosemary, suddenly conscious of (вдруг осознав) the raw whiteness (не загоревшая белизна) of her own body, turned on her back and drifted toward shore. The hairy (волосатый) man holding the bottle spoke to her as she came out.

«I say – they have sharks (акула) out behind the raft.» He was of indeterminate (неопределённый) nationality, but spoke English with a slow (медлительный) Oxford drawl (протяжное произношение, медлительность речи). «Yesterday they devoured (проглотить) two British sailors from the flotte (флот) at Golfe Juan.»

«Heavens (боже мой; о боже! Царство Небесное)!» exclaimed Rosemary.

«They come in for the refuse (отказ) from the flotte.»

Glazing his eyes to indicate (чтобы показать) that he had only spoken in order to warn (предупредить) her, he minced off (переступить, пропустить ступень) two steps and poured (наливать) himself another drink.

Not unpleasantly self-conscious (не без смущения), since (поскольку) there had been a slight sway (волна) of attention toward her during this conversation, Rosemary looked for a place to sit. Obviously (очевидно) each family possessed (владеть) the strip (полоса) of sand immediately in front (прямо перед) of its umbrella; besides there was much visiting and talking back and forth – the atmosphere of a community (сообщество, компания) upon which it would be presumptuous (бесцеремонный, дерзкий, нахальный) to intrude (вторгаться, входить без разрешения или приглашения). Farther up, where the beach was strewn (быть покрытым) with pebbles (галька, гравий) and dead sea-weed (морская водоросль), sat a group with flesh (тело) as white as her own. They lay under small hand-parasols (балдахин, тент, зонтик от солнца) instead of beach umbrellas and were obviously less indigenous (аборигенный, местный) to the place. Between the dark people and the light, Rosemary found room (найти место) and spread out (расстелить) her peignoir (пеньюар) on the sand.

Lying so (лёжа так), she first heard their voices and felt their feet skirt (окружать, окаймлять, обрамлять) her body and their shapes pass between the sun and herself. The breath of an inquisitive (любопытный) dog blew (дышать) warm and nervous on her neck; she could feel her skin broiling (жариться на солнце) a little in the heat and hear the small exhausted (изнуренный; обессиленный) wa-waa of the expiring (находящийся при последнем издыхании, умирающий) waves. Presently (вскоре) her ear distinguished (различать) individual (отдельный) voices and she became aware (узнать) that some one referred to (названный) scornfully (презрительно) as «that North guy (тот парень с Севера) ” had kidnapped (похитить) a waiter (официант) from a café in Cannes last night in order to (для того, чтобы) saw (распилить) him in two (пополам). The sponsor (автор, инициатор) of the story was a white-haired (с белыми волосами) woman in full evening dress, obviously (явно, очевидно) a relic of the previous evening, for a tiara (тиара) still clung to her head and a discouraged (лишённый запаха) orchid (орхидея) expired (выдыхаться) from her shoulder. Rosemary, forming a vague antipathy to her and her companions, turned away (отвернуться).

Nearest her, on the other side, a young woman lay under a roof of umbrellas making out a list of things from a book open on the sand. Her bathing suit was pulled off (стянуть, сползать) her shoulders and her back, a ruddy (здоровый, пышущий здоровьем, цветущий), orange (оранжевый) brown (коричневый), set off (оттенять) by a string (нитка) of creamy (кремового цвета) pearls (жемчуг), shone (блестеть, сверкать) in the sun. Her face was hard (жёсткий) and lovely (привлекательный) and pitiful (печальный). Her eyes met Rosemary’s but did not see her. Beyond her was a fine man in a jockey (жокей) cap and red-striped (с красными полосками) tights (трико); then the woman Rosemary had seen on the raft (паром, плот), and who looked back at her, seeing her; then a man with a long face and a golden, leonine (львиный) head, with blue tights and no hat, talking very seriously to an unmistakably (безошибочно) Latin (латинец) young man in black tights, both of them picking at (ковыряться) little pieces of seaweed (морская водоросль) in the sand. She thought they were mostly Americans, but something made them unlike (непохожий на) the Americans she had known of late (последнее время).

After a while (через некоторое время) she realized (осознать) that the man in the jockey cap was giving a quiet (спокойный) little performance (представление) for this group; he moved gravely (серьёзно) about with a rake (лопаточка крупье, грабли), ostensibly (якобы; по видимости) removing (убирать) gravel (гравий; галька) and meanwhile (тем временем) developing (развивать, разрабатывать, разыгрывать) some (некий) esoteric (эзотерический) burlesque (бурлеск, пародия; карикатура) held in suspension (состояние неопределённости) by his grave (серьёзный) face. Its faintest (слабый, вялый) ramification (разветвление; ветвление) had become hilarious (весёлый, шумный, оживлённый), until (до тех пор, пока) whatever (что бы ни) he said released (вызывать) a burst (взрыв) of laughter. Even those who, like herself, were too far away to hear (слышать), sent out antennаe of attention until the only person on the beach (пляж) not caught up in it (не пойманная в это) was the young woman with the string (нитка) of pearls. Perhaps from modesty (скромность) of possession (собственность; имущество) she responded to (отвечать на) each salvo (залп, салют) of amusement (развлечение, забава) by bending (наклоняться) closer (ближе) over her list (список).

The man of the monocle and bottle spoke suddenly out of the sky above Rosemary.

«You are a ripping (отличный) swimmer.»

She demurred (возражать, протестовать).

«Jolly good. My name is Campion. Here is a lady who says she saw you in Sorrento last week and knows who you are and would so like to meet you.»

Glancing around with concealed (скрытый) annoyance (досада) Rosemary saw the untanned (незагоревший) people were waiting. Reluctantly (нехотя) she got up and went over to them.

«Mrs. Abrams – Mrs. McKisco – Mr. McKisco – Mr. Dumphry—

«We know who you are,» spoke up the woman in evening dress. «You’re Rosemary Hoyt and I recognized (узнать) you in Sorrento and asked the hotel clerk and we all think you’re perfectly marvelous (удивительный, замечательный) and we want to know why you’re not back in America making another marvellous (изумительный) moving (движущийся) picture.»

They made a superfluous (излишний; ненужный) gesture of moving over for her. The woman who had recognized (узнать) her was not a Jewess (еврейка, иудейка), despite (несмотря на) her name. She was one of those elderly (пожилой,) «good sports» preserved by an imperviousness (стойкость) to experience (опыт) and a good digestion (усвоение; понимание) into another generation.

«We wanted to warn you about getting burned (обгореть, загореть) the first day,» she continued cheerily (весело), «because YOUR skin is important, but there seems to be so darn (чертовски) much formality on this beach that we didn’t know whether you’d mind (возражать).»

«We thought maybe you were in the plot (заговор),» said Mrs. McKisco. She was a shabby-eyed (с бесчестными глазами), pretty young woman with a disheartening (приводящий в уныние) intensity (сила, энергия). «We don’t know who’s in the plot (заговор) and who isn’t. One man my husband had been particularly nice to turn out (оказаться) to be a chief (главный) character (герой) – practically the assistant (помощник) hero.»

«The plot?» inquired Rosemary, half understanding. «Is there a plot?»

«My dear, we don’t KNOW,» said Mrs. Abrams, with a convulsive (конвульсивный), stout (тучной, полный) woman’s chuckle (тихий смех; смех про себя). «We’re not in it. We’re the gallery (публика на галёрке).»

Mr. Dumphry, a tow-headed (белокурый) effeminate (женоподобный) young man, remarked (заметить): «Mama Abrams is a plot in herself,» and Campion shook his monocle at him, saying: «Now, Royal, don’t be too ghastly (отвратительный) for words.» Rosemary looked at them all uncomfortably, wishing her mother had come down here with her. She did not like these people, especially in her immediate (непосредственный) comparison of them with those who had interested her at the other end of the beach. Her mother’s modest but compact social gift (способность, дарование; дар, талант) got them out of unwelcome (неудобный) situations swiftly (быстро) and firmly (твердо). But Rosemary had been a celebrity (знаменитость; звезда) for only six months, and sometimes the French manners of her early adolescence (юность, подростковый возраст) and the democratic manners of America, these latter superimposed (накладывать), made a certain confusion (беспорядок; неразбериха, путаница) and let her in (впутывать во) for just such things.

Mr. McKisco, a scrawny (костлявый, сухопарый), freckle (веснушка) – and-red man of thirty, did not find the topic of the «plot» amusing (забавный, занимательный, занятный). He had been staring (уставиться) at the sea – now after a swift (быстрый) glance (взгляд) at his wife he turned to Rosemary and demanded (требовать) aggressively: