Английский язык с Мюриэль Спарк (рассказы)

I was sent to have my eyes tested. He took me into the darkened interior and said. "Sit down, dear." He put his arm round my shoulder. His forefinger moved up and down on my neck. I was thirteen and didn't like to be rude to him. Dorothy Simmonds, his sister, came downstairs just then; she came upon us silently and dressed in a white overall. Before she had crossed the room to switch on a dim light Mr, Simmonds removed his arm from my shoulder with such a jerk that I knew for certain he had not placed it there in innocence.

I had seen Miss Simmonds once before (однажды я уже видела мисс Симмондс), at a garden fete (на празднике в саду), where she stood on a platform (где она стояла на сцене: «платформе») in a big hat and blue dress (в большой шляпе и синем платье), and sang "Sometimes between long shadows on the grass" (и пела «Иногда между длинными тенями на траве»), while I picked up windfall apples (пока я подбирала падалицу: «сбитые ветром яблоки»), all of which seemed to be rotten (вся она: «все из которых» оказалась гнилой; rotten — гнилой, испорченный). Now in her white overall she turned and gave me a hostile look (теперь, в своем белом халате, она повернулась и враждебно посмотрела на меня: «дала мне враждебный взгляд»; hostile — вражеский, недружелюбный), as if I had been seducing her brother (как будто я соблазняла ее брата; to seduce — соблазнить, обольстить, совратить). I felt sexually in the wrong (я чувствовала себя виноватой и порочной: «сексуально неправой»; to be in the wrong — бытьнеправым, виноватым), and started looking round the dark room with a wide-eyed air (и начала оглядывать темную комнату наивными глазами: «в наивной манере, с широко раскрытыми глазами»).

"Can you read (ты умеешь читать)?" said Mr. Simmonds.

I stopped looking round (я перестала оглядываться; tolookround— оглядываться кругом, осматриваться). I said: "Read what (читать что)?" for I had been told (так как мне сказали) I would be asked to read row after row of letters (что меня попросят прочитать ряды: «ряд за рядом» букв). The card which hung beneath the dim light (в таблице: «карте», которая висела под тусклой лампой) showed pictures of trains and animals (были картинки поездов и животных; toshow— показывать, выставлять).

fete [feIt] windfall ['wIndfO: l] sexual ['sek|SVqlI, — sjVqlI] beneath [bI'ni: T]

hostile ['hOstaIl]

I had seen Miss Simmonds once before, at a garden fete, where she stood on a platform in a big hat and blue dress, and sang "Sometimes between long shadows on the grass," while I picked up windfall apples, all of which seemed to be rotten. Now in her white overall she turned and gave me a hostile look, as if I had been seducing her brother. I felt sexually in the wrong, and started looking round the dark room with a wide-eyed air.

"Can you read?" said Mr. Simmonds.

I stopped looking round. I said. "Read what?" for I had been told I would be asked to read row after row of letters. The card, which hung beneath the dim light, showed pictures of trains and animals.

"Because if you can't read (потому что, если ты не умеешь читать) we have pictures for illiterates (то у нас есть картинки для неграмотных)."

This was Mr. Simmond's joke (это была шутка господина Симмондса). I giggled (я хихикнула). His sister smiled (его сестра улыбнулась) and dabbed her right eye with her handkerchief (и приложила к правому глазу платок; todab— ударять; прикасаться, намазывать). She had been to London (она была в Лондоне) for an operation on her right eye (где ей оперировали правый глаз).