Английский язык с П. Треверс. Мэри Поппинс / P. L. Travers: Mary Poppins

One thing we did know was that, as a child growing up in Australia, she had fallen in love with the fairy-tales, myths and legends from which she later borrowed some of the ideas and images found in her own books. Her passion for reading naturally led her to become a storyteller, beginning her writing career as a journalist and poet some years before she wrote her first full-length novel. It was in one of her earliest stories — written before she left Australia for Britain in 1924 — that a character appeared named Mary Poppins. She was neither magical nor particularly memorable, but the author had found a name that she would one day give to somebody else…

That “somebody” blew into Pamela Travers’ imagination (этот «другой» ворвался в воображение Памелы Треверс) rather as Mary Poppins herself blew into Cherry Tree Lane (довольно /похоже на то/, как сама Мэри Поппинс ворвалась на Вишневую улицу). The author was staying in an old thatched manor in Sussex (автор жила в старом, крытом соломой особняке в Сассексе) and was ill in bed (и лежала в постели по болезни). As she once described it to me (как она однажды описала это мне): “The idea of this unusual person came to me (идея/представление об этой необычной личности/необычном человеке пришла ко мне) and, in that halfway state between being well and ill, I began to write about her (и, на полпути между здоровьем и болезнью я начала писать о ней).”

So (так что), some parts of Mary Poppins came to Pamela from out of the blue (некоторые части рассказа о Мэри Поппинс пришли к Памеле из синевы = из неба = совершенно неожиданно; out of the blue — совершенно неожиданно, как гром среди ясного неба); others were memories of her earlier life (другие были воспоминаниями о ее ранней жизни) when she was growing up on an Australian sugar plantation (когда она подрастала на Австралийской сахарной плантации). Bertha (or maybe she was called Bella — Pamela could never quite remember!) (Берта (или может быть ее звали Бэла — Памела не могла точно вспомнить)), one of the family’s Irish servants (одна из ирландских слуг семьи), was a marvellous character (была удивительным персонажем) whose pride and joy was a parrot-headed umbrella (чьей гордостью и радостью был зонтик с головой попугая). “Whenever Bertha was going out (когда бы Берта ни выходила из дома),” Pamela told me (Памела рассказвала мне), “the umbrella would be carefully taken out of tissue paper (зонтик должен был заботливо вынут из оберточной бумаги) and off she would go (и она уходила), looking terribly stylish (выглядя ужасно стильно). But, as soon as she came back (но, как только она возвращалась), the umbrella would be wrapped up in tissue paper once more (зонтик должен был упаковываться в оберточную бумагу еще раз = снова).”

Bertha ['bq:Tq] tissue ['tI∫u:] servants ['sq:v(q)nts]

That “somebody” blew into Pamela Travers’ imagination rather as Mary Poppins herself blew into Cherry Tree Lane. The author was staying in an old thatched manor in Sussex and was ill in bed. As she once described it to me: “The idea of this unusual person came to me and, in that halfway state between being well and ill, I began to write about her.”

So, some parts of Mary Poppins came to Pamela from out of the blue; others were memories of her earlier life when she was growing up on an Australian sugar plantation. Bertha (or maybe she was called Bella — Pamela could never quite remember!), one of the family’s Irish servants, was a marvellous character whose pride and joy was a parrot-headed umbrella. “Whenever Bertha was going out,” Pamela told me, “the umbrella would be carefully taken out of tissue paper and off she would go, looking terribly stylish. But, as soon as she came back, the umbrella would be wrapped up in tissue paper once more.”

Like Mary Poppins (подобно Мэри Поппинс), Bertha also had a number of fascinating relatives (Бэрта имела много очаровательных родственников) whom she would visit (которых она навещала). Pamela recalled (Памела вспоминала): “She would come back and tell us wonderful stories (она возвращалась и рассказывала удивительные истории)… But no (но нет) — she wouldn’t quite tell (она не совсем рассказывала). She’d just hint (она только намекала): ‘If you could know what happened to me cousin’s brother-in-law (если бы вы только знали, что случилось со моей кузины зятем)…’ And when you’d opened your ears and your eyes (и когда вы открывали свои уши и свои глаза) — and your mouth (и ваш рот) — waiting for more (ожидая большего), she would say (она говорила): ‘Ah, well, then, it’s not for the ears of children (а, ну, это не для детских ушей)…’ And I would wonder (а я гадала) what were those things that were not for the ears of children (что же было тем, что не для детских ушей).”