письмо). In this he gave me a full account of the business (дал полный отчет о
бизнесе).
He also sent me a large amount of money (большую сумму денег), which I was
very glad to get (которую я был очень рад получить).
I was now a rich man (богатым человеком). I might have settled down to a life
of ease and idleness (мог бы теперь вести жизнь, полную беззаботности и
праздности;
wish (но не таково было мое желание).
Soon I was wandering from one place to another (ездил от одного места в
другое), seeing more of the world (видя больше от мира = чтобы посмотреть мир еще
больше). I had many surprising adventures (удивительных приключений), I assure you
(уверяю вас); but I need not tell you about them (мне не нужно = не стоит
рассказывать вам о них). You would think any account of them very dry reading
(всякий отчет = рассказ о них покажется вам очень сухим) compared with the story I
have already related (по сравнению с историей, которую я уже рассказал).
And so, looking back with regretful memories (оглядываясь назад с полными
сожаления воспоминаниями;
dear desert island (провел на моем милом /сердцу/ пустынном острове), I bid you a
kind good-by (говорю вам доброе прощайте).
solemn ['sol m
ǝ ] bewilder [bι'wιldə]
254
I BRING MY TALE TO A CLOSE
AND SO on the 19th of December, 1687, we set sail for England. I had been on
the island twenty-eight years, two months, and nineteen days.
I took on board with me the money that had been by me so long and had been so
useless. I took also my big goatskin cap and my umbrella. Neither did I forget my good
Poll Parrot.
As for my man Friday, nothing in the world could have parted him from me. He
would have gone to the ends of the earth with me.
The voyage was a long and hard one. But on the eleventh day of June we at last
reached London. Once more I was in England, the land of my birth.
I was as perfect a stranger as if I had never been there.
I went down to York. My father and mother had been dead a long time. The
friends of my boyhood had forgotten me.
I was alone in the world. Where should I go and what should I do?
By chance I learned that my plantation in Brazil was doing well. The man whom I
had left in charge of it had made much money from the tobacco he had raised.
He was an honest man, and when he heard that I was still alive he wrote me a
long, kind letter. In this he gave me a full account of the business.
He also sent me a large amount of money, which I was very glad to get.
255
I was now a rich man. I might have settled down to a life of ease and idleness; but
such was not my wish.
Soon I was wandering from one place to another, seeing more of the world. I had
many surprising adventures, I assure you; but I need not tell you about them. You would
think any account of them very dry reading compared with the story I have already
related.
And so, looking back with regretful memories to the years which I spent on my
dear desert island, I bid you a kind good-by.
256
Document Outline
I SEE MUCH OF THE WORLD (я вижу большую часть мира)
I SEE MUCH OF THE WORLD