Английский язык с У. С. Моэмом. На окраине империи. Рассказы / W. S. Maugham: Stories

Bateman took a glance at him. Edward was dressed in a suit of shabby white ducks, none too clean, and a large straw hat of native make. He was thinner than he had been, deeply burned by the sun, and he was certainly better looking than ever. But there was something in his appearance that disconcerted Bateman. He walked with a new jauntiness; there was a carelessness in his demeanour, a gaiety about nothing in particular, which Bateman could not precisely blame, but which exceedingly puzzled him.

"I'm blest if I can see what he's got to be so darned cheerful about (черт побери: «я проклят», не могу понять, чему он радуется; to bless (blessed, blest) — благословлять; ирон. проклинать; darned = damned — проклятый; эмоц. — усил. отвратительный, ужасный)," he said to himself (думал он).

They arrived at the hotel and sat on the terrace (они пришли к гостинице и сели на веранде). A Chinese boy brought them cocktails (юноша-китаец принес им коктейли). Edward was most anxious to hear all the news of Chicago (Эдварду не терпелось услышать все новости из Чикаго; anxious — беспокоящийся, тревожащийся; страстно желающий/чего-либо/) and bombarded his friend with eager questions (и он засыпал своего друга вопросами одним за другим; to bombard — бомбардировать; засыпать, забрасывать/вопросами, просьбами и т. п./; eager — жаждущий/чего-либо/,нетерпеливый). His interest was natural and sincere (его интерес был естественным и искренним). But the odd thing was that it seemed equally divided among a multitude of subjects (но странным было то, что он /интерес/, казалось, был равноценно поделен между большим количеством предметов). He was as eager to know how Bateman's father was as what Isabel was doing (ему так же не терпелось узнать, как чувствует себя отец Бейтмана, как и то, что делала Изабелла).

terrace ['terIs], bombard [bOm'bQ: d], sincere [sIn'sIq], equally ['i: kwqlI], multitude ['multItju: d]

"I'm blest if I can see what he's got to be so darned cheerful about," he said to himself.

They arrived at the hotel and sat on the terrace. A Chinese boy brought them cocktails. Edward was most anxious to hear all the news of Chicago and bombarded his friend with eager questions. His interest was natural and sincere. But the odd thing was that it seemed equally divided among a multitude of subjects. He was as eager to know how Bateman's father was as what Isabel was doing.

He talked of her without a shade of embarrassment (он говорил о ней без тени смущения), but she might just as well have been his sister as his promised wife (но она с тем же успехом могла бы быть его сестрой, а не суженой: «обещанной женой»); and before Bateman had done analyzing the exact meaning of Edward's remarks (и прежде чем Бейтман проанализировал точный смысл замечаний Эдварда) he found that the conversation had drifted to his own work (он обнаружил, что разговор перешел к его /собственной/ работе; to drift — относить или гнать/ветром, течением/;изменять состояние) and the buildings his father had lately erected (и зданиям, которые его отец недавно возвел). He was determined to bring the conversation back to Isabel (он был полон решимости вернуть разговор обратно, к Изабелле) and was looking for the occasion (и искал удобного случая) when he saw Edward wave his hand cordially (когда увидел, что Эдвард сердечно машет /кому-то/ рукой). A man was advancing towards them on the terrace (какой-то человек приближался к ним /по веранде/), but Bateman's back was turned to him and he could not see him (но Бейтман сидел к нему спиной: «но спина Бейтмана была повернута к нему» и не мог его видеть).