pension ['penS(q)n] concubinage [kOn'kju:bInIdZ] boisterous ['bOIst(q)rqs]
vitality [vaI'txlItI]
She was a born actress and it was an understood thing for as long as she could
remember that she was to go on the stage. Her aunt, Madame Falloux, was
"en relations" with an old actress who had been a societaire of the Comedie
Franзaise and who had retired to St. Malo to live on the small pension that
one of her lovers had settled on her when after many years of faithful
concubinage they had parted. When Julia was a child of twelve this actress
was a boisterous, fat old woman of more than sixty, but of great vitality, who
loved food more than anything else in the world. She had a great, ringing
laugh, like a man's, and she talked in a deep, loud voice. It was she who gave
Julia her first lessons.
She taught her all the arts (она преподала ей все умения: «хитрости
мастерства») that she had herself learnt at the Conservatoire (которым она сама
обучилась в музыкальном училище: «консерватории») and she talked to her of
Reichenberg (и она разговаривала с ней о Райхенберг) who had played ingenues
till she was seventy (которая играла инженю до семидесяти лет), of Sarah
Bernhardt and her golden voice (о Саре Бернар и ее золотистом голосе), of
Mounet-Sully and his majesty (о Муне-Сюлли и его величавости), and of
Coquelin the greatest actor of them all (и о Коклене, величайшем актере из них
всех). She recited to her the great tirades of Corneille and Racine (она
декламировала ей величайшие тирады Корнеля и Расина;
Franзaise (как она научилась произносить их в Комедии Франсез) and taught
her to say them in the same way (и научила ее произносить их так же;
(было очаровательно слышать, как Джулия) in her childish voice (своим
60
детским голоском) recite those languorous (декламирует те томные), passionate
speeches of Phedre (страстные речи Федры), emphasizing the beat of the
Alexandrines (выделяя ритм александрийского стиха) and mouthing her words
(и торжественно изрекающая /ее/ слова) in that manner (в той манере) which is
so artificial (которая такая притворная;
такая удивительно драматичная).
ingenue ['xnZeInju:] majesty ['mxdZIstI] tirade [t(a)I'reId]
languorous ['lxNgqrqs]
She taught her all the arts that she had herself learnt at the Conservatoire and
she talked to her of Reichenberg who had played ingenues till she was seventy,
of Sarah Bernhardt and her golden voice, of Mounet-Sully and his majesty,
and ofCoquelin the greatest actor of them all. She recited to her the great
tirades of Corneille and Racine as she had learnt to say them at the Franзoise
and taught her to say them in the same way. It was charming to hear Julia in
her childish voice recite those languorous, passionate speeches of Phedre,
emphasizing the beat of the Alexandrines and mouthing her words in that
manner which is so artificial and yet so wonderfully dramatic.
Jane Taitbout must always have been a very stagy actress (Жанна Тэбу должно
быть всегда была очень показной: «театральной» актрисой), but she taught
Julia to articulate (но она научила Джулию произносить /слова/;