Английский язык с У. С. Моэмом. Театр

complacent [kqm'pleIs(q)nt] infidelity ["InfI'delItI] appetite ['xpItaIt]

But he smiled complacently. She knew very well that his love-making went no

farther than holding hands and a kiss or two in a taxi, but she knew also that it

flattered him to imagine that she suspected him capable of infidelity.

But now Julia, having satisfied her appetite with proper regard for her figure,

attacked the subject which was on her mind.

"Charles dear, I want to talk to you about Roger."

"Oh yes, he came back the other day, didn't he? How is he?"

"My dear, a most terrible thing has happened. He's come back a fearful prig and I

don't know what to do about it."

She gave him her version of the conversation (она представила ему свою версию

того разговора). She left out one or two things that it seemed inconvenient to

mention (она опустила пару моментов, которые, как казалось, неудобно

упоминать; to leave (left) out — пропускать, не включать, упускать), but what

she told was on the whole accurate (но что она рассказала было, в целом,

точным).

"The tragic thing is that he has absolutely no sense of humour (самое трагическое

— так это то, что у него абсолютно нет чувства юмора)," she finished

(закончила она).

"After all he's only eighteen (в конце концов, ему всего лишь восемнадцать)."

"You could have knocked me down with a feather (я была настолько потрясена:

«ты бы мог сбить меня с ног с помощью перышка») when he said all those

things to me (когда он говорил все это мне). I felt just like Balaam (я

чувствовала себя почти как Валаам) when his ass broke into light conversation

(когда его ослица разразилась легким = напринужденным разговором)."

She gave him a gay look (она весело взглянула на него), but he did not even

smile (но он даже и не улыбнулся). He did not seem to think her remark as funny

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as she did (он, как оказалось, не думал, что ее замечание было таким уж

забавным, как думала она).

"I can't imagine where he got his ideas (не могу представить, где он набрался

/своих/ мыслей). It's absurd to think (нелепо думать) that he could have thought

out all that nonsense for himself (что он мог выдумать всю эту ерунду сам; to

think out — продумать, додумать до конца)."

accurate ['xkjqrqt] remark [rI'mQ:k] idea [aI'dIq]

She gave him her version of the conversation. She left out one or two things that it

seemed inconvenient to mention, but what she told was on the whole accurate.

"The tragic thing is that he has absolutely no sense of humour," she finished.

"After all he's only eighteen."

"You could have knocked me down with a feather when he said all those things to

me. I felt just like Balaam when his ass broke into light conversation."

She gave him a gay look, but he did not even smile. He did not seem to think her

remark as funny as she did.

"I can't imagine where he got his ideas. It's absurd to think that he could have

thought out all that nonsense for himself."

"Are you sure that boys of that age (а ты уверена, что юноши в этом возрасте)

don't think more than we older people imagine (не размышляют больше, чем мы,

старшее поколение: «люди» можем представить)? It's a sort of puberty of the

spirit (своего рода взросление духа; puberty — возмужалость, половая

зрелость) and its results are often strange (и его результаты часто странные)."

"It seems so deceitful of Roger (это кажется таким вероломным со стороны

Роджера) to have harboured thoughts like those all these years (вынашивать

подобные мысли все эти годы; to harbour — становиться в гавань,

приютить,затаить) and never breathed a word about them (и никогда и

словом не обмолвиться о них; to breathe — дышать, жить). He might have

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803

been accusing me (он, может быть, обвиняет меня)." She gave a chuckle (она

хмыкнула; chuckle — тихий смех; хихиканье). "To tell you the truth (сказать

тебе по правде), when Roger was talking to me (когда Роджер говорил со мной)

I felt just like Hamlet's mother (я чувствовала себя матерью Гамлета)." Then

with hardly a break (и затем, без перерыва: «едва ли с перерывом»): "I wonder

if I'm too old to play Hamlet (интересно, не слишком ли я стара, чтобы играть

Гамлета)?"

"Gertrude isn't a very good part, is it (Гертруда — не очень-то хорошая роль,

так ведь)?"

Julia broke into a laugh of frank amusement (Джулия залилась смехом

искреннего изумления).

puberty ['pju:bqtI] harbour ['hQ:bq] chuckle ['tSAk(q)l]

"Are you sure that boys of that age don't think more than we older people imagine?

It's a sort of puberty of the spirit and its results are often strange."

"It seems so deceitful of Roger to have harboured thoughts like those all these