We pulled up in the backwater, just below Cookham, and had tea (мы остановились в заводи, немного ниже Кукхэма, и выпили чаю); and, when we were through the lock, it was evening (а когда прошли шлюз, был /уже/ вечер). A stiffish breeze had sprung up — in our favour, for a wonder (поднялся устойчивый ветерок — попутный: «в нашу пользу», как это ни странно; a stiff wind — сильный ветер; favour — расположение, благосклонность, поддержка); for, as a rule on the river, the wind is always dead against you whatever way you go (потому что, как правило, на реке ветер всегда /дует/ в лицо, в какую бы сторону вы ни шли; dead against — в лицо, в противоположном движению направлении). It is against you in the morning, when you start for a day's trip (он дует вам в лицо утром, когда вы отправляетесь в плавание на целый день), and you pull a long distance, thinking how easy it will be to come back with the sail (и вы гребете долго, думая, как легко будет возвращаться под парусом). Then, after tea, the wind veers round, and you have to pull hard in its teeth all the way home (потом, после чая, ветер меняет направление, и вам приходится тяжело грести против него всю дорогу домой; in the teeth of the wind — против ветра).

leisurely ['lel] lingeringly ['lrl]

We went through Maidenhead quickly, and then eased up, and took leisurely that grand reach beyond Boulter's and Cookham locks. Clieveden Woods still wore their dainty dress of spring, and rose up, from the water's edge, in one long harmony of blended shades of fairy green. In its unbroken loveliness this is, perhaps, the sweetest stretch of all the river, and lingeringly we slowly drew our little boat away from its deep peace.

We pulled up in the backwater, just below Cookham, and had tea; and, when we were through the lock, it was evening. A stiffish breeze had sprung up — in our favour, for a wonder; for, as a rule on the river, the wind is always dead against you whatever way you go. It is against you in the morning, when you start for a day's trip, and you pull a long distance, thinking how easy it will be to come back with the sail. Then, after tea, the wind veers round, and you have to pull hard in its teeth all the way home.

When you forget to take the sail at all (если вы вообще забываете взять парус), then the wind is consistently in your favour both ways (ветер неизменно благоприятен вам в обе стороны; consistently — согласно, в соответствии с; равным образом). But there! this world is only a probation, and man was born to trouble as the sparks fly upward (но ведь этот мир — лишь испытание, и человек был рожден для тревог/забот, так же как искры летят вверх).

This evening, however, they had evidently made a mistake (в этот вечер, однако, они явно допустили ошибку), and had put the wind round at our back instead of in our face (и расположили ветер у нас за спиной = ветер дул в спину, а не в лицо). We kept very quiet about it, and got the sail up quickly before they found it out (мы тихо и быстро подняли парус, прежде они чем это обнаружили; to find out), and then we spread ourselves about the boat in thoughtful attitudes (и затем разлеглись в лодке в задумчивых позах), and the sail bellied out, and strained (парус надулся, натянулся), and grumbled at the mast, and the boat flew (поворчал на мачту, и лодка полетела; to fly).

I steered (я правил рулем).

consistently [kn'sstntl] bellied ['beld]

When you forget to take the sail at all, then the wind is consistently in your favour both ways. But there! this world is only a probation, and man was born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.