20 лучших повестей на английском / 20 Best Short Novels

the Inquisition of Seville  – the Inquisition is an institution established in Europe in the 13th century by the Catholic Church to combat heresy; Seville is a city in southern Spain, 550 km southwest of Madrid

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Gentile  – Am. not a Mormon

134

heifers  – young cows with no calves

135

Washoe  – a North American Indian tribe; traditionally, the Washoe were hunters and fishers; they lived around Lake Tahoe in what is now California

136

Carson City  – the capital of Nevada, founded in 1858

137

ravine  – a narrow valley

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prairie  – a level treeless land covered with grass

139

débris = wreckage, fragments, ruins

140

schism  – splitting or separation through difference of opinions

141

aortic aneurism  – widening of aorta, a serious and even fatal disease

142

blasé = sophisticated

143

growler  – a four-wheeled cab pulled by a horse

144

brougham  – a closed carriage pulled by one horse

145

Montpellier  – a city in southern France, 12 km from the Mediterranean Sea

146

‘ Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplar in arca. ’ – A quotation from ‘Satires’ by Horace: ‘People hissed at me but I applauded, I ruled (dominated) and at the same time I also contemplated the money in the chest.’ ( Latin )

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yawl  – a sailing boat with two masts

148

Deptford  – an area in the borough of Lewicham in London

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Greenwich  – an outer borough of London on the bank of the Thames

150

Erith  – an area in Bexley, an outer borough of London on the south bank of the River Thames

151

halos  – a halo is a circle of light round the sun and the moon, or above the heads of the saints

152

the Gauls  – Celtic tribes known to the Romans as Gauls; they inhabited Europe in 500 BC–500 AD.

153

concertina  – a musical wind instrument held in the hands and played by pressing keys

154

Falernian wine  – an Italian dark red wine

155

Ravenna  – a city in northeastern Italy 10 km from the Adriatic Sea

156

Buddha (6th-4th century BC) – the founder of Buddhism, one of the major world religious and philosophical systems

157

Fleet Street  – a street in central London where important newspaper offices used to be located at the time of the events depicted in the story

158

the Channel  – or the English Channel, a narrow arm of the Atlantic Ocean separating the British Isles from the Continent

159

venetian blinds  – a window screen with horizontal strips that can be adjusted as wanted

160

Bon voyage  – Happy voyage, Happy journey ( French )

161

Morituri te salutant.  – ‘Those who are going to die salute you.’ – the words used by Roman gladiators to greet Caesar ( Latin )

162

emissary  – a person sent with a message (usually a secret one)

163

farcical  – absurd

164

catacomb  – underground gallery, often used for the burial of the dead

165

inch  – measure of length equal to 2.54 cm

166

Deal  – a town on the Strait of Dover, 14 km northeast of Dover

167

Gravesend  – a town in the county of Kent, in the southeastern England, on the bank of the Thames

168

yokels  – simple-minded countrymen

169

lb.  – a pound, measure of weight equal to 453.59 grams

170

Zanzibaris  – inhabitants of Zanzibar, an island in the Indian Ocean near the coast of eastern Africa

171

philanthropic  – kind, helpful, sympathetic

172

papier-mâché  – pulped paper used to make boxes, souvenirs, etc.

173

Mephistopheles  – a literary character invented in the tradition of magic and demonology by anonymous author in 1587; a fallen angel, a spirit of the Devil.

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lunatics  – mad persons

175

ichthyosaurus  – an extinct aquatic reptile

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Eldorado  – an imaginary country rich in gold

177

cannibals  – persons who eats humans

178

Winchesters  – rifles developed by Oliver Winchester (1810–1880), an American manufacturer of guns

179

hullabaloo  – uproar or disturbance

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apathy  – indifference

181

Martini-Henry  – a rifle used in the 19th century

182

a black Sahara  – the southern part of Sahara, the largest desert of the world, where Negroid peoples live; the north of Sahara is inhabited by the Arabs.

183

harlequin  – a character in Italian comedy and English pantomime wearing a mask and multicoloured clothes

184

brown holland  – rough linen

185

canoes  – light boats moved by one or several persons

186

Jupiter  – in Roman mythology and religion, the chief God, the sky God

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sorcerer  – a person who practices magic with the help of evil spirits

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dead as a door-nail  – idiom absolutely dead, without any sign of life left

189

simile  – comparison of one thing to another

190