20 лучших повестей на английском / 20 Best Short Novels

Saint Paul’s (Cathedral)  – the main cathedral of the Anglican Church, located in the centre of the City of London; it was built in 1675–1710 by the famous English architect Sir Christopher Wren

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Bedlam  – Bethlem Royal Hospital for mentally ill patients, first mentioned in 1329

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treadmill  – a form of punishment with the help of the device to generate power; the device is rotated by convicts

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the Poor Law  – laws to provide either relief for the poor, aged or sick, or work for the able-bodied in the workhouses; it was developed and adopted in the 16th century

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misanthropic  – hating or distrusting other people

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the Lord Mayor  – the title of the mayor of London

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Mansion House  – the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London

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Saint Dunstan  – Saint Dunstan of Canterbury (927–988), the archbishop of Canterbury known for his monastic reforms

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Cornhill  – a street in the City of London where banks and offices of trading companies are located

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Camden Town  – an inner borough of London to the north of Westminster and the City of London

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the Scriptures  – the Holy Scripture, the Bible

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Cain  – in the Old Testament, the first son of Adam and Eve, who murdered his brother Abel

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Abel  – in the Old Testament, the second son of Adam and Eve, who was killed by his brother Cain

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Pharaoh’s daughter  – Moses, the Hebrew prophet, when he was a baby, was set afloat on the Nile in a basket by his parents who wanted to save him from death; he was found by the Pharaoh’s daughter, taken to the Pharaoh’s palace and brought up there.

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Queen of Sheba (the 10th century BC) – in the Old Testament, the queen of the Kingdom of Sheba in southwestern Arabia

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Abraham (2nd millennium BC) – the first of the Hebrew patriarchs, revered by Judaism, Christianity and Islam

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Belshazzar (the 6th century BC) – the king of Babylon, killed by the Persians; he is known from the biblical ‘Book of Daniel’

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Damascus  – an ancient city in the Middle East, ‘the pearl of the East’, the capital of modern Syria

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Genii  – pl. from genie ; in Arabic folklore, a spirit with magic powers

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Christmas Carol  – a Christmas hymn of joy and praise

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Welch = Welsh

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before a man can say Jack Robinson  – idiom very quickly

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Friars  – members of a religious order

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kith and kin  – idiom friends and relatives

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bob  – a British coin called ‘shilling’, no longer in use

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Ogre  – in folklore, a cruel man-eating giant

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the Baleful  – the Evil

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sexton  – a man who works in a church, looks after the church buildings, digs graves, rings the bell

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calico  – plain cotton cloth used for sheets, shirts, dresses, etc.

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before you dot another i  – idiom before you pay attention to smth. or complete smth.

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Hades  – in the Greek Old Testament, the place where the dead live

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the Mississippi River  – the largest river in North America, and, together with its tributary, the Missouri, the longest river in the world

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New England  – a region in the northwest of the USA including several states; the name was given by Captain Smith in 1614

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Midas  – in Greek and Roman mythology, a king of Phrygia known for his foolishness and greed

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Boston  – a city in the northwest of the United States, on Massachusetts Bay

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Chicago  – a large city in northwestern Illinois

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Victorian  – smb. or smth. (art, style, literature, people, etc.) of the time of Queen Victoria (1837–1901)

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preparatory school  – in the USA, a private school where pupils are prepared for college

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the Ritz-Carlton Hotel  – a luxurious hotel; Cesar Ritz (1850–1918) had a controlling interest in ten hotels including the Ritz in Paris (1898) and Carlton in London

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Montana  – the US state on the US-Canadian border

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Brakeman  – in the USA, an official in charge of a railway train

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protagonist  – a chief person in a play, story or real event

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the Montana Rockies  – the Rocky Mountains in western Montana, the land of high mountains and deep valleys

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Croesus (the 6th century BC) – the last king of Lydia, an ancient land in Asia Minor; Croesus was extremely rich, and later his name became the symbol of wealth.

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château  – a large country house or castle

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acciaccare  – musical term; means short, crumpled sound

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rococo  – an elaborate style in art and architecture in the late 18th century Europe

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Titania  – a literary character in Shakespeare’s comedy ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ who resembles Hera, the queen of the Olympic gods, in Greek mythology

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platonic  – related to Plato (428 BC–348 BC), one of the greatest Greek philosophers, or his teachings

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