Английский для смелых. Истории о духах и привидениях / Great Ghost Stories

As he revolved these matters in his mind, he heard the clocks strike the hour of midnight (покуда он размышлял об этом: «пока он прокручивал эти вопросы у себя в уме», он услышал, как часы пробили полночь; to revolve – вращать; вертеть; обдумывать; hour – час), and having now lost all hope of falling asleep, he rose from his bed (и потеряв теперь всякую надежду заснуть, он поднялся: «он поднялся со своей кровати»; to fall asleep – уснуть, заснуть), got into a large dressing gown which hung in readiness for such occasions (влез в большой домашний халат, который висел наготове как раз для таких случаев), and passed into the library, with the intention of reading himself sleepy, if he could (и прошел в библиотеку с намерением почитать, пока его не одолеет сон: «учитать себя до сонности», если это окажется возможным; sleepy – сонный, засыпающий).

 Persons whose sleep is uncertain are apt to have their worst nights when they would like their best. The consciousness of a special need for rest seems to bring enough mental disturbance to forbid it. So on Christmas Eve, in the year 1907, Mr Batchel, who would have liked to sleep well, in view of the labours of Christmas Day, lay hopelessly wide awake. He exhausted all the known devices for courting sleep, and, at the end, found himself wider awake than ever. A brilliant moon shone into his room, for he hated window-blinds. There was a light wind blowing, and the sounds in the library were more than usually suggestive of a person moving about. He almost determined to have the sashes ‘seen to’, although he could seldom be induced to have anything ‘seen to’. He disliked changes, even for the better, and would submit to great inconvenience rather than have things altered with which he had become familiar.

As he revolved these matters in his mind, he heard the clocks strike the hour of midnight, and having now lost all hope of falling asleep, he rose from his bed, got into a large dressing gown which hung in readiness for such occasions, and passed into the library, with the intention of reading himself sleepy, if he could.