Английский язык с Дж. Р. Р. Толкиеном. Хоббит

As he listened to the talk of the raftmen and pieced together the scraps of information they let fall, he soon realized that he was very fortunate ever to have seen it at all, even from this distance. Dreary as had been his imprisonment and unpleasant as was his position (to say nothing of the poor dwarves underneath him) still, he had been more lucky than he had guessed. The talk was all of the trade that came and went on the waterways and the growth of the traffic on the river, as the roads out of the East towards Mirkwood vanished or fell into disuse; and of the bickerings of the Lake-men and the Wood-elves about the upkeep of the Forest River and the care of the banks.

Those lands had changed much (те земли сильно изменились) since the days when dwarves dwelt in the Mountain (с тех дней, когда в Горе обитали гномы), days which most people now remembered (дней, которые большинство людей сейчас помнят) only as a very shadowy tradition (только как очень смутное предание; shadowy — тенистый, туманный; tradition — традиция, старый обычай). They had changed even in recent years (они изменились даже за последние годы; recent — недавний, последний; новейший, новый), and since the last news (и со времен последних новостей) that Gandalf had had of them (которые Гэндальф знал: «имел» о них). Great floods and rains had swollen the waters (сильнейшие наводнения и дожди переполнили реки; to swell (swelled, swollen) — надуваться, разбухать) that flowed east (что текли на восток); and there had been an earthquake or two (так же случились одно или два землетрясения; earthquake — землетрясение; earth — земля; to quake — трястись, дрожать) (which some were inclined to attribute to the dragon (которые некоторые были склонны приписать дракону) — alluding to him chiefly (и упоминая его главным образом) with a curse (с проклятием) and an ominous nod (и зловещим кивком) in the direction of the Mountain (в направлении Горы)). The marshes and bogs (болота и трясины) had spread wider and wider on either side (распространялись все шире и шире с каждой стороны). Paths had vanished (тропинки исчезли), and many a rider and wanderer too (а также многочисленные всадники и /пешие/ странники тоже), if they had tried (если они пытались) to find the lost ways across (отыскать затерянные пути на ту сторону). The elf-road through the wood (дорога эльфов через лес) which the dwarves had followed (по которой следовали гномы) on the advice of Beorn (по совету Беорна) now came to a doubtful and little used end (теперь оканчивалась у сомнительного и малоиспользуемого конца) at the eastern edge of the forest (у восточного края леса); only the river offered any longer (теперь только река предлагала) a safe way from the skirts of Mirkwood in the North (безопасный путь от опушки Мрачного Леса на Севере; skirt — юбка, подол; край, граница) to the mountain-shadowed plains beyond (к равнинам, лежащим за ними и в тени гор), and the river was guarded (и река охранялась) by the Wood-elves’ king (королем Лесных Эльфов).

recent ['ri: s nt] earthquake [': kwek] attribute ['trbju: t] ominous ['mns]