Английский язык с Джеромом К. Джеромом. Трое в лодке, не считая собаки

"Oh, that won't do (так дело не пойдет)! You're wasting them (вы /только/ зря расходуете их). You must scrape them (вы должны скоблить их; to scrape — скоблить, скрести, обдирать)."

gathered [ˈɡæðǝd] potato [pǝˈteɪtǝu]

We roamed about sweet Sonning for an hour or so, and then, it being too late to push on past Reading, we decided to go back to one of the Shiplake islands, and put up there for the night. It was still early when we got settled, and George said that, as we had plenty of time, it would be a splendid opportunity to try a good, slap-up supper. He said he would show us what could be done up the river in the way of cooking, and suggested that, with the vegetables and the remains of the cold beef and general odds and ends, we should make an Irish stew.

It seemed a fascinating idea. George gathered wood and made a fire, and Harris and I started to peel the potatoes. I should never have thought that peeling potatoes was such an undertaking. The job turned out to be the biggest thing of its kind that I had ever been in. We began cheerfully, one might almost say skittishly, but our light-heartedness was gone by the time the first potato was finished. The more we peeled, the more peel there seemed to be left on; by the time we had got all the peel off and all the eyes out, there was no potato left — at least none worth speaking of. George came and had a look at it — it was about the size of a pea-nut. He said:

"Oh, that won't do! You're wasting them. You must scrape them."

So we scraped them, and that was harder work than peeling (и мы /принялись/ скоблить их, и это было более трудным занятием, чем чистка). They are such an extraordinary shape, potatoes — all bumps and warts and hollows (они такой удивительной формы, /эти/ картофелины — одни бугры, наросты и впадины; bump — шишка, выпуклость, вздутие). We worked steadily for five-and-twenty minutes, and did four potatoes (мы трудились непрерывно двадцать пять минут — и очистили четыре картофелины). Then we struck (потом мы забастовали; to strike — ударять/ся/, поражать; бастовать). We said we should require the rest of the evening for scraping ourselves (мы сказали, что нам потребуется остаток вечера, чтобы очиститься самим; to require — приказывать; требовать, нуждаться в чем-либо).

I never saw such a thing as potato-scraping for making a fellow in a mess (никогда не видел, чтобы что-нибудь так пачкало человека, как чистка картофеля; in a mess — в беспорядке, вверх дном; в грязи). It seemed difficult to believe that the potato-scrapings in which Harris and I stood, half smothered, could have come off four potatoes (было трудно поверить, что картофельные очистки, в которых мы с Гаррисом стояли, покрытые наполовину, получились с четырех картофелин; to come off — покидать; отрываться, отклеиваться, отваливаться от чего-либо; отделяться). It shows you what can be done with economy and care (это показывает, что можно достичь экономией и аккуратностью; care — забота; внимание, тщательность, осторожность).