Английский язык с Грэмом Грином. Третий человек

I don't want you to think the English policeman came too badly out of the affair (я не хочу, чтобы вы подумали, что английский полицейский вышел слишком плохо из этого дела = плохо проявил себя в этом деле). In the passage (в коридоре), undistracted by chivalry (неотвлекаемый рыцарством), he had time to think (он имел время подумать), and his thoughts led him to the telephone in the next flat (и его мысли привели его к телефону в соседней квартире; to lead — вести). He got straight through to me at my flat (он дозвонился прямо ко мне в мою квартиру) and woke me out of that deepest middle sleep (и разбудил меня из того = из так называемого самого глубокого среднего сна). That was why when Martins rang up an hour later (поэтому когда Мартинс позвонил часом позже), I already knew what was exciting him (я уже знал, что /именно/ волновало его)—it gave him an undeserved but very useful belief in my efficiency (это дало ему незаслуженную, но очень полезную веру в мою эффективность). I never had another crack from him (я никогда больше не получал саркастического замечания от него; crack — треск, хруст, скрежет; щелчок хлыста; трещина, щель /особенно в полу/; амер. разг. острота, шутка; шпилька, едкое замечание, наезд) about policemen or sheriffs after that night (насчет полицейских и шерифов после той ночи).

direct [dI'rekt], demand [dI'mRnd], lean ['li:n], leant [lent], bonnet ['bOnIt], flourish ['flArIS], outweigh [aut'weI], sexual ['seksjuql], chivalrous ['SIv(q)lrqs], amusement [q'mju:zmqnt], detached [dI'txtSt], belief [bI'li:f], efficiency [I'fIS(q)nsI]

This meant that if I wanted to pick up Kurtz it would be as well to catch him in the British zone.

When Rollo Martins went drunkenly back at four o'clock in the morning to tell Anna that he had seen the ghost of Harry, he was told by a frightened porter who had not yet gone back to sleep that she had been taken away by the International Patrol.

What happened was this. Russia, you remember, was in the chair as far as the Inner Stadt was concerned, and the Russians had information that Anna Schmidt was one of their nationals living with false papers. On this occasion, halfway through the patrol, the Russian policeman directed the car to the street where Anna Schmidt lived.

Outside Anna Schmidt's block the American took a hand in the game and demanded in German what it was all about. The Frenchman leant against the bonnet and lit a stinking Caporal. France wasn't concerned and nothing that didn't concern France had any genuine importance to him. The Russian dug out a few words of German and flourished some papers. As far as they could tell, a Russian national wanted by the Russian police was living there without proper papers. They went upstairs and found Anna in bed, though I don't suppose, after Martins' visit, that she was asleep.

There is a lot of comedy in these situations if you are not directly concerned. You need a background of general European terror, of a father who belonged to a losing side, of house searches and disappearances before the fear outweighs the comedy. The Russian, you see, refused to leave the room: the American wouldn't leave a girl unprotected, and the Frenchman—well, I think the Frenchman must have thought it was fun. Can't you imagine the scene? The Russian was just doing his duty and watched the girl all the time, without a flicker of sexual interest: the American stood with his back chivalrously turned: the Frenchman smoked his cigarette and watched with detached amusement the reflection of the girl dressing in the mirror of the wardrobe, and the Englishman stood in the passage wondering what to do next.

I don't want you to think the English policeman came too badly out of the affair. In the passage, undistracted by chivalry, he had time to think, and his thoughts led him to the telephone in the next flat. He got straight through to me at my flat and woke me out of that deepest middle sleep. That was why when Martins rang up an hour later, I already knew what was exciting him—it gave him an undeserved but very useful belief in my efficiency. I never had another crack from him about policemen or sheriffs after that night.