Английский язык с Грэмом Грином. Третий человек

This racket went on quite happily for a while (мошенничество продолжалось совершенно безоблачно: «счастливо» в течение некоторого времени). Occasionally someone was caught and punished (иногда кто-то бывал пойман и наказан), but the danger simply raised the price of penicillin (но опасность просто поднимала цену пенициллина). Then the racket began to get organised (затем эта афера начала становиться организованной): the big men saw big money in it (большие люди увидели большие деньги в ней), and while the original thief got less for his spoils (и хотя изначальный вор = сам вор получал меньше за свою добычу; spoils — добыча; награбленное; to spoil — грабить; мародерствовать; расхищать), he received instead a certain security (он получал зато: «вместо этого» некоторую безопасность). If anything happened to him (если с ним что-то случалось) he would be looked after (о нем заботились; to look after — следить глазами, взглядом; присматривать, заботиться о /ком-л., чем-л./). Human nature too has curious twisted reasons (человеческая природа также имеет странные, запутанные резоны; to twist — крутить, сплетать/ся/; иться, изгибать(ся/; крутить, скручивать; кривить, искривлять) that the heart certainly knows nothing of (о которых сердце определенно ничего не знает). It eased the conscience of many small men (это облегчало совесть многих маленьких людей) to feel that they were working for an employer (чувствовать, что они работали для нанимателя; to employ — предоставлять работу; нанимать): they were almost as respectable soon in their own eyes (они скоро становились почти так же респектабельны в своих собственных глазах) as wage-earners (как наемные работники; wage — заработная плата; жалование; оклад; to earn — зарабатывать): they were one of a group (они одним из группы = принадлежали группе), and if there was guilt (и если была вина), the leaders bore the guilt (руководители несли эту вину; to bear — нести). A racket works very like a totalitarian party (афера работает = действует очень похоже на то, как /действует/ тоталитарная партия).

decision [di:'sIZ(q)n], provide [prq'vaId], article ['RtIkl], extravagant [Ik'strxvqgqnt], penicillin ["penI'sIlIn], affair [q'feq], supply [sq'plaI], military ['mIlIt(q)rI], civilian [sI'vIlIqn], distribution ["dIstrI'bju:S(q)n], benefit ['benIfIt], punish ['pAnIS], organise ['O:gqnaIz], thief [Ti:f], conscience ['kOnS(q)ns], employer [Im'plOIq], respectable [rIs'pektqbl], guilt [gIlt], totalitarian ["tqutqlI'teqrIqn]

He said, "You know this business—Koch's death has shaken me. Perhaps Harry did get mixed up in something pretty bad. Perhaps he was trying to clear out again, and that's why they murdered him."

"Or perhaps," I said, "they wanted a bigger cut off the spoils. Thieves fall out."

He took it this time without any anger at all. He said, "We won't agree about motives, but I think you check your facts pretty well. I'm sorry about the other day."

"That's all right." There are times when one has to make a flash decision—this was one of them. I owed him something in return for the information he had given me. I said, "I'll show you enough of the facts in Lime's case for you to understand. But don't fly off the handle. It's going to be a shock."

It couldn't help being a shock. The war and the peace (if you can call it peace) let loose a great number of rackets, but none more vile than this one. The black marketeers in food did at least supply food, and the same applied to all the other racketeers who provided articles in short supply at extravagant prices. But the penicillin racket was a different affair altogether. Penicillin in Austria was only supplied to the military hospitals: no civilian doctor, not even a civilian hospital, could obtain it by legal means. As the racket started, it was relatively harmless. Penicillin would be stolen and sold to Austrian doctors for very high sums—a phial would fetch anything up to £.70. You might say that this was a form of distribution—unfair distribution because it benefited only the rich patient, but the original distribution could hardly have a claim to greater fairness.