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Michael was sure now that the conference was only to gain a few days' time. That Sollozzo would make another attempt to kill the Don. What was beautiful was that the Turk was underrating him as a punk kid. Michael felt that strange delicious chill filling his body. He made his face look distressed. Sollozzo asked sharply, "What is it?"

Michael said with an embarrassed air, "The wine went right to my bladder (мочевой пузырь). I've been holding it in. Is it all right if I go to the bathroom?"

Sollozzo was searching his face intently with his dark eyes. He reached over and roughly thrust his hand in Michael's crotch, under it and around, searching for a weapon. Michael looked offended. McCluskey said curtly, "I frisked him. I've frisked thousands of young punks. He's clean."

Sollozzo didn't like it. For no reason at all he didn't like it. He glanced at the man sitting at a table opposite them and raised his eyebrows toward the door of the bathroom. The man gave a slight nod that he had checked it, that there was nobody inside. Sollozzo said reluctantly (неохотно), "Don't take too long." He had marvelous antenna, he was nervous.

Michael got up and went into the bathroom. The urinal had a pink bar of soap in it secured by a wire net. He went into the booth. He really had to go, his bowels (кишечник) were loose (свободный, непривязанный; несдерживаемый). He did it very quickly, then reached behind the enamel (эмалированный [ı’næm∂l]) water cabinet until his hand touched the small, blunt-nosed (blunt – тупой) gun fastened with tape. He ripped the gun loose, remembering that Clemenza had said not to worry about leaving prints on the tape. He shoved the gun into his waistband (пояс) and buttoned his jacket over it. He washed his hands and wet his hair. He wiped his prints off the faucet (вентиль, втулка; водопроводный кран [fo:sıt]) with his handkerchief. Then he left the toilet.

Sollozzo was sitting directly facing the door of the toilet, his dark eyes blazing with alertness. Michael gave a smile. "Now I can talk," he said with a sigh of relief.

Captain McCluskey was eating the plate of veal and spaghetti that had arrived. The man on the far wall had been stiff with attention, now he too relaxed visibly.

Michael sat down again. He remembered Clemenza had told him not to do this, to come out of the toilet and blaze away. But either out of some warning instinct or sheer funk (или просто от испуга, со страха; funk – сильный запах, зловоние) he had not done so. He had felt that if he had made one swift move he would have been cut down. Now he felt safe and he must have been scared because he was glad he was no longer standing on his legs. They had gone weak with trembling.

Sollozzo was leaning toward him. Michael, his belly covered by the table, unbuttoned his jacket and listened intently. He could not understand a word the man was saying. It was literally gibberish (невнятная речь, тарабарщина [‘gıb∂rı∫]) to him. His mind was so filled with pounding (to pound – бить/ся/, колотить/ся/) blood that no word registered. Underneath the table his right hand moved to the gun tucked into his waistband and he drew it free. At that moment the waiter came to take their order and Sollozzo turned his head to speak to the waiter. Michael thrust the table away from him with his left hand and his right hand shoved the gun almost against Sollozzo's head. The man's coordination was so acute ([∂‘kju:t] остроконечный, острый; сильный, резкий) that he had already begun to fling himself away at Michael's motion. But Michael, younger, his reflexes sharper, pulled the trigger. The bullet caught Sollozzo squarely between his eye and his ear and when it exited on the other side blasted out a huge gout (брызги, поток) of blood and skull fragments onto the petrified (остолбеневший; to petrify [‘petrıfaı] – превращать/ся/ в камень, окаменевать) waiter's jacket. Instinctively Michael knew that one bullet was enough. Sollozzo had turned his head in that last moment and he had seen the light of life die in the man's eyes as clearly as a candle goes out.

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История русской литературы второй половины XX века. Том II. 1953–1993. В авторской редакции
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Во второй половине ХХ века русская литература шла своим драматическим путём, преодолевая жесткий идеологический контроль цензуры и партийных структур. В 1953 году писательские организации начали подготовку ко II съезду Союза писателей СССР, в газетах и журналах публиковались установочные статьи о социалистическом реализме, о положительном герое, о роли писателей в строительстве нового процветающего общества. Накануне съезда М. Шолохов представил 126 страниц романа «Поднятая целина» Д. Шепилову, который счёл, что «главы густо насыщены натуралистическими сценами и даже явно эротическими моментами», и сообщил об этом Хрущёву. Отправив главы на доработку, два партийных чиновника по-своему решили творческий вопрос. II съезд советских писателей (1954) проходил под строгим контролем сотрудников ЦК КПСС, лишь однажды прозвучала яркая речь М.А. Шолохова. По указанию высших ревнителей чистоты идеологии с критикой М. Шолохова выступил Ф. Гладков, вслед за ним – прозападные либералы. В тот период бушевала полемика вокруг романов В. Гроссмана «Жизнь и судьба», Б. Пастернака «Доктор Живаго», В. Дудинцева «Не хлебом единым», произведений А. Солженицына, развернулись дискуссии между журналами «Новый мир» и «Октябрь», а затем между журналами «Молодая гвардия» и «Новый мир». Итогом стала добровольная отставка Л. Соболева, председателя Союза писателей России, написавшего в президиум ЦК КПСС о том, что он не в силах победить антирусскую группу писателей: «Эта возня живо напоминает давние рапповские времена, когда искусство «организовать собрание», «подготовить выборы», «провести резолюцию» было доведено до совершенства, включительно до тщательного распределения ролей: кому, когда, где и о чём именно говорить. Противопоставить современным мастерам закулисной борьбы мы ничего не можем. У нас нет ни опыта, ни испытанных ораторов, и войско наше рассеяно по всему простору России, его не соберешь ни в Переделкине, ни в Малеевке для разработки «сценария» съезда, плановой таблицы и раздачи заданий» (Источник. 1998. № 3. С. 104). А со страниц журналов и книг к читателям приходили прекрасные произведения русских писателей, таких как Михаил Шолохов, Анна Ахматова, Борис Пастернак (сборники стихов), Александр Твардовский, Евгений Носов, Константин Воробьёв, Василий Белов, Виктор Астафьев, Аркадий Савеличев, Владимир Личутин, Николай Рубцов, Николай Тряпкин, Владимир Соколов, Юрий Кузнецов…Издание включает обзоры литературы нескольких десятилетий, литературные портреты.

Виктор Васильевич Петелин

Культурология / История / Языкознание, иностранные языки / Языкознание / Образование и наука