Английский язык с Крестным Отцом

But the Don had insisted that he put in three years of general law practice in addition to his duties for the family business (в добавок к своим обязанностям; to add – прибавлять). This experience had proved invaluable later on (этот опыт оказался в дальнейшем неоценимым = который трудно переоценить; valuable [‘vaeljubl]), and also removed any doubts in Hagen's mind («убрал какие-либо сомнения» = заставил отбросить все сомнения; to remove – перемещать; убирать) about working for Don Corleone. He had then spent two years of training in the offices of a top firm of criminal lawyers in which the Don had some influence (в которой Дон имел некоторое влияние ['influns]). It was apparent to everyone (всем: «каждому» было очевидно) that he had a flair for this branch of the law (/хороший/ нюх, чутье для этой области: «ветки, ответвления» юриспруденции). He did well (преуспевал) and when he went into the full-time service of the family business, Don Corleone had not been able to reproach him once in the six years that followed (не мог: «не был способен» ни разу ни в чем упрекнуть).

When he had been made the acting Consigliori, the other powerful Sicilian families referred contemptuously (презрительно отзывались = стали называть; to refer [rif:] – говорить, упоминать) to the Corleone family as the "Irish gang (ирландской бандой)." This had amused Hagen. It had also taught him (это заставило его понять) that he could never hope to succeed the Don as the head of the family business (что он не может надеяться стать когда-либо преемником Дона; to succeed [sk’si:d] – следовать за чем-либо, сменять; наследовать, быть преемником). But he was content. That had never been his goal (это никогда не было его целью, задачей), such an ambition would have been a "disrespect" to his benefactor (по отношению к его благодетелю [‘baenifaekt]) and his benefactor's blood family.

After he passed the bar exam, Hagen married to start his own family. The bride was a young Italian girl from New Jersey, rare at that time for being a college graduate. After the wedding, which was of course held in the home of Don Corleone, the Don offered to support Hagen in any undertaking he desired, to send him law clients, furnish his office, start him in real estate.

Tom Hagen had bowed his head and said to the Don, "I would like to work for you."

The Don was surprised, yet pleased. "You know who I am?" he asked.

Hagen nodded. He hadn't really known the extent of the Don's power, not then. He did not really know in the ten years that followed until he was made the acting Consigliori after Genco Abbandando became ill. But he nodded and met the Don's eyes with his own. "I would work for you like your sons," Hagen said, meaning with complete loyalty, with complete acceptance of the Don's parental divinity. The Don, with that understanding which was even then building the legend of his greatness, showed the young man the first mark of fatherly affection since he had come into his household. He took Hagen into his arms for a quick embrace and afterward treated him more like a true son, though he would sometimes say, "Tom, never forget your parents," as if he were reminding himself as well as Hagen.

There was no chance that Hagen would forget. His mother had been near moronic and slovenly, so ridden by anemia she could not feel affection for her children or make a pretense of it. His father Hagen had hated. His mother's blindness before she died had terrified him and his own eye infection had been a stroke of doom. He had been sure he would go blind. When his father died, Tom Hagen's eleven-year-old mind had snapped in a curious way. He had roamed the streets like an animal waiting for death until the fateful day Sonny found him sleeping in the back of a hallway and brought him to his home. What had happened afterward was a miracle. But for years Hagen had had nightmares, dreaming he had grown to manhood blind, tapping a white cane, his blind children behind him tap-tapping with their little white canes as they begged in the streets. Some mornings when he woke the face of Don Corleone was imprinted on his brain in that first conscious moment and he would feel safe.

But the Don had insisted that he put in three years of general law practice in addition to his duties for the family business. This experience had proved invaluable later on, and also removed any doubts in Hagen's mind about working for Don Corleone. He had then spent two years of training in the offices of a top firm of criminal lawyers in which the Don had some influence. It was apparent to everyone that he had a flair for this branch of the law. He did well and when he went into the full-time service of the family business, Don Corleone had not been able to reproach him once in the six years that followed.