Английский язык с Робинзоном Крузо/Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children

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I was but an awkward teacher (был всего лишь неловким учителем), but I did

my best (старался, делал все возможное: «делал мое лучшее») and was honest (и был

честным).

I began by asking him about the Creator (о Создателе).

I asked him who made the sea, the hills, the woods, the ground we walked on.

He told me it was one great being who lived beyond all (существо, которое

жило вне пределов всего).

I confess (признаюсь) I could not have given a better answer (не мог бы дать

лучшего ответа).

He said that this great being was older than the sea or the land, the moon or the

stars (луны или звезд).

Then I said, "If this being has made all things, why do not all things worship him

(почему не все вещи почитают его)?"

He looked very grave (выглядел очень серьезным, важным = принял

серьезный, важный вид), and with eyes full of innocence (глазами, полными

невинности), answered, "All things say O to him."

Thus he taught me while I was trying to teach him (так он учил меня, пока я

пытался учить его).

awkward [‘o:kwəd]

I MAKE A NEW BOAT

I MADE up my mind to begin the new boat at once.

So, the next day, I went with Friday to find a good tree.

There were trees enough on the island to build a fleet. But, I must find one that

was close to the water, so that we could launch the boat when it was made. At last Friday

found one. He knew, better than I, what kind of wood was best for making a boat.

It was an odd-looking tree, and to this day I do not know its name.

Friday chopped it down. He cut off a part of it for the boat.

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He wished to build a fire on the top of it and thus burn out the hollow part of the

boat.

But I showed him a better way, to chop it out with hatchets and chisels.

In about a month it was finished. With our axes we cut and hewed the outside till

it was in a very good shape.

Then we worked hard for two weeks to get the boat into the water.

But when she was in, how well she floated! She would have carried at least

twenty men.

It was wonderful how well Friday could manage her. It was wonderful how fast

he could paddle.

"Now, Friday," I said, "do you think she will carry us over the sea?"

"Yes, master," he said, "she will carry us even in the worst wind."

My next care was to make a mast and a sail, and to fit the boat with an anchor and

a rudder.

It was easy enough to get the mast. I had Friday cut down a tall young cedar that

grew near the place.

He shaped it and smoothed it, and made as pretty a mast as you would wish to

see.

As for the sail, that was another thing. I had old sails, or pieces of old sails in

plenty.

But they had been lying in this place and in that for six and twenty years. It would

be a wonder if they were not all rotten.

After a long search I found two pieces which I thought would do. I set to work,

patching and stitching.

It was slow work without needles, you may be sure.

At last I had a three-cornered, ugly thing.

I had also a little short sprit to run up at the top of the mast.

It took two months to make the sails and the rigging as I wished.

Then I put in a rudder to steer the boat. I was a poor carpenter, and I made a pretty

rough job of it.

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Friday knew how to paddle a canoe as well as any man.

But he knew nothing about a sail. He had never seen a boat steered by a rudder.

We made several little voyages near the island and I taught him how to manage

everything about the boat.

Much as I wished to go back to my own people, I could not make up my mind to

try the long voyage across to the mainland.

I had now been on the island twenty-seven years. My man Friday had been with

me about two years, and these had been the happiest of my life. I had everything to make

me comfortable and happy.

Why should I wish to go away?

I had a great longing to see my native land again, to talk with people of my own

race, perhaps to visit my kindred once more. This longing I could not rid myself of, day

or night.

But now new thoughts came into mind. I felt that in some way I would soon

escape from the island. Indeed, I was quite sure that I would not stay there another year.

I cannot tell you what made me feel that way. But I seemed to know that some

great change in my life was near at hand.

Yet I went on with my farming as before. I dug, I planted, I reaped, I gathered my

grapes, I did everything just as though I had no such thoughts.

My man Friday was the truest of helpers. He did all the heavy labor. He would

not let me lift my hand if he could help it.

The rainy season at last came upon us, and this put an end to most of our outdoor

work.

We took our new boat to a safe place some distance up the little river, above the

point where I had landed my rafts from the ship.

We hauled her up to the shore at high-water mark, and there Friday dug a little

dock for her.