Английский язык с У. С. Моэмом. Мистер Всезнайка. Рассказы / W. S. Maugham. Mr. Know-All. Stories

Mrs. Tower made some quick rejoinder and we went downstairs. I shall not soon forget the exquisite comedy of that meal. Mrs. Tower could not make up her mind whether the pair of them were playing a practical joke on her or whether Jane by wilfully concealing her fiancй’s age had hoped to make her look foolish. But then Jane never jested and she was incapable of doing a malicious thing. Mrs. Tower was amazed, exasperated and perplexed. But she had recovered her self-control, and for nothing would she have forgotten that she was a perfect hostess whose duty it was to make her party go. She talked vivaciously; but I wondered if Gilbert Napier saw how hard and vindictive was the expression of her eyes behind the mask of friendliness that she turned to him. She was measuring him. She was seeking to delve into the secret of his soul. I could see that she was in a passion, for under her rouge her cheeks glowed with an angry red.

"You’ve got a very high colour, Marion (у тебя такой яркий румянец, Мэрион; colour — цвет; румянец)," said Jane, looking at her amiably through her great round spectacles (сказала Джейн, дружелюбно глядя на нее сквозь свои большие круглые очки).

"I dressed in a hurry (я в спешке одевалась). I daresay I put on too much rouge (думаю, я наложила слишком много румян; to dare — сметь; I daresay — «смеюсказать» =полагаю, думаю, считаю)."

"Oh, is it rouge (ах, это румяна)? I thought it was natural (я думала, румянец естественный). Otherwise I shouldn’t have mentioned it (иначе я не упомянула бы об этом)." She gave Gilbert a shy little smile (она улыбнулась Гилберту легкой застенчивой улыбкой). "You know, Marion and I were at school together (ты знаешь, Мэрион и я вместе учились в школе). You would never think it to look at us now (ты бы никогда так не подумал, глядя на нас сейчас), would you (не так ли)? But of course I’ve lived a very quiet life (но я, конечно, жила очень спокойной жизнью)."

I do not know what she meant by these remarks (я не знаю, что она хотела этим: «этими ремарками» сказать; tomean— значить; подразумевать); it was almost incredible that she made them in complete simplicity (было почти невероятным, что она сделала их абсолютно бесхитростно: «в полном простодушии»); but anyhow they goaded Mrs. Tower to such a fury (но так или иначе, они привели миссис Тауэр в такую ярость; togoad— подгонять; раздражать; приводить в ярость; goad — заостренный прут или палка, использующиеся для того, чтобы подгонять животных /особ. быков при вспашке земли/) that she flung her own vanity to the winds (что она отбросила свое собственное тщеславие; toflingtothewinds— отбросить). She smiled brightly (она ослепительно улыбнулась).

rouge [rHZ], simplicity [sIm'plIsItI], fury ['fjuqrI]

"You’ve got a very high colour, Marion," said Jane, looking at her amiably through her great round spectacles.

"I dressed in a hurry. I daresay I put on too much rouge."

"Oh, is it rouge? I thought it was natural. Otherwise I shouldn’t have mentioned it." She gave Gilbert a shy little smile. "You know, Marion and I were at school together. You would never think it to look at us now, would you? But of course I’ve lived a very quiet life."