Английский язык с У. С. Моэмом. На окраине империи. Рассказы / W. S. Maugham: Stories

"Well, believe me, we`re fed up with all that rot. What we want is a business government by business men. I was born in a Crown Colony, and I`ve lived practically all my life in the colonies. I don`t give a row of pins for a lord. What`s wrong with England is snobbishness. And if there`s anything that gets my goat it`s a snob."

A snob (сноб)! Mr. Warburton`s face grew purple and his eyes blazed with anger (лицо мистера Уорбертона побагровело: «стало багровым», и его глаза вспыхнули гневом). That was a word that had pursued him all his life (это было слово, которое преследовало его всю его жизнь). The great ladies whose society he had enjoyed in his youth were not inclined to look upon his appreciation of themselves as unworthy (знатные леди, обществом которых он наслаждался в своей юности, не считали: «не были склонны считать» его оценку их /достоинств/ незаслуженной; to look upon — смотреть как на; считать за; unworthy — ничего не стоящий, не имеющий ценности; неоправданный;незаслуженный; worthy — достойный; заслуживающий), but even great ladies are sometimes out of temper and more than once Mr. Warburton had had the dreadful word flung in his teeth (но даже знатные леди иногда бывают сердиты = не в настроении, и не раз мистеру Уорбертону бросали /это/ отвратительное слово в лицо: «в его зубы»; to be out of temper — сердиться). He knew, he could not help knowing, that there were odious people who called him a snob (он знал, он не мог не знать, что существовали гнусные люди, которые называли его снобом). How unfair it was (как /же/ несправедливо это было)! Why, there was no vice he found so detestable as snobbishness (да ведь для него не существовало: «он не нашел никакого» недостатка настолько отвратительного, как снобизм). After all, he liked to mix with people of his own class, he was only at home in their company (в конце концов, ему нравилось общаться с людьми своего класса, он чувствовал себя как дома только в их компании; after all— в итоге, в конце концов, ведь;to mix with— дружить; общаться), and how in heaven`s name could anyone say that was snobbish (и как черт возьми: «во имя неба», кто-то мог сказать, что это снобизм: «было снобистским»)? Birds of a feather (одного поля ягода;birds of a feather— один другого стоит; одного поля ягода).

appreciation [qpri: SI'eISqn], unworthy [An'wqрI], odious ['qudIqs]

A snob! Mr. Warburton`s face grew purple and his eyes blazed with anger. That was a word that had pursued him all his life. The great ladies whose society he had enjoyed in his youth were not inclined to look upon his appreciation of themselves as unworthy, but even great ladies are sometimes out of temper and more than once Mr. Warburton had had the dreadful word flung in his teeth. He knew, he could not help knowing, that there were odious people who called him a snob. How unfair it was! Why, there was no vice he found so detestable as snobbishness. After all, he liked to mix with people of his own class, he was only at home in their company, and how in heaven`s name could anyone say that was snobbish? Birds of a feather.