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

He climbed stiffly down the ladder and was rowed to a little cove. The coconut trees came down to the water’s edge, not in rows, but spaced out with an ordered formality. They were like a ballet of spinsters, elderly but flippant, standing in affected attitudes with the simpering graces of a bygone age. He sauntered idly through them, along a path that could be just seen winding its tortuous way, and it led him presently to a broad creek. There was a bridge across it, but a bridge constructed of single trunks of coconut trees, a dozen of them, placed end to end and supported where they met by a forked branch driven into the bed of the creek. You walked on a smooth, round surface, narrow and slippery, and there was no support for the hand. To cross such a bridge required sure feet and a stout heart. The skipper hesitated. But he saw on the other side, nestling among the trees, a white man’s house; he made up his mind and, rather gingerly, began to walk. He watched his feet carefully, and where one trunk joined on to the next and there was a difference of level, he tottered a little.

It was with a gasp of relief that he reached the last tree (со вздохом облегчения он добрался до последнего дерева) and finally set his feet on the firm ground of the other side (и в конце концов ступил: «поставил свои ступни» на твердую почву на другом берегу: «на другой стороне»). He had been so intent on the difficult crossing (он был так поглощен этим трудным переходом) that he never noticed anyone was watching him (что даже не заметил, /что/ кто-то наблюдал /за/ ним), and it was with surprise that he heard himself spoken to (и с удивлением он услышал, /что/ с ним разговаривают).

"It takes a bit of nerve to cross these bridges (нужно: «требуется» немного смелости, чтобы переходить по таким мостам; nerve— нерв; сила духа; смелость) when you’re not used to them (/особенно/ когда ты не привык к такому: «к ним»)."

He looked up and saw a man standing in front of him (он поднял глаза: «посмотрел вверх» и увидел мужчину, стоящего перед ним). He had evidently come out of the house which he had seen (очевидно, он вышел из того дома, который он видел).

"I saw you hesitate (я видел, /что/ вы колебались)," the man continued, with a smile on his lips (продолжал мужчина, улыбаясь: «с улыбкой на своих губах»), "and I was watching to see you fall in (и я наблюдал /за вами/, чтобы увидеть как вы упадете в /воду/)."

"Not on your life," said the captain (ни за что/не дождетесь, — сказал капитан), who had now recovered his confidence (который теперь обрел свою уверенность).

"I’ve fallen in myself before now (я /и/ сам падал раньше: «до настоящего времени»). I remember, one evening I came back from shooting (я помню, однажды вечером я вернулся: «пришел назад» с охоты; to shoot— стрелять), and I fell in, gun and all (и я упал, /вместе с/ ружьем и всем /остальным/). Now I get a boy to carry my gun for me (теперь я беру: «получаю» мальчика, чтобы носить ружье: «носить мое ружье за меня»)."

intent [In`tent], surprise [sq`praIz], recover [rI`kAvq]

It was with a gasp of relief that he reached the last tree and finally set his feet on the firm ground of the other side. He had been so intent on the difficult crossing that he never noticed anyone was watching him, and it was with surprise that he heard himself spoken to.

"It takes a bit of nerve to cross these bridges when you’re not used to them."