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

Now the captain could think of nothing more to say, and he smoked in silence. Neilson had apparently no wish to break it. He looked at his guest with a meditative eye. He was a tall man more than six feet high, and very stout. His face was red and blotchy, with a network of little purple veins on the cheeks, and his features were sunk into its fatness. His eyes were bloodshot. His neck was buried in rolls of fat. But for a fringe of long curly hair, nearly white, at the back of his head, he was quite bald; and that immense, shiny surface of forehead, which might have given him a false look of intelligence, on the contrary gave him one of peculiar imbecility. He wore a blue flannel shirt, open at the neck and showing his fat chest covered with a mat of reddish hair, and a very old pair of blue serge trousers. He sat in his chair in a heavy ungainly attitude, his great belly thrust forward and his fat legs uncrossed. All elasticity had gone from his limbs. Neilson wondered idly what sort of man he had been in his youth. It was almost impossible to imagine that this creature of vast bulk had ever been a boy who ran about.

The skipper finished his whisky (шкипер допил свое виски; to finish — заканчивать), and Neilson pushed the bottle towards him (и Нилсон пододвинул бутылку к нему; to push — толкать).

"Help yourself (угощайтесь)."

The skipper leaned forward and with his great hand seized it (шкипер нагнулся вперед и своей огромной ручищей схватил ее).

"And how come you in these parts anyways (а все же, как вы попали в эти края; to come— приходить, приезжать;anyways/нестанд./ =anyway— так или иначе)?" he said.

"Oh, I came out to the islands for my health (о, я выехал на эти острова из-за моего здоровья). My lungs were bad (у меня были больные легкие) and they said I hadn’t a year to live (и говорили, /что/ я не проживу и года: «у меня не было и года, чтобы жить»). You see they were wrong (/как/ видите, они ошибались)."

"I meant, how come you to settle down right here (я имел в виду, как вы пришли /к тому/, чтобы поселиться именно здесь)?"

"I am a sentimentalist (я сентиментальный человек)."

"Oh (а-а)!"

Neilson knew that the skipper had not an idea what he meant (Нилсон знал, что шкипер не имел понятия /о том/, что он имел в виду; idea— идея; мысль; представление о чем-либо), and he looked at him with an ironical twinkle in his dark eyes (он взглянул на него, /и/ в его темных глазах промелькнула ирония; with— с;twinkle— блеск). Perhaps just because (может быть, именно потому) the skipper was so gross and dull a man (/что/ шкипер был таким неотесанным и тупым мужиком) the whim seized him to talk further (ему захотелось продолжить разговор: «его охватила прихоть разговаривать дальше»).

"You were too busy keeping your balance to notice (вы были слишком заняты поддержанием своего равновесия, чтобы заметить; to keep— держать; сохранять), when you crossed the bridge (когда вы переходили по мосту), but this spot is generally considered rather pretty (но это место вообще считается очень/довольно красивым)."

ironical [aI`rOnIk(q)l], perhaps [pq`hxps], pretty [`prItI]

The skipper finished his whisky, and Neilson pushed the bottle towards him.

"Help yourself."

The skipper leaned forward and with his great hand seized it.

"And how come you in these parts anyways?" he said.