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

"Ah, that wasn’t here when I first came. There was a native hut, with its beehive roof and its pillars, overshadowed by a great tree with red flowers; and the croton bushes, their leaves yellow and red and golden, made a pied fence around it. And then all about were the coconut trees, as fanciful as women, and as vain. They stood at the water’s edge and spent all day looking at their reflections. I was a young man then — Good Heavens, it’s a quarter of a century ago — and I wanted to enjoy all the loveliness of the world in the short time allotted to me before I passed into the darkness. I thought it was the most beautiful spot I had ever seen. The first time I saw it I had a catch at my heart, and I was afraid I was going to cry. I wasn’t more than twenty-five, and though I put the best face I could on it, I didn’t want to die. And somehow it seemed to me that the very beauty of this place made it easier for me to accept my fate. I felt when I came here that all my past life had fallen away, Stockholm and its University, and then Bonn: it all seemed the life of somebody else, as though now at last I had achieved the reality which our doctors of philosophy — I am one myself, you know — had discussed so much. ‘A year,’ I cried to myself. ‘I have a year. I will spend it here and then I am content to die.’

"We are foolish and sentimental and melodramatic at twenty-five (мы глупы, сентиментальны и мелодраматичны в двадцать пять /лет/), but if we weren’t (но если бы мы не были /такими/) perhaps we should be less wise at fifty (может быть, мы были бы не так мудры в пятьдесят; less — менее).

"Now drink, my friend (а теперь пейте, мой друг). Don’t let the nonsense I talk interfere with you (не обращайте внимания на мою болтовню: «не позволяйте вздору, /который/ я говорю, мешать вам»)."

He waved his thin hand towards the bottle (он махнул своей худой рукой на бутылку; towards— по направлению к), and the skipper finished what remained in his glass (и шкипер допил /то/, что оставалось в его стакане; to finish— заканчивать).

"You ain’t drinking nothin’ (/а/ вы не пьете ничего)," he said, reaching for the whisky (сказал он, беря виски; to reach for— доставать, тянуться за чем-либо).

"I am of a sober habit (у меня привычка не пить; sober— непьющий, трезвый)," smiled the Swede (улыбнулся швед). "I intoxicate myself in ways (я опьяняю себя /другими/ способами) which I fancy are more subtle (которые, я полагаю, более изысканны). But perhaps that is only vanity (но, может быть, это только тщеславие). Anyhow, the effects are more lasting (во всяком случае, эффект более длительный) and the results less deleterious (а результаты менее пагубны)."

"They say there’s a deal of cocaine taken in the States now (говорят, сейчас столько кокаина употребляют в Штатах; deal— некоторое количество; большое количество)," said the captain.

Neilson chuckled (Нилсон подавил смешок; chuckle— сдавленный/тихий смех).

"But I do not see a white man often (но я не /так/ часто вижу /здесь/ белых: «белого человека»)," he continued (продолжал он), "and for once I don’t think a drop of whisky can do me any harm (и за один раз, я не думаю, /что/ капля виски может причинить мне какой-либо вред)."

He poured himself out a little (он налил себе немного), added some soda, and took a sip (добавил немного содовой и сделал маленький глоток).

interfere ["Intq`fIq], subtle [sAtl], deleterious ["delI`tIqrIqs]