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

Even a man less thick-witted than the skipper might have been forgiven if he were bewildered by Neilson’s words. For he seemed faintly to laugh at what he said. It was as though he spoke from emotion which his intellect found ridiculous. He had said himself that he was a sentimentalist, and when sentimentality is joined with scepticism there is often the devil to pay.

He was silent for an instant and looked at the captain with eyes in which there was a sudden perplexity.

"You know, I can’t help thinking that I’ve seen you before somewhere or other," he said.

"I couldn’t say as I remember you," returned the skipper.

"I have a curious feeling as though your face were familiar to me. It’s been puzzling me for some time. But I can’t situate my recollection in any place or at any time."

The skipper massively shrugged his heavy shoulders.

"It’s thirty years since I first come to the islands. A man can’t figure on remembering all the folk he meets in a while like that."

The Swede shook his head (швед /отрицательно/ покачал головой).

"You know how one sometimes has the feeling (вы знаете, как иногда охватывает чувство; one— один; также употребляется в неопределенно-личных предложениях) that a place one has never been to before (что какое-то место, /где/ никогда /не/ был раньше) is strangely familiar (странным образом знакомо /тебе/). That’s how I seem to see you (вот каким образом, кажется, я /и/ вижу вас)." He gave a whimsical smile (он странно улыбнулся;whimsical — причудливый). "Perhaps I knew you in some past existence (может быть, я знал вас в какой-нибудь прошлой жизни). Perhaps, perhaps you were the master of a galley in ancient Rome (может быть, вы были управляющим на галере в Древнем Риме; master — хозяин, владелец; господин;мастер) and I was a slave at the oar (а я был рабом у весла). Thirty years have you been here (вы тридцать лет /уже/ здесь)?"

"Every bit of thirty years (все тридцать лет до одного; every— каждый;bit— кусочек, небольшое количество)."

"I wonder if you knew a man called Red (интересно, знали ли вы человека по имени Рыжий)?"

"Red?"

"That is the only name I’ve ever known him by (только под этим именем я его всегда /и/ знал). I never knew him personally (я никогда /не/ знал его лично). I never even set eyes on him (я никогда даже /не/ видел его; to set— класть, ставить, размещать;eye— глаз; взгляд). And yet I seem to see him more clearly than many men (и все же, кажется, я вижу его более ясно, чем многих /других/ людей), my brothers, for instance (моих братьев, например), with whom I passed my daily life for many years (с которыми я проводил все дни: «мою ежедневную жизнь» в течение многих лет). He lives in my imagination with the distinctness of a Paolo Malatesta or a Romeo (он живет в моем воображении также ясно, как какой-нибудь Паоло Малатеста или Ромео; with— с;distinctness— отчетливость, ясность). But I daresay you have never read Dante or Shakespeare (но полагаю: «осмелюсь сказать», вы никогда /не/ читали Данте или Шекспира)?"

"I can’t say as I have (не могу сказать, чтоб читал)," said the captain.

whimsical [`wImzik(q)l], ancient [`eInS(q)nt], oar [L]

The Swede shook his head.