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

"One day he landed at that cove into which you must have put this morning. He was an American sailor, and he had deserted from a man-of-war in Apia. He had induced some good-humoured native to give him a passage on a cutter that happened to be sailing from Apia to Safoto, and he had been put ashore here in a dugout. I do not know why he deserted. Perhaps life on a man-of-war with its restrictions irked him, perhaps he was in trouble, and perhaps it was the South Seas and these romantic islands that got into his bones. Every now and then they take a man strangely, and he finds himself like a fly in a spider’s web. It may be that there was a softness of fibre in him, and these green hills with their soft airs, this blue sea, took the northern strength from him as Delilah took the Nazarite’s. Anyhow, he wanted to hide himself, and he thought he would be safe in this secluded nook till his ship had sailed from Samoa.

"There was a native hut at the cove (там была туземная хижина в этой бухте) and as he stood there (и пока он стоял там), wondering where exactly he should turn his steps (размышляя, куда именно ему направиться; to turn — поворачивать/ся/; step — шаг), a young girl came out and invited him to enter (какая-то молодая девушка вышла /из хижины/ и пригласила его войти). He knew scarcely two words of the native tongue (он знал от силы два слова на местном наречии; scarcely — едва, почти не) and she as little English (и она столь же мало по-английски). But he understood well enough (но он понял довольно хорошо) what her smiles meant (что означала ее улыбка), and her pretty gestures (и ее прелестные жесты), and he followed her (и он последовал /за/ ней). He sat down on a mat and she gave him slices of pineapple to eat (он сел на циновку, и она дала ему поесть ломтики ананаса). I can speak of Red only from hearsay (я могу говорить о Рыжем только с чужих слов), but I saw the girl three years after he first met her (но я видел эту девушку три года /спустя/, после /того как/ он впервые встретил ее), and she was scarcely nineteen then (и ей едва ли было девятнадцать тогда). You cannot imagine how exquisite she was (вы не можете представить себе, какой изящной она была). She had the passionate grace of the hibiscus and the rich colour (она обладала страстной грацией гибискуса и /у нее был/ румянец во всю щеку; rich— богатый; обильный;colour— цвет; цвет лица; румянец). She was rather tall (она была довольно высокой), slim (стройной), with the delicate features of her race (с тонкими чертами, присущими ее расе), and large eyes like pools of still water under the palm trees (и большими глазами, похожими на тихие заводи: «заводи с неподвижной водой» под пальмовыми деревьями); her hair, black and curling (ее волосы, черные и вьющиеся) fell down her back (ниспадали на спину), and she wore a wreath of scented flowers (и на ней был: «она носила» венок из благоухающих цветов). Her hands were lovely (ее руки были прелестны). They were so small (они были такие маленькие), so exquisitely formed (такой изящной формы), they gave your heart-strings a wrench (/что просто/ задевали струны твоей души: «сердечные струны»; to wrench— дергать). And in those days she laughed easily (и в те дни ее легко было рассмешить: «она смеялась легко»). Her smile was so delightful that it made your knees shake (ее улыбка была столь очаровательна, до дрожи в коленках: «что заставляла ваши колени трястись»). Her skin was like a field of ripe corn on a summer day (ее кожа была словно поле зрелой пшеницы летним днем). Good Heavens, how can I describe her (о Боже, как я могу описать ее)? She was too beautiful to be real (она была слишком красивой, чтобы быть реальной).

scarcely [`skFqslI], gesture [`GesCq], palm [pRm]