Английский язык с У. С. Моэмом. Театр

origin ['OrIdZIn] tranquillity [trxN'kwIlItI] poetry ['pqVItrI]

Gosh, what a performance she could give! She knew why in the spring she had

acted so badly that Michael had preferred to close down; it was because she was

feeling the emotions she portrayed. That was no good. You had to have had the

emotions, but you could only play them when you had got over them. She

remembered that Charles had once said to her that the origin of poetry was emotion

recollected in tranquillity. She didn't know anything about poetry, but it was

certainly true about acting.

"Clever of poor old Charles (умно со стороны старого бедного Чарльза) to get

hold of an original idea like that (додуматься до такой оригинальной идеи; to

get hold of smth. — ухватить, добыть, завладеть, узнать что-либо). It shows

how wrong it is to judge people hastily (это показывает, как неверно судить о

людях опрометчиво). One thinks the aristocracy are a bunch of nitwits (принято

думать, что аристократия — это кучка кретинов), and then one of them

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suddenly comes out with something like that (и затем, один из них выступает с

какой-нибудь /идеей/ вроде этого) that's so damned good it takes your breath

away (которая настолько чертовски хороша, что у тебя даже дух

захватывает)."

But Julia had always felt that Racine had made a great mistake (но Джулия всегда

чувствовала, что Расин допустил большую ошибку) in not bringing on his

heroine till the third act (не выпуская: «не вводя» свою героиню /на сцену/ до

третьего акта).

"Of course I wouldn't have any nonsense like that if I played it (конечно же, я бы

не потерпела такой ерунды, если бы я играла в этом /спектакле/). Half an act

to prepare my entrance if you like, but that's ample (половина акта, чтобы

подготовить мой выход, если вам так угодно, но и этого более чем

достаточно; ample — просторный, обширный)."

judge [dZAdZ] aristocracy ["xrI'stOkrqsI] nitwit ['nIt"wIt] heroine ['herqVIn]

"Clever of poor old Charles to get hold of an original idea like that. It shows how

wrong it is to judge people hastily. One thinks the aristocracy are a bunch of

nitwits, and then one of them suddenly comes out with something like that that's so

damned good it takes your breath away."

But Julia had always felt that Racine had made a great mistake in not bringing on

his heroine till the third act.

"Of course I wouldn't have any nonsense like that if I played it. Half an act to

prepare my entrance if you like, but that's ample."

There was no reason why she should not get some dramatist (не было никакой

причины, что бы она не смогла достать какого-нибудь драматурга) to write

her a play on the subject (чтобы он написал ей пьесу на эту тему), either in

prose or in short lines of verse (либо в прозе, или в стихах, но из коротких

строф) with rhymes at not too frequent intervals (с рифмами, не на очень частых

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интервалах). She could manage that, and effectively (она могла бы с этим

справиться, и очень эффектно). It was a good idea (это была хорошая идея),

there was no doubt about it (нет никакого сомнения в этом), and she knew the

clothes she would wear (и она знала, какие костюмы она будет носить), not

those flowing draperies in which Sarah swathed herself (не те ниспадающие

одежды, в которые закутывала себя Сара /Бернар/), but the short Greek tunic

that (а в короткую греческую тунику, которую) she had seen on a bas-relief

when she went to the British Museum with Charles (она видела на каком-то

барельефе, когда она ходила с Чарльзом в Британский музей).

"How funny things are (как все-таки забавно)! You go to those museums and

galleries (ты идешь во все эти музеи и галереи) and think what a damned bore

they are (и думаешь, какие они все-таки скучные) and then, when you least

expect it (и затем, когда ты меньше всего этого ожидаешь), you find that

something you've seen comes in useful (ты обнаруживаешь, что нечто, что ты

видел там, оказывается полезным; to come in useful — пригодиться, прийтись

кстати). It shows art and all that isn't really waste of time (это доказывает:

«показывает», что искусство и все такое, на самом-то деле не такая уж и

пустая трата времени)."

dramatist ['drxmqtIst] rhyme [raIm] drapery ['dreIp(q)rI]

frequent ['fri:kwqnt] swathe [sweID] tunic ['tju:nIk]

There was no reason why she should not get some dramatist to write her a play on

the subject, either in prose or in short lines of verse with rhymes at not too frequent

intervals. She could manage that, and effectively. It was a good idea, there was no

doubt about it, and she knew the clothes she would wear, not those flowing

draperies in which Sarah swathed herself, but the short Greek tunic that she had

seen on a bas-relief when she went to the British Museum with Charles.