Английский с Джеком Лондоном. Золотой каньон. Рассказы / Jack London. All Gold Canyon. Stories

As the cross-cuts decreased, showing that the sides of the “V” were converging, the depth of the “V” increased. The gold-trace was dipping into the hill. It was only at thirty inches beneath the surface that he could get colors in his pan. The dirt he found at twenty-five inches from the surface, and at thirty-five inches, yielded barren pans. At the base of the “V,” by the water’s edge, he had found the gold colors at the grass roots. The higher he went up the hill, the deeper the gold dipped. To dig a hole three feet deep in order to get one test-pan was a task of no mean magnitude; while between the man and the apex intervened an untold number of such holes to be dug. “An’ there’s no tellin’ how much deeper it’ll pitch,” he sighed, in a moment’s pause, while his fingers soothed his aching back.

Feverish with desire (горящий желанием; fever – жар, лихорадка), with aching back and stiffening muscles (с ноющей спиной и онемевшими мышцами), with pick and shovel gouging and mauling the soft brown earth (киркой и лопатой долбя и разрывая мягкую коричневую землю), the man toiled up the hill (человек обрабатывал склон). Before him was the smooth slope (перед ним был гладкий склон), spangled with flowers and made sweet with their breath (усеянный цветами и сладкий: «сделанный сладким» от их дыхания). Behind him was devastation (позади него было опустошение). It looked like some terrible eruption breaking out on the smooth skin of the hill (это выглядело как ужасная сыпь, высыпавшая на гладкой коже холма; to break out – покрываться /сыпью и т. д./). His slow progress was like that of a slug (его медленное продвижение было как /продвижение/ слизняка), befouling beauty with a monstrous trail (оскверняющее красоту отвратительным следом; to befoul – пачкать; загрязнять, марать, осквернять; foul – загрязненный, нечистый; monstrous – чудовищный, безобразный, отвратительный /употребляется для эмоциональной оценки действий, поведения, состояния и т. п./).

Though the dipping gold-trace increased the man’s work (хотя углубляющийся золотой след увеличивал работу человека), he found consolation in the increasing richness of the pans (он находил утешение в возрастающем богатстве/насыщенности лотков). Twenty cents (двадцать центов), thirty cents (тридцать центов), fifty cents (пятьдесят центов), sixty cents (шестьдесят центов), were the values of the gold found in the pans (была ценность золота, найденного в лотках), and at nightfall he washed his banner pan (а с наступлением ночи он промыл свой рекордный лоток; banner – знамя; наилучший, показательный), which gave him a dollar’s worth of gold-dust from a shovelful of dirt (который дал ему на доллар золотого песка из полной лопаты грязи; worth – ценность; стоящий).

 Feverish with desire, with aching back and stiffening muscles, with pick and shovel gouging and mauling the soft brown earth, the man toiled up the hill. Before him was the smooth slope, spangled with flowers and made sweet with their breath. Behind him was devastation. It looked like some terrible eruption breaking out on the smooth skin of the hill. His slow progress was like that of a slug, befouling beauty with a monstrous trail.

Though the dipping gold-trace increased the man’s work, he found consolation in the increasing richness of the pans. Twenty cents, thirty cents, fifty cents, sixty cents, were the values of the gold found in the pans, and at nightfall he washed his banner pan, which gave him a dollar’s worth of gold-dust from a shovelful of dirt.