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

 Above, revolver in hand, a man was peering down over the edge of the hole. He peered for a long time at the prone and motionless body beneath him. After a while the stranger sat down on the edge of the hole so that he could see into it, and rested the revolver on his knee. Reaching his hand into a pocket, he drew out a wisp of brown paper. Into this he dropped a few crumbs of tobacco. The combination became a cigarette, brown and squat, with the ends turned in. Not once did he take his eyes from the body at the bottom of the hole. He lighted the cigarette and drew its smoke into his lungs with a caressing intake of the breath. He smoked slowly. Once the cigarette went out and he relighted it. And all the while he studied the body beneath him.

In the end he tossed the cigarette stub away and rose to his feet (наконец он отбросил окурок и поднялся на ноги; stub – пень; обломок; огрызок; остаток; окурок). He moved to the edge of the hole (он подошел к краю ямы; to move – двигаться). Spanning it (нависнув над ней; span – пядь = 9 дюймам – расстояние, примерно равное расстоянию от кончика большого пальца до кончика мизинца; to span – обхватывать, охватывать; перекрывать /об арке, крыше и т. п./; соединять берега /о мосте/), a hand resting on each edge (руками опираясь о каждый край; to rest on – опираться на), and with the revolver still in the right hand (и все еще с револьвером в правой руке), he muscled his body down into the hole (он спустил свое тело в яму; muscle – мускул, мышца; сила). While his feet were yet a yard from the bottom he released his hands and dropped down (в то время как его ноги были только в ярде от дна, он отпустил руки и спрыгнул вниз).

 In the end he tossed the cigarette stub away and rose to his feet. He moved to the edge of the hole. Spanning it, a hand resting on each edge, and with the revolver still in the right hand, he muscled his body down into the hole. While his feet were yet a yard from the bottom he released his hands and dropped down.