Английский с Эдгаром По. Падение дома Ашеров / Edgar Allan Poe. The Fall of the House of Usher

The families of Berlifitzing and Metzengerstein had been at variance for centuries. Never before were two houses so illustrious, mutually embittered by hostility so deadly. The origin of this enmity seems to be found in the words of an ancient prophecy – “A lofty name shall have a fearful fall when, as the rider over his horse, the mortality of Metzengerstein shall triumph over the immortality of Berlifitzing.”

To be sure the words themselves had little or no meaning (конечно, сами эти слова имели значения мало или вовсе никакого; to be sure – конечно: «быть уверенным»; little – мало; no – нисколько, никакой). But more trivial causes have given rise – and that no long while ago – to consequences equally eventful (но и более тривиальные причины давали начало – и не так уж давно – последствиям столь же важным: «богатыми событиями»; rise – подъем; начало). Besides, the estates, which were contiguous (кроме того, /их/ усадьбы, которые были граничащими /друг с другом/), had long exercised a rival influence in the affairs of a busy government (давно оказывали соперничающее влияние на дела хлопотливого правительства). Moreover, near neighbors are seldom friends (к тому же близкие соседи – редко друзья); and the inhabitants of the Castle Berlifitzing might look, from their lofty buttresses, into the very windows of the palace Metzengerstein (а обитатели замка Берлифитцинг могли заглядывать со своих высоких контрфорсов в самые окна дворца Метценгерштейн). Least of all had the more than feudal magnificence, thus discovered, a tendency (более чем феодальное великолепие, таким образом открытое, менее всего имело тенденцию; least of all – менее всего) to allay the irritable feelings of the less ancient and less wealthy Berlifitzings (успокаивать раздражительные чувства менее древних и менее богатых Берлифитцингов).

To be sure the words themselves had little or no meaning. But more trivial causes have given rise – and that no long while ago – to consequences equally eventful. Besides, the estates, which were contiguous, had long exercised a rival influence in the affairs of a busy government. Moreover, near neighbors are seldom friends; and the inhabitants of the Castle Berlifitzing might look, from their lofty buttresses, into the very windows of the palace Metzengerstein. Least of all had the more than feudal magnificence, thus discovered, a tendency to allay the irritable feelings of the less ancient and less wealthy Berlifitzings.