«Высшая мера» и другие рассказы на английском языке

Do you know what I did? I decided it was a greasy spot on my glasses (I always wear glasses). I took them off and wiped them thoroughly. Then I put them on again and looked up. The round object was still hanging there. Only then did I realize that it could not be a cloud. Clouds do not hang that low. It was something else. I was standing there staring at the ball-like object and I still couldn’t believe my own eyes. I looked round trying to find a witness. Thank God, there was a woman coming in my direction with her back to the object. When she came close enough I said to her, (I was learning Russian at that time, and actually, I’d come to my friend to practice my Russian). “Excuse me! Do you see anything over there?” And I pointed in the direction of the object. Mind you, I didn’t mention the object. Her answer killed all of my doubts. She said, “Oh! What a strange round cloud!”

Well, my dear reader, what would you have thought after hearing such an answer?

I was just standing there staring at the object. For a moment I had forgotten about the Russian woman, about Piggy, and even about my friend Alexander. And suddenly, something even more inexplicable happened. The object began disappearing. It did not move away. It was still hanging in the same place but it was becoming thinner, more and more transparent until it simply disappeared in the air. Then, I was able to see the whole building again. That was unbelievable.

“And where did it go?” the woman asked as if she’d been reading my thoughts. She was still standing near me and looking at the object. “I don’t know” I said. And that was true. I really didn’t know where the object had gone. I heard Piggy give an impatient woof at me. She was drawing my attention to her own round object that she’d put in front of my feet long ago.

When I came back to Alexander’s apartment, I couldn’t help telling him about the wonderful thing I’d seen. At that time I didn’t care whether he believed me or not I just couldn’t hold it.

Three days later, right on the day of my departure, Alexander brought me a local paper. “This is for you” he said. “Read the last page”. I unfolded the paper and looked at the last page.

Huge letters across the top of the page screamed:

“Aliens in the city!Two witnesses (to say nothing of the dog)!”2

Словарик

alien здесь инопланетянин, пришелец

UFO (unidentified flying object) НЛО (неопознанный летающий объект)

namesake тезка

instant мгновенный

to take a liking to somebody полюбить кого-то

dogs in particularздесь особенно собак

to hint намекать

stroll прогулка

to head for направляться (куда-либо)

otherwise наоборот

liked her walks to be physical чтобы её прогулки были с упражнениями

both parties felt quite exhaustedздесь пока обе стороны не обессилят

to make out разглядеть, понять

thickздесь густой

inner selfздесь внутреннее я

thoroughly тщательно

that lowразг. так низко

killed all of my doubtsздесь развеял все мои сомнения

heard Piggy give an impatient woof Услышал, как Пигги нетерпеливо тявкнула

paperразг. газета

Вопросы и задания

Have you ever seen a UFO?

Have you been to Siberia?

Would you write about the incident if you were the story-teller’s friend and a journalist? Why?/Why not?

Do you have a pet? What is it?

Do you believe in aliens? Why?/Why not?

Read aloud and translate any paragraph you like.

Balalaikas in Syria*

(746 words)

I am Alexander and I am Russian. I’d like to tell you an interesting story about a trip I made to Damascus, in Syria, back in the 80eies. I worked in a city in the heart of Siberia as a translator. Once I was asked to interpret for a dancing group, composed of boys and girls aged between fourteen and seventeen as the group was going on a two-week tour to Syria.

They were a very professional dancing group, as they’d all started dancing at about the age of six, and had been training intensively almost every day since then. They learnt many different types of dances, so it was very impressive to see them. It was a real pleasure for my friend to work with the group, and to see them dance so often. Every time I saw them performing I couldn’t help admiring them, as they danced so magnificently, better than many adult dancing groups that I’d seen.