Текст книги "Английский с Гербертом Уэллсом. Дверь в стене. Фантастические повести / Н. G. Wells. The Door in the Wall"

coast [kǝʋst], drown [draʋn], fissure ['fɪʃǝ]

And along the coast of Argentina and up the South Atlantic the tides were higher than had ever been in the memory of man, and the storms drove the waters in many cases scores of miles inland, drowning whole cities. And so great grew the heat during the night that the rising of the sun was like the coming of a shadow. The earthquakes began and grew until all down America from the Arctic Circle to Cape Horn, hillsides were sliding, fissures were opening, and houses and walls crumbling to destruction. The whole side of Cotopaxi slipped out in one vast convulsion, and a tumult of lava poured out so high and broad and swift and liquid that in one day it reached the sea.

So the star, with the wan moon in its wake (так звезда с бледной луной, /которая следовала за ней/ по пятам), marched across the Pacific (прошла через Тихий океан), trailed the thunderstorms like the hem of a robe (потянула за собой грозы, как шлейф платья), and the growing tidal wave that toiled behind it (а растущая приливная волна, которая тяжело тащилась за ней; to toil – с трудом идти, тащиться), frothing and eager (пенящаяся и рвущаяся; froth – пена), poured over island and island and swept them clear of men (заливала остров за островом и смывала с них людей; to pour over – лить/ся/ поверх /чего-л./; переливать/ся/; переваливать через; to sweep – смывать, сметать; clear – чистый). Until that wave came at last (пока, наконец, эта волна не пришла) – in a blinding light and with the breath of a furnace, swift and terrible it came (в ослепительном свете и с дыханием печи она пришла, быстрая и ужасная) – a wall of water, fifty feet high, roaring hungrily (стена воды, в пятьдесят футов высотой, голодно ревущая), upon the long coasts of Asia (на длинные побережья Азии), and swept inland across the plains of China (и понеслась вглубь суши через равнины Китая; to sweep – нестись, мчаться, проноситься; inland – вглубь страны).

pour [pɔ:], island ['aɪlǝnd], Asia ['eɪʃǝ]

So the star, with the wan moon in its wake, marched across the Pacific, trailed the thunderstorms like the hem of a robe, and the growing tidal wave that toiled behind it, frothing and eager, poured over island and island and swept them clear of men. Until that wave came at last – in a blinding light and with the breath of a furnace, swift and terrible it came – a wall of water, fifty feet high, roaring hungrily, upon the long coasts of Asia, and swept inland across the plains of China.

For a space the star, hotter now and larger and brighter than the sun in its strength, showed with pitiless brilliance the wide and populous country (какое-то время звезда, теперь жарче, больше и ярче, чем солнце при /самой большой/ интенсивности, озаряла: «показывала» с безжалостным блеском обширную и густонаселенную страну; strength – сила; pity – жалость, сострадание); towns and villages with their pagodas and trees (города и поселки с их пагодами и деревьями), roads, wide cultivated fields (дороги, большие возделанные поля), millions of sleepless people staring in helpless terror at the incandescent sky (миллионы бессонных людей, пристально глядящих в беспомощном ужасе на светящееся небо); and then, low and growing, came the murmur of the flood (и тогда, низкий и растущий, донесся ропот наводнения; flood – наводнение, потоп; половодье; паводок; разлив; подъем воды, прилив; поток). And thus it was with millions of men that night (и так это было с миллионами людей в ту ночь) – a flight nowhither (бегство в никуда), with limbs heavy with heat and breath fierce and scant (с вялыми от жары конечностями и дыханием неистовым и скудным; scant – скудный, недостаточный; ограниченный; scant of breath – задыхающийся), and the flood like a wall swift and white behind (и поток, как быстрая и белая стена позади = а за ними, как быстрая и белая стена, несся поток). And then death (а потом смерть).

field [fi:ld], limb [lɪm], heavy ['hevɪ]

For a space the star, hotter now and larger and brighter than the sun in its strength, showed with pitiless brilliance the wide and populous country; towns and villages with their pagodas and trees, roads, wide cultivated fields, millions of sleepless people staring in helpless terror at the incandescent sky; and then, low and growing, came the murmur of the flood. And thus it was with millions of men that night – a flight nowhither, with limbs heavy with heat and breath fierce and scant, and the flood like a wall swift and white behind. And then death.

China was lit glowing white (Китай был освещен раскаленным добела светом), but over Japan and Java and all the islands of Eastern Asia the great star was a ball of dull red fire (но над Японией, и Явой, и всеми островами Восточной Азии огромная звезда была шаром тускло-красного огня) because of the steam and smoke and ashes the volcanoes were spouting forth to salute its coming (из-за пара, дыма и пепла, которые извергали вулканы, приветствуя салютом ее приход). Above was the lava, hot gases and ash (вверху была лава, горячие газы и пепел), and below the seething floods (а внизу бурлящие потоки), and the whole earth swayed and rumbled with the earthquake shocks (и вся земля колыхалась и грохотала от толчков землетрясений). Soon the immemorial snows of Thibet and the Himalaya were melting and pouring down by ten million deepening converging channels upon the plains of Burmah and Hindostan (вскоре древние снега Тибета и Гималаев стали таять и хлынули вниз десятками миллионов углубляющихся, сходящихся каналов на равнины Бирмы и Индостана). The tangled summits of the Indian jungles were aflame in a thousand places (спутанные верхушки индийских джунглей пылали в тысяче мест), and below the hurrying waters around the stems were dark objects that still struggled feebly and reflected the blood-red tongues of fire (а под несущимися потоками: «водами» вокруг стволов были темные предметы, которые все еще слабо боролись в свете: «отражая» кроваво-красных языков пламени). And in a rudderless confusion a multitude of men and women fled down the broad riverways to that one last hope of men – the open sea (и в бесконтрольной неразберихе множество мужчин и женщин убегали вниз по течению широких речных путей к той единственной последней надежде людей – к открытому морю; to flee – убегать, спасаться бегством).

volcano [vɒl'keɪnǝʋ], blood [blʌd], women ['wɪmɪn]

China was lit glowing white, but over Japan and Java and all the islands of Eastern Asia the great star was a ball of dull red fire because of the steam and smoke and ashes the volcanoes were spouting forth to salute its coming. Above was the lava, hot gases and ash, and below the seething floods, and the whole earth swayed and rumbled with the earthquake shocks. Soon the immemorial snows of Thibet and the Himalaya were melting and pouring down by ten million deepening converging channels upon the plains of Burmah and Hindostan. The tangled summits of the Indian jungles were aflame in a thousand places, and below the hurrying waters around the stems were dark objects that still struggled feebly and reflected the blood-red tongues of fire. And in a rudderless confusion a multitude of men and women fled down the broad riverways to that one last hope of men – the open sea.

Larger grew the star, and larger, hotter, and brighter with a terrible swiftness now (теперь звезда с ужасной быстротой становилась больше и больше, жарче и ярче). The tropical ocean had lost its phosphorescence (тропический океан потерял свое свечение), and the whirling steam rose in ghostly wreaths from the black waves that plunged incessantly (а кружащийся пар поднимался призрачными кольцами: «венками, венцами» от темных волн, которые непрерывно рвались вперед; to plunge – нырять, погружаться; бросаться, врываться; бросаться вперед), speckled with storm-tossed ships (усеянные швыряемыми штормами кораблями = кораблями, которых швыряли шторма; to toss – бросать, кидать, метать; отбрасывать, швырять; to speckle – испещрять, пятнать; speckle – крапинка, пятнышко).

grew [ɡru:], phosphorescence [,fɒsfǝ'resns], wreath [ri:θ]

Larger grew the star, and larger, hotter, and brighter with a terrible swiftness now. The tropical ocean had lost its phosphorescence, and the whirling steam rose in ghostly wreaths from the black waves that plunged incessantly, speckled with storm-tossed ships.

And then came a wonder (а потом случилось чудо). It seemed to those who in Europe watched for the rising of the star that the world must have ceased its rotation (тем, кто в Европе наблюдал за восхождением звезды, показалось, что мир, должно быть, прекратил вращаться: «остановил вращение»). In a thousand open spaces of down and upland the people who had fled thither from the floods and the falling houses and sliding slopes of hill watched for that rising in vain (на тысяче открытых мест, на возвышенностях и плоскогорьях люди, которые убежали туда от наводнений, падающих домов и оползающих склонов холмов, напрасно ожидали этого восхода). Hour followed hour through a terrible suspense (час следовал за часом в ужасной неопределенности; suspense – неизвестность, неопределенность; беспокойство; тревога ожидания; нерешенность; to suspend – подвешивать; приостанавливать), and the star rose not (а звезда не поднималась). Once again men set their eyes upon the old constellations they had counted lost to them forever (еще раз снова люди обратили своих взоры на старые созвездия, которые они считали потерянными для них навсегда). In England it was hot and clear overhead (в Англии было жарко и ясно в небе), though the ground quivered perpetually (хотя земля постоянно дрожала), but in the tropics, Sirius and Capella and Aldebaran showed through a veil of steam (но в тропиках сквозь завесу пара показались Сириус, Капелла и Альдебаран). And when at last the great star rose near ten hours late (а когда, наконец, огромная звезда поднялась почти на десять часов позже), the sun rose close upon it (солнце поднялось рядом с ней), and in the centre of its white heart was a disc of black (а в центре ее белой сердцевины был черный диск).

wonder ['wʌndǝ], quiver ['kwɪvǝ], perpetual [pǝ'peʧʋǝl]

And then came a wonder. It seemed to those who in Europe watched for the rising of the star that the world must have ceased its rotation. In a thousand open spaces of down and upland the people who had fled thither from the floods and the falling houses and sliding slopes of hill watched for that rising in vain. Hour followed hour through a terrible suspense, and the star rose not. Once again men set their eyes upon the old constellations they had counted lost to them forever. In England it was hot and clear overhead, though the ground quivered perpetually, but in the tropics, Sirius and Capella and Aldebaran showed through a veil of steam. And when at last the great star rose near ten hours late, the sun rose close upon it, and in the centre of its white heart was a disc of black.

Over Asia it was the star had begun to fall behind the movement of the sky (именно над Азией звезда начала замедлять движение по небу; to fall behind – отставать; становиться хуже, снижать качество; запаздывать), and then suddenly, as it hung over India, its light had been veiled (и потом вдруг, когда она висела над Индией, ее свет подернулся пеленой; to veil – закрывать покрывалом, вуалью; носить покрывало, вуаль, паранджу; скрывать, прикрывать; маскировать, прятать). All the plain of India from the mouth of the Indus to the mouths of the Ganges was a shallow waste of shining water that night (в ту ночь вся равнина Индии от устья Инда до устьев Ганга была мелким пустынным пространством сверкающей воды), out of which rose temples and palaces, mounds and hills, black with people (из которой поднимались храмы и дворцы, курганы и холмы, черные от людей). Every minaret was a clustering mass of people (каждый минарет был теснившейся массой людей = люди висели, как гроздья, на минаретах; cluster – кисть, пучок, гроздь; to cluster – собираться группами, толпиться, тесниться), who fell one by one into the turbid waters (которые падали один за другим в мутные воды), as heat and terror overcame them (когда жара и ужас изнуряли их; to overcome – охватить, обуять; овладевать; истощать, ослаблять; изнурять). The whole land seemed a-wailing and suddenly there swept a shadow across that furnace of despair (вся суша, казалось, стенала, и вдруг через это пекло отчаяния пронеслась тень), and a breath of cold wind, and a gathering of clouds, out of the cooling air (и дуновение холодного ветра, и скопление туч из остывающего воздуха). Men looking up, near blinded, at the star (люди, смотревшие вверх на звезду, почти ослепленные), saw that a black disc was creeping across the light (увидели, что черный диск наползает на свет). It was the moon, coming between the star and the earth (это была луна, проходящая между звездой и землей). And even as men cried to God at this respite (и когда люди воззвали к Богу при этой передышке), out of the East with a strange inexplicable swiftness sprang the sun (с Востока с необычной необъяснимой быстротой взошло солнце). And then star, sun and moon rushed together across the heavens (а потом звезда, солнце и луна понеслись вместе через небеса).

movement ['mu:vmǝnt], furnace ['fɜ:nɪs], blind [blaɪnd]

Over Asia it was the star had begun to fall behind the movement of the sky, and then suddenly, as it hung over India, its light had been veiled. All the plain of India from the mouth of the Indus to the mouths of the Ganges was a shallow waste of shining water that night, out of which rose temples and palaces, mounds and hills, black with people. Every minaret was a clustering mass of people, who fell one by one into the turbid waters, as heat and terror overcame them. The whole land seemed a-wailing and suddenly there swept a shadow across that furnace of despair, and a breath of cold wind, and a gathering of clouds, out of the cooling air. Men looking up, near blinded, at the star, saw that a black disc was creeping across the light. It was the moon, coming between the star and the earth. And even as men cried to God at this respite, out of the East with a strange inexplicable swiftness sprang the sun. And then star, sun and moon rushed together across the heavens.

So it was that presently, to the European watchers, star and sun rose close upon each other (так это было = получилось, что через некоторое время для европейских наблюдателей звезда и солнце поднялись возле друг друга), drove headlong for a space and then slower (мчались некоторое время стремительно, а потом медленнее; for a space – какое-то время), and at last came to rest (и наконец остановились; to come to rest – остановиться), star and sun merged into one glare of flame at the zenith of the sky (звезда и солнце слились в одно сияние пламени в зените неба). The moon no longer eclipsed the star but was lost to sight in the brilliance of the sky (луна больше не затемняла звезду, а пропала из виду в свечении неба). And though those who were still alive regarded it for the most part with that dull stupidity (и хотя те, кто был еще жив, смотрели на него /небо/ в основном с тем вялым отупением; dull – понурый, унылый, безрадостный, грустный; вялый; тупой, притупленный) that hunger, fatigue, heat and despair engender (которое порождают голод, усталость и отчаяние), there were still men who could perceive the meaning of these signs (были все-таки люди, которые смогли постигнуть смысл этих знамений). Star and earth had been at their nearest, had swung about one another, and the star had passed (звезда и земля уже были ближе всего /друг к другу/, качнулись друг возле друга, и звезда прошла мимо). Already it was receding, swifter and swifter (она уже удалялась, быстрее и быстрее), in the last stage of its headlong journey downward into the sun (на последней стадии ее безудержного путешествия по нисходящей линии к солнцу).

fatigue [fǝ'ti:ɡ], perceive [pǝ'si:v], sign [saɪn]

So it was that presently, to the European watchers, star and sun rose close upon each other, drove headlong for a space and then slower, and at last came to rest, star and sun merged into one glare of flame at the zenith of the sky. The moon no longer eclipsed the star but was lost to sight in the brilliance of the sky. And though those who were still alive regarded it for the most part with that dull stupidity that hunger, fatigue, heat and despair engender, there were still men who could perceive the meaning of these signs. Star and earth had been at their nearest, had swung about one another, and the star had passed. Already it was receding, swifter and swifter, in the last stage of its headlong journey downward into the sun.

And then the clouds gathered (а потом собрались тучи), blotting out the vision of the sky (закрывая вид неба; to blot out – закрывать, скрывать, покрывать), the thunder and lightning wove a garment round the world (гром и молния ткали покров вокруг мира; to weave – ткать, плести); all over the earth was such a downpour of rain as men had never before seen (по всей земле был такой ливень, какого люди не видели никогда прежде), and where the volcanoes flared red against the cloud canopy there descended torrents of mud (а там, где вулканы вспыхивали красным цветом на фоне облачного балдахина, спускались потоки грязи). Everywhere the waters were pouring off the land (повсюду воды стекали с суши), leaving mud-silted ruins (оставляя заваленные илом руины; to silt – засоряться илом), and the earth littered like a storm-worn beach with all that had floated (а землю, заваленную мусором, будто какое-нибудь побережье после шторма всем, что всплыло), and the dead bodies of the men and brutes, its children (и мертвыми телами людей и животных, ее /земли/ детьми). For days the water streamed off the land (многие дни вода стекала с суши), sweeping away soil and trees and houses in the way (размывая почву, деревья и дома на пути), and piling huge dykes and scooping out titanic gullies over the countryside (наваливая огромные дамбы и выкапывая гигантские рвы по сельской местности; titanic – колоссальный, титанический). Those were the days of darkness that followed the star and the heat (за звездой и жарой последовали дни тьмы). All through them, and for many weeks and months, the earthquakes continued (до конца их, и многие недели и месяцы продолжались землетрясения; all through – всё целиком, до конца).

ruin ['ru:ɪn], month [mʌnθ], continue [kǝn'tɪnju:]

And then the clouds gathered, blotting out the vision of the sky, the thunder and lightning wove a garment round the world; all over the earth was such a downpour of rain as men had never before seen, and where the volcanoes flared red against the cloud canopy there descended torrents of mud. Everywhere the waters were pouring off the land, leaving mud-silted ruins, and the earth littered like a storm-worn beach with all that had floated, and the dead bodies of the men and brutes, its children. For days the water streamed off the land, sweeping away soil and trees and houses in the way, and piling huge dykes and scooping out titanic gullies over the countryside. Those were the days of darkness that followed the star and the heat. All through them, and for many weeks and months, the earthquakes continued.

But the star had passed (но звезда уже прошла /мимо/), and men, hunger-driven and gathering courage only slowly (и люди, ведомые голодом и постепенно: «только медленно» набиравшиеся мужества), might creep back to their ruined cities, buried granaries, and sodden fields (могли медленно возвращаться: «ползти» обратно в разрушенные города, к сожженным амбарам и промокшим полям; sodden – промокший, влажный). Such few ships as had escaped the storms of that time (те немногие корабли, которые спаслись от штормов того времени) came stunned and shattered and sounding their way cautiously through the new marks and shoals of once familiar ports (пришли поврежденные и побитые, осторожно замеряя глубину лотом на своем пути через новые ориентиры и отмели некогда знакомых портов; to stun – оглушать ударом; оглушать, ошеломлять). And as the storms subsided men perceived that everywhere the days were hotter than of yore (и когда штормы утихли, люди ощутили, что везде дни жарче, чем в былые дни; yore – былое; to perceive – воспринимать, понимать, осознавать; постигать; ощущать; различать, чувствовать), and the sun larger, and the moon, shrunk to a third of its former size, took now fourscore days between its new and new (/что/ солнце больше, а луне, съежившейся до трети ее бывшего размера, требовалось теперь восемьдесят дней от одной до другой фазы: «между ее новой и новой»; to shrink – уменьшаться, сокращаться; сжиматься, съеживаться; fourscore – восемьдесят; score – двадцать).

courage ['kʌrɪʤ], bury ['berɪ], cautiously ['kɔ:ʃǝslɪ]

But the star had passed, and men, hunger-driven and gathering courage only slowly, might creep back to their ruined cities, buried granaries, and sodden fields. Such few ships as had escaped the storms of that time came stunned and shattered and sounding their way cautiously through the new marks and shoals of once familiar ports. And as the storms subsided men perceived that everywhere the days were hotter than of yore, and the sun larger, and the moon, shrunk to a third of its former size, took now fourscore days between its new and new.

But of the new brotherhood that grew presently among men (но о новых братских отношениях, которые возникли через некоторое время среди людей), of the saving of laws and books and machines (о спасении законов, книг и машин), of the strange change that had come over Iceland and Greenland and the shores of Baffin's Bay (о необычной перемене, которая произошла с Исландией, и Гренландией, и берегами Баффинова залива), so that the sailors coming there presently found them green and gracious (так что моряки, пришедшие туда некоторое время спустя, нашли их зелеными и благодатными), and could scarce believe their eyes (и едва могли поверить собственным глазам), this story does not tell (эта история не рассказывает). Nor of the movement of mankind now that the earth was hotter, northward and southward towards the poles of the earth (/не рассказывает она/ и о переселении: «перемещении» человечества сейчас, когда земля стала жарче, на север и юг к полюсам земли). It concerns itself only with the coming and the passing of the Star (она повествует лишь о появлении и прохождении Звезды; to concern oneself with smth. – интересоваться чем-л., заниматься чем-л.).

brotherhood ['brʌðǝhʋd], law [lɔ:], machine [mǝ'ʃi:n]

But of the new brotherhood that grew presently among men, of the saving of laws and books and machines, of the strange change that had come over Iceland and Greenland and the shores of Baffin's Bay, so that the sailors coming there presently found them green and gracious, and could scarce believe their eyes, this story does not tell. Nor of the movement of mankind now that the earth was hotter, northward and southward towards the poles of the earth. It concerns itself only with the coming and the passing of the Star.

The Martian astronomers (марсианские астрономы) – for there are astronomers on Mars (ибо на Марсе есть астрономы), although they are very different beings from men (хотя они очень отличаются от людей) – were naturally profoundly interested by these things (естественно, серьезно заинтересовались этими явлениями). They saw them from their own standpoint of course (они, конечно, видели = рассматривали их со своей точки зрения). “Considering the mass and temperature of the missile that was flung through our solar system into the sun (учитывая массу и температуру метательного снаряда, который был брошен через нашу солнечную систему в солнце),” one wrote (писал один), “it is astonishing what a little damage the earth, which it missed so narrowly, has sustained (поразительно, какой небольшой урон понесла земля, возле которой так близко он /снаряд/ прошел; to miss – промахнуться, не достичь цели). All the familiar continental markings and the masses of the seas remain intact (все привычные континентальные границы и массы морей остаются нетронутыми; to mark – отмечать, обозначать, размечать; ставить метки, вехи; очерчивать границы), and indeed the only difference seems to be a shrinkage of the white discoloration (и фактически единственным последствием: «одной разницей», кажется, является уменьшение белого пятна) (supposed to be frozen water [предполагается, что это замерзшая вода]) round either pole (вокруг обоих полюсов).” Which only shows how small the vastest of human catastrophes may seem, at a distance of a few million miles (что лишь демонстрирует, насколько небольшой может показаться крупнейшая из человеческих катастроф на расстоянии в несколько миллионов миль).

Martian ['mɑ:ʃǝn], Mars [mɑ:z], missile ['mɪsaɪl]

The Martian astronomers – for there are astronomers on Mars, although they are very different beings from men – were naturally profoundly interested by these things. They saw them from their own standpoint of course. “Considering the mass and temperature of the missile that was flung through our solar system into the sun,” one wrote, “it is astonishing what a little damage the earth, which it missed so narrowly, has sustained. All the familiar continental markings and the masses of the seas remain intact, and indeed the only difference seems to be a shrinkage of the white discoloration (supposed to be frozen water) round either pole.” Which only shows how small the vastest of human catastrophes may seem, at a distance of a few million miles.