Английский язык с миссис Харрис, или платье от Диора
Шрифт:
curious ['kjuqrIqs], message ['mesIG], portent ['pLtqnt]
Why then this curious sum, what was the message or the meaning it held for her? For Mrs. Harris' world was filled with signals, signs, messages, and portents from on High. With the price of a Dior dress of four hundred fifty pounds, three hundred fifty pounds was still wholly out of her reach.
But wait (но подождите)! A flash of insight and inspiration came to her (вспышка озарения и вдохновения пришла к ней: to come — приходить; случаться), and she snapped on the light and sat up in bed with the sheer excitement of it (и она неожиданно включила свет и села в своей кровати с явным волнением от нее = вызванным ей). It was not really three hundred fifty pounds any longer (на
insight ['InsaIt], inspiration ["Inspq'reISqn], sheer [SIq]
But wait! A flash of insight and inspiration came to her, and she snapped on the light and sat up in bed with the sheer excitement of it. It was not really three hundred fifty pounds any longer. She had not only her hundred pounds in the bank, but a start of two pounds, seven shillings, ninepence ha'penny on the second hundred, and once she had achieved that the third hundred pounds would no longer be so difficult.
"That's it (вот оно что)," said Mrs. Harris to herself aloud (сказала миссис Харрис сама себе вслух), "I'll 'ave it if it is the last thing I do and it takes the rest of me life (я заполучу его, если это последнее, что я сделаю, и если это займет остаток моей жизни)." She got out of bed (она поднялась с постели), secured pencil and paper (взяла карандаш и бумагу: to secure — охранять; завладеть), and began to figure (и начала считать).
Mrs. Harris had never in her life paid more than five pounds (миссис Харрис никогда в ее жизни не платила больше пяти фунтов), roughly the equivalent of fourteen dollars (примерно: «грубо» — эквивалент 14 долларов), for a dress (за платье), a sum she noted down on the paper opposite the utterly fantastic figure of four hundred fifty pounds (эту сумму она записала на бумагу напротив крайне фантастической цифры в четыреста пятьдесят фунтов).
secure [sI'kjuq], figure ['fIgq], utterly ['AtqlI]
"That's it," said Mrs. Harris to herself aloud, "I'll 'ave it if it is the last thing I do and it takes the rest of me life." She got out of bed, secured pencil and paper, and began to figure.
Mrs. Harris had never in her life paid more than five pounds, roughly the equivalent of fourteen dollars, for a dress, a sum she noted down on the paper opposite the utterly fantastic figure of four hundred fifty pounds.
Had Lady Dant named some such sum as fifty or sixty pounds as the price of the marvelous creations in her closet (если бы леди Дант назвала какую-нибудь сумму вроде пятидесяти или шестидесяти фунтов в качестве цены чудесных творений в своем шкафу) it is quite possible (вполне возможно) that Mrs. Harris would have put the entire matter out of her head immediately (что миссис Харрис выбросила бы все дело из своей головы незамедлительно) as not only a gap in price she was not prepared to consider (не только как разницу в цене, которую она не была готова рассматривать = платить которую не намеревалась; gap — пролом, брешь, щель, дыра; промежуток; /глубокое/ расхождение), but also a matter of a class into which she preferred not to encroach (но также как и вопрос /более высокого/ общественного слоя, в который она предпочитала не вторгаться).
marvelous ['mRvqlqs], entire [In'taIq], preferred [prI'fWd]
Had Lady Dant named some such sum as fifty or sixty pounds as the price of the marvelous creations in her closet it is quite possible that Mrs. Harris would have put the entire matter out of her head immediately as not only a gap in price she was not prepared to consider, but also a matter of a class into which she preferred not to encroach.
But the very outrageousness of the sum (но чрезмерность/неоправданность этой суммы) put it all into a wholly different category (переместило все это в совершенно другую категорию). What is it that makes a woman yearn for chinchilla (что, /скажите,/
outrageous [aut'reIGqs], jewels ['GHqlz], restaurant ['restqrLN], preposterousness [prI'pOstqrqsnIs], guarantee ["gxrqn'tJ]
But the very outrageousness of the sum put it all into a wholly different category. What is it that makes a woman yearn for chinchilla, or Russian sables, a Rolls-Royce, or jewels from Cartier, or Van Cleef & Arpels, or the most expensive perfume, restaurant, neighborhood, etc.? It is this very pinnacle and preposterousness of price that is the guarantee of the value of her femininity and person. Mrs. Harris simply felt that if one owned a dress so beautiful that it cost four hundred fifty pounds there was then nothing left upon earth to be desired. Her pencil began to move across the paper.
She earned three shillings, approximately forty-five cents, an hour (она зарабатывала три шиллинга, примерно сорок пять центов, в час). She worked ten hours a day (она работала десять часов в день), six days a week (шесть дней в неделю), fifty-two weeks in the year (пятьдесят две недели в году). Mrs. Harris screwed her tongue into her cheek and applied the multiplication table (миссис Харрис уперла: “ввинтила» язык в щеку и использовала таблицу умножения = начала подсчитывать по таблице умножения), reaching the figure of four hundred sixty-eight pounds per annum (достигая цифры в четыреста шестьдесят восемь фунтов в год), close to fourteen hundred dollars (около 14 сотен долларов), just the price of a Dior gala ball dress plus the amount of the fare to Paris and back (как раз цены праздничного вечернего платья от Диора плюс стоимость проезда до Парижа и обратно).
approximately [q'prOksImItlI], screwed [skrHd], tongue [tAN]
She earned three shillings, approximately forty-five cents, an hour. She worked ten hours a day, six days a week, fifty-two weeks in the year. Mrs. Harris screwed her tongue into her cheek and applied the multiplication table, reaching the figure of four hundred sixty-eight pounds per annum, close to fourteen hundred dollars, just the price of a Dior gala ball dress plus the amount of the fare to Paris and back.
Now, with equal determination and vigor (теперь, с такой же решимостью и энергией), Mrs. Harris initiated a second column (миссис Харрис приступила ко второй колонке): rent (квартплата), taxes (налоги), food (питание), medicines (лекарства), shoes (обувь), and all the little incidentals of living of which she could think (и все мелкие расходы на проживание, которые она могла вспомнить: to think — думать; вспоминать). The task was a staggering one (задача была ошеломляющей = оказалась потрясающе трудной; to stagger — вызывать шатания, лишать устойчивости; потрясать, поражать; ошеломлять; удивлять, ставить в тупик) when she subtracted debits from credits (когда она вычла дебет из кредита). Years of savings lay ahead of her (годы экономии предстояли ей; ahead — впереди), two at the very least, if not three (два по меньшей мере, если не три), unless she had some other stroke of luck or a windfall of tips (если у нее не будет какой-либо другой удачи или неожиданно полученных чаевых; stroke of luck — удача: «удар удачи»; windfall — падалица; плод, сбитый ветром; неожиданная удача, неожиданный доход).