82
“I’ve just had a most marvelous idea. Come here.”
I turned and went over to where she was lying on the sofa.
“Look,”she said, “do you want to have some fun?”
“…Don’t be an ass, Arthur. Let’s have some fun – some real fun for once –
tonight.” She had half raised herself on the sofa, her face bright with a kind of sudden
recklessness, the mouth slightly open, and she was looking at me with two round grey
eyes, a spark dancing slowly in each” [Dahl, 1991: 483-484].
“What do you want to do?”
“Why, it’s obvious. Can’t you see?”
“No, I can’t.”
“All we’ve got to do is to put a microphone in their room”. I admit I was
expecting something pretty bad, but when she said this I was so shocked I didn’t know
what to answer” [Dahl, 1991: 484].
Артур продолжал протестовать:
“That’s about the nastiest trick I ever heard of. It’s like – why, it’s like listening
at keyholes, or reading letters, only far, far worse. You don’t mean this seriously, don’t
you?”
“Of course, I do” [Dahl, 1991: 484].
Глагол
to shock – to upset someone [MED: 1313], прилагательное
nasty – very
unpleasant [MED:942] могут рассказать о том, что Артуру было не по себе от идеи
Памелы. Артуру так и не удалось переубедить жену отказаться от мысли о
подслушивании, и он установил микрофон в гостевой спальне:
“I took the stairs two at a time and entered the yellow room at the end of the
passage. I tipped up he sofa and slit the material underneath. Then I tied the
microphone securely up among the springs, making sure that it faced the room. After
that, I led the wire under the carpet to the door. I was calm and cautious in everything
I did. Where the wire had to emerge from under the carpet and pass out of the door, I
made a little groove in the wood so that it was almost invisible” [Dahl, 1991: 486-487].
83
Артур
уже заканчивал приготовления, когда приехали гости, но, к его
счастью, ими занялась Памела. Вскоре Артур
спустился к Памеле и гостям,
которые беседовали в гостиной:
“When I entered the living-room, our two guests, whose names I could never
remember, were seated on the sofa. My wife was mixing drinks.
“Oh, there you are, Arthur,” she said. “Where have you been?”
I thought this was an unnecessary remark. “I’m so sorry,” I said to the guests
as we shook hands. I was busy and forgot the time” [Dahl, 1991: 488].
Поговорив немного, гости и хозяева сели к ужину, который весьма удался.
Генри Снейп шутил, хвалил вино, которое было подано к столу – Ришбург
урожая 1934 года – и Артур был весьма польщен:
“The meal went well, with Henry Snape telling us some very droll stories. He
also praised my Richbourg’34 in a most knowledgeable fashion, which pleased me
greatly. By the time coffee came, I realized that I had grown to like these two youngsters
immensely, and as a result I began to feel uncomfortable about this microphone
business” [Dahl, 1991: 490].
Глаголы go well, praise, please, like – все с
положительной коннотацией – создают атмосферу непринужденности за
ужином. Артур даже почувствовал себя неловко за
установленный в спальне
гостей микрофон – прилагательное
uncomfortable – to feel unpleasant or slightly
painful feeling [MED: 1558] противопоставляется глаголам с положительной
коннотацией, создавая контраст между настроением Артура и непринужденной
атмосферой.
Около половины десятого четверка села за игру в бридж. Ставки были
довольно высокие – десять шиллингов за сто очков – и игра была превосходна,
лишь раз гости допустили ошибку. К полуночи
Памела уже играла не очень
внимательно, так как устала и хотела спать. Вскоре гости и хозяева разошлись
по своим комнатам, предварительно обсудив меню на завтрак:
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