matinee ['mxtIneI], arcade [R'keId], curtain ['kq:t(q)n], artist ['RtIst], sustain [sqs'teIn], performance [pq'fO:mqns], balcony ['bxlkqnI], ascendant [q'sendqnt], descend [dI'send], passage ['pxsIG], commiseration [kq"mIzq'reIS(q)n], complication ["kOmplI'keIS(q)n], honest ['OnIst], forehead ['fOrId], deliberate [dI'lIb(q)rqt], cosmetics [kOz'metIks], sweater ['swetq]
MARTINS SAT on a hard chair just inside the stage door of the Josefstadt Theatre. He had sent up his card to Anna Schmidt after the matinee, marking it "a friend of Harry's." An arcade of little windows, with lace curtains and the lights going out one after another showed where the artists were packing up for home, for the cup of coffee without sugar, the roll without butter to sustain them for the evening performance. It was like a little street built indoors for a film set, but even indoors it was cold, even cold to a man in a heavy overcoat, so that Martins rose and walked up and down, underneath the little windows. He felt, he said, a little like a Romeo who wasn't sure of Juliet's balcony.
He had had time to think: he was calm now, Martins not Rollo was in the ascendant. When a light went out in one of the windows and an actress descended into the passage where he walked, he didn't even turn to take a look. He was done with all that. He thought: Kurtz is right. They are all right. I'm behaving like a romantic fool: I'll just have a word with Anna Schmidt, a word of commiseration, and then I'll pack and go. He had quite forgotten, he told me, the complication of Mr. Crabbin.
A voice over his head called "Mr. Martins," and he looked up at the face that watched him from between the curtains a few feet above his head. It wasn't beautiful, he firmly explained to me, when I accused him of once again mixing his drinks. Just an honest face with dark hair and eyes which in that light looked brown: a wide forehead, a large mouth which didn't try to charm. No danger anywhere, it seemed to Rollo Martins, of that sudden reckless moment when the scent of hair or a hand against the side alters life. She said, "Will you come up, please? The second door on the right."
There are some people, he explained to me carefully, whom one recognises instantaneously as friends. You can be at ease with them because you know that never, never will you be in danger. "That was Anna," he said, and I wasn't sure whether the past tense was deliberate or not.
Unlike most actress's rooms this one was almost bare; no wardrobe packed with clothes, no clutter of cosmetics and grease paints: a dressing gown on the door, one sweater he recognised from Act II on the only easy chair, a tin of half used paints and grease. A kettle hummed softly on a gas ring. She said, "Would you like a cup of tea? Someone sent me a packet last week—sometimes the Americans do, instead of flowers, you know, on the first night."
"I'd like a cup (я бы хотел одну чашку)," he said, but if there was one thing he hated it was tea (но если была одна вещь, которую он ненавидел, то это был чай). He watched her while she made it (он смотрел на нее, пока она делала его), made it, of course, all wrong (делала его, конечно, совершенно неправильно): the water not on the boil (вода не кипящая: «не на кипении»), the teapot unheated (заварочный чайник не согретый), too few leaves (слишком мало листьев). She said, "I never quite understand why English people like tea so (я никогда вполне не понимаю = не могу понять до конца, почему англичане так /сильно/ любят чай)."
He drank his cupful quickly like a medicine (он выпил свою чашку быстро, как лекарство; cupful — полная чашка чего-л.) and watched her gingerly and delicately sip at hers (и смотрел, как она осторожно и деликатно прихлебывает из своей; gingerly — осторожный, осмотрительный, предусмотрительный; робкий; delicate — изысканный, тонкий, утонченный; вежливый, деликатный, учтивый). He said, "I wanted very much to see you (я очень хотел повидать вас). About Harry (насчет/по поводу Гарри)."
It was the dreadful moment (это был ужасный момент): he would see her mouth stiffen to meet it (он видел, как ее рот напрягся, чтобы выдержать: «встретить» это; stiff — тугой, негибкий, неэластичный, жесткий; to stiffen — застывать; затвердевать).
"Yes?"
"I had known him twenty years (я знал его двадцать лет). I was his friend (я был его другом). We were at school together (мы были вместе в школе), you know (знаете ли), and after that (а после этого)—there weren't many months running when we didn't meet (не много было /таких/ месяцев, когда мы не встречались) ..."
She said, "When I got your card (когда я получила вашу карточку), I couldn't say no (я не могла отказать: «не могла сказать нет»). But there's nothing really for us to talk about (но, на самом деле, нам не о чем говорить: there’s = there is — там есть), is there (не так ли)?—nothing."
"I wanted to hear (я хотел услышать)..."
"He's dead (он мертв). That's the end (это конец). Everything's over (все кончено; over — через; to be over — заканчиваться), finished (закончено). What's the good of talking (какой смысл говорить об этом)?"
"We both loved him (мы оба любили его)."
"I don't know (я не знаю). You can't know a thing like that (не можешь = невозможно знать /такую/ вещь, как эта)—afterwards (потом). I don't know anything any more except (я больше не знаю чего-либо, кроме)—"
"Except (кроме)?"
"That I want to be dead too (что я тоже хочу быть мертвой = хочу умереть)."
Martins told me (Мартинс сказал мне), "Then I nearly went away (тогда я чуть было не ушел). What was the good of tormenting her because of this wild idea of mine (какой смысл было мучить ее из-за этой моей дикой идеи)? But instead I asked her one question (но вместо этого я задал ей один вопрос). 'Do you know a man called Cooler (вы знаете человека по имени Кулер)?'"
"An American (американца)?" she asked. "I think that was the man who brought me some money when Harry died (я думаю, это был человек, который принес мне немного денег, когда Гарри умер). I didn't want to take it (я не хотела брать их), but he said Harry had been anxious (но он сказал, что Гарри хотел этого: «был желающий»)—at the last moment (в последний момент)."
"So he didn't die instantaneously (так он не умер мгновенно)?"
"Oh, no (о, нет)."
Martins said to me (Мартинс сказал мне), "I began to wonder (я начал удивляться/задаваться вопросом) why I had got that idea so firmly into my head (почему я заполучил эту мысль так твердо в мою голову), and then I thought it was only the man in the flat who told me so (и затем я подумал, что только тот человек в квартире мне так сказал)... no one else (никто еще = никто кроме него). I said to her (я сказал ей), 'He must have been very clear in his head at the end (у него должно было быть очень ясное сознание в конце: «он должен был быть очень ясным в своей голове в конце»)—because he remembered about me too (потому что он вспомнил обо мне тоже). That seems to show (это, пожалуй, показывает: «это кажется показывать») that there wasn't really any pain (что на самом деле не было какой-либо боли).'"
medicine [`medsın], afterwards [`a:ftəwədz], torment [‘to:mənt]
medicine ['medsIn], gingerly ['GInG(q)lI], delicately ['delIkqtlI], dreadful ['dredful], afterwards ['Rftqwqdz], torment /глагол/ [tO:'ment], idea [aI'dIq]
"I'd like a cup," he said, but if there was one thing he hated it was tea. He watched her while she made it, made it, of course, all wrong: the water not on the boil, the teapot unheated, too few leaves. She said, "I never quite understand why English people like tea so."
He drank his cupful quickly like a medicine and watched her gingerly and delicately sip at hers. He said, "I wanted very much to see you. About Harry."
It was the dreadful moment: he would see her mouth stiffen to meet it.
"Yes?"
"I had known him twenty years. I was his friend. We were at school together, you know, and after that—there weren't many months running when we didn't meet ..."
She said, "When I got your card, I couldn't say no. But there's nothing really for us to talk about, is there?—nothing."
"I wanted to hear ..."
"He's dead. That's the end. Everything's over, finished. What's the good of talking?"
"We both loved him."
"I don't know. You can't know a thing like that—afterwards. I don't know anything any more except—"
"Except?"
"That I want to be dead too."
Martins told me, "Then I nearly went away. What was the good of tormenting her because of this wild idea of mine? But instead I asked her one question. 'Do you know a man called Cooler?'"
"An American?" she asked. "I think that was the man who brought me some money when Harry died. I didn't want to take it, but he said Harry had been anxious—at the last moment."
"So he didn't die instantaneously?"
"Oh, no."
Martins said to me, "I began to wonder why I had got that idea so firmly into my head, and then I thought it was only the man in the flat who told me so ... no one else. I said to her, 'He must have been very clear in his head at the end—because he remembered about me too. That seems to show that there wasn't really any pain.'"
"That's what I tell myself all the time (это то, что я говорю себе все время)."
"Did you see the doctor (вы видели доктора)?"
"Once (однажды). Harry sent me to him (Гарри послал меня к нему; to send). He was Harry's own doctor (он был частным: «собственным» доктором Гарри). He lived nearby, you see (он жил неподалеку, видите ли)."
Martins suddenly saw in that odd chamber of the mind that constructs such pictures (Мартинс внезапно увидел в этой странной каморке разума, которая составляет такие картинки; to construct — строить, сооружать; воздвигать; конструировать; создавать; сочинять; придумывать), instantaneously, irrationally (мгновенно, иррационально), a desert place (пустынное место), a body on the ground (тело на земле), a group of birds gathered (собравшуюся группу птиц). Perhaps it was a scene from one of his own books (возможно, это была сцена из одной из его собственных книг), not yet written (еще не написанных), forming at the gate of consciousness (формирующихся у ворот сознания). Immediately it faded (как только она потускнела), he thought how odd that they were all there (он подумал, как странно, что они все были там), just at that moment (прямо в тот момент), all Harry's friends (все друзья Гарри)—Kurtz, the doctor, this man Cooler (Куртц, доктор, этот человек Кулер); only the two people who loved him (только двух человека, которые любили его) seemed to have been missing (казалось, недоставало; missing — недостающий, отсутствующий). He said, "And the driver (а водитель)? Did you hear his evidence (вы слышали его показания)?"
"He was upset, scared (он был расстроен, испуган; to upset — /о лодке, автомобиле и т. п./ — опрокидывать, переворачивать; расстраивать, огорчать, причинять огорчения; upset — перевернутый, опрокинутый; расстроенный, огорченный). But Cooler's evidence exonerated him (но показания Кулера оправдали его), and Kurtz's (и показания Куртца). No, it wasn't his fault (нет, это не была его вина), poor man (бедный человек = бедняга). I've often heard Harry say (я часто слышала, как Гарри говорил) what a careful driver he was (какой это был осторожный водитель)."
"He knew Harry too (он тоже знал Гарри)?" Another bird flapped down (еще одна птица шлепнулась вниз) and joined the others (и присоединилась к остальным) round the silent figure on the sand (вокруг тихой фигуры на песке) who lay face down (которая лежала лицом вниз; to lie). Now he could tell that it was Harry (теперь он мог сказать, что это был Гарри), by the clothes (по одежде), by the attitude like that of a boy asleep in the grass at a playing field's edge (по положению, похожему на положение мальчишки, спящего в траве на краю игрового поля; to play — играть, edge — край), on a hot summer afternoon (в жаркий летний день).
Somebody called outside the window (кто-то позвал за окном), "Fräulein Schmidt (фройляйн Шмидт)."
She said, "They don't like one to stay too long (они не любят, когда кто-то остается слишком долго). It uses up their electricity (это тратит их электричество; to use up — расходовать, тратить; to use — использовать)."
