Английский язык с Э. Хемингуэем. Старик и море - [74]

. Slide down a mile deep. Go see your friend, or maybe it's your mother."

The old man wiped the blade of his knife and laid down the oar. Then he found the sheet and the sail filled and he brought the skiff onto her course.

"They must have taken a quarter of him and of the best meat," he said aloud. "I wish it were a dream and that I had never hooked him. I'm sorry about it, fish. It makes everything wrong." He stopped and he did not want to look at the fish now. Drained of blood and awash he looked the colour of the silver backing of a mirror and his stripes still showed.

"I shouldn't have gone out so far, fish," he said. "Neither for you nor for me. I'm sorry, fish."

Now, he said to himself. Look to the lashing on the knife (проверь: «посмотри», как привязан нож) and see if it has been cut (не перерезаны ли веревки). Then get your hand in order (затем приведи в порядок руку) because there still is more to come (потому что придут еще /акулы/).

"I wish I had a stone for the knife (жаль, что у меня нет точила для ножа)," the old man said after he had checked the lashing on the oar butt (после того, как проверил веревки на рукоятке весла). "I should have brought a stone (следовало взять с собой точило)." You should have brought many things (тебе следовало взять: «принести» много вещей), he thought. But you did not bring them, old man (но ты не взял их, старик). Now is no time to think of what you do not have (сейчас не время думать о том, чего у тебя нет). Think of what you can do with what there is (думай о том, что ты можешь сделать тем, что есть).

"You give me much good counsel (ты даешь мне слишком много хороших советов; counsel — совет, наставление)," he said aloud. "I'm tired of it (я устал от этого/это мне надоело)."

He held the tiller under his arm (он сунул румпель под мышку) and soaked both his hands in the water (и окунул обе руки в воду) as the skiff drove forward (в то время как лодка плыла вперед).

"God knows how much that last one took (один только Бог знает, сколько забрала = сожрала последняя /акула/)," he said.

"But she's much lighter now (но она теперь гораздо легче)." He did not want to think of the mutilated under-side of the fish (он не хотел думать, насколько изуродована нижняя часть рыбы). He knew that each of the jerking bumps of the shark had been meat torn away (он знал, что каждый толчок акулы об лодку означал кусок оторванного мяса) and that the fish now made a trail for all sharks as wide as a highway through the sea (и что рыба теперь оставляет в море след для всех акул, широкий, как шоссейная дорога).

counsel ['kauns(q)l], soak [squk], mutilate ['mjHtIleIt]

Now, he said to himself. Look to the lashing on the knife and see if it has been cut. Then get your hand in order because there still is more to come.

"I wish I had a stone for the knife," the old man said after he had checked the lashing on the oar butt. "I should have brought a stone." You should have brought many things, he thought. But you did not bring them, old man. Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.

"You give me much good counsel," he said aloud. "I'm tired of it."

He held the tiller under his arm and soaked both his hands in the water as the skiff drove forward.

"God knows how much that last one took," he said.

"But she's much lighter now." He did not want to think of the mutilated under-side of the fish. He knew that each of the jerking bumps of the shark had been meat torn away and that the fish now made a trail for all sharks as wide as a highway through the sea.

He was a fish to keep a man all winter (она была рыбой, которая могла прокормить человека всю зиму), he thought. Don't think of that. Just rest and try to get your hands in shape to defend what is left of him (просто отдыхай и постарайся привести руки в форму, чтобы защитить то, что от нее осталось). The blood smell from my hands means nothing now (запах крови от моих рук теперь ничего не значит) with all that scent in the water (со всем этим запахом в воде). Besides they do not bleed much (кроме того, они не так сильно кровоточат). There is nothing cut that means anything (на ней нет порезов, которые что-либо значат = нет серьезных ран). The bleeding may keep the left from cramping (а кровопускание может уберечь левую руку от судороги).

What can I think of now (о чем я могу сейчас думать)? he thought. Nothing (ни о чем). I must think of nothing (мне лучше ни о чем не думать) and wait for the next ones (и ждать следующих /акул/). I wish it had really been a dream (хотелось бы мне, чтобы это действительно был сон), he thought. But who knows (но кто знает)? It might have turned out well (все может закончиться хорошо; to turn out — выйти, закончиться /с таким-то результатом/).

The next shark that came was a single shovelnose (следующая появившаяся акула была одна, и тоже широконосая). He came like a pig to the trough (она подплыла, как свинья /подходит/ к своему корыту) if a pig had a mouth so wide that you could put your head in it (если бы у свиньи был рот настолько широк, что в него можно было бы положить голову). The old man let him hit the fish (старик позволил ей укусить рыбу) and then drove the knife on the oar down into his brain (а затем вонзил нож на весле в мозг). But the shark jerked backwards as he rolled (но акула дернулась назад, когда переворачивалась) and the knife blade snapped (и лезвие ножа сломалось).