Практический курс английского языка 3 курс - [4]

of the cold beef and general odds and ends, we should make an Irish stew.4

It seemed a fascinating idea. George gathered wood and made a fire, and Harris and I started to peel the potatoes. I

should never have thought that peeling potatoes was such an undertaking. The job turned out to be the biggest thing of its

kind that I had ever been in. We began cheerfully, one might almost say skittishly but our light-heartedness was gone by

the time the first potato was finished. The more we peeled, the more peel there seemed to be left on; by the time we had

got all the peel off and all the eyes out, there was no potato left — at least none worth speaking of. George came and had

a look at it — it was about the size of pea-nut. He said:

"Oh, that won't do! You're wasting them. You must scrape them."

So we scraped them and that was harder work than peeling. They are such an extraordinary shape, potatoes — all

bumps and warts and hollows. We worked steadily for five-and-twenty minutes, and did four potatoes. Then we struck.

We said we should require the rest of the evening for scraping ourselves.

I never saw such a thing as potato-scraping for making a fellow in a mess. It seemed difficult to believe that the

potato-scrapings in which Harris and I stood, half-smothered, could have come off four potatoes. It shows you what can

be done with economy and care.

George said it was absurd to have only four potatoes in an Irish stew, so we washed half a dozen or so more and put

them in without peeling. We also put in a cabbage and about half a peck5 of peas. George stirred it all up, and then he

said that there seemed to be a lot of room to spare, so we overhauled both the hampers, and picked out all the odds and

ends and the remnants, and added them to the stew. There were half a pork pie and a bit of cold boiled bacon left, and we

put them in. Then George found half a tin of potted salmon, and he emptied that into the pot.

He said that was the advantage of Irish stew: you got rid of such a lot of things. I fished out a couple of eggs that had

got cracked, and we put those in. George said they would thicken the gravy.

I forget the other ingredients, but I know nothing was wasted; and I remember that towards the end, Montmorency,

who had evinced great interest in the proceedings throughout, strolled away with an earnest and thoughtful air,

reappearing, a few minutes afterwards, with a dead water-rat in his mouth, which he evidently wished to present as his

contribution to the dinner; whether in a sarcastic spirit, or with a general desire to assist, I cannot say.

We had a discussion as to whether the rat should go in or not. Harris said that he thought it would be all right, mixed

up with the other things, and that every little helped; but George stood up for precedent! He said he had never heard of

water-rats in Irish stew, and he would rather be on the safe side, and not try experiments.

Harris said:

"If you never try a new thing how can you tell what it's like? It's men such as you that hamper the world's progress.

Think of the man who first tried German sausage!"

It was a great success, that Irish stew. I don't think I ever enjoyed a meal more. There was something so fresh and

piquant about it. One's palate gets so tired of the old hackneyed things; here was a dish with a new flavour, with a taste

like nothing else on earth.

And it was nourishing, too. As George said, there was good stuff in it. The peas and potatoes might have been a bit

softer, but we all had good teeth, so that did not matter much; and as for the gravy, it was a poem — a little too rich,

perhaps, for a weak stomach, but nutritious.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

1. Sonning ['sonig]: a picturesque village on the bank of the Thames.

2. latticed window: a window with small panes set in.

3. Reading ['redirj]: a town on the river Thames, Berkshire, South England. It is an important town for engineering, transport "and

scientific research. It is also important for its cattle and corn markets. It is proud of its university which specializes in agriculture.

4. Irish stew: a thick stew of mutton, onion and potatoes.

5. peck: a measure for dry goods equal to two gallons. Half a peck is equal approximately to four litres.

6. German sausage: a large kind of sausage with spiced, partly cooked meat.

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY

Vocabulary Notes

1. gossip n 1) (uncount.) idle talk, often ill-natured, about persons or events, also what appears in newspapers about people well-

known in society, as the gossip column, a gossip writer, e. g. Don't believe all the gossip you hear. 2) (count.) a person who is fond of

talking about other people's affairs, as the town gossips.

gossip vi (over smth.) to talk about the affairs of others, to spread rumours, e. g. Aren't you ashamed of gossiping over his affairs?

2. wind [wamd] (wound [waund] vt/i 1) to turn round and round: to wind the handle; 2) to make into a ball or twisted round

shape, as to wind wool; 3) to follow a direction in a twisting shape,