Джеймс Болдуин – Английский язык с Робинзоном Крузо (в пересказе для детей) (страница 32)

often [ˈɔf(ǝ)n, ˈɔft(ǝ)n], pleasure [ˈpleʒǝ], naked [ˈneɪkɪd], ghost [ˈɡǝust], defend [dɪˈfend], stir [stǝ:], weary [ˈwɪǝrɪ], notion [ˈnǝuʃ(ǝ)n]

WHEN the weather was fine I often went over to the other side of the island to look at my canoe.

Sometimes I spent several days at my summer house. Then, going over to where the canoe was kept, I took short sails along the shore. These little voyages gave me a great deal of pleasure.

One morning as I was going to the canoe a strange thing happened.

I was walking slowly along and looking down, and what do you think I saw?

I saw the print of a man's naked foot in the sand.

The sight made me cold all over.

I stood like one that had seen a ghost. I looked around. I listened. I trembled.

I went to the top of a little hill to look farther. Then I walked up the shore and down the shore. I saw no other tracks.

I went back to make sure that I was not dreaming. Yes, there in the sand was the print of man's foot. It showed the toes, the heel, and the sole of the foot. I was not dreaming.

My mind was filled with a thousand thoughts and questions. Where was the man who made that track? Who was he? How did he get there?

I was so frightened that I did not go to the canoe. I turned back and went to my castle as fast as I could.

Whether I went over by the ladder or through the hole in the rock, I do not know. But I shut myself up as quickly as I could and began to get ready to defend myself.

That night I could not sleep. I lay in my hammock, and thought and thought.

The track must have been made by an Indian or some other wild savage. This savage had come perhaps from the land that I had seen far across the sea.

Perhaps he had come to the island alone. Perhaps he had come with many others of his kind. But where was he now?

I was so much afraid that I did not stir out of my castle for three days and nights. I was almost starved, for I had only two or three barley cakes in my kitchen.

Little by little I became brave enough to go out again. I crept softly down to my fields to milk the goats. Poor things! They were glad enough to see me.

But every sound made me start and look around. I fancied that I saw a savage behind every tree. I lived for days like some hunted thing that trembles at its own shadow.

And all because I had seen the print of a foot in the sand!

Little by little I grew bolder, and I made up my mind to strengthen my castle. If savage Indians should indeed come and find me, I would be ready for them.

So I carried out earth and small stones, and piled them up against the castle wall till it was ten feet thick. I have already told you how strong it was at first, and how I had made a dense hedge of trees on the outside. It was now so strong that nothing could break through it.

Through the wall at certain places I made five holes large enough for a man's arm to reach in. In each of these holes I planted a gun; for you will remember that I brought several from the ship.

Each one of these guns was fitted in a frame that could be drawn back and forth. They worked so well in their places that I could shoot off all five of them in less than two minutes.

Many a weary month did I work before I had my wall to my notion. But at last it was finished.

The hedge that was before it grew up so thick and high that no man nor animal could see through it. If you had seen it, you would not have dreamed there was anything inside of it, much less a house.

For two years I lived in fear. All that I did was to make my home stronger and safer.

Far in the woods I built a large pen of logs and stakes. Around it I planted a hedge like that in front of the castle. Then I put a dozen young goats into it, to feed upon the grass and grow.

If savages should come, and if they should kill the other goats, they could not find these; for they were too well hidden in the deep woods.

All these things I did because I had seen the print of a man's foot in the sand.

I AM AGAIN ALARMED

(я вновь встревожен)

FIVE or six years had passed (пять или шесть лет прошли), and not another footprint had I seen (а я не видел другого отпечатка ноги).

I had gotten over my great fright (я преодолел мой большой страх; to get over smth. — перейти, перелезть, переправиться через что-л.; преодолеть /трудности/; привыкнуть к чему-л.; свыкнуться с мыслью о чем-л.), and yet I was not so bold as I had been (но все же я не был не столь отважным, каким был /раньше/). Any sudden sound would make me start and look around (любой неожиданный звук мог заставить меня вздрогнуть и /начать/ осматриваться).

I thought that if savage men had been on the island once (я думал, что если дикие люди были на острове однажды), they were quite likely to come again (они вполне могли прийти опять; likely — вероятно). So I kept on the lookout for them all the time (поэтому я продолжал быть начеку все время/поджидал их все время).

My flock of goats had now grown to be very large (мое стадо коз выросло и стало очень большим), and I needed another field (и мне требовалось другое поле). I wished to put some of them in a hidden spot (я хотел спрятать некоторых из них в потаенное место; to hide — прятать) where the savages, if they did come, would not find them (где дикари, если бы они пришли, не нашли бы их).

I had already a small flock in one such spot (у меня уже было маленькое стадо в одном таком месте), as I have told you (как я вам /уже/ говорил). But now I wished to have another (но теперь я желал, чтобы было еще одно).

In looking for the right kind of place (ища подходящее место), I went all over the island (я обошел весь остров). I even went far out on a rocky point beyond the place where I kept my canoe (я вышел даже на скалистое место за тем местом, где я держал каноэ; point — точка; место, пункт).

As I was standing on a rock and looking out to sea (когда я стоял на скале и смотрел на море), I thought I saw a boat in the distance (я подумал, что увидел лодку на расстоянии = мне показалось, что вдали я увидел лодку). It was only a little speck on the water (это было лишь пятнышко на воде), and it seemed to rise and fall with the waves (и, казалось, оно поднимается и падает с волнами). It could not be a rock (это не могла быть скала).

I looked at it till my eyes could look no more (я глядел на него, пока мои глаза больше не могли смотреть). I had saved a spyglass out of the ship (я сохранил/спас подзорную трубу с корабля); but, as luck would have it (но, как было угодно судьбе; luck — фортуна, судьба; счастливый случай, шанс), I had left it at home (я оставил ее дома; to leave — оставлять). How I wished for it then (как я желал ее тогда)!

Whether I really saw a boat or not (видел ли я в действительности лодку или нет), I do not know (не знаю). But as I walked back along the shore (но пока я шел обратно вдоль берега), I made up my mind never to go out again without my spyglass (я решил никогда больше не выходить без подзорной трубы).

I walked slowly along, thinking of what I had seen (я шел медленно, думая о том, что увидел). All at once I came upon that which made my heart stand still (вдруг я наткнулся на то, что заставило мое сердце остановиться; to stand still — стоять на месте: «стоять неподвижно»).

On the sandy, sloping beach of a pleasant little harbor (на песчаной, спускающейся /к воде/ береговой полосе красивой маленькой заводи; slope — наклон, уклон; скат, склон; откос; to slope — клониться; иметь наклон) I saw not only one footprint, but hundreds of them (я увидел не только один отпечаток ноги, но сотни их; print — оттиск; отпечаток; след).

I stood still, afraid to move (я стоял как вкопанный, боясь пошевелиться).

But the footprints were not all (но отпечатки ноги — это было не все). The beach at one place was covered with bones and bits of flesh (берег был покрыт костями и кусками мяса), as in a slaughter house (как на скотобойне; slaughter — убой, забой /скота/). Some of the bones were quite fresh (некоторые из костей были довольно свежими); some had been charred with fire (некоторые потемнели от огня: «были опаленными огнем»; to char — обжечь, опалить).

"Here the savages have been holding a feast (здесь дикари устраивали: «держали» пир)," I said to myself (сказал я себе).

A little farther on I saw that a pit had been dug in the sand (немного дальше я увидел, что в песке была выкопана яма; to dig — копать), and here they had had their fire (и /что/ здесь у них был костер). The ashes were still warm (зола еще была теплой).

I wondered what kind of a feast these wild men had been having (я задавался вопросом, какой пир эти дикие люди устраивали). There were savages on the mainland who were said to kill and eat the captives (были дикари на материке, которые, как говорили, убивали и ели пленников) whom they took in war (которых они брали на войне). Cannibals they were called (их называли: «они были называемы» каннибалами).

Could this have been a feast of cannibals (могло это быть пиром каннибалов)? And were these the bones and flesh of human beings (были ли это кости и мясо людей: «людских существ»)?