Stephen King - Английский язык с С. Кингом "Верхом на пуле"
perhaps [pq'hxps], [prxps], virgin ['vWGIn], born [bLn]
He didn't reply. Perhaps he didn't know. The trees blurred by like black ink. The headlights rushed and the road rolled. I was twenty-one. I wasn't a virgin but I'd only been with a girl once and I'd been drunk and couldn't remember much of what it had been like. There were a thousand places I wanted to go — Los Angeles, Tahiti, maybe Luchenbach, Texas — and a thousand things I wanted to do. My mother was forty-eight and that was old, goddammit. Mrs. McCurdy wouldn't say so but Mrs. McCurdy was old herself. My mother had done right by me, worked all those long hours and taken care of me, but had I chosen her life for her? Asked to be born and then demanded that she live for me? She was forty-eight. I was twenty-one. I had, as they said, my whole life before me. But was that the way you judged? How did you decide a thing like this? How could you decide a thing like this?
The woods bolting by (деревья, проносящиеся мимо). The moon looking down like a bright and deadly eye (луна, смотрящая вниз, как яркий и мертвый глаз).
“Better hurry up, man (лучше поторопись, приятель), George Staub said. “We're running out of wilderness (мы выезжаем из дикой местности; wilderness — дикаяместность; глухомань).”
I opened my mouth and tried to speak (я открыл рот и попробовал говорить). Nothing came out but an arid sigh (ничего не вышло, только сухой вздох).
“Here, got just the thing (погоди, у меня есть как раз то, что /тебе/ нужно),” he said, and reached behind him (сказал он и протянул руку назад). His shirt pulled up again and I got another look (его рубашка снова задралась, и я получил возможность еще раз взглянуть) (I could have done without it (я мог бы обойтись без этого)) at the stitched black line on his belly (на покрытую стежками черную линию на его животе). Were there still guts behind that line (были ли еще внутренности под этой линией; guts — кишки; внутренние органы) or just packing soaked in chemicals (или просто набивка = вата, пропитанная химикатами)? When he brought his hand back (когда он притянул руку обратно), he had a can of beer in it (в ней была банка пива) — one of those he'd bought at the state line store on his last ride, presumably (по-видимому, одна из тех, которые он купил в магазине у границы штата во время последней поездки; to presume — предполагать, полагать).
“I know how it is (я знаю, каково это),” he said. “Stress gets you dry in the mouth (от напряжения становится сухо во рту: «напряжение делает тебя сухим во рту»). Here (вот /возьми/).
wilderness ['wIldqnIs], soak [squk], presumably [prI'zjHmqblI]
The woods bolting by. The moon looking down like a bright and deadly eye.
“Better hurry up, man,” George Staub said. “We're running out of wilderness.”
I opened my mouth and tried to speak. Nothing came out but an arid sigh.
“Here, got just the thing,” he said, and reached behind him. His shirt pulled up again and I got another look (I could have done without it) at the stitched black line on his belly. Were there still guts behind that line or just packing soaked in chemicals? When he brought his hand back, he had a can of beer in it — one of those he'd bought at the state line store on his last ride, presumably.
“I know how it is,” he said. “Stress gets you dry in the mouth. Here.”
He handed me the can (он протянул мне банку). I took it (я взял ее), pulled the ringtab (потянул за кольцо; tab — петелька, ушко), and drank deeply (и жадно глотнул; deeply — глубоко; сильно, очень). The taste of the beer going down was cold and bitter (вкус пива, льющегося вниз = вжелудок, был холодный и горький). I've never had a beer since (с тех пор я никогда не пил пива). I just can't drink it (я просто не могу его пить). I can barely stand to watch the commercials on TV (я едва выношу просмотр рекламы по телевизору; to stand — стоять; выносить; терпеть).
Ahead of us in the blowing dark, a yellow light glimmered (впереди нас в ветреной темноте замерцал желтый свет; to blow — веять, дуть).
“Hurry up, Al — got to speed it up (поторопись, Эл, ты должен /решать/ быстрее; to speed up — увеличивать скорость; ускоряться). That's the first house, right up at the top of this hill (вот первый дом прямо на вершине этого холма). If you got something to say to me, you better say it now (если у тебя есть, что мне сказать, лучше скажи это сейчас).”
barely [bFqlI], commercial [kq'mWS(q)l], blow [blqu]
He handed me the can. I took it, pulled the ringtab, and drank deeply. The taste of the beer going down was cold and bitter. I've never had a beer since. I just can't drink it. I can barely stand to watch the commercials on TV.
Ahead of us in the blowing dark, a yellow light glimmered.
“Hurry up, Al — got to speed it up. That's the first house, right up at the top of this hill. If you got something to say to me, you better say it now.”
The light disappeared (свет исчез), then came back again (затем вернулся снова), only now it was several lights (только сейчас огоньков было несколько). They were windows (это были окна). Behind them were ordinary people doing ordinary things (за ними были обычные люди, занимающиеся обычными делами) — watching TV (смотрели телевизор), feeding the cat (кормили кошку), maybe beating off in the bathroom (может быть, мастурбировали в ванной; to beat off — отбивать; отгонять/собаку/; /разг./ мастурбировать).
I thought of us standing in line at Thrill Village (я подумал о нас, стоящих = вспомнил, какмыстояли в очереди в деревне развлечений), Jean and Alan Parker, a big woman with dark patches of sweat around the armpits of her sundress and her little boy (большая женщина с темными пятнами пота в области подмышек на ее сарафане и ее маленький мальчик; sundress — открытоелетнееплатье; сарафан). She hadn't wanted to stand in that line (она не хотела стоять в этой очереди), Staub was right about that (был прав в этом)... but I had pestered pestered pestered (но я канючил/допекал, допекал, допекал). He had been right about that, too (в этом он тоже был прав). She had swatted me (она ударила меня), but she had stood in line with me, too (но она же и стояла со мной в очереди). She had stood with me in a lot of lines (она стояла со мной во многих очередях), and I could go over all of it again (и я мог бы вспомнить все это: «пройтись по этому» снова), all the arguments pro and con (все аргументы за и против), but there was no time (но не было времени).
“Take her (возьми ее),” I said as the lights of the first house swept toward the Mustang (сказал я, когда огни первого дома понеслись навстречу “мустангу”; to sweep — мести, подметать; мчать/ся/, нестись). My voice was hoarse and raw and loud (мой голос был хриплый, сиплый/грубый и громкий; raw — сырой /о пище/; ободранный, лишенный кожи, кровоточащий; воспаленный, болезненный /о горле/). “Take her, take my ma, don't take me (возьми ее, возьми мою маму, не бери меня).”
ordinary ['LdnrI], argument ['Rgjumqnt], raw [rL]
The light disappeared, then came back again, only now it was several lights. They were windows. Behind them were ordinary people doing ordinary things watching TV, feeding the cat, maybe beating off in the bathroom.
I thought of us standing in line at Thrill Village, Jean and Alan Parker, a big woman with dark patches of sweat around the armpits of her sundress and her little boy. She hadn't wanted to stand in that line, Staub was right about that... but I had pestered pestered pestered. He had been right about that, too. She had swatted me, but she had stood in line with me, too. She had stood with me in a lot of lines, and I could go over all of it again, all the arguments pro and con, but there was no time.
“Take her,” I said as the lights of the first house swept toward the Mustang. My voice was hoarse and raw and loud. “Take her, take my ma, don't take me.”
I threw the can of beer down on the floor of the car (я бросил банку из-под пива на пол машины) and put my hands up to my face (и закрыл лицо руками: «поднял руки к лицу»). He touched me then (потом он до меня дотронулся), touched the front of my shirt (дотронулся до переднего /края/ моей рубашки), his fingers fumbling (перебирая пальцами; to fumble — нащупывать; мять; теребить), and I thought — with sudden brilliant clarity — that it had all been a test (и я подумал = осознал с внезапной кристальной ясностью, что все это было проверкой; brilliant — блестящий, сверкающий). I had failed (я провалился) and now he was going to rip my beating heart right out of my chest (и сейчас он собирался вырвать мое бьющееся сердце прямо из моей груди), like an evil djinn in one of those cruel Arabian fairy tales (как злой джинн в одной из тех жестоких арабских сказок; fairy — фея; волшебница; fairy tale — /волшебная/ сказка). I screamed (я закричал). Then his fingers let go (потом его пальцы отпустили /меня/: «ушли») — it was as if he'd changed his mind at the last second (как будто он передумал в последнюю секунду; to change one’s mind — изменить намерение/решение, передумать) — and he reached past me (и он потянулся/протянул руку мимо меня). For one moment my nose and lungs were so full of his deathly smell that I felt positive I was dead myself (на мгновение мои нос и легкие настолько наполнились его мертвым запахом, что я точно почувствовал, что умер сам). Then there was the click of the door opening (затем послышался щелчок открывающейся двери) and cold fresh air came streaming in (и поток холодного свежего воздуха устремился внутрь; stream — поток, ручей), washing the death smell away (смывая запах смерти).
