Любимые герои. Книга для чтения на английском языке

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

“Madam, he says this may not be, or he will destroy the castle!” The effect was great. The queen sat down. The guests jumped up and rushed to the door.

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

1.Explain why the Yankee did not like the conditions of life in King Arthur’s time.

2.What changes did he introduce?

3.How did the Yankee blow up Merlin’s tower?

4.Using the text show that the life of the poor people was hard.

5.Why did Sandy say that The Boss would destroy the castle?

Part III

I

(King Arthur died, and the Yankee decided to make England a republic. But he had one great enemy — the Church. When he returned to England after a short stay in France, he found great changes. There was no electric light in the houses, the telephone did not work. He understood that this was the work of the Church. He hurried to

Camelot and found Clarence.)

“The Church is master now,” said Clarence. “The Church has gathered all the knights, and as soon as you are discovered, we shall have a hard time. Almost all our men went over to the side of

161

Mark Twain

the Church, because they are afraid of it. We have fifty-two boys: none younger than fourteen and none above seventeen years old. They are true to

us.“We have gone to that old cave of Merlin’s where the great electric plant is, that we built. We have brought into the cave a lot of food, and a lot of guns, rifles and powder.”

“A good idea, a very good idea.”

“I think so. I placed four of my boys there as a guard. Then I went out into the hills and found the secret wire which connected your bedroom with the wires that go to the dynamite deposits1 under all our big factories and plants. My boys and I connected it with the cave instead of your bedroom. We laid the wire under ground, of course. We shan’t have to leave our cave now, when we want to blow up our civilization.”

“It was good. Go on.”

“Then we built a wire fence.” “Wire fence?”

“Yes. I laid twelve strong wires from a big dynamo in the cave.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“The wires go around the cave in a circle: they make twelve fences, ten feet apart2 — that is to say, twelve circles within circles — and their ends come into the cave again.”

1 dynamite deposits — склады динамита

друга2 ten feet apart — на расстоянии десяти футов друг от

162

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

“Right; go on.”

“The fences are fastened to heavy posts only three feet apart.”

“That is good and strong. Go on. The guns?” “Yes. In the centre of the inner circle, on a plat-

form six feet high, I’ve placed the guns.” “That’s it. Well, and the dynamite torpe-

does1?”

“Yes, they are ready. They make a belt forty feet wide that goes around the outer fence. We covered the torpedoes with sand. The distance between the sand-belt of torpedoes and the fence is one hundred yards.”

“Clarence, you’ve done a lot of work, and done it very well. Now everything is ready. I know what to do now.”

“So do I2; sit down and wait.” “No, sir! Stand up and strike!3”

II

We are in Merlin’s cave — Clarence and I and fifty-two good, clever, well-educated young Brit- ish boys.

We had a week of waiting4. At last the big day came. In the morning we saw a great army in the distance. It was moving slowly towards us. Nearer and nearer it came. In front were horsemen —

1dynamite torpedoes — динамитные мины

2So do I — Я тоже

3Stand up and strike! — Вставать и бить!

4waiting — ожидание

163

Mark Twain

knights in armour, very many of them. Suddenly they burst into a gallop1. They approached the sand-belt — nearer, nearer, at last they stepped on it — and shot up into the sky2 with a great noise and became a storm of rags and fragments. On the ground there was a thick cloud of smoke, and we could not see through it. At that moment I touched a button and all our factories blew up. It was a pity, but we could not let the enemy have them. It was a military necessity3.

At last the smoke disappeared, and we saw no life around. We also saw that the dynamite had dug a ditch more than a hundred feet wide, all around us, and made an embankment some twenty- five feet high on both sides of it.

During the rest of the day the enemy did not appear. In the evening I checked the electric signals which commanded the wire fences — these were signals by which I could switch on and off4 the electric current in each fence independently of the others. I left three of my best boys at the signals.

As soon as it was dark, I switched off the current from all the fences and went to the embankment on our side of the great dynamite ditch. I lay there and watched. But it was so dark that I could not see anything. There were no sounds. I waited

1burst into a gallop — пустились галопом

2shot up into the sky — взлетели в воздух

3military ['mIlItArI] necessity [nA'sesItI] — военная необ-

ходимость

4switch on and off — включать и выключать

164

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

a long time. At last I heard a metallic sound. Then, on the top of the opposite embankment, I saw some dots — heads? I couldn’t tell, it was too dark. But then I heard that metallic sound again. Yes, now it was clear: the knights in their armour were coming down into the great ditch.

I went back into the cave; I had seen enough. When I came back, I told the boys to switch the current on to the two inner fences. In the cave everybody was asleep. I woke Clarence and told him that I believed all the knights were coming to attack us.

Clarence said:

“They will want to send a scout or two in the dark. Let’s switch the current off the outer fences and give them a chance.”

“I’ve already done it, Clarence.” “I want to go and —”

“Meet them? I will go too.”

We lay down between the two inside fences. It was very dark and at first we could see nothing.

Suddenly Clarence said: “What is that?” “What is what?”

“That thing over there.” “What thing — where?”

“Over there — a dark something — against the second fence.” I looked and he looked. I said:

“Can it be a man, Clarence?”

“No, I think not. It looks — why, it is a man.” “Let us go and see.”

165

Mark Twain

We crept forward on our hands and knees and looked. Yes, it was a man, a great figure in ar- mour. He was standing, with both hands on the wire. Poor fellow, dead as a door-nail1. He stood there like a statue.

Then we heard some sounds and again lay down on the ground. We saw another knight. He came up to the first knight and stopped. He stood a mo- ment — of course he was surprised why the other one didn’t move on; then he said, “Why are you standing here, good Sir Mar —”; then he put his hand on the dead man’s shoulder and fell down dead. He was killed by a dead man, you see — killed by a dead friend. There was something terrible about it.

These early birds came after each other; one everyfiveminutes.Theycarriedtheirswordsready in their hands touched the wires with them and fell dead.

Soon we were surrounded by a wall of dead men. Then we heard a heavy sound. A whole army of knights was coming. I sent a current through the third fence now: and almost immediately through the fourth and fifth. I touched the button and switched on the electric light.

What a sight! We were surrounded by three walls of dead men! There were a lot of living knights between the other fences. I sent the current through all the fences and killed all of them at once.

1 dead as a door-nail — (разг.) мертвее некуда

166

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

The rest of the enemy were between us and the ditch.

“Stand to your guns, men!” I commanded. “Open fire!”

In ten minutes the war was over. We fifty-four were masters of England! Twenty-five thousand men lay dead around us.

But how treacherous is fortune! In a little time — maybe an hour — happened a thing, which — but I have no heart1 to write that. Let me finish here.

A postscript by Clarence

I, Clarence, must write it for him. He wanted to go and see if we could help the wounded. I was against it, but he did not listen to me. The first wounded man to whom we spoke, recognized him and stabbed him.

We carried The Boss to the cave. The wound was not very serious. We took care of him. In this we had the help of Merlin, but we did not know it. He was dressed as a woman. We were glad to have this woman. You see, we were in a trap. We could not leave the cave, because we had many enemies. If we stayed in the cave, our dead would kill us2. We had conquered; at the same time we

1I have no heart — У меня не хватает духу

2If we stayed in the cave, our dead would kill us — Ес-

ли бы мы остались в пещере, наши мертвые убили бы нас (Кларенс имеет в виду, что мертвые, которых они не имеют возможности похоронить, станут источником эпи- демий)

167

Mark Twain

were conquered. The Boss understood it; we all understood it. Already many of us were ill. I was ill too. Tomorrow —

Tomorrow. It is here. And with it the end. At night I woke up and saw that old woman near The Boss. She made some passes1 in the air and went to the door. I said:

“Stop! What have you been doing?” She said:

“You were conquerors; you are conquered! You will all die in this place — every one — except him. He is sleeping now, and will sleep thirteen centuries. I am Merlin!”

Then he began to laugh. He laughed so, that he shook and touched one of our wires. His mouth is still open, he is still laughing.

The Boss sleeps like a stone. If he does not wake today, we shall know what kind of sleep it is. We shall carry his body to the far end of the cave where nobody will find it. We shall put this Manuscript with The Boss, our dear good chief.

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

1.Describe the changes the Yankee saw when he returned from France.

2.What did Clarence tell the Yankee?

3.What preparations had Clarence made for the war?

4.How did the first attack begin and how did it finish?

5.Who won the victory in the war? How did it happen?

1 She made some passes — она сделала (над ним)

движения руками

Vocabulary

A

accident ['BksIdAnt] n несчастный случай according to в соответствии с

accuse [A'kju:z] v обвинять act [Bkt] v действовать action [BkSn] n поступок active ['BktIv] а активный admiral ['BdmIrAl] n адмирал

admit [Ad'mIt] v пропустить, впустить; признать adventure [ad'ventSA] n приключение afterwards ['C:ftAwAdz] adv потом

age [eIdZ] n возраст alarm [A'lC:m] n тревога

alibi ['BlIbaI] n алиби ally ['BlI] n союзник anchor ['BNkA] якорь

weigh [weI] anchor поднять якорь anchorage ['BNkArIdZ] n якорная стоянка announce [A'nauns] v объявлять

ant [Bnt] n муравей

ant hill ['BnthIl] n муравейник

anywhere ['enIwLA] adv где-нибудь, где угодно apologize [A'pDlAdZaIz] v извиняться appearance [A'pIArAns] n внешность

appoint [A'pDInt] v назначать approach [A'prAutS] v приближаться apron ['eIprAn] n передник

argue ['C:Mju:] v спорить

aristocracy [,BrIs'tDkrAsI] n аристократия armour ['C:mA] n доспехи

arrest [A'rest] v арестовать

ashamed [a'SeImd]: be ashamed чувствовать стыд

169

Vocabulary

ashore [A'SD:] adv на берег attentively [A'tentIvlI] adv внимательно

attractive [A'trBktIv] a привлекательный, краси- вый

avoid [A'vDId] v избегать

В

bacon ['beIkAn] n бекон badly ['bBdlI] adv плохо ballad ['bBlAd] n баллада

bard [bC:d] n бард, бродячий певец bark [bC:k] v лаять

barking ['bC:kIN] n лай base [beIz] v основывать basin [beIsn] n таз beard [bIAd] n борода beer [bIA] n пиво

beg [beM] v просить подаяния behave [bI'heIv] v вести себя believe [bI'li:v] v верить, полагать belt [belt] n пояс

besides [bI'saIdz] adv кроме того besieger [bI'si:dZA] n осаждающий Bible [baIbl] n библия

bled [blAd] см. bleed

bleed [bli:d] v (bled, bled) кровоточить, истекать кровью, пускать кровь

blood [blEd] n кровь blow [blAu] n удар

board [bD:d]: on board на борту bookstall ['bukstD:l] n книжный киоск

bookstall-keeper ['bukstD:l,ki:pA] n киоскер born [bD:n]: be born родиться

170