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Файл:Жизнь Роберта Льюиса Стивенсона. Учебное пособие – книга для чтения на английском языке
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P
ASSAGES
FROM
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
S
W
ORKS
are strong, but they are placed between the sea and the
river, so they cannot retreat anywhere. I think,
Shelton, we could give them a great blow, if we could
strike it
1
silently and suddenly.
I think so indeed, cried Dick, and if you have
enough men, I would attack now, when the watches of
the night
2
are over.
How many are they? asked Gloucester.
Less than two thousand, Dick replied.
I have seven hundred in the woods behind us,
said the duke; seven hundred will presently come from
Kettley; behind them are four hundred more, and my
Lord Foxham has five hundred at Holywood. Shall we
wait for them, or attack now?
When Dick said it would be better to attack at
once, the duke agreed with him and blew his trumpet
again. This time he had not to wait long. In a moment
the place was full of horse and foot
3
and very soon the
Duke began to move down the hill towards Shoreby at
the head of his army.
There was one great danger: the first seven hundred
men might be cut to pieces in the first fight, and to
avoid this it was necessary to make the attack as sudden
as possible.
The footmen were placed behind the riders, and
Dick had the honour of riding behind Gloucester
himself.
In that poor place, Gloucester said, either you
shall gain your spurs
4
and I begin a life of honour and
glory, or we shall both fall dead and remain unknown.
1
strike it нанести его
2
...the watches of the night ...ночной дозор
3
horse and foot конница и пехота
4
you shall gain your spurs ты получишь рыцарское звание
(áóêâ.
ты заработаешь шпоры)
141
R. L. Stevenson
We are two Richards. Our names will ring in peoples
ears.
Soon the whole troop was galloping away, down
the hill and across the snow-covered plain that divided
them from Shoreby.
K
IDNAPPED
The hero of the novel is David Balfour, a sixteenyear-old boy. It is he who tells the reader about his
adventures. He is on board a brig bound for America.
The brig meets with a violent storm off the coast of
Scotland.
THE W
RECK
OF
THE
C
OVENANT
All of a sudden a strong wave hit the brig and
threw her against a hidden rock so hard that everyone
on deck was knocked down.
I was up on my feet in a minute. Our brig was in
very great danger now. The captain stood holding on
to the side of the brig groaning as if from pain, every
time she hit the rock. Suddenly one of the sailors whom
he had told to watch the sea, screamed out, For Gods
sake, hold on!
We knew from the way he screamed that something
terrible was coming; and sure enough, a huge wave
lifted the brig up and rolled her over on her side.
Perhaps the sailors cry came too late or maybe I was
holding on too weakly, but at the sudden rolling
over of the brig I was thrown overboard into the
sea.
The wave carried me farther and farther away from
the brig. I cannot say how many times I sank and came
up, and how much water I drank. I only know that at
last I found I was holding on to a big piece of wood
142
P
ASSAGES
FROM
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
S
W
ORKS
which helped me to stay on top of the water. I was
carried with it into calm water and then I saw land
ahead.
Looking back I saw the
Covenant still struggling
on the rock. Kicking with both legs and holding on to
the piece of wood, I slowly reached the shore.
I was terribly tired, all wet and cold, but I was
glad that I was still alive. I was afraid to sit or to lie
down on the sand, for I could freeze in my sleep.
Before daybreak I climbed up a small hill and looked
out to sea but I could not see the
Covenant
any more.
There were no other ships and I could not see the
boat. I was afraid to think what had happened to the
people on the brig. I walked up and down the shore
trying to keep warm till daylight came.
A
LAN
S
S
ILVER BUTTON
I saw I was on a small island separated from the
Island of Mull by a narrow piece of water. I walked all
over the island but I could not find any houses or
people on it.
I tried to go across the water to Mull but it was too
deep and I could not swim. I was quite alone on the
island, and I was not so lucky as people I had read
about in books who were shipwrecked and thrown upon
the shore with pockets and chests full of tools and
other useful things. I only had some money in my
pockets and Alans silver button.
For three whole days I could see smoke from peoples
houses on the Mull but I could not get to them.
It rained almost all the time. I was wet, cold and
hungry. All I could find to eat was shellfish which
often made me sick.
On the third day it stopped raining and the sun
came out. As I was drying my clothes lying on the top
of a rock, I saw a small boat with a brown sail coming
143
R. L. Stevenson
near the island. Two men were in it. I waved and shouted
but they did not stop. I sat down and started to cry.
On the fourth day I was full of black thoughts.
Will I never get away from this island? All at once the
same boat which I saw the day before, was coming
back. This time there were three men in it. The third
man stood up and shouted something pointing to the
other side of the island.
I ran to where the man had pointed and I saw there
was very little water in the place where the sea had
been too deep for me to go across before. I had not
known that every day after the tide had gone out the
sand between the small island and Mull was almost
dry. I ran across it and I got to the shore of the Island
of Mull.
I walked a long while toward the place where I
had seen the smoke and finally came to a small house.
An old man was sitting in front of it, smoking his
pipe.
He told me that the
Covenant
had been sunk and
the people who were saved had been in his house the
day before. From what he said I knew that one of
them was Alan. Seeing how happy I was about it, the
old man said that I must be the boy with the silver
button.
I showed the button to him.
Well then, he said, you must go fifty miles to a
place called Torosay from where, by ferryboat, you can
get to the mainland of Scotland. Then he asked me to
come into the house. He and his wife were poor, but
they gave me all they had to eat and drink. They said I
could stay there for the night and did not want to take
any money from me.
I got up late the next morning and at noon I set off
on my walk to Torosay through a wild and lonely
country. The people I met on the way were poor. I
144
P
ASSAGES
FROM
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
S
W
ORKS
could not understand them because they spoke no
English, only Gaelic.
I often lost my way. Four days later I came to
Torosay, and spent the night at an inn there. The next
morning I went from Bull in a ferryboat to the mainland
of Scotland.
A C
HILD
S
G
ARDEN
OF
V
ERSES
by Robert Louis Stevenson
IN
S
BED
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up peoples feet
Still going past me in the street.
UMMER
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
Y
OUNG NIGHT THOUGHT
All night long and every night,
When my mama puts out the light,
I see the people marching by,
As plain as day, before my eye.
Armies and emperors and kings,
145
R. L. Stevenson
All carrying different kinds of things,
And marching in so grand a way,
You never saw the like by day.
So fine a show was never seen
At the great circus on the green;
For every kind of beast and man
Is marching in that caravan.
At first they move a little slow,
But still the faster on they go,
And still beside them close I keep
Until we reach the town of Sleep.
W
HOLE DUTY
OF
C
HILDREN
A child should always say whats true
And speak when he is spoken to,
And behave mannerly at table;
At least as far as he is able.
FOREIGN
L
ANDS
Up onto the cherry-tree
Who should climb but little me?
I held the trunk with both my hands
And looked abroad on foreign lands.
I saw the next door garden lie,
Adorned with flowers, before my eye,
And many pleasant places more
That I had never seen before.
I saw the dimpling river pass
And be the skys blue looking-glass;
146
P
ASSAGES
FROM
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
S
The dusty roads go up and down
With people tramping in to town.
If I could find a higher tree
Farther and farther I should see,
To where the grown-up river slips
Into the sea among the ships.
To where the roads on either land
Lead onward into fairy land,
Where all the children dine at five
And all the playthings come alive.
W
ORKS
THE L
AND
OF
C
OUNTERPANE
When I was sick and lay in bed,
I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay
To keep me happy all the day.
And sometimes for an hour or so
I watched my leaden soldiers go,
With different uniforms and drills,
Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;
And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about.
I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.
147
R. L. Stevenson
THE L
AMPLIGHTER
My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky;
Its time to take the window to see Leerie going by,
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up
the street.
Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,
And my papas a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what Im to do,
O Leerie, Ill go round, at night and light the lamps
with you!
For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
and Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light;
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night!
THE S
WING
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
148
P
ASSAGES
FROM
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
S
W
ORKS
THE L
AND
OF
S
TORY
-BOOKS
At evening when the lamp is lit,
Around the fire my parents sit;
They sit at home and talk and sing,
And do not play at anything.
Now, with my little gun, I crawl
All in the dark along the wall,
And follow round the forest track
Away behind the sofa back.
There, in the night, where none can spy,
All in my hunters camp I lie,
And play at books that I have read
Till it is time to go to bed.
These are the hills, these are the woods,
These are my starry solitudes;
And there the river by whose brink
The roaring lions come to drink.
I see the others far away
As if in firelit camp they lay,
And I, like to an Indian scout,
Around their party prowled about.
So, when my nurse comes in for me,
Home I return across the sea,
And go to bed with backward looks
At my dear land of story-books.
149
R. L. Stevenson
P
ICTURE-BOOKS
IN
W
INTER
Summer fading, winter comes
Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs,
Window robins, winter rooks,
And the picture story-books.
Water now is turned to stone
Nurse and I can walk upon;
Still we find the flowing brooks
In the picture story-books.
All the pretty things put by,
Wait upon the childrens eye,
Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks,
In the picture story-books.
We may see how all things are
Seas and cities, near and far,
And the flying fairies looks,
In the picture story-books.
How am I to sing your praise,
Happy chimney-corner days,
Sitting safe in nursery nooks,
Reading picture story-books?
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