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Файл:Жизнь Роберта Льюиса Стивенсона. Учебное пособие – книга для чтения на английском языке
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R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
house, the Manse, in Colinton. There Aunt Jane
Balfour kept the house. She was Mrs Stevensons
sister. She took care of Grandfather and the Manse.
In the summertime she took care of a houseful of nieces
and nephews including Louis. Louis most favorite
cousin was Bob Stevenson, three years older than
himself.
Colinton was only a short carriage ride south of
Edinburgh. But it was another world. The Manse stood
behind the church where Grandfather was the priest.
The church had a graveyard where Louis and his cousins
imagined they saw spunkies dancing among the
tombstones after dark. Between the church and the
Manse ran a stone wall. The path along the wall was
their witches walk.
1
In front of the Manse stood a
great yew tree. Its branches spread out and touched
the ground. Louis and his cousins could climb the
branches of the yew tree and find a cool hiding place
as big as a room. They built houses in the branches of
the tree.
Best of all, behind the Manse was a winding river
called the Water of Leith. It was not much wider than
a brook except when it rained a lot. Its banks were
steep and full of trees. Sometimes it curved along under
a dark tunnel of leaves.
And there were surprises at the Manse. Whenever
Aunt Jane drove into town to shop she brought home
a gift for someone. And one day she made Louis life
happy by handing him a box of toy soldiers. What
fun he had with Grandfather marching the soldiers
up and down the dining-room table, acting out famous
battles.
The days at Colinton always ended too soon. While
it was still bright daylight, Aunt Jane came hunting
1
witches walk «тропинка ведьм»
11
C. O. Peare
along the witches walk îr under the yew tree,
calling, Bedtime, children! Seven oclock!
Summer bedtime in Scotland was hard to
understand. Scotland is so far north that the days are
very long in summer and very short in winter. In the
summertime it is light until ten oclock at night, long
after bedtime.
Summer or winter, if Louis wasnt sleepy, he would
lie in bed and invent stories, and sing and make up
songs. He often found it hard to go to sleep at night.
Sometimes, at One Inverleith Terrace, his father
came in at bedtime and told him stories stories of
the sea, stories of his Grandfather Robert Stevenson
who had built the famous Bell Rock Lighthouse
1
to
protect the Scottish seamen. When Cummy taught him
his alphabet there were more stories to go with every
letter, and he loved to tell them himself.
My Lou is a chatterbox, said Mrs Stevenson.
He imagined and chattered all day. When he was
very young he liked to play priest, standing on a chair,
preaching a sermon like his grandfather.
At that Mrs Stevenson and Cummy both said, I
hope he will be a priest.
I should like him to be an engineer, like his father
and his grandfather, said Mr Stevenson.
The boys imagination worked while he slept, and
he often had dreams.
Cummy! Cummy! he called out one night.
Cummy came running to the boy sitting up in bed.
I dreamed I heard the noise of pens writing! he
told her.
Stay with me, Cummy! he begged, and Cummy
sat beside him.
1
Веll Rock Lighthouse маяк на скале Белл-Рок
ное побережье Шотландии)
12
(восточ-
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
The Stevensons lived at Inverleith Terrace for four
years. There were plenty of days when everyone felt
well and happy. Mrs Stevenson was young and pretty
and full of fun. She liked to laugh and run and play
with her son.
While they still lived at Inverleith Terrace, Louis
became old enough for his first school. He went just a
few doors away to an infant class. There his first real
troubles waited for him. He was weak and thin and
the other children made fun of him. At home he was
his mothers darling, his fathers darling, and Cummys
darling. At school all he could do was to take his seat
and not look around.
Each morning his mother or Cummy left him
there, and the small sensitive boy had to wait for
the endless day to end until he could be brought
home again, to love, to comfort, to adoring family
and relations.
For Louis was adored by more than his own family.
There were his uncles and aunts, too, on both sides.
They were always coming and going and visiting,
always planning some game or other that children would
like.
Were having a contest, said Uncle David
Stevenson to all the young Balfour and Stevenson
cousins one autumn day. A prize to the child who can
write the best story.
Six-year-old Louis was still too young to write, so
he dictated his story to his mother. In a month it was
finished. And at Christmastime the prize was his, a
picture-book.
Mó son has decided on his career,
1
said his mother
proudly. He wants to be an author.
1
My son has decided on his career [kq'rIq]
рал себе занятие
13
Ìîé ñûí âûá-
C. O. Peare
Assignments
I. Answer the following questions:
1. When was Robert Louis Stevenson born?
2. How many people were there in the family?
3. Who helped Mrs Stevenson to look after the
baby?
4. Why did Mrs Stevenson need anyone else to
look after the baby?
5. What kind of child was Louis?
6. What were the reasons of his frequent illnesses?
7. Who was the robust member of the family?
8. What was Mr Stevensons occupation?
9. What season was happier and healthier for Louis?
10. Where did he like to live in summer?
11. Who took care of Louis when he lived at the
Manse?
12. What surprises were there at the Manse?
13. Why was it hard for Louis to fall asleep at night
in summer?
14. What did he do in bed when he was not sleepy?
II. Reproduce the extracts in detail in which it is
told about the place where the Manse, Grandfather
Balfours house stood, and how Louis and his cousins
spent time there.
III. Comment on the following sentences:
My Lous is a chatterbox, said Mrs Stevenson.
My son has decided on his career, said his mother
proudly.
He wants to be an author.
IV. Explain why Louis didnt feel well and happy
at school and waited for the endless day to end.
14
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
Chapter II
SMOUT2 AND
For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And Î! before you hurry by with ladder and with light;
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight!
Robert Louis Stevenson was spoiled by his family,
and they had many pet names for him. Smout was
the one they used most. It was Smout here and Smout
there. Poor Smout has a cold. Were taking Smout to
Colinton. Or, What have you been doing, Smout?
Ive been playing all day, was Smouts reply. At
least Ive been making myself cheerful.
Or, Do listen while Smout recites for us. And
Smout would get up and recite a poem Cummy had
been teaching him.
Or, Smout loves animals so that we are taking him
to the zoo. And, Oh yes, we have bought him a pony.
Smout rode his pony when he was well enough to
go out. But, as long as the Stevensons lived at
Inverleith Terrace, that wasnt very often. Both Smout
and his mother had so many colds in that house that
at last Mr Stevenson f
Seventeen Heriot Row. Heriot Row is one of Edinburghs
wide, lovely streets. It has houses on only one side, all
facing a great park called Queen Street Gardens.
When Smout was well, he could run under the
tall trees in the park. When he was too ill to go out,
he had another game watching for the lamplighter.
ound another place to live at
C
OOLIN
(The Lamplighter)
1
Smout
[smaVt] Смаут
15
C. O. Peare
The streets of Edinburgh were lighted by flickering
gas lamps in Stevensons days. Each lamp had to be
lighted separately, and that was the task for the
lamplighter. A lamp grew up like a tree from the iron
fence in front of Seventeen Heriot Row. And the
lamplighter often found Louis with his nose pressed
against the glass waiting for him.
Moving to a new house meant moving to a new school.
Around the corner in India Street was Mr Hendersons
school. There Louis had to go for two hours each day.
After just a few weeks he came home from Mr Hendersons
sick and feverish.
It turned out to be the worst sickness of his young
life, gastric fever. He lay so still in bed nobody thought
hed pull through. And he got so thin.
He didnt go back to school for a long time after
that sickness. First he sat up in bed wrapped in his
shawl. Then for a little while each day Cummy or
his father carried him downstairs to be with the
family.
Mr and Mrs Stevenson looked at each other
sorrowfully and shook their heads.
He wont be able to ride his pony for a long while,
said Mrs Stevenson.
Not until spring, said her husband, and he loves
animals so.
They sighed and said no more. Hopefully they
watched him gain his strength back.
Soon it will be his birthday, they said
mysteriously.
Sooner than that he began to cough and before his
birthday he was back in bed with bronchitis.
Then began terrible nights of coughing and coughing
until he shook and trembled all over. And he cried
because he couldnt sleep.
16
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
Oh, Cummy, Cummy. I wish it would be morning,
he cried.
Cummy lifted him up in her arms and carried him
to the window. She held him on her knee and showed
him other windows with lights burning.
Maybe there are other sick little boys, she said,
and their nurses waiting, like us, for the morning.
Night after night he lay in bed coughing. In the
darkness the furniture took on strange shapes. His
clothes hanging on the back of the door grew bigger
and bigger. When he fell asleep, he had nightmares.
At dawn noises outside awakened him. Horses and
wagons went clattering by on the cobble-stone street.
By the time his birthday came on November 13,
Louis was very weak and pale, with dark circles around
his eyes. But that morning his parents came into his
room smiling happily. They had a birthday gift they
knew would cure him. His father held it, while his
mother walked in front to hide it. No sooner had
Mr Stevenson set it on the bed than it came to life
and jumped across the bedcovers to bark at its new
master.
A dog! cried Smout. A black puppy.
That was Coolin, Louis Skye terrier, his friend
and companion for many years.
He is a little, well-bred, intelligent skye, as black
as a hat with a wet bramble for a nose and two
cairngorms for eyes, is how Robert Louis Stevenson
described him.
So during the rest of the winter Coolin grew from a
puppy to a dog and Smout grew from sick to well. Coolin
learned to take a morning walk with Mr Stevenson,
and Smout learned how to raise a well-bred dog.
1
1
I wish it would be morning Я бы хотел, чтобы было
óòðî.
17
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
There was a second treat for a sick boy that winter.
Cousin Bob came to stay with him.
A third treat was story books. Louis and Bob read
copy after copy of
Skelts Juvenile Drama
1
.
They were
only a penny a ñîðó, and à boy could have almost as
many as he wanted.
Theyre a penny plain and twopence coloured,
the shopkeeper always said. While the winter winds
whistled outside, the boys sat inside and read
The Blind Boy
, The Smuggler,
2
Robin Hood
Aladdin
, and more.
Stories! Robert Louis Stevenson never had enough
of them. That was why he learned to read when he
was still young. And Bob was three years ahead of
him. That helped his reading, too.
Spring finally came, and the two boys and the dog
could spend much time in Queen Street Gardens. When
the warm summer weather set in, trotting horses drew
the carriage up to the front door and boys and dog
were driven to the Manse.
Be a good boy, Master Lou, were Cummys last
words.
Wait until you meet Grandfather Balfout, Smout
said to Coolin. He has a beautiful face and snowwhite hair.
Yes! said Cousin Bob. And maybe Aunt Jane
will give a good dog some of her biscuit and jelly.
And Coolin did love the Manse. He jumped and
barked at Grandfather and Aunt Jane. He climbed the
branches of the yew tree to look for the other cousins.
He ran down to the river with his master and watched
while Louis made little boats of wood or paper and
floated them down the river.
,
1
Skelts Juvenile
юношества» Скелта
2
The Smuggler
«Контрабандист»
['Gu:vInaIl]
Dramà
19
журнал «Пьесы для
C. O. Peare
Where are the boats going? whispered Robert
Louis Stevenson to Coolin.
Louis spent two summers at the Manse with a winter
at Heriot Row in between before he had to go back to
school. In October, 1859, just before his ninth birthday,
he returned to Mr Hendersons in India Street. Each
morning his mother led him out of the front door into
the cold air. He promptly began to shiver.
Come, Lou! Lets run to keep warm.
And down Heriot Row they ran until they were
both gasping for breath and their cheeks were pink. For
once Louis managed to get through the whole school
term without a serious illness just the usual colds.
Soon it will be summer, Coolin, he began to say.
Soon we can go back to the Manse. But one day in
April he and Coolin ran into the house and found
everyone looking sad. Mrs Stevenson and Cummy had
out their handkerchiefs. Mr Stevenson said, Sit down
beside me, Smout.
Mr Stevenson explained that Grandfather Balfour
had died. He had been almost eighty-three, and so no
one was very surprised, but it was crushing news all
the same.
Mrs Stevenson couldnt talk about it at all. She
just walked quietly out of the room and closed the
door. Lewis Balfour had been her father.
Cant we go to the Manse this summer? asked
Louis.
Im afraid not. The new priest of the church will
live there. Aunt Jane is going to move to a house near
London for a while.
Smout sat very still. He wondered how he could be
happy in the summertime without Grandfather Balfour
and the Manse. Coolin rested his nose on his paws and
cried a little.
20
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