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Файл:Жизнь Роберта Льюиса Стивенсона. Учебное пособие – книга для чтения на английском языке
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C. O. Peare
fewer and fewer boats. Soon there were none at all. At
last they reached the most eastern point of Fife, and
there was the North Sea. The surf roared and rolled.
The sea water had washed the rocks into strange and
frightening shapes.
Thomas Stevenson stood beside his son and pointed
out to sea. Louis knew why he did that. Far out,
marking a long, dangerous reef of rocks, stood the Bell
Rock Lighthouse.
Your grandfather Robert Stevenson built that
famous lighthouse, Louis father reminded him.
It has saved the lives of thousands of seamen who
would have been dashed to pieces on the reef.
1
Louis grandfather, his father, and all of his uncles
were engineers.
They travelled on until they reached St Andrews,
and there Thomas Stevenson began checking every
harbour light as they went along. He chatted with
each caretaker. The wind and the surf made so much
noise the men could hardly hear each other, and the
sea gulls flew around them. Louis stood about and
listened and watched and put his hands deep into his
pockets to keep them warm.
By the end of the day they had visited seventeen
lights. Driving home, Mr Stevenson talked on and on
to his son, hoping to inspire him to be an engineer.
The Stevensons have invented many improvements
for lighthouses, he said.
Louis knew that, and he knew that his own father
had perfected the revolving light.
It was late when they reached home. Mrs Stevenson
and Cummy were waiting for them. Louis came into
the house, cheeks rosy from the sharp sea wind, eyes
1
who would have been dashed to pieces on the reef êîòî-
рые разбились бы о подводные скалы
32
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
sparkling from excitement. That was a good sign, the
ladies agreed.
But Robert Louis Stevenson had so many moods
that no one ever lasted long. Sometimes his moods
made him climb to the top of Edinburghs Calton Hill,
because, he always said, he wanted to see the best
view of Edinburgh. If he wanted to feel sad, he went
to the Calton graveyard nearby and sat among the
tombstones. Sometimes his moods came from the dreams
he had at night. As he grew older he began to enjoy
his dreams, because they were stories. When he was
asleep his mind became a stage, with little people acting
on it. The little people of his dreams gave him ideas
for stories when he awakened.
The little people in my dreams are Brownies
1
who
do one-half my work for me, he said when he became
an author.
Louis had one of his bad moods shortly after his trip
along the Fife coast, and it didnt come from his dreams.
His parents and Cummy were going to spend the winter
months in Mentone again, and he couldnt go.
You will have to stay at a boarding-school at Spring
Grove near Aunt Jane, they told him.
And no matter how much he said he would rather
walk about in sunny France,
2
that was what they made
him do. On their way south his parents stopped off in
London to turn him over to Aunt Jane. Stevenson liked
Spring Grove School less than any school he had ever
been in. The boys all seemed too young. They didnt
like to read as much as he. They spent most of their
time at sports and games that he didnt enjoy. By the
1
Brownies
2
And no matter how much he said he would rather walk about
in sunny France И сколько бы он ни твердил, что он
предпочел бы путешествовать по солнечной Франции
['braVnIz] домовые
33
C. O. Peare
time his birthday came around in November, he was so
miserable that he wrote to his mother and father:
I hope you will find your house at Mentone nice.
You told me to tell you whenever I was miserable. I do
not feel well, and I wish to get home. Do take me with
you.
That was enough for the Stevensons! They couldnt
bear to let him suffer. Mr Stevenson went home to
England and took Louis with him to Mentone. And
they all had a happy winter together, looking at the
Mediterranean Sea.
When they returned to Edinburgh in May, Mrs Stevenson said, We must do something about Smouts
schooling.
I think Mr Thompsons private school in Frederick
Street would be the best, said Mr Stevenson.
Mr Thompson specialized in problem boys boys
who were behind in their studies and boys who werent
strong enough to get along in the regular schools. Smout
didnt get into any trouble at Mr Thompsons, that is,
when he went and when he didnt go to school sick or
travelling with his family.
But Smouts big interest was still writing. He was
always writing something always practising. He went
around with two books in his pocket, one to read, one
to write in.
As I walked, my mind was busy fitting what I saw
with some necessary words; when I sat by the roadside,
I would either read, or a pencil and a notebook would
be in my hand, to write down the features of the scene
or remember some verses. Thus I lived with words.
And what I thus wrote was for no further use, it was
written just for practice.
By then his family had given him both rooms on the
top floor at Heriot Row. One room was his bedroom,
the other was his study and work room.
34
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
Once he persuaded his friends and his Cousin Bob
to help him start a magazine. The first was
Schoolboys Magazine
. That only lasted one issue, and
The
Louis wrote all four stories horrible tales of ghosts,
murders, and shipwrecks.
What are you writing now, Smout? Cummy asked
him one day.
Oh, he replied, I am writing a novel!
Of course, nothing came of that. He was only fifteen,
and he didnt have enough experience to start such a
big job.
Next season he was off on another project,
Sunbeam Magazine
Schoolboys Magazine
He did write
The Pentland Rising
. That was more successful than
. It lasted three issues.
2
a book when he was only sixteen
3
. It was the story of a real battle
1
The
The
that had taken place in the Pentland Hills, near
Edinburgh, two hundred years earlier. Mr Stevenson
was so pleased that his son had written something
serious for a change that he took it to the printer and
paid to have it published.
But Mr Stevenson didnt want his son to spend all
of his time writing. He lost patience with him
completely by the time Louis was seventeen. The boy
was showing no interest in engineering. He was showing
no interest in any one thing for very long.
You are old enough for college, said Mr Stevenson.
I am going to enroll you at Edinburgh University next
autumn.
1
he was оff on another project у него появился другой
ïëàí
2
did write = wrote
3
The Pentland Rising
(эмфатическая конструкция)
«Пентлендское восстание»
35
C. O. Peare
Assignments
I. Answer the following questions:
1. Where did Thomas Stevenson and Louis travel?
2. Why did Mr Stevenson show Louis seventeen lights?
3. What was Smouts big interest?
4. What was the first magazine he and his friends
started?
5. What book did he write when he was sixteen?
II. Retell the chapter according to the given plan.
1. Louis is wandering around Edinburgh, feeling
unhappy and lost. A cat comforts him.
2. Thomas Stevenson takes him on a tour of harbour
lights along the Fife coast.
3. Mr Stevenson and Louis visit seventeen lights.
4. Mr Stevenson tries to inspire him to be an
engineer.
5. Louis has so many moods that no one ever lasts
long.
6. Louis stays at a boarding school at Spring Grove
while his family goes to spend the winter months
in Mentone.
7. Louis is very miserable there and he writes a
letter to his parents.
8. Mr Stevenson takes Louis to Mentone.
9. Louis is a pupil at Mr Thompsons private school.
10. Smouts big interest is writing.
III. Develop the idea expressed in the following
sentences:
1. Robert Louis Stevenson had so many moods that
no one ever lasted long.
2. As he grew older he began to enjoy his dreams
he had at night, because they were stories.
36
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
IV. Recall the situations in which these expressions
are used in the chapter:
to feel unhappy and lost, to
give somebody a nod and a wink, to be a good sign, to
get into trouble, to be for no further use, to be more
successful, to be pleased, to lose patience, to show
interest, to be old enough.
V. Compose a dialogue which might have taken
place between Mr Stevenson and Louis about his future
profession.
Chapter V
IN
THE
P
ENTLAND HILLS
I saw you toss the kites on high
and blow the birds about the sky;
And all around I heard you pass,
Like ladies skirts across the grass
O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song.
(The Wind)
1
But in the spring before Louis started college,
Mr Stevenson rented a summer home for his family,
Swanston Cottage. It was hidden in the hilly pasture
country south of Edinburgh called the Pentlands. For
Louis it became one of the happiest places of his life.
He and his parents and Cummy moved into the
white stone house in May and stayed there until
1
Перевод см. на с. 151.
37
C. O. Peare
October. They all liked Swanston Cottage so much
that they went there every summer for years and
years.
Cummy stayed with the Stevensons all through
those years. Even though the baby had long since
grown up and didnt need a nurse. Cummy seemed to
belong with the family.
1
She was a companion for
Mrs Stevenson, and she looked after Louis whenever
he was home. He was her boy.
Louis loved to walk about the grassy Pentland hills
with Coolin. There was always a strong wind blowing,
stirring his hair and the dogs hair and the tops of the
tall yellow grass.
He and Coolin made John Tod, the shepherd,
angry when they first went to live at Swanston. They
walked right through the middle of a flock of sheep
and lambs. The shepherd roared at them, and from
then on he was the roaring shepherd to young
Stevenson. They learned to be friends when Stevenson
learned to keep himself and his dog out of John Tods
flock of sheep.
Stevenson was rather tall bó the time he was
seventeen, but he was thin and frail-looking and hollowchested. His hair had turned brown and he let it grow
long like a poet. That made his long, narrow face look
even longer. His eyes were his most attractive feature.
They were big and deep and bright. Everyone noticed
his eyes.
In the peace and quiet of Swanston, Louis slept
better at night without so many nightmares. And so
his health was better. But the free and happy summer
there seemed to end more quickly than summer had
ever ended before.
1
Сummy seemed to belong with the family. Казалось,
Камми была членом семьи.
38
C. O. Peare
In windy November he was walking up the hill on
North Bridge to the University. He only had to attend
two classes one in Latin and one in Greek. But he
never quite made either one. Because he loved to write,
he was interested in writers. So, each day, he slipped
quietly into the class in literature. Sir Walter Scott
was one of his favourite authors. Sir Walter Scott had
belonged to Edinburgh, too.
Thomas Stevenson didnt seem to worry about the
fact that Louis wasted so much time in college.
I didnt do very well in school myself, but Im a
success now, he said.
Mrs Stevenson and Cummy worried about his health
and comfort. They saw to it that he dressed warmly
enough and that he had the food he liked. His father
tried to be strict with money and gave him a pound a
month. It was never enough. Stevenson went around
with the poorest students in college, and he ate in the
cheapest restaurants. He even wore odd clothes. He
used to wear a velvet jacket to class. He did everything
he could to look like a writer. He even grew a mustache.
The more he wanted to be a writer, the more his
father wanted him to be an engineer. Louis loved his
father, and for a while he did settle down to learn
engineering. As soon as the first year at the University
ended, his father sent him back to the Scottish coast
to learn more about lighthouses and the sea.
He went first to Anstruther on the coast of Fife. It
was a harbour town where the herring boats gathered,
and it was on the north side of the Firth of Forth.
Louis and his father had passed through it on their
inspection trip. At Anstruther, Louis had to study the
harbour works. He boarded in a small cottage with a
carpenter and his family. During the day he watched
the divers go below the water to test the ground and
report. He watched the masons work with the Fife-ness
40
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