Добавил:
ivanov666
Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз:
Предмет:
Файл:Жизнь Роберта Льюиса Стивенсона. Учебное пособие – книга для чтения на английском языке
.pdf
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
4. How did he behave all the way back from the
Parliament House?
5. What was put upon the outside of the door for
the new lawyer when the Stevensons returned
to Heriot Row?
6. How long did his career as a lawyer last?
II. Object to the statements. Use the conversational
formulas:
I dont agree with you; Far from it; On the
contrary; Just the opposite; Im afraid youre wrong;
Nothing of the sort; Nonsense; Just the other way
round.
Keep the conversation going.
1. Louis felt bad that summer.
2. He and Walter Simpson didnt like going on
trips together.
3. Stevenson didnt work hard at his law that
winter.
4. Louis became older, but he was as selfish as in
his childhood.
5. He was sick very often, but he had no sympathy
for sick persons.
6. Henley and Stevenson talked and chattered, but
they hadnt much in common.
7. The day of Louis final examination was one of
the unhappiest days in his life.
8. Louis didnt want to wear a white wig and black
gown of a lawyer.
9. His career of a lawyer lasted for a long time.
III. Compare the character of Robert Louis
Stevenson when he was a boy and when he grew from
boy to man.
61
C. O. Peare
IV. Describe in detail the passage in which it is
said about a friendship between two important writers:
Robert Louis Stevenson and William Ernest Henley.
V. Imagine that you are Robert Louis Stevenson.
Speak about your feelings when you passed your final
examination and became a lawyer.
VI. Recall the situations in which you came across
the following expressions:
to do a lot of canoeing and
sailboating; to pass an exam; to have a deep sympathy
for; to go for a dreadful ordeal; to behave in a crazy
manner.
Chapter IX
THE
INLAND
V
OYAGE
Î its I that am the captain of a tidy little ship,
Of a ship that goes a-sailing on the pond;
And my ship it keeps a-turning all around and all about;
But when Im a little older, I shall find the secret out
How to send my vessel sailing on beyond.
(My Ship and I)
He wrote in his top-floor room at Heriot Row.
Cornhill magazine published more of his essays. The
initials RLS, which appeared on his articles, were
becoming better and better known in Scottish and
English literary circles. If he went down to London to
1
Перевод см. на с. 152.
62
1
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
visit the Savile Club, other members said to each other,
Thats the Scottish author, RLS.
He had another sick period at the end of the winter.
William Ernest Henley was out of the hospital walking
on crutches and his one good foot. It was his turn to
visit Stevenson and cheer him up.
Travel was the best cure for Stevenson, though
1
walking, riding, yachting, canoeing. He and Walter
Simpson decided that they would go on that long
boating trip they had always talked about.
We must plan something original, something worth
writing about.
They would take canoes and tour all through the
rivers and canals of Belgium and France canoes with
sails that they could use when there was a good breeze.
Lets give our canoes interesting names.
Simpsons canoe became the
the Arethusa
3
.
Soon the two men were calling each
Cigarette
2
,
Stevensons
other Cigarette and Arethusa.
They crossed the English Channel in a larger boat
and began their inland voyage at the city of Antwerp
in Belgium. Everything they saw and did went into
Stevensons notebook:
We made a great stir
4
in Antwerp Docks. A
stevedore and a lot of dock porters took up the two
canoes, and ran with them for the slip. A crowd of
children followed cheering. The
Cigarette went off in
a splash and a bubble of small breaking water. Next
moment the
Arethusa
was after her. A steamer was
coming down, the stevedore and the porters were
1
Travel was the best cure for Stevenson, though Òåì íå
менее путешествие было лучшим лекарством для Стивенсона
2
Cigarette
3
Arethusa
4
We made a great stir Мы вызвали большой интерес
["sIgq'ret] «Сигарете»
["xrI'Tju:zq]
«Аретуза»
63
C. O. Peare
shouting from the quay. But in a stroke or two the
canoes were away out in the middle of the Scheldt...
Up the Scheldt River they paddled and soon left
the city behind them. Belgium has a lot of rainfall,
and sometimes Stevenson and Simpson were caught in
sudden downpours. The countryside has many long,
deep canals to connect with the rivers. The
and the
Arethusa slid through the water past other
Cigarette
boats and steamers. They went by open fields where
cows grazed and farmers worked. They passed little
villages and big towns. At night they stopped at a
town they were near and stayed at the inn.
The next big city ahead of them was Brussels. As
they paddled along through the canal it began to drizzle.
But Stevenson had an artists eye for beauty. Rain on a
canal could be beautiful, too, especially when you were
passing through Belgium. Out came his notebook,
drizzle or no:
Beautiful country houses, with clocks and long lines
of shuttered windows, and fine old trees standing in
groves and avenues, gave a rich and sombre aspect in the
rain and the deepening dusk to the shores of the canal.
They left their watery road at Brussels for the time
being, because they found out that they would have to
go through fifty-five locks if they travelled through the
canals into France. They decided to take their canoes
aboard a train and go by rail across the French border.
The closer they came to France, the happier
Stevenson became. He loved France, and his French
was so good that he could chatter. In France they
travelled on the Sambre River.
Simpson and Stevenson had lived like tramps for so
many days that the people they met often thought they
were peddlers and told them to move on. Sometimes
they were treated like suspicious characters, and no
wonder! They both looked like ragged vagabonds, with
64
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
knapsacks fastened to their backs. Stevenson, as usual,
was dressed in the oddest clothes he could find. He
was wearing a smoking-cap of Indian work with ragged
gold lace around the edge. He had on a black flannel
shirt, linen trousers and a red belt with a knife stuck
in it. On top of all that he wore a tweed coat.
The coutryside in France was hillier than in Belgium,
and there werent so many canals. In order to reach
their next river, the Oise, Simpson and Stevenson had
to travel by land. They put the canoes into a donkey
cart and walked beside it.
When Stevenson saw the Oise River, he shouted for
joy. Here was a river! Here was a little excitement! The
water in the canals and rivers in the flat country of
Belgium had been still. The Oise was swollen from
summer rains and its water rushed along at a great speed.
It was difficult to come through safely on this river.
Stevenson and Simpson put the
Arethusa
and the
Cigarette into the water, and in a moment they were
paddling for dear life.
1
The Oise River curved this way
and that. It grew wider and less dangerous. Their canoes
carried them past green meadows, or open fields full of
crops, or thick woods. Here and there the river banks
were full of willow trees and elms. Or there were reeds
growing in the water near the bank. The Oise River
passed towns, too, and sometimes tall cathedrals.
The canoeists were coming closer and closer to the
end of their journey. They were headed for a quiet little
village about fifty miles south of Paris. It was called
Grez, and it was hidden in the Fontainebleau Forest.
Stevenson had been there before with his Cousin Bob,
because it was a place where young artists liked to go.
On the way, though, they met another traveller, who
said, There are some women artists in Grez this summer.
1
for dear life èçî âñåõ ñèë
65
C. O. Peare
What? cried Stevenson. Women in Grez? Its
the beginning of the end!
Maybe it wont spoil the place, said Simpson.
Who are they?
An American lady and her two children.
Ive never seen an American, said Stevenson.
Neither have I.
Anyway, Cousin Bob would be at Grez this time of
year, and that would help.
Soon they pulled their canoes out of the Oise and
made the last part of their trip to Grez by land. When
they arrived they went to the inn. Everyone went to
the inn at Grez. It was late in the day. The gay crowd
of young artists was sitting at a great long table eating.
Stevenson poked his head in through the window and
shouted at them. They shouted back joyously when
they saw him, for many of them already knew him.
Stevenson was in his glory when he was with artists.
He climbed right in through the window and fell happily
into a vacant chair. There must have been twenty young
men at the table, and they all started to talk with
Stevenson at once.
While RLS was busy being gay and ordering food,
he stole a glance
1
down the line of faces. Just as he
had feared, there were two women at the table. One
was mature, one was about seventeen and there was a
boy about eight. That must be the American lady and
her son and daughter. All during dinner Stevenson
laughed and chattered with Cousin Bob and the young
men around him. After dinner everyone gathered outside
under a big tree. It was only September and the
evenings were still long. The American lady lay in the
hammock, swinging back and forth. Others sat around
on the ground.
1
he stole a glance oн украдкой взглянул
66
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
Stevenson soon learned that her name was Fanny
Osbourne and that she had come to Grez to paint. Her
daughter was Isabel. The small boys name was Lloyd.
Mrs Osbourne is very talented, said Bob.
Yes, said another, she paints very well. So does
her daughter.
Stevenson watched Mrs Osbourne. The more he
watched her the prettier she seemed. She was short.
She had black curly hair and large brown eyes. Robert
Louis Stevenson was glad he had come to Grez.
One morning he was walking about, and he found
her down near the river bank. She had set up her easel
and was painting the old bridge.
They began to talk. Mrs Osbourne was ten years older
than RLS, but that didnt seem to matter. They liked the
same things and they liked the same kinds of books. He
told her about Scotland and the story of his life. She told
him about America and the story of her life.
She had been a child in Indiana when Indiana was
still a frontier, she said. She could råmåmbår the Indians
there. She had married Samuel Osbourne when she was
very young. They were only married a short time and
had their first child, Isabel, when the Civil War broke
out. He went away as a soldier. Àfter the war he could
not work anywhere. They went to Nevada so that he
could try mining. Then he wandered off to California
alone, and she had to go out there looking for him. By
that time she was so poor she worked in a dressmakers
shop. She found her husband finally, and they lived in
San Francisco until he disappeared again. Ìrs Osbourne
had three children by then. She decided the best thing
of all for them would be to take them to Europe.
Fanny Osbourne and her three children settled in
a small, cheap apartment in Paris. Lloyd went to a
boys school. Mrs Osbourne and her daughter took up
painting. But the smallest child, five-year-old Hervey,
67
C. O. Peare
began to fail. In spite ot everything the doctor could
do, Hervey finally died. It was a great sorrow for Fanny
Osbourne. She hardly knew which way to turn. At
last she and Isabel and Lloyd decided to leave Paris
for a while and spend the summer at Grez. And here
she was.
I like to paint, she said to Stevenson while he
watched her. It helps me forget my sorrow.
Im coming back here next summer, said RLS.
So am I, declared Fanny Osbourne.
Assignments
I. Answer the following questions:
1. What was the best cure for Stevenson?
2. What did he and Walter Simpson decide to do?
3. What names did they give their canoes?
4. Where did they paddle?
5. What countries did they come to?
6. Why did the people they met often think they
were peddlers?
7. What news did they learn when they were going
to a quiet little village called Grez?
8. Whom did Stevenson meet there?
9. What did he learn about Fanny Osbourne?
II. Give the main points of the chapter.
III. Describe the long boating trip of Robert
Stevenson and Walter Simpson in detail.
IV. Comment on the following sentences:
1. The closer the travellers came to France, the
happier Stevenson became.
2. Sometimes Simpson and Stevenson were treated
like suspicious characters, and no wonder.
68
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
V. Reproduce the extract in detail in which it is
said how Stevenson was dressed while travelling.
VI. Recall the situations in which these expressions
are used in the chapter:
to be the best cure, to make a
great stir, to be caught in sudden downpours, to shout
for joy, to poke ones head in, to steal a glance, to
have an artists eye for beauty, to be in ones glory.
VII. Speak about Fanny Osbourne. What can you
say about:
a) her appearance, b) the principal facts of her life
that we learn from the chapter, c) her circle of interests.
Chapter X
ÒÎ
FAR-OFF
A
MERICA
I should like to rise and go
Where the golden apples grow;
Where below another sky
Parrot islands anchored lie,
And, watched by cockatoos and goats,
Lonely Crusoes building boats.
(Travel)
Fanny and her two children returned to their tiny
apartment in Paris in autumn, and Robert Louis
returned to Edinburgh. They kept in touch by writing
letters. Stevenson kept in touch with all his friends
1
Перевод см. на с. 152.
69
1
C. O. Peare
that way. He wrote to Colvin, to Henley, to his parents,
to Professor and Mrs Jenkin, and many others. His list
of friends was always growing.
Writing was his lifes work letters, essays, stories,
anything. He was going to write a book about his inland
voyage, and he was going to try his hand at some short
stories.
He wrote all winter. In the spring he spent merry
hours with the Jenkins rehearsing another play. By
now they gave him important parts and fancy costumes.
And in the summer he was back in Grez with Fanny
Osbourne. But the summer finished too soon. Scarcely
had he arrived in Edinburgh than he turned around
and went back to France to see Fanny Osbourne again.
He stayed in Paris near her until November.
While he was in Paris his first fiction was published
in the October issue of
called A Lodging for the Night
Temple Bar magazine. It was
1
.
Fanny was as happy
as he about it. She knew RLS was a genius, and she
encouraged him.
Keep working on your book, she said. I know it
will be a success.
Some time after he had another short story, published
in Cornhill
magazine called
came a second in
Maletroits Door
3
.
And in the spring
Will o the Mill
Temple Bar
called
The Sire de
An Inland Voyage
2
.
Then
was published, his first book. It sold pretty well, well
enough to make him decide to write another travel book.
Since he had met Fanny Osbourne he was spending
more time in France than in England and Scotland. So,
naturally, he decided to take another tour through
4
1
À Lodging for the Night
2
Will o the Mill
3
The Sire de Maletroits Door
4
An Inland Voyage
«Вилль с мельницы»
«Путешествие внутрь страны»
«Ночлег»
«Дверь сира Малетруа»
70
Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]