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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
another part of France. He chose the C
évennes, a
mountain range in southern France full of quiet, woodsy
paths and hills and valleys. Not a canoe trip this time,
and not with a companion. That is, not with a human
companion. He took with him a grey donkey, Modestine.
Stevenson and Modestine walked along side by side
through the mountains. Modestine carried Stevensons
sleeping bag and other things on her back. Often she
was stubborn and difficult, but they managed.
Sometimes Stevenson camped out. Other times he
came to a small, hidden village at the end of the day,
and the French folk took him in for the night.
This was the kind of vacation he loved a walking
tour in the out-of-doors. It restored his health and
spirits. The scenery was so beautiful, it made him feel
like writing.
1
He walked for nearly two weeks, more
than one hundred and twenty miles, before he turned
north once more to Grez and Paris and Fanny
Osbourne.
He had been thinking about Fanny all along the
way. He was worried about her because she was so
poor and had no husband to look after her. He had
decided that he was in love with Fanny. He would
like nothing better in all the world than to marry her.
But he knew that could not be. They talked it over,
and they both agreed it could not be.
I have decided to go back to America, she told
him.
I think thats the wisest thing to do.
Maybe I can find my missing husband.
RLS just nodded.
Will you write to me? he asked, and she promised
that she would.
1
it made him led like writing это побуждало его взяться
çà ïåðî
71
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
When Fanny Osbourne sailed away, he returned
sorrowfully to Scotland.
I must try to forget, he told himself.
He went to work on his new book,
Donkey.
1
RLS could really work hard when he was doing
Travels with a
the kind of work he enjoyed. He started another project,
an exciting one. He and William Ernest Henley began
to write a play together.
Deacon Brodie
2
was its title.
Deacon Brodie had been a real person, a strange
character in Edinburgh. He had been a respectable
cabinet-maker by day. In fact, he had made a polished
wood chest for the Stevensons. By night he was another
person, a clever burglar whom none could catch.
Stevenson had started to write a story about Deacon
Brodie many years before, but never finished it. He
brought it out and showed it to Henley. They talked
about the story, and as they talked they began to think
about a play.
Imagine that fellow on the stage! said Henley,
waving his crutch around gaily.
Stevenson certainly could imagine him. The two
writers worked on the play through the winter into
the spring. When the warm weather came, Henley went
to Swanston Cottage with the Stevensons. There they
finished Deacon Brodie
This calls for a celebration!
.
3
they both cried, and
Swanston Cottage was soon in a state of confusion and
excitement as they laughed and sang and rushed about.
But when Stevenson was by himself he showed signs
of sadness.
What bothers my Smout? Cummy asked him.
Stevenson still told her his troubles, the way he always
1
Travels with à Donkey
2
Deacon Brodie
3
This calls for a celebration! Это нужно отпраздновать!
['di:kqn 'brqVdI]
«Путешествие с ослом»
«Дикон Броуди»
73
C. O. Peare
had. So he told her he was worried about Fanny
Osbourne. He missed her, and he wanted to see her.
Cummy shook her head. What a dilemma! Best write
another book, she thought. Best just go on writing.
He did. He finished
Travels with a Donkey
, and it
was published in June. When copies of the new book
arrived at Swanston Cottage, Mrs Stevenson and
Cummy gathered up their copies and took them to their
rooms to read. Mr Stevenson just grunted with
disappointment. The
Donkey book received rather good
reviews in the newspapers and magazines. The reviews
didnt cure Stevensons dilemma, though.
Suddenly one of Fannys letters arrived in the mail.
Stevenson opened it quickly. It was full of bad news.
Fanny was sick in far away California. She needed him,
he decided right then and there.
1
She needed someone
to take care of her. Stevenson felt he had better not
discuss this with his family. Instead, he took a train
down to London to talk to his friends there.
Oh, no, Stevenson! Dont attempt such a thing,
said one.
No, no, good fellow! Dont try to go to America.
America is nothing but a wilderness, said still
another. Travel there is much harder than it is here.
He tried to listen. It was no use. He went back to
Edinburgh to make his plans. For once he had a little
money in his pocket. His father would never give him
funds for such a wild idea.
Ill earn what I need by writing, Stevenson
decided. With two books published I should be able
to do it.
He found cheap place in an emigrant steamship
sailing from Glasgow for New York, and wrote his father
a note telling him that he was leaving Scotland. On
1
right then and there сразу же
74
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
August 7 the twenty-eight-year-old Robert Louis
Stevenson went aboard the
Devonia and started out
on his voyage to America.
Assignments
I. Answer the following questions:
1. How did Stevenson keep in touch with all his
friends?
2. What did he do in summer?
3. What was his first fiction?
4. What was Fannys attitude towards Robert Louis?
5. What was Stevensons first book?
6. Where did Robert Louis spend more time since
he had met Fanny Osbourne?
7. Why was he worried about Fanny?
8. What book did he write then?
9. What reviews did the
10. Why did Robert Louis Stevenson start out on
his voyage to America?
Donkey book
receive?
II. Express your agreement or disagreement with
the statements given below. Begin your response with
one of the following formulas:
Thats right; I think so,
too; I agree with you entirely; Thats just it; Precisely
(so); You are absolutely right; Oh, no; Far from it;
Im afraid I must disagree; Not at all; Just the reverse;
Thats not true; Just the other way round.
Keep the conversation going.
1. Stevenson kept in touch with all his friends by
writing letters.
2. Stevensons first book
An Inland Voyage
was
published, but it didnt sell well.
3. Since Stevenson had met Fanny Osbourne he
spent more time in France than in Scotland.
75
C. O. Peare
4. Stevenson took another tour through the
mountains.
5. He didnt like a walking tour in the out-of-doors.
6. His companion was a grey donkey.
7. Fanny Osbourne went back to America.
8. Stevenson didnt love Fanny and was glad that
they parted.
9. Fanny fell ill in California and Stevenson left
Scotland for America.
III. Reproduce in detail the passage which describes
Stevensons tour through the mountains C
évennes.
IV. Compose a dialogue which might have taken
place between Stevenson and his father when Stevenson
was going to leave Scotland for America.
V. Comment on the following:
1. This calls for a celebration! Stevenson and
Henley cried and Swanston Cottage was soon in
a state of confusion and excitement as they
laughed and sang and rushed about.
2. No, no, good fellow! Dont try to go to America,
said one of Stevensons friends.
3. Ill earn what I need by writing, Stevenson
decided. With two books published I should be
able to do it.
76
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
Chapter XI
ACROSS
Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows, the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean took eleven days. On
the way over Stevenson read six volumes of American
history so that he would know something about the
country when he arrived.
There wasnt time to look around at the sights in
New York City. He was in too much of a hurry. He
posted all the letters he had written aboard ship to
Colvin, to Henley, to his mother. And he rushed
straight to the train that was to carry him across the
continent. The journey across America was going to
seem longer than the sea voyage, not because it was
longer, but because it was harder.
At that time many immigrants were arriving in
America. They were poor and frightened. They were
hoping to find work and happiness. Stevenson found
himself uncomfortable in the midst of an excited crowd
of men and women and children, bags and boxes all
going West all going aboard the same train as himself.
THE
P
LAINS
(From a Railway Carriage)
1
2
1
in the wink of an eye в одно мгновение
2
Перевод см. на с. 152.
77
C. O. Peare
The train was not a fast one. It moved slowly or it
stopped in wide-open fields. Once in a while someone
came through selling oranges or sandwiches and coffee.
But there was never enough to go around.
1
By the end
of the day Stevenson and everyone else felt hungry.
The cars were so crowded that everyone had to sleep
sitting up. RLS woke up the next morning feeling stiff
and sore. There was no place to wash. He occupied
himself with his notebook and pencil, writing down
everything he saw. This experience would make a travel
story! What is the name of that river were passing?
he asked a brakeman.
Thats the Susquehanna, he was told.
The Indian names interested him. He cocked his
2
ear
every time he heard a new one.
The Pennsylvania mountains were green somewhat like
those in Scotland. They helped him to forget how
uncomfortable he was. The train reached Pittsburgh the
evening of the second day. After two full days of travel,
the passengers could at last get out and buy a proper meal.
Stevenson was having one new experience after
another.
This is a country of surprise! he declared as he
met his first Negro.
He climbed back aboard the train and rode all night.
When it was daylight, he looked out of the window at
the flat plains of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois. It was August,
and the corn fields were ripe and golden. At Chicago
the next evening everyone had to change trains.
I have never been so dog-tired as that night in
Chicago, said his notebook. When it was time to
start, I went down the platform like a man in a dream.
1
But there was never enough to go around. Íî íà âñåõ
всегда не хватало.
2
Не cocked his ear Он настораживался
78
R
OBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
. HIS L
IFE
It was a long train, lighted from end to end; and car
after car was not only filled but overflowing. My
suitcase, my knapsack... weighed me double. I was hot,
feverish... When at last I found an empty bench, I
sank into it like a bundle of rags.
And he had gone only a third of the way! At least
on this train they could lay boards between the benches
and stretch out. Stevenson fell dead asleep. Next
morning the train had reached Burlington on the
Mississippi River. It waited while the passengers went
into the station for a hot breakfast: porridge, milk,
coffee, hot cakes. That helped everybodys spirits.
1
Stevenson was making friends with the other
travellers. One lady was Dutch and a widow. As soon
as she discovered that Stevenson was a writer, she
told him her life story. Another gentleman was German.
He lost his temper once in a while, but he could be
jolly. Many were Chinese. They were going West to
find work on the new railroads that were being built.
Keeping clean was a problem for everybody on the
train. Stevenson went into partnership with two other
men, and they bought a tin basin, a towel, and soap.
Each morning they washed the best they could in the
little basin.
Stevenson was not a strong man. Day after day he
had not enough rest, not enough proper food, too much
noise, and the jounce-jounce-jounce of the train. He
had left New York on Monday, and was riding through
Nebraska on Saturday feeling really ill. Other passengers
thought it was just car sickness and tried to cheer him
up. He wrote to Henley:
What it is like to be ill in a train let those declare
who know. I slept none till late in the morning... All
1
That helped everybodys spirits. Это у всех подняло на-
строение.
79
C. O. Peare
today I have eaten nothing, and only drunk two cups
of tea. Our journey is through ghostly deserts, sagebrush and alkali, and rocks without form or colour, a
sad corner of the world.
At last the train reached Wyoming and the Rocky
Mountains. But Stevenson was too ill to pretend he
liked the countryside. He longed for the soft green
mountains of England and Scotland.
He put his notebook on his knee and wrote:
All Sunday and Monday we travelled through these
sad mountains, or over the main ridge of the Rockies,
cliffs that imitate the shape of monuments... not a tree;
sagebrush, eternal sage-brush; over-all, the same gloomy
colouring, grey, brown and black; and only a few
antelopes here and there. In Utah they had to change
trains again. Everyone was glad to leave the dirty cars
behind and climb into clean ones.
Many of the passengers were Americans travelling
across the continent. Stevenson managed to learn a
good deal from them on the way. There was the problem
of money. In California, they explained, a twenty-fivecent piece was called two bits.
2
bit.
Fifteen cents was a long bit.
1
A dime was a short
3
Be careful, if you buy something, said one.
Stevenson, sick and tired, wanted to be back in
Scotland where he could use shillings. Then he would
know what he was doing, without having to think
about it.
If Stevenson thought the Rockies were gloomy with
their bare rocks, the alkali desert was more so. But in
the morning the train was passing another mountain
range. It was passing along an edge, and on one side
1
two bits
2
à short bit
3
à long bit
àìåð. монета в 25 центов
àìåð. монета в 10 центов
àìåð. монета в 15 центов
80
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