I was able to live on the fee I got for writing a gossip column in a local
weekly, which wasn't my idea of writing about life, of course. I made friends,
more than I could cope with, after I left Skinny's exclusive little band of
archaeologists. I had the attractions of being newly out from England and of
wanting to see life. Of the countless young men and go-ahead families who
purred me along the Rhodesian roads, hundred after hundred miles, I only
kept up with one family when I returned to my native land. I think that was
because they were the most representative, they stood for all the rest: people in
those parts are very typical of each other, as one group of standing stones in
that wilderness is like the next.
I met George once more (я встретила Джорджа еще раз; to meet (met, met) —
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встречаться) in a hotel in Bulawayo (в гостинице в Булавайо). We drank
highballs (мы пили /коктейли/ хайбол; high (высокий) + ball (шар) — виски с
содовой водой и льдом, поданное в высоком стакане) and spoke of war (и
говорили о войне). Skinny's party were just then deciding (группа Скинни как
раз тогда решала; to decide — решать) whether to remain in the country (или
остаться в стране) or return home (или вернуться домой). They had reached an
exciting part of their research (они достигли увлекательной стадии: «части»
в своих исследованиях; to reach — достигать, to research — исследовать),
and whenever (и всякий раз, когда) I got a chance (у меня была возможность)
to visit Zimbabwe (побывать в Зимбабве) he would take me for a moonlight walk
(он /Скинни/ брал меня на прогулку под луной: «при свете луны»; moon (луна)
+ light (свет)) in the ruined temple (к разрушенному храму) and try to make me
see (и пытался заставить меня увидеть; try to make do smth — заставлять)
phantom Phoenicians (призраки финикиян) flitting ahead of us (перелетающих
впереди нас), or along the walls (или вдоль стен).
highball ['haIbO:l] ruined ['ru:Ind] phantom ['fxntqm]
I met George once more in a hotel in Bulawayo. We drank highballs and
spoke of war. Skinny's party were just then deciding whether to remain in the
country or return home. They had reached an exciting part of their research,
and whenever I got a chance to visit Zimbabwe he would take me for a
moonlight walk in the ruined temple and try to make me see phantom
Phoenicians flitting ahead of us, or along the walls.
I had half a mind (я уже собиралась: «у меня была половина ума») to marry
Skinny (выйти замуж за Скинни); perhaps (возможно), I thought (я думала),
when his studies were finished (когда его исследования закончатся). The
impending war (надвигающаяся война; to impend — надвигаться, угрожать)
was in our bones (засела в наших головах: «была в наших костях»): so I
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remarked to George (так я высказывалась Джорджу; to remark — замечать) as
we sat drinking highballs (как мы сидели и пили коктейли хайбол) on the hotel
stoep (на веранде отеля) in the hard bright sunny July winter of that year (в
изнуряющей июльской жаре зимы того года: «в тяжелую яркую солнечную
июльскую зиму того года»).
impending [Im'pendIN] stoep [stu:p]