Instance, when a local Town Councillor resigned his office Raymond said,

"He had to go. He's Victorian. And far too young for the job"; and Lou said

Jane Austen's books were too Victorian; and anyone who opposed the

abolition of capital punishment was Victorian. Raymond took the Reader's

Digest, a magazine called Motoring and the Catholic Herald. Lou took the

Queen, Woman's Own, and Life. Their daily paper was the News Chronicle.

They read two books apiece each week. Raymond preferred travel books; Lou

liked novels.

For the first five years of their married life (первые пять лет их совместной:

«женатой» жизни) they had been worried about not having children (они

волновались из-за того, что у них не было детей; to worry — беспокоить/ся/,

волновать/ся/). Both had submitted themselves to medical tests (оба они

подвергли себя медицинским обследованиям; to submit — подчиняться,

подвергать; test — испытание, проверка) as a result of which (в результате

которых) Lou had a course of injections (Лу прошла: «имела» курс инъекций).

These were unsuccessful (который оказался: «которые были» безуспешным;

success — успех, удача). It had been a disappointment (это было

разочарованием) since both came from large sprawling Catholic families (так как

оба они происходили из больших разросшихся католических семей;

sprawling — растянутый, размашистый). None of their married brothers and

sisters had less than three children (каждый из их женатых родственников имел

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по меньшей мере трое детей: «ни у одного из их женатых или замужних

братьев или сестер не было меньше чем по трое детей»). One of Lou's sisters

(одна из сестер Лу), now widowed (теперь овдовевшая; widow — вдова), had

eight (имела восемь /детей/); they sent her a pound a week (и они отправляли ей

по фунту стерлингов в неделю).

injection [In'GekS(q)n] disappointment ["dIsq'pOIntmqnt] widowed ['wIdqVd]

For the first five years of their married life they had been worried about not

having children. Both had submitted themselves to medical tests as a result of

which Lou had a course of injections. These were unsuccessful. It had been a

disappointment since both came from large sprawling Catholic families. None

of their married brothers and sisters had less than three children. One of

Lou's sisters, now widowed, had eight; they sent her a pound a week.

Their flat in Cripps House had three rooms and a kitchen (в их квартире в

Криппс Хауз было три комнаты и кухня). All round them their neighbours (все

вокруг них, их соседи) were saving up to buy houses (экономили деньги, чтобы

купить дома; to save — оберегать, беречь; экономить). A council flat

(квартира, данная Городским Советом), once obtained (раз полученная), was a

mere platform in space (была простой платформой в пространстве: «космосе»)

to further the progress of the rocket (которая поспособствует продвижению

ракеты; to further — продвигать, содействовать). This ambition was not

shared by Raymond and Lou (это стремление не разделялось Раймондом и Лу;

ambition — честолюбие, объект желаний); they were not only content (они

были не только удовлетворены), they were delighted (они были восхищены),

with these civic chambers (этими предоставленными городом меблированными

комнатами; civic — городской, оплачиваемый из средств города), and indeed

took something of an aristocratic view of them (и на самом деле, смотрели на

них с аристократической точки зрения), not without a self-conscious feeling of

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267

being free (не без смущающего чувства свободы), in this particular (в этом

отношении), from the prejudices of that middle class (от предрассудков

среднего класса) to which they as good as belonged (к которому они, в общем-

то, принадлежали; as good as — в сущности, фактически). "One day

(однажды: «одним днем»)," said Lou (говорила Лу), "it will be the thing to live

in a council flat (это будет очень модно — жить в городской квартире; just the

thing — так полагается, сейчас это модно)."

obtain [qb'teIn] delighted [dI'laItId] self-conscious ["self'kOnSqs]

Their flat in Cripps House had three rooms and a kitchen. All round them

their neighbours were saving up to buy houses. A council flat, once obtained,

was a mere platform in space to further the progress of the rocket. This

ambition was not shared by Raymond and Lou; they were not only content,

they were delighted, with these civic chambers, and indeed took something of

an aristocratic view of them, not without a self-conscious feeling of being free,