Rudiard Kipling / Редьярд Киплинг
Just So Stories for Little Children / Просто сказки. Книга для чтения на английском языке
© КАРО, 2018
Предисловие
Вы знаете или изучаете английский язык? Вы хотите узнать ответы на вопросы, откуда у верблюда горб, а у слона – хобот; как появился алфавит и почему кошки гуляют сами по себе; что произойдет, если мотылек топнет ногой? И вас, конечно, интересует, как выглядело первое на Земле письмо и почему у носорога такая кожа? В таком случае это пособие для вас!
Сборник английского писателя Редьярда Киплинга, куда вошли сказки, рассказанные писателем его собственным детям, не только унесет вас в чудесный и удивительный мир прошлого и ответит вам и вашим детям на эти каверзные вопросы, но и поможет обогатить ваш лексический запас новыми словами и выражениями. В пособии объяснены некоторые трудности английской грамматики. В конце каждого рассказа предлагается выполнить ряд заданий, которые помогут запомнить новые встретившиеся в процессе чтения слова и выражения, а также лучше понять содержание рассказов.
Занимательные, знакомые с раннего детства сказки Киплинга создадут веселую атмосферу на занятиях по английскому языку и зарубежной литературе, а комментарии помогут с легкостью преодолеть трудности грамматики английского языка, возникающие при чтении неадаптированных текстов.
How the Whale Got His Throat
In the sea, once upon time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale[1], and he ate fishes. He ate the starfish and the garfish, and the crab and the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the mackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel. All the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth – so! Till at least there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small ’Stute Fish[2], and he swam a little behind the Whale’s right ear, so as to be out of harm’s way. Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said, ‘I’m hungry’. And the small ’Stute Fish said in a small ’stute voice[3], ‘Noble and generous Cetacean, have you ever tasted Man?’
‘No’, said the Whale. ‘What is it like?[4]’
This is the picture of the Whale swallowing[5] the Mariner with his infinite-resource-and-sagacity, and the raft and the jack-knife and his suspenders, which you must not forget. The buttony-things are the Mariner’s suspenders, and you can see the knife close by them. He is sitting on the raft, but it has tilted up sideways, so you don’t see much of it. The whity thing by the Mariner’s left hand is a piece of wood that he was trying to row the raft with when the Whale came along. The piece of wood is called the jaws-of-a-gaff. The Mariner left it outside when he went in. The Whale’s name was Smiler, and the Mariner was called Mr. Henry Albert Bivvens, A. B. The little ’Stute Fish is hiding under the Whale’s tummy, or else I would have drawn him. The reason that the sea looks so ooshy-skooshy is because the Whale is sucking it all into his mouth so as to suck in Mr. Henry Albert Bivvens and the raft and the jack-knife and the suspenders. You must never forget the suspenders.
‘Nice,’ said the small ‘Stute Fish. ‘Nice but nubbly.’
‘Then fetch me some,’ said the Whale, and he made the sea froth up with his tail[6].
‘One at a time is enough,’ said the ’Stute Fish. ‘If you swim to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West[7] (that is Magic), you will find, sitting on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing on but a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders[8] (you must not forget the suspenders, Best Beloved), and a jack-knife[9], one shipwrecked Mariner, who, it is only fair to tell you, is a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity[10].’
So the Whale swam and swam to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West, as fast as he could swim, and on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing to wear except a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders (you must particularly remember the suspenders, Best Beloved), and a jack-knife, he found one single, solitary shipwrecked Mariner, trailing his toes in the water. (He had his Mummy’s leave to paddle[11], or else he would never have done it, because he was a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity.)
Then the Whale opened his mouth back and back and back till it nearly touched his tail, and he swallowed the shipwrecked Mariner, and the raft he was sitting on, and his blue canvas breeches, and the suspenders (which you must not forget), and the jack-knife. He swallowed them all down into his warm, dark, inside cupboards, and then he smacked his lips – so, and turned round three times on his tail.
Here is the Whale looking for the little ’Stute Fish, who is hiding under the Door-sills of the Equator. The little ’Stute Fish’s name was Pingle. He is hiding among the roots of the big seaweed that grows in front of the Doors of the Equator. I have drawn the Doors of Equator. They are shut. They are always kept shut, because a door ought always to be kept shut. The ropy thing right across is the Equator itself; and the things that look like rocks are the two giants Moar and Koar, that keep the Equator in order. They drew the shadow-pictures on the Doors of the Equator, and they carved all those twisty fishes under the Doors. The beaky fish are called Beaked Dolphins, and the other fish with the queer heads are called Hammer-headed Sharks. The Whale never found the little ’Stute Fish till he got over his temper, and then they became good friends again.
But as soon as the Mariner, who was a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity, found himself truly inside the Whale’s warm, dark, inside cupboards, he stumped and he jumped and he thumped and he bumped, and he pranced and he danced, and he banged and he clanged, and he hit and he bit, and he leaped and he creeped, and he prowled and he howled, and he hopped and he dropped, and he cried and he sighed, and he crawled and he bawled, and he stepped and he lepped, and he danced hornpipes[12] where he shouldn’t, and the Whale felt most unhappy indeed. (Have you forgotten the suspenders?)
So he said to the ’Stute Fish, ‘This man is very nubbly, and besides he is making me hiccough[13]. What shall I do?’
‘Tell him to come out,’ said the ’Stute Fish.
So the Whale called down his own throat to the shipwrecked Mariner, ‘Come out and behave yourself. I’ve got the hiccoughs.’
‘Nay, nay!’ said the Mariner. ‘Not so, but far otherwise. Take me to my natal-shore and the white-cliffs-of-Albion, and I’ll think about it.’ And he began to dance more than ever.
6
he made the sea froth up with his tail – море вспе-нилось под его хвостом. to make smb do smth – застав-лять/побуждать кого/что-либо сделать что-л.
7
latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West – пятьдесят градусов север-ной широты, сорок градусов восточной долготы
8
with nothing on but a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders – на нем были толь-ко холщевые голубые брюки и пара подтяжек (на нем не было ничего, кроме холщевых голубых брюк и пары подтяжек)
10
man-of-infinite-resource-and-sagacity – прони-цательный человек с безграничными возможностями; a man of a great sagacity [– очень проница-тельный человек
11
He had his Mummy’s leave to paddle – Мама разрешила ему плавать на лодке; to have leave to do smth – иметь разрешение делать что-либо; to ask leave to do smth – просить позволения сделать что-либо
12
to stump – тяжело ступать, ковылять; to jump – прыгать; to thump – наносить тяжелый удар, стучать; to bump – толкать, пихать (очень сильно); to prance – прыгать, скакать, резвиться; to dance – танцевать; to bang – грохотать, колотить, стучать; to clang – брен-чать, звенеть; to hit – ударять(ся); to bite – кусать(ся); to leap – прыгать, вскакивать; to creep – ползать; to prowl – бродить, идти крадучись; to howl – выть, реветь; to hop – прыгать, скакать на одной ноге; to drop –