Читать «Английский язык с В. Ирвингом. Рип ван Винкль» онлайн - страница 6

The great error in Rip's composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor. It could not be from the want of assiduity or perseverance; for he would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar's lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble. He would carry a fowling-piece on his shoulder for hours together, trudging through woods and swamps, and up hill and down dale, to shoot a few squirells or wild pigeons.

He would never refuse to assist a neighbor even in the roughest toil (он никогда не отказывался помочь соседу даже в самом тяжелом труде; rough [rAf] — грубый, жесткий; в односложных прилагательных, суффикс -er выражает сравнительную степень, суффикс -est — превосходную), and was a foremost man at all country frolics (и был самым первым человеком во всех деревенских забавах; frolic [‘frOlIk] — шалость, игра) for husking Indian corn (как лущение индейского зерна: «кукурузы»), or building stone-fences (или строительство каменных заборов); the women of the village, too (деревенские женщины тоже), used to employ him to run their errands (привыкли нанимать его бегать по их поручениям: «быть на посылках»), and to do such little odd jobs (и выполнять такие маленькие случайные поручения; odd [Od] — нечетный; случайный; необычный) as their less obliging husbands would not do for them (которые их менее услужливые мужья не делали для них). In a word Rip was ready to attend to anybody's business but his own (другими словами, Рип был готов заниматься чьим угодно делом, кроме своего собственного); but as to doing family duty (но, что касается выполнения семейных обязанностей), and keeping his farm in order (и поддержания своей фермы в порядке), he found it impossible (он находил это невозможным).

He would never refuse to assist a neighbor even in the roughest toil, and was a foremost man at all country frolics for husking Indian corn, or building stone-fences; the women of the village, too, used to employ him to run their errands, and to do such little odd jobs as their less obliging husbands would not do for them. In a word Rip was ready to attend to anybody's business but his own; but as to doing family duty, and keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible.