Tender is the night. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Учим английский, читая мировую классику. Елизавета Хундаева
(тащить) slim (стройный) legs like weights (гиря) against (против, преодолевать) the resistance (сопротивление) of the water. When it was about breast high (по грудь), she glanced back (оглянуться назад) toward shore: a bald man in a monocle and a pair of tights (трико), his tufted (с хохолком) chest thrown out, his brash navel (поросший пупок) sucked in (втянутый), was regarding (рассматривать) her attentively. As Rosemary returned the gaze the man dislodged (убрать) the monocle, which went into hiding amid the facetious (забавный, смешной,) whiskers (усы) of his chest, and poured (наливать) himself a glass of something from a bottle in his hand.
Rosemary laid her face on the water and swam a choppy (сбивчивый, неровный) little four-beat (удар) crawl (кроль) out to the raft (паром; наплавной мост). The water reached up for her, pulled her down tenderly (мягко, нежно) out of the heat (жара), seeped (просачиваться; проникать, протекать) in her hair and ran into the corners of her body. She turned round and round in it, embracing (обнимать, обхватывать) it, wallowing (барахтаться; купаться) in it. Reaching the raft she was out of breath (запыхаться), but a tanned (загорелый) woman with very white teeth looked down at her, and Rosemary, suddenly conscious of (вдруг осознав) the raw whiteness (не загоревшая белизна) of her own body, turned on her back and drifted toward shore. The hairy (волосатый) man holding the bottle spoke to her as she came out.
«I say – they have sharks (акула) out behind the raft.» He was of indeterminate (неопределённый) nationality, but spoke English with a slow (медлительный) Oxford drawl (протяжное произношение, медлительность речи). «Yesterday they devoured (проглотить) two British sailors from the flotte (флот) at Golfe Juan.»
«Heavens (боже мой; о боже! Царство Небесное)!» exclaimed Rosemary.
«They come in for the refuse (отказ) from the flotte.»
Glazing his eyes to indicate (чтобы показать) that he had only spoken in order to warn (предупредить) her, he minced off (переступить, пропустить ступень) two steps and poured (наливать) himself another drink.
Not unpleasantly self-conscious (не без смущения), since (поскольку) there had been a slight sway (волна) of attention toward her during this conversation, Rosemary looked for a place to sit. Obviously (очевидно) each family possessed (владеть) the strip (полоса) of sand immediately in front (прямо перед) of its umbrella; besides there was much visiting and talking back and forth – the atmosphere of a community (сообщество, компания) upon which it would be presumptuous (бесцеремонный, дерзкий, нахальный) to intrude (вторгаться, входить без разрешения или приглашения). Farther up, where the beach was strewn (быть покрытым) with pebbles (галька, гравий) and dead sea-weed (морская водоросль), sat a group with flesh (тело) as white as her own. They lay under small hand-parasols (балдахин, тент, зонтик от солнца) instead of beach umbrellas and were obviously less indigenous (аборигенный, местный) to the place. Between the dark people and the light, Rosemary found room (найти место) and spread out (расстелить) her peignoir (пеньюар) on the sand.
Lying so (лёжа так), she first heard their voices and felt their feet skirt (окружать, окаймлять, обрамлять) her body and their shapes pass between the sun and herself. The breath of an inquisitive (любопытный) dog blew (дышать) warm and nervous on her neck; she could feel her skin broiling (жариться на солнце) a little in the heat and hear the small exhausted (изнуренный; обессиленный) wa-waa of the expiring (находящийся при последнем издыхании, умирающий) waves. Presently (вскоре) her ear distinguished (различать) individual (отдельный) voices and she became aware (узнать) that some one referred to (названный) scornfully (презрительно) as «that North guy (тот парень с Севера) ” had kidnapped (похитить) a waiter (официант) from a café in Cannes last night in order to (для того, чтобы) saw (распилить) him in two (пополам). The sponsor (автор, инициатор) of the story was a white-haired (с белыми волосами) woman in full evening dress, obviously (явно, очевидно) a relic of the previous evening, for a tiara (тиара) still clung to her head and a discouraged (лишённый запаха) orchid (орхидея) expired (выдыхаться) from her shoulder. Rosemary, forming a vague antipathy to her and her companions, turned away (отвернуться).
Nearest her, on the other side, a young woman lay under a roof of umbrellas making out a list of things from a book open on the sand. Her bathing suit was pulled off (стянуть, сползать) her shoulders and her back, a ruddy (здоровый, пышущий здоровьем, цветущий), orange (оранжевый) brown (коричневый), set off (оттенять) by a string (нитка) of creamy (кремового цвета) pearls (жемчуг), shone (блестеть, сверкать) in the sun. Her face was hard (жёсткий) and lovely (привлекательный) and pitiful (печальный). Her eyes met Rosemary’s but did not see her. Beyond her was a fine man in a jockey (жокей) cap and red-striped (с красными полосками) tights (трико); then the woman Rosemary had seen on the raft (паром, плот), and who looked back at her, seeing her; then a man with a long face and a golden, leonine (львиный) head, with blue tights and no hat, talking very seriously to an unmistakably (безошибочно) Latin (латинец) young man in black tights, both of them picking at (ковыряться) little pieces of seaweed (морская водоросль) in the sand. She thought they were mostly Americans, but something made them unlike (непохожий на) the Americans she had known of late (последнее время).
After a while (через некоторое время) she realized (осознать) that the man in the jockey cap was giving a quiet (спокойный) little performance (представление) for this group; he moved gravely (серьёзно) about with a rake (лопаточка крупье, грабли), ostensibly (якобы; по видимости) removing (убирать) gravel (гравий; галька)