Tender is the night. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Учим английский, читая мировую классику. Елизавета Хундаева
and nearer than the headlines (заголовок) of the French paper. It was the same feeling that had oppressed (угнетать) her at the hotel – accustomed (привыкший) to seeing the starkest (строгий, суровый) grotesqueries of a continent heavily (весьма, в большой степени) underlined as comedy or tragedy, untrained (неподготовленный) to the task of separating out (выделить) the essential (существенное) for herself, she now began to feel that French life was empty and stale (тривиальный, банальный). This feeling was surcharged () by listening to the sad tunes of the orchestra, reminiscent () of the melancholy music played for acrobats in vaudeville (водевиль). She was glad to go back to Gausse’s Hotel.
Her shoulders were too burned to swim with the next day, so she and her mother hired (арендовать) a car – after much haggling (торговаться), for Rosemary had formed her valuations (оценка, определение ценности) of money in France – and drove along the Riviera, the delta (устье) of many rivers. The chauffeur, a Russian Czar of the period of Ivan the Terrible, was a self-appointed (самозванный) guide, and the resplendent (блистательный, великолепный, ослепительный) names – Cannes, Nice, Monte Carlo – began to glow through their torpid (апатичный, бездеятельный, вялый) camouflage (камуфляж, маскировка), whispering of old kings come here to dine (обедать; ужинать) or die (умереть), of rajahs (раджа – княжеский титул в Индии)) tossing (бросать, метать) Buddha’s eyes to English ballerinas, of Russian princes turning the weeks into Baltic twilights (сумерки) in the lost caviare (икра) days. Most of all, there was the scent (запах, дух) of the Russians along the coast (побережье) – their closed book shops and grocery (бакалейный) stores. Ten years ago, when the season ended in April, the doors of the Orthodox (православный, ортодоксальный) Church were locked (закрывать, запирать), and the sweet (сладкий) champagnes they favored (которые они одобряли) were put away (были отставлены в сторону) until their return (возвращение). «We’ll be back (вернуться) next season,» they said, but this was premature (преждевременный, ранний), for they were never coming back any more (никогда больше не приезжали).
It was pleasant to drive back to the hotel in the late afternoon, above a sea as mysteriously colored as the agates (агат) and cornelians (сердолик) of childhood, green as green milk, blue as laundry (прачечная) water, wine dark. It was pleasant to pass people eating outside their doors, and to hear the fierce (свирепый, энергичный) mechanical pianos behind the vines (виноградная лоза) of country estaminets (кафе). When they turned off the Corniche d’Or and down to Gausse’s Hotel through the darkening banks (группа, ряд) of trees, set one behind another (один за другим) in many greens, the moon already hovered (неподвижно зависать в воздухе) over the ruins (руина) of the aqueducts (акведук, водопровод) ….
Somewhere in the hills behind the hotel there was a dance, and Rosemary listened to the music through the ghostly (похожий на привидение; призрачный) moonshine of her mosquito net (москитная сетка), realizing that there was gaiety (веселье) too somewhere about (где-то вокруг, поблизости), and she thought of the nice people on the beach. She thought she might meet them in the morning, but they obviously (очевидно) formed a self-sufficient (самодостаточный) little group, and once their umbrellas, bamboo rugs (коврик), dogs, and children were set out in place the part of the plage (пляж) was literally (буквально) fenced in (огородить). She resolved (принять решение) in any case not to spend her last two mornings with the other ones.
IV
The matter was solved for her. The McKiscos were not yet there and she had scarcely spread her peignoir when two men – the man with the jockey cap and the tall blonde man, given to (занятый) sawing (распиливание) waiters in two – left the group and came down toward her.
«Good morning,» said Dick Diver. He broke down (не выдержать, потерять самообладание). «Look – sunburn (обгорать на солнце) or no sunburn, why did you stay away (не было) yesterday? We worried about you.»
She sat up and her happy little laugh welcomed their intrusion (вторжение).
«We wondered,» Dick Diver said, «if you wouldn’t come over this morning. We go in, we take food and drink, so it’s a substantial (существенный, важный) invitation.»
He seemed kind and charming (очаровательный) – his voice promised that he would take care of her, and that a little later he would open up whole new worlds for her, unroll (развёртывать; разворачивать) an endless (бесконечный) succession (серия, последовательность) of magnificent (великолепный, внушительный) possibilities. He managed the introduction so that her name wasn’t mentioned (упоминать) and then let her know easily that everyone knew who she was but were respecting the completeness of her private (частный) life – a courtesy (учтивость, вежливость) that Rosemary had not met with save (за исключением, кроме) from professional people since her success.
Nicole Diver, her brown back hanging from her pearls (жемчуг), was looking through a recipe book (меню) for chicken Maryland. She was about twenty-four, Rosemary guessed (догадаться) – her face could have been described in terms of conventional (условный, обычный) prettiness, but the effect was that it had been made first on the heroic scale (шкала) with strong structure and marking (отметка), as if the features and vividness of brow and coloring, everything we associate with temperament and character had been molded (формировать, отливать) with a Rodinesque intention (замысел в стиле Родена), and then chiseled away (вырезать, долбить) in the direction of prettiness (миловидность) to a point where a single slip (промах, ошибка) would have irreparably (непоправимо, безнадёжно) diminished (убывать, уменьшаться) its force and quality (качество). With the mouth the sculptor had taken desperate (отчаянный) chances – it was the cupid’s (купидон) bow (лук) of a magazine cover (обложка), yet it shared (разделять) the distinction (отличительная черта) of the rest.
«Are you here for a long time?» Nicole asked. Her voice was low (низкий), almost harsh (хриплый).
Suddenly Rosemary let the possibility enter her mind that they