Английский язык с Джеком Лондоном. В далекой стране (рассказы)

shiver [SIvq], measles [mJzlz], spawn [spLn]

"As I say, we were become a weak breed, we Whitefish. We sold our warm skins and furs for tobacco and whiskey and thin cotton things that left us shivering in the cold. And the coughing sickness came upon us, and men and women coughed and sweated through the long nights, and the hunters on trail spat blood upon the snow. And now one, and now another, bled swiftly from the mouth and died. And the women bore few children, and those they bore were weak and given to sickness. And other sicknesses came to us from the white men, the like of which we had never known and could not understand. Smallpox, likewise measles, have I heard these sicknesses named, and we died of them as die the salmon in the still eddies when in the fall their eggs are spawned and there is no longer need for them to live.

"And yet, and here be the strangeness of it (и, тем не менее, есть в этом неестественность), the white men come as the breath of death (белые люди приходят, как дыхание смерти); all their ways lead to death (все их обычаи/пути ведут к смерти), their nostrils are filled with it (их ноздри заполнены ею); and yet they do not die (и однако они не умирают). Theirs the whiskey, and tobacco, and short-haired dogs (/все это/ их — виски, табак и короткошерстные собаки); theirs the many sicknesses, the smallpox and measles, the coughing and mouth-bleeding (их = от них — то множество болезней, оспа и корь, кашель и кровотечение изо рта); theirs the white skin, and softness to the frost and storm (их = у них

— белая кожа и изнеженность = незащищенность перед морозом и бурей); and theirs the pistols that shoot six times very swift and are worthless (и это их пистолеты, который стреляют шесть раз очень быстро и /в то же время/ никудышны). And yet they grow fat on their many ills, and prosper (и однако они жиреют при их многочисленных болезнях и процветают), and lay a heavy hand over all the world and tread mightily upon its peoples (и налагают тяжелую длань на весь мир, и мощно попирают его народы; to lay one’s hands on — завладеть чем-либо, прибрать к рукам что-либо; to tread — топтать, наступать; подавлять, давить). And their women, too, are soft as little babes (и их женщины тоже нежны, как маленькие дети), most breakable and never broken (очень хрупки, а никогда не ломаются), the mothers of men (матери мужчин). And out of all this softness, and sickness, and weakness (и из всей этой изнеженности, болезненности и слабости), come strength, and power, and authority (возникают сила, мощь и власть). They be gods, or devils (они боги или демоны), as the case may be (в зависимости от обстоятельств; case — случай; обстоятельство; дело

). I do not know (я не знаю). What do I know (что я знаю), I, old Imber of the Whitefish (я, старый Имбер из /племени/ Белой Рыбы)? Only do I know (единственное, что я знаю) that they are past understanding (это то, что они за пределами понимания), these white men (эти белые люди), far-wanderers and fighters over the earth that they be (странники далеко = за тридевять земель и воители по всей земле, /которыми они являются/).

cough [kOf], tread [tred], devil [devl]

"And yet, and here be the strangeness of it, the white men come as the breath of death; all their ways lead to death, their nostrils are filled with it; and yet they do not die. Theirs the whiskey, and tobacco, and short-haired dogs; theirs the many sicknesses, the smallpox and measles, the coughing and mouth-bleeding; theirs the white skin, and softness to the frost and storm; and theirs the pistols that shoot six times very swift and are worthless. And yet they grow fat on their many ills, and prosper, and lay a heavy hand over all the world and tread mightily upon its peoples. And their women, too, are soft as little babes, most breakable and never broken, the mothers of men. And out of all this softness, and sickness, and weakness, come strength, and power, and authority. They be gods, or devils, as the case may be. I do not know. What do I know, I, old Imber of the Whitefish? Only do I know that they are past understanding, these white men, far-wanderers and fighters over the earth that they be.