Английский язык с Э. Хемингуэем. Снега Килиманджар

It was evening now and he had been asleep. The sun was gone behind the hill and there was a shadow all across the plain and the small animals were feeding close to camp; quick dropping heads and switching tails, he watched them keeping well out away from the bush now. The birds no longer waited on the ground. They were all perched heavily in a tree. There were many more of them. His personal boy was sitting by the bed.

"Memsahib's gone to shoot," the boy said. "Does Bwana want?"

"Nothing."

She had gone to kill a piece of meat and, knowing how he liked to watch the game, she had gone well away so she would not disturb this little pocket of the plain that he could see. She was always thoughtful, he thought. On anything she knew about, or had read, or that she had ever heard.

It was not her fault that when he went to her he was already over (это не ее вина, что он пришел к ней уже конченым: «когда он пришел к ней, он был уже конченым»; to be over — кончиться, завершиться). How could a woman know (откуда женщине знать: «как может женщина знать») that you meant nothing that you said (что за словами, которые говорятся ей, ничего нет: «что ты не подразумеваешь /того/, что говоришь»); that you spoke only from habit and to be comfortable (что говоришь просто в силу привычки и потому, что так удобнее; to speak)? After he no longer meant what he said (с тех пор как он перестал придавать значение тому: «больше не подразумевал /того/», что он говорит), his lies were more successful with women (его ложь имела больше успеха: «была более успешной» у женщин) than when he had told them the truth (чем правда: «чем /в то время/, когда он говорил им правду»).

It was not so much that he lied (/впрочем/, дело было скорее не в том, что он лгал) as that there was no truth to tell (а в том, что /у него/ просто не было правды, чтобы ее говорить). He had had his life and it was over (у него была жизнь, но она закончилась) and then he went on living it again (а потом он стал проживать ее снова) with different people and more money (среди других людей и имея больше денег), with the best of the same places (/бывая/ в лучших из знакомых: «тех же самых» мест), and some new ones (и в некоторых новых).

meant [ment], successful [sqk'sesf(q)l], truth [trHT]

It was not her fault that when he went to her he was already over. How could a woman know that you meant nothing that you said; that you spoke only from habit and to be comfortable? After he no longer meant what he said, his lies were more successful with women than when he had told them the truth.

It was not so much that he lied as that there was no truth to tell. He had had his life and it was over and then he went on living it again with different people and more money, with the best of the same places, and some new ones.