Английский с Эдгаром По. Падение дома Ашеров

On the night of the day on which this cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames. The whole house was blazing. It was with great difficulty that my wife, a servant, and myself, made our escape from the conflagration. The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, and I resigned myself thenceforward to despair.

I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect (я – выше слабости попыток установить последовательность причины и следствия; above – над; to seek – искать, стремиться), between the disaster and the atrocity (между катастрофой и злодеянием). But I am detailing a chain of facts (но я подробно описываю цепь событий)

– and wish not to leave even a possible link imperfect (и не желаю оставить даже одно возможное звено несовершенным = обойти вниманием). On the day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins (в день, последовавший за пожаром, я посетил руины). The walls, with one exception, had fallen in (стены, за одним исключением, обвалились; to fall in). This exception was found in a compartment wall (это исключение было найдено в перегородке = составляла перегородка: «перегородочная стена»), not very thick

(не очень толстая), which stood about the middle of the house (которая стояла примерно в середине дома: «около»), and against which had rested the head of my bed (и к которой прижималось изголовье моей кровати; against – против, напротив; к).

I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity. But I am detailing a chain of facts – and wish not to leave even a possible link imperfect. On the day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins. The walls, with one exception, had fallen in. This exception was found in a compartment wall, not very thick, which stood about the middle of the house, and against which had rested the head of my bed.

The plastering had here, in great measure, resisted the action of the fire (штукатурка здесь в большой мере устояла перед действием огня; to resist – сопротивляться) – a fact which I attributed to its having been recently spread (факт, который я приписал тому, что ее = штукатурку недавно нанесли; to spread – разворачивать, расстилать; намазывать; наносить

). About this wall a dense crowd were collected (около этой стены густая толпа собралась), and many persons seemed to be examining a particular portion of it (и многие люди, казалось, осматривали определенную часть ее: «казались осматривать») with very minute and eager attention (с пристальным и напряженным вниманием; minute – мельчайший). The words “strange!” “singular!” and other similar expressions, excited my curiosity (слова «странно!», «исключительно!» и другие похожие выражения возбудили мое любопытство).