Английский с Оскаром Уайльдом. Кентервильское привидение

At last everything was ready, and he was very pleased with his appearance. The big leather riding-boots that went with the dress were just a little too large for him, and he could only find one of the two horse-pistols, but, on the whole, he was quite satisfied, and at a quarter-past one he glided out of the wainscoting and crept down the corridor. On reaching the room occupied by the twins, which I should mention was called the Blue Bed Chamber, on account of the colour of its hangings, he found the door just ajar.

Wishing to make an effective entrance (желая произвести эффектное появление), he flung it wide open (он широко распахнул ее /дверь/), when a heavy jug of water fell right down on him (когда тяжелый кувшин с водой упал прямо на него)

, wetting him to the skin (промочив его насквозь: «до кожи»), and just missing his left shoulder by a couple of inches (и чуть не задев его левое плечо, пролетев на два дюйма мимо; to miss – упустить; не попасть, промахнуться). At the same moment he heard stifled shrieks of laughter proceeding from the four-post bed (в то же время он услышал приглушенные взрывы смеха, доносящиеся со стороны кровати; four-post bed – кровать с пологом на четырех столбиках

). The shock to his nervous system was so great (это был такой шок для его нервной системы) that he fled back to his room as hard as he could go (что он побежал в свою комнату так быстро, как только мог), and the next day he was laid up with a severe cold (и на следующий день слег в постель с сильной простудой; to lay up – откладывать, копить; выводить временно из строя)

. The only thing that at all consoled him in the whole affair (единственная вещь, которая как-то успокаивала его во всем этом деле; at all – совсем, полностью; хоть как-то) was the fact that he had not brought his head with him (был тот факт, что он не брал: «не принес» с собой свою голову; to bring), for, had he done so

(так как, если бы он сделал это), the consequences might have been very serious (последствия могли бы быть очень серьезными).

Wishing to make an effective entrance, he flung it wide open, when a heavy jug of water fell right down on him, wetting him to the skin, and just missing his left shoulder by a couple of inches. At the same moment he heard stifled shrieks of laughter proceeding from the four-post bed. The shock to his nervous system was so great that he fled back to his room as hard as he could go, and the next day he was laid up with a severe cold. The only thing that at all consoled him in the whole affair was the fact that he had not brought his head with him, for, had he done so, the consequences might have been very serious.

“a heavy jug of water fell right down on him.”