Спэшл фо и май лав)
Рассказ
New Words to Learn:
1. hold tight – держать крепко
2. give up – сдаться
3. smell – 1. сущ. неприятный запах, 2. гл. неприятно пахнуть
4. save – экономить
5. space – место
6. share – доля
7. complain – жаловаться
«If you don’t get up, Johnny, I won’t give you to eat!»
The boy didn’t move and his mother shook him by the shoulder. She was a sad tired woman, and every morning she came and tried to pull the bed-clothes off the boy but he held them tight.
«Leave me alone!» he protested. But she continued waking him up.
When he felt the cold of the room, his eyes opened. And he gave up.
«All right,» he said.
She took the lamp and left him in darkness.
He did not mind the darkness. He put on his clothes and went out into the kitchen, pulled a chair to the table and sat down.
«Johnny!» his mother called.
He stood up from the chair, and, without a word, went to the sink. It was a dirty sink. A smell came up from it. But he didn’t notice it. That a sink should smell was natural to him.
«You must wash yourself once a day without being told,» his mother told him.
He dried himself on a dirty towel.
without being told – без напоминания
She put two cups of coffee on the table.
«I wish we didn’t live so far away,» she said when he sat down. «I try to do the best I can. You know that. But we can save a dollar on the rent, and we have more space here. You know that.»
He didn’t listen to her. He heard it all before, many times. She was always talking about how hard it was to live so far from the factory.
He ate the bread and drank the hot and muddy liquid, named coffee. Johnny never drank real coffee and found the drink excellent. That was one of the few of his illusions about life. As he was finishing the bread, he began to watch if there was more coffee. His mother noticed it.
«Now, don’t be greedy, Johnny,» was her comment. «You’ve had your share. Your brothers and sisters are smaller than you.»
He did not answer. He was not talkative and he didn’t complain. He finished his coffee and stood up.
A distant whistle was heard. She looked at the alarm-clock on the shelf which showed half-past five. «We’ve got to run,» she said. And they went down the stairs.
Рассказ
New Words to Learn:
1. due to – из-за
2. although – хотя
3. indifferent – безразличный
4. settle down – установиться
5. darkness – темнота
It was clear and cold outside. The stars were still in the sky, and the city laid in darkness. Both Johnny and his mother were walking silently.
After fifteen minutes, his mother turned to the right. «Don’t be late,» was her final words from out of the dark.
He didn’t answer, going his way. The doors of the factory were open. He joined other workers and soon took his place at one of the machines.
overseer — надсмотрщик
Johnny was a perfect worker and some time ago he was proud of that. But it didn’t mean anything to him anymore. Now from the perfect worker he had become the perfect machine. When his work went wrong, it was with him as with the machine, due to bad material.
The boy working next to Johnny hated the overseer who kept watching him from a distance. He said terrible words although the overseer didn’t hear them because of the noise.
Johnny was indifferent. He knew that it was useless to hate the overseer. Machines were made to go in certain ways and to perform certain tasks. It was the same with the overseer.
At eleven o’clock there came the director of the factory, accompanied by a young man. He was well-dressed and wore a white shirt.
He looked at the boys working. Sometimes he stopped and asked questions. When he did so, he had to shout to make himself heard.
to make himself heard – чтобы его было слышно
When he came up to Johnny, he caught him by the arm and got him out of the machine. His arm was pretty skinny. The director noticed that.
«Look at those legs. The boy’s got the rickets. »
rickets — рахит
Johnny listened, but did not understand. He was not interested in future ills.
«Now, my boy, I want you to tell me the truth,» the inspector shouted, getting close to the boy’s ear. «How old are you?»
«Fourteen,» Johnny lied. He said that so loudly that he started to cough.
«Looks sixteen at least,» said the director.
«Or sixty,» said the inspector.
«He’s always looked that way.»
They passed on, and Johnny returned to his work. The monotony settled down again. The long morning and the longer afternoon finished. The whistle meant the work was over. Darkness fell when Johnny went out through the factory gate.
Рассказ
New Words to Learn:
1. patience – терпение
2. annoyed – раздраженный (от annoy – раздражать)
3. liveliness – живость, веселость
4. be in one’s debt – быть у кого-то в долгу
5. ungrateful – неблагодарный
6. punch – ударить
7. ought to – должен
Supper was the family meal of the day — the one meal at which Johnny met his younger brothers and sisters. They were too young. He had no patience with their young age. He did not understand it. His own childhood was too far behind him. He was like an old man, annoyed by their silly talks and liveliness. He looked silently over his food and thought that they would soon have to go to work.
After the meal was over, Jonny went out. He sat down on the stairs, his elbows on his knees and the palms of his hands supporting his chin. He was not thinking, he was just resting. His brothers and sisters came out, and played noisily about him. He paid no attention. Then they started to dance around and sing songs. Johnny was silent.
His brother Will, next to him in age, was 10 years old. Johnny did not like him very much. Some time ago, in his own childhood, he took care of Will because their mother was at work in the factory like now. Will was a baby then and Johnny was a little father and little mother for Will. Since then he had a feeling that Will was in his debt and was ungrateful about it.
Will was strong, as tall as his elder brother and even bigger. He looked healthy.
The children came closer and the noise rose louder. Will danced, putting his tongue out. Suddenly Johnny caught his brother’s neck with his left arm and at the same time punched his bony fist to Will’s nose. Then Johnny kicked him downward in the dirt.
The other children started crying and the mother came out, worried.
«Why can’t he leave me alone?» was Johnny’s reply to her. «Can’t he see I’m tired?»
«I’m as big as you,» Will stood in her arms, his face a mess of tears, dirt, and blood. «I’m as big as you now, and I’m going to get bigger. Then I’ll beat you — see if I don’t.»
«You ought to be to work, seeing how big you are,» Johnny answered. «You ought to be to work. I was younger than him when I started to work. Why mother?»
Рассказ
New Words to Learn:
1. unfairness – несправедливость
2. gloomy – мрачный
3. measles – корь
4. skillful – опытный, умелый
5. wages – заработок рабочего
6. accurate – точный
7. pneumonia – пневмония
Johnny felt unfairness. He became gloomy, came into the house and went to bed. The door of his room was open to let in warmth from the kitchen. As he undressed in the darkness, he could hear his mother talking with a neighbor woman. She was crying.
«I can’t understand what’s going on with Johnny,» he could hear her words. «He is a good boy. And he went to work too young. But it wasn’t my fault. I do the best I can.»
What’s going on with …? – Что происходит с …?
The next morning his mother woke him up as usual. He had breakfast, left home and went in through the factory gate. It was another day, of all the days, and all the days were alike.
He remembered his first job. He was seven then and his job was easy. All he had to do was to sit down with a little stick in his hand and control a stream of cloth. He sat always in the one place and felt himself part of the mechanism. He was very happy at that job because he was still young and he had dreams and illusions.
a stream of cloth –поток ткани
When he was nine, he fell ill with measles and lost his job. His second job was in a glass factory. It was simple but not good for the lungs. But the pay was better. It was piece-work, and the more skillful he was, the bigger wages he earned.
piece-work – сдельная работа
The director was very proud of him, and brought visitors to look at him. In ten hours three hundred dozen bottles passed through his hands. He worked like a perfect machine. Every movement of a muscle in the thin fingers, was quick and accurate. But at night his muscles moved in his sleep, and in the daytime he could not relax and rest. The color of his skin grew yellow and his cough grew worse. Then he caught pneumonia and lost his job in the glass factory.
Рассказ
New Words to Learn:
1. independence — независимость
2. relationship — отношения
3. an equal — равный
4. memories — воспоминания
5. vague forms — смутные очертания
6. be promoted — получить повышение
7. date from — вести отсчет времени
When he went to work again, the machinery ran faster and his mind ran slower. He no longer dreamed at all, now he was too old and tired. But he still believed in the smiling future.
He had become a man very early in life. At seven, when he earned his first money. It was when he got a certain feeling of independence, and the relationship between him and his mother changed. He was more like an equal with her: he did his own work in the world. At eleven he went to work on the night shift for six months. No child works on the night shift and remains a child.
night shift — ночная смена
All days were alike, his mind was empty and he thought of nothing. Only his earlier memories were there with him. There was one memory of the past that came to Johnny at night. At the moment when he was going to sleep, he saw the vague forms of his father and mother and they were moving around, one of them shouting and the other crying.
He had no other memories. Yesterday or last year were the same as a thousand years — or a minute. Nothing ever happened. There were no events to mark the march of time. Time did not go. It stood always still. It was only the machines that moved, and they moved nowhere.
the march of time – ход времени
When he was fourteen, he was promoted. It was a colossal event. Something had at last happened. It marked an era. It was a thing to date from. «When I was promoted,» or, «after,» or «before I was promoted,» were often on his lips.
It was piece-work too. He earned more but the rent went up. And the children were growing up. They ate more. And they were going to school, and school-books cost money. And somehow, the faster he worked, the faster went up the prices of things.
Рассказ
New Words to Learn:
1. unconsciousness — бессознательность
2. consciousness — сознание
3. ach — 1. боль, 2. болеть
4. painfully — болезненно
5. amazingly — изумленно
6. It is no use. — Бесполезно.
7. sickness — заболевание
There was no joy in life for him. His mind was empty. He had no ideals, no illusions. When he didn’t work, he slept in unconsciousness. The rest of the time he worked, and his consciousness was machine consciousness.
It was in the late spring that he came home from work one night unusually tired. He sat down to the table, eating mechanically what was before him. Then he dropped the spoon and stood up from the table.
«I guess I’ll go to bed.»
His walked more heavily than usual as he crossed the kitchen floor. He undressed and fell into bed weakly with one shoe still on. Something heavy was rising inside his head. All his bones ached. He ached everywhere and in his head he could hear the noise of a million machines.
He did not go to work next morning. He lay in bed looking at the ceiling. Sometimes his lips moved. He seemed lost in endless calculations. The doctor came and said that he had a grippe and would be fit for work in a week.
Next morning, after the day grew warm, he took his seat on the stairs. He had pencil and paper to continue his calculations, and he calculated painfully and amazingly.
«What comes after millions?» he asked at noon, when Will came home from school.
Each day, but without paper and pencil, he returned to the stairs. He was greatly interested in the one tree that grew across the street. He studied it for hours at a time, all its branches and leaves. All the week he seemed very busy with himself. On Sunday, sitting on the stairs, he laughed aloud, several times, to the surprise of his mother, who had not heard him laugh in years.
Next morning, in the early darkness, she came to his bed to wake him up. He awoke easily. He lay quietly, and spoke quietly.
«It is no use, ma.»
«You’ll be late,» she said thinking that he was still stupid with sleep.
«I’m not sleeping, ma, and I tell you it is no use. Let me alone. I am not going to get up.»
«But you’ll lose your job!» she cried.
«I am not going to get up,» he repeated in a strange indifferent voice.
This was some unknown sickness and she sent for the doctor again. When he arrived, Johnny was still sleeping. The doctor woke him up gently, examined his body and took his pulse.
«Nothing the matter with him,» he said. «He’s too thin, that’s all. Not much meat on his bones.»
«He’s always been that way,» answered his mother.
Рассказ
1. announce – объявлять
2. deny – отрицать
3. calmness – спокойствие
4. moves – движения
«Now go away, ma, and let me finish my dream.»
Johnny told that quietly, then he turned over on his side and went to sleep. At ten o’clock he got up and dressed himself. He walked out into the kitchen, where he found his mother.
«I’m going away, ma,» he announced, «and I want to say good-by.» She sat down suddenly and wept. He waited.
«Where?» she finally asked, looking at him with a frightened face.
«I don’t know — anywhere.»
«And your job?» she wondered.
«I am never going to work again.»
«My God, Johnny!» she exclaimed, «don’t say that!» What he said was shock to her. As if her child denies God.
«What’s got into you?» she asked.
«Figures,» he answered. «Just figures. I’ve been doing a lot of calculating this week, and it’s most surprising.»
«I don’t understand you,» she said.
Johnny smiled patiently, and his mother noticed his calmness.
«I’ll show you,» he said. «What makes me tired? Moves. I’ve been moving ever since I was born. I’m tired of moving, and I am not going to move anymore. Remember when I worked in the glass factory? I did three hundred dozen bottles a day. I made about ten different moves to each bottle. That’s thirty-six thousand moves a day. Ten days, three hundred and sixty thousand moves a day. One month, one million and eighty thousand moves. — plus eighty thousand, that makes a million moves a month — twelve million moves a year.
«Now this week I didn’t move at all. I didn’t make one move in hours and hours. I tell you it was amazing, just sitting there, hours and hours, and doing nothing. I have never been so happy before. I have never had any time. I’ve been moving all the time. That is no way to be happy. And I am not going to do it anymore.»
Рассказ
1. despair – отчаяние
2. ambition – честолюбивое желание
3. matter – иметь значение
4. quit – перестать что-л. делать
5. bring smb up – вырастить кого-то
6. blind – 1. сущ. слепой, 2. гл. ослеплять
7. hunger – голод
«But what’s going to come of Will and the children?» she asked in despair.
«That’s it, `Will and the children,’» he repeated.
He knew his mother’s ambition for the younger boy, but it didn’t matter anymore. Nothing mattered.
«I know, ma, what you’ve been planning for Will — keeping him in school to make a bookkeeper out of him. But it is no use, I’ve quit. He’s got to go to work.»
«I have brought you up,» she wept.
«You’ve never brought me up,» he answered sadly. «I brought myself up, ma, and I brought up Will. He’s bigger than me, and heavier, and taller. When I was a kid, I thought I didn’t get enough to eat. When he was a kid, I was working and earning money for him too. But that’s over. Will can go to work, same as me, or he can go to hell, I don’t care which. I’m tired. I’m leaving now. Aren’t you going to say goodbye?»
She answered nothing. She was crying. He paused a moment in the doorway.
«I’m sure I did the best I could,» she said at last.
He left the house and went down the street. When he saw the tree, he smiled. Then he looked up at the sky and the bright sun blinded him.
It was a long walk he took, and he did not walk fast. He went past the factory. The noise of the machines came to his ears, and he smiled. It was a gentle smile. He hated no one, not even the machines. There was nothing in him, nothing but a hunger for rest.
At last the city was behind him, and he was walking down a lane beside the railroad track. He did not walk like a man. He did not look like a man. He was a nameless piece of life that walked like an ape, arms loose-hanging, narrow-chested, grotesque and terrible.
grotesque — нелепый
He passed by a small railroad station and lay down in the grass under a tree. All afternoon he lay there. Sometimes he dozed and muscles moved in his sleep. When he awoke, he lay without movement, watching the birds or looking up at the sky through the branches of the tree above him. Once or twice he laughed aloud.
In the first darkness of the night, a train arrived at the station. Johnny opened the side-door of an empty box-car and climbed in. He closed the door. The engine whistled. Johnny was lying down in the darkness and smiled.
THE END
Надеюсь ты прочитала все, жан)