Английский язык с Крестным Отцом

his family little of his time. As Genco Pura olive oil grew to become the bestselling

imported Italian oil in America, his organization mushroomed (быстро росла;

mushroom – гриб). Like any good salesman he came to understand the benefits of

undercutting his rivals in price, barring them from distribution outlets by persuading

store

owners to stock less of their brands. Like any good businessman he aimed at holding a

monopoly by forcing his rivals to abandon the field or by merging (to merge –

сливаться) with his own company. However, since he had started off relatively helpless,

economically, since he did not believe in advertising, relying on word of mouth and

since if truth be told, his olive oil was no better than his competitors', he could not use

the common strangleholds (stranglehold – удушение, мертвая хватка) of legitimate

businessmen. He had to rely on the force of his own personality and his reputation as a

"man of respect."

52

Even as a young man, Vito Corleone became known as a "man of reasonableness."

He never uttered a threat. He always used logic that proved to be irresistible. He always

made certain that the other fellow got his share of profit. Nobody lost. He did this, of

course, by obvious means. Like many businessmen of genius he learned that free

competition was wasteful, monopoly efficient. And so he simply set about (начал,

приступил) achieving that efficient monopoly. There were some oil wholesalers in

Brooklyn, men of fiery temper, headstrong, not amenable (поддающийся, податливый,

сговорчивый ['mi:nbl]) to reason, who refused to see, to recognize, the vision of Vito

Corleone, even after he had explained everything to them with the utmost patience and

detail. With these men Vito Corleone threw up his hands in despair and sent Tessio to

Brooklyn to set up a headquarters and solve the problem. Warehouses were burned,

truckloads of olive-green oil were dumped to form lakes in the cobbled (cobble –

булыжник) waterfront (порт, район порта) streets. One rash man, an arrogant

Milanese with more faith in the police than a saint has in Christ, actually went to the

authorities with a complaint against his fellow Italians, breaking the ten-century-old law

of omerta. But before the matter could progress any further the wholesaler disappeared,

never to be seen again, leaving behind, deserted, his devoted wife and three children,

who, God be thanked, were fully grown and capable of taking over his business and

coming to terms (договорившись, заключив соглашение; terms – условия

соглашения, договор) with the Genco Pura Oil Company.

But great men are not born great, they grow great, and so it was with Vito Corleone.

When prohibition (запрещение; запрещение продажи спиртных напитков (1920–33)

[prui’bin]; to prohibit [pr’hibit] – запрещать, препятствовать) came to pass and

alcohol forbidden to be sold, Vito Corleone made the final step from a quite ordinary,

somewhat ruthless businessman to a great Don in the world of criminal enterprise. It did

not happen in a day, it did not happen in a year, but by the end of the Prohibition period

and the start of the Great Depression, Vito Corleone had become the Godfather, the

Don, Don Corleone.

It started casually enough. By this time the Genco Pura Oil Company had a fleet of six

delivery trucks. Through Clemenza, Vito Corleone was approached by a group of Italian

bootleggers (торговец контрабандными или самогонными спиртными напитками;

bootleg – голенище) who smuggled alcohol and whiskey in from Canada. They needed

trucks and deliverymen to distribute their produce over New York City. They needed

deliverymen who were reliable, discreet and of a certain determination and force. They

were willing to pay Vito Corleone for his trucks and for his men. The fee was so

enormous that Vito Corleone cut back drastically (радикально; drastic –

сильнодействующий /о лекарстве/) on his oil business to use the trucks almost

53

exclusively for the service of the bootlegger-smugglers. This despite the fact that these

gentlemen had accompanied their offer with a silky threat. But even then Vito Corleone

was so mature a man that he did not take insult at a threat or become angry and refuse

a profitable offer because of it. He evaluated the threat, found it lacking in conviction,

and lowered his opinion of his new partners because they had been so stupid to use

threats where none were needed. This was useful information to be pondered at its

proper time.

Again he prospered. But, more important, he acquired knowledge and contacts and

experience. And he piled up (складывал в кучу, накапливал; pile – куча, груда, кипа)

good deeds as a banker piles up securities (ценные бумаги). For in the following years

it became clear that Vito Corleone was not only a man of talent but, in his way, a genius.

He made himself the protector of the Italian families who set themselves up as small

speakeasies (speakeasy – бар, где незаконно торгуют спиртными напитками) in

their homes, selling whiskey at fifteen cents a glass to bachelor laborers. He became

godfather to Mrs. Colombo's youngest son when the lad made his confirmation and

gave a handsome present of a twenty-dollar gold piece. Meanwhile, since it was

inevitable that some of his trucks be stopped by the police, Genco Abbandando hired a

fine lawyer with many contacts in the Police Department and the judiciary (судебное