Английский язык с Робинзоном Крузо

I have already told you about the shovel which I made from a piece of hard wood

(о лопате, которую я сделал из куска твердого дерева). Next to the shovel I needed a

pickax most of all (после лопаты мне нужна была киркомотыга больше всего).

Among the many things that I had saved from the wreck, I found an old crowbar

(старый лом). This I heated in the fire until it was almost white hot (нагрел на огне,

пока он не стал почти белым от жара).

I then found that I could bend it quite easily (затем я обнаружил, что мог

согнуть его довольно легко). Little by little I shaped it until I had made quite a good

pickax of it (мало-помалу я придавал ему форму пока я не сделал довольно

хорошую киркомотыгу из него). Of course, it was heavy and not at all pretty (конечно,

она была тяжелой и совсем не красивой). But who would look for beauty in a pickax

(кто бы стал искать красоту в киркомотыге)?

I at first felt the need of some light baskets (вначале я чувствовал

необходимость легких корзин) in which to carry my fruit and grain (в которых носить

мои плоды и зерно). So I began to study how baskets are made (изучать, как делаются

корзины).

It was not until I had searched almost every nook on the island (только после

того, как я обыскал каждый уголок острова) that I found some long slender twigs

(длинные гибкие прутья) that would bend to make wicker ware (которые бы гнулись,

чтобы сделать ивовую лозу = которые можно было гнуть, как ивовую лозу). Then I

spent many an hour learning how to weave these twigs together (я провел много часов,

изучая, как сплетать эти прутья вместе) and shape them into the form of a basket

(придавать форму корзины).

In the end (в конце концов), however (тем не менее), I was able to make as

good baskets as were ever bought in the market (я мог делать такие хорошие корзины,

которые когда-либо покупались на рынке).

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www

. f ranklang . r u

96

I had quite a goodly number of edge tools (хорошее количество режущих

инструментов). Among these there were three large axes (три больших топора) and a

great store of hatchets (большой запас топориков); for you will remember that we

carried hatchets to trade with the savages (так как вы должны помнить, что мы везли

топорики, чтобы торговать с дикарями). I had also many knives (также много

ножей).

But all these became very dull with use (стали тупыми от использования). I had

saved a grindstone from the wreck (спас точильный камень с остова корабля), but I

could not turn it and grind my tools at the same time (не мог крутить его и точить

инструменты в одно и то же время).

I studied hard to overcome this difficulty (напряженно думал, как преодолеть

эту трудность). At last (наконец), I managed to fasten a string to the crank of the

grindstone in such a way that I could turn it with my foot (умудрился прицепить

веревку к ручке точильного камня так, что я мог вертеть его ногой).

My tools were soon sharp, and I kept them so (инструменты вскоре были

острыми, и я держал их такими = поддерживал в таком состоянии).

sword [so:d] sickle [sikl] scythe [said]

I WORK UNDER MANY DIFFICULTIES

MY barley ripened and was ready to be harvested. I had neither scythe nor sickle

to cut it down.

But you will member that I had two old swords which I had found in the ship.

With one of the swords I cut off the heads of the barley and dropped them into a big

basket I had made. I carried these heads into my cave and thrashed out the grain with my

hands.

When all my harvesting was done, I measured the grain. I had two bushels of rice

and two bushels and a half of barley.

This pleased me very much. I felt now that I should soon be able to raise grain

enough for food.

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www

. f ranklang . r u

97

Have you ever thought how many things are necessary for the making of your

bread?

You have nothing to do but eat the bread after others have made it. But I had to

sow, to reap, to thrash, to grind, to sift, to mix, and to bake.

To do all these I needed many tools.

I had no plow to turn up the ground. I had no spade nor shovel with which to dig

it. But with great labor I made me a wooden spade, which was better than nothing.

After the ground was turned up, I sowed the seed by scattering it with my hands.

But it must be covered so it would grow, and I had no harrow. I cut down the branch of a

tree, and dragged it over the field. This, I think, was the way that people in old times

harrowed their ground.

The third thing to be done was to build a fence around my field. After that came

the reaping, the curing, the carrying home, the thrashing, the parting of the grain from the

chaff, the grinding.

I needed a mill to do the grinding. I needed a sieve to sift the flour. I needed yeast

and salt to mix with the dough. I needed an oven to bake it.

I had to do without the most of these things. And this made my work very slow

and hard.

I was very lucky in having saved so many tools from the wreck, and for this I was

indeed thankful. What a hard case I would have been in if I had saved nothing at all!

From time to time, as I felt the need of things I made a number of tools that

served me very well. They were not such tools as you would buy at the store, but what