Английский язык с Робинзоном Крузо

воду)?

It lay not more than three hundred feet from the little river (лежало не более чем

в 300 футах от реки) where I had first landed with my raft (где я впервые причалил с

моим плотом).

But how was I to move it three hundred feet, or even one foot (но как я должен

был сдвинуть его на триста футов, или даже на один фут)? It was so heavy that I

could not even roll it over (было таким тяжелым, что я не мог даже перевернуть его).

I thought of several plans (придумал несколькох планов). But when I came to

reckon the time and the labor (но когда я подошел к подсчету времени и труда), I

found that even by the easiest plan it would take twenty years to get the canoe into the

water (обнаружил, что даже при самом простом плане потребовалось бы 20 лет,

чтобы спустить каноэ на воду).

What could I do but leave it in the woods where it lay (что мог я сделать, кроме

как оставить его в лесу, где оно лежало)?

How foolish I had been (каким глупым, неразумным я был)! Why had I not

thought of the weight of the canoe before going to the labor of making it (почему я не

подумал о весе каноэ, перед тем как начать работу по созданию его)?

The wise man will always look before he leaps (мудрый человек всегда

посмотрит, прежде чем прыгнет). I certainly had not acted wisely (определенно не

действовал мудро).

I went back to my castle (вернулся в замок), feeling sad and thoughtful

(чувствуя себе грустным и задумчивым).

Why should I be discontented and unhappy (почему я должен быть таким

неудовлетворенным и несчастным)?

I was the master of all that I saw (я был владельцем всего, что я видел). I might

call myself the king of the island (я мог назвать себя королем острова).

I had all the comforts of life (я имел все удобства жизни).

I had food in plenty (еду в изобилии).

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www

. f ranklang . r u

107

I might raise shiploads of grain (мог бы вырастить корабли зерна; shipload —

судовой груз), but there was no market for it (не было рынка для него).

I had thousands of trees for timber (для древесины) and fue (топлива), but no

one wished to buy (но никто не хотел покупать).

I counted the money which I had brought from the ship (пересчитал деньги,

которые я принес с корабля). There were above a hundred pieces of gold and silver

(свыше 100 монет золота и серебра); but of what use were they (но какая польза от

них)?

I would have given all for a handful of peas or beans to plant (я отдал бы все за

горсть гороха и бобов /которые можно было бы/ посеять). I would have given all for

a bottle of ink (отдал бы все за бутылку чернил).

custom [‘kstm] spread [spred] umbrella [m’brel]

I BUILD A BIG CANOE

WHILE I was doing these things I was always trying to think of some way to

escape from the island. True, I was living there with much comfort. I was happier than I

had ever been while sailing the seas.

But I longed to see other men. I longed for home and friends.

You will remember that when I was over at the farther side of the island I had

seen land in the distance. Fifty or sixty miles of water lay between me and that land. Yet I

was always wishing that I could reach it.

It was a foolish wish. For there was no telling what I might find on that distant

shore.

Perhaps it was a far worse place than my little island. Perhaps there were savage

beasts there. Perhaps wild men lived there who would kill me and eat me.

I thought of all these things; but I was willing to risk every kind of danger rather

than stay where I was.

At last I made up my mind to build a boat. It should be large enough to carry me

and all that belonged to me. It should be strong enough to stand a long voyage over

stormy seas.

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www

. f ranklang . r u

108

I had seen the great canoes which Indians sometimes make of the trunks of trees. I

would make one of the same kind.

In the woods I found a cedar tree which I thought was just the right thing for my

canoe.

It was a huge tree. Its trunk was more than five feet through at the bottom.

I chopped and hewed many days before it fell to the ground. It took two weeks to

cut a log of the right length from it.

Then I went to work on the log. I chop and hewed and shaped the outside into the

form of a canoe. With hatchet and chisel I hollowed out the inside.

For full three months I worked on that cedar log. I was both proud and glad when

the canoe was finished. I had never seen so big a boat made from a single tree.

It was well shaped and handsome. More than twenty men might find room to sit

in it.

But now the hardest question of all must answered.

How was I to get my canoe into the water?

It lay not more than three hundred feet from the little river where I had first

landed with my raft.

But how was I to move it three hundred feet, or even one foot? It was so heavy

that I could not even roll it over.

I thought of several plans. But when I came to reckon the time and the labor, I

found that even by the easiest plan it would take twenty years to get the canoe into the

water.

What could I do but leave it in the woods where it lay?

How foolish I had been! Why had I not thought of the weight of the canoe before