Английский для смелых. Истории о духах и привидениях / Great Ghost Stories - Михаил Сарапов

 Dr Teesdale was a bachelor and a man of independent means, and lived in a tall-windowed and commodious house in Bedford Square, where a plain cook of surpassing excellence looked after his food, and her husband his person. There was no need for him to practise a profession at all, and he performed his work at the prison for the sake of the study of the minds of criminals. Most crime – the transgression, that is, of the rule of conduct which the human race has framed for the sake of its own preservation – he held to be either the result of some abnormality of the brain or of starvation. Crimes of theft, for instance, he would by no means refer to one head; often it is true they were the result of actual want, but more often dictated by some obscure disease of the brain. In marked cases it was labelled as kleptomania, but he was convinced there were many others which did not fall directly under dictation of physical need. More especially was this the case where the crime in question involved also some deed of violence, and he mentally placed underneath this heading, as he went home that evening, the criminal at whose last moments he had been present that morning. The crime had been abominable, the need of money not so very pressing, and the very abomination and unnaturalness of the murder inclined him to consider the murderer as lunatic rather than criminal. He had been, as far as was known, a man of quiet and kindly disposition, a good husband, a sociable neighbour. And then he had committed a crime, just one, which put him outside all pales. So monstrous a deed; whether perpetrated by a sane man or a mad one, was intolerable; there was no use for the doer of it on this planet at all. But somehow the doctor felt that he would have been more at one with the execution of justice, if the dead man had confessed. It was morally certain that he was guilty, but he wished that when there was no longer any hope for him he had endorsed the verdict himself.

He dined alone that evening (в этот вечер он обедал один), and after dinner sat in his study which adjoined the dining-room (и после обеда сидел в своем кабинете, который примыкал к столовой), and feeling disinclined to read (не чувствуя желания читать; disinclined – несклонный, нерасположенный), sat in his great red chair opposite the fireplace, and let his mind graze where it would (/он/ сел в свое большое красное кресло напротив камина и позволил своим мыслям свободно витать: «позволил своему уму пастись, где он захочет»). At once almost, it went back to the curious sensation he had experienced that morning (почти сразу они вернулись к тому странному: «любопытному» ощущению, что он испытал тем утром), of feeling that the spirit of Linkworth was present in the mortuary, though life had been extinct for an hour (к чувству, что дух Линкворта присутствовал в морге, хотя жизнь покинула тело час назад; extinct – угасший). It was not the first time, especially in cases of sudden death, that he had felt a similar conviction (это было не в первый раз, особенно в случаях внезапной смерти, что он испытывал подобное чувство; conviction – убежденность, твердая вера), though perhaps it had never been quite so unmistakable as it had been today (хотя, возможно, оно никогда не было таким cовершенно однозначным: «безошибочным», как сегодня). Yet the feeling, to his mind, was quite probably formed on a natural and psychical truth (хотя это чувство, на его взгляд: «для его ума», было, вполне возможно, основано на естественном психическом факте; truth – правда; истина). The spirit – it may be remarked that he was a believer in the doctrine of future life (дух – тут стоит: «можно» заметить, что он был сторонником доктрины жизни после смерти; believer – верующий; приверженец, сторонник; future life = a life after death = afterlife – жизнь после смерти, загробная жизнь), and the non-extinction of the soul with the death of the body (и того, что душа не умирает: «и неугасания души» со смертью тела) – was very likely unable or unwilling to quit at once and altogether the earthly habitation (вполне вероятно, был не в состоянии или не хотел покидать сразу и навсегда свое земное пристанище), very likely it lingered there, earthbound, for a while (вполне вероятно, некоторое время он медлил возле тела, привязанный к бренной плоти; earthbound – земной; связанный с жизнью; earth – земля; to bind – связывать; привязывать). In his leisure hours Dr Teesdale was a considerable student of the occult (немало своего свободного времени доктор Тисдейл уделял изучению оккультизма: «в свои часы досуга доктор Тисдейл был заметным исследователем оккультного»; leisure – /сущ./ досуг, свободное время; /прил./ свободный; considerable – значительный; важный; почитаемый; student – изучающий /что-либо/; ученый), for like most advanced and proficient physicians, he clearly recognised how narrow was the boundary of separation between soul and body (так как – как большинство прогрессивных и опытных врачей – он ясно понимал, как тонка была граница между душой и телом; advanced – выдвинутый вперeд, находящийся впереди; современный, передовой; proficient – искусный; опытный; умелый; narrow – узкий; едва достаточный, минимальный; separation – отделение; разделение), how tremendous the influence of the intangible was over material things (насколько огромно было влияние неосязаемого/непостижимого на материальный мир; intangible – неосязаемый; неуловимый; непостижимый), and it presented no difficulty to his mind (и ему совсем не казалось странным: «и это не предоставляло никакой трудности для его ума») that a disembodied spirit should be able to communicate directly with those who still were bounded by the finite and material (что бестелесный дух может быть в состоянии непосредственно сообщаться с теми, кто еще был скован конечным и материальным; to bound – ограничивать, ставить предел, сдерживать).

 He dined alone that evening, and after dinner sat in his study which adjoined the dining-room, and feeling disinclined to read, sat in his great red chair opposite the fireplace, and let his mind graze where it would. At once almost, it went back to the curious sensation he had experienced that morning, of feeling that the spirit of Linkworth was present in the mortuary, though life had been extinct for an hour. It was not the first time, especially in cases of sudden death, that he had felt a similar conviction, though perhaps it had never been quite so unmistakable as it had been today. Yet the feeling, to his mind, was quite probably formed on a natural and psychical truth. The spirit – it may be remarked that he was a believer in the doctrine of future life, and the non-extinction of the soul with the death of the body – was very likely unable or unwilling to quit at once and altogether the earthly habitation, very likely it lingered there, earthbound, for a while. In his leisure hours Dr Teesdale was a considerable student of the occult, for like most advanced and proficient physicians, he clearly recognised how narrow was the boundary of separation between soul and body, how tremendous the influence of the intangible was over material things, and it presented no difficulty to his mind that a disembodied spirit should be able to communicate directly with those who still were bounded by the finite and material.

His meditations, which were beginning to group themselves into definite sequence, were interrupted at this moment (его размышления, которые начали приобретать определенную направленность, были прерваны в этот момент; to group – группироваться, собираться, сочетаться; sequence – последовательность; порядок). On his desk near at hand stood his telephone, and the bell rang (на его столе близко под рукой стоял телефон, и он зазвонил; bell – колокол, колокольчик; звонок; to ring), not with its usual metallic insistence (не со своей обычной металлической настойчивостью; to insist – настаивать), but very faintly, as if the current was weak, or the mechanism impaired (но очень слабо, как если бы упало напряжение: «ток был слаб» или был поврежден механизм; current – струя; поток, течение; электрический ток). However, it certainly was ringing (и все же это определенно был звонок: «он определенно звонил»), and he got up and took the combined ear and mouthpiece off its hook (и он встал и взял трубку: «взял совмещенный головной телефон и микрофон с его рычага»; ear – ухо; mouthpiece – мундштук; телефонная трубка; hook – крюк, крючок; рычаг телефонного аппарата).

‘Yes, yes,’ he said, ‘who is it (да, да, – сказал он, – кто это)?’

There was a whisper in reply almost inaudible, and quite unintelligible (/в ответ/ раздался шепот, почти неслышный и совершенно неразборчивый).

‘I can’t hear you (я не слышу вас: «я не могу вас услышать»),’ he said.

Again the whisper sounded, but with no greater distinctness (снова послышался шепот, ничуть не более разборчивый: «с не большей отчетливостью»). Then it ceased altogether (потом он совсем стих; to cease – прекращаться).

He stood there, for some half minute or so, waiting for it to be renewed (он постоял там с полминуты или около того, ожидая услышать еще что-то: «ожидая, что он возобновится»), but beyond the usual chuckling and croaking (но кроме обычного шипения и треска; to chuckle – кудахтать; крякать; гоготать; to croak – каркать; квакать), which showed, however, that he was in communication with some other instrument, there was silence (которое однако показывало, что была установлена связь с другим аппаратом, в трубке: «там» была тишина). Then he replaced the receiver, rang up the Exchange, and gave his number (тогда он положил трубку, позвонил на коммутатор и назвал: «дал» свой номер; to replace – класть на место; exchange – обмен; коммутатор, центральная телефонная станция).

 His meditations, which were beginning to group themselves into definite sequence, were interrupted at this moment. On his desk near at hand stood his telephone, and the bell rang, not with its usual metallic insistence, but very faintly, as if the current was weak, or the mechanism impaired. However, it certainly was ringing, and he got up and took the combined ear and mouthpiece off its hook.

‘Yes, yes,’ he said, ‘who is it?’

There was a whisper in reply almost inaudible, and quite unintelligible.

‘I can’t hear you,’ he said.

Again the whisper sounded, but with no greater distinctness. Then it ceased altogether.

He stood there, for some half minute or so, waiting for it to be renewed, but beyond the usual chuckling and croaking, which showed, however, that he was in communication with some other instrument, there was silence. Then he replaced the receiver, rang up the Exchange, and gave his number.

‘Can you tell me what number rang me up just now?’ he asked (вы можете мне сказать, с какого номера мне только что звонили? – спросил он).

There was a short pause, then it was given him (последовала короткая пауза, затем ему назвали номер: «затем он был дан ему»). It was the number of the prison, where he was doctor (это был номер той тюрьмы, где он работал доктором).

‘Put me on to it, please (соедините меня, пожалуйста),’ he said.

This was done (это было сделано).