Кентервильское привидение. Человек-невидимка / The Canterville Ghost. The Invisible Man. Оскар Уайльд

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СКАЧАТЬ and one rolling eyeball,[51] in the character of “Dumb Daniel, or the Suicide’s Skeleton,”[52] a role in which he had on more than one occasion produced a great effect.”

      At half-past ten he heard the family going to bed. He chuckled to himself, and turned the corner; but no sooner had he done so, than, with a wail of terror, he fell back, and hid his face in his long, bony hands. Right in front of him was standing a horrible spectre, motionless as a carven image,[53] and monstrous as a madman’s dream! Its head was bald and burnished; its face round, and fat, and white; and hideous laughter seemed to have writhed its features into an eternal grin. From the eyes streamed rays of scarlet light and a hideous garment, like to his own, swathed with its silent snows the Titan form. On its breast was a placard with strange writing in antique characters,[54] some scroll of shame it seemed, some record of wild sins, some awful calendar of crime, and, with its right hand, it bore a falchion of gleaming steel.

      Never having seen a ghost before, he naturally was terribly frightened, and, after a second hasty glance at the awful phantom, he fled back to his room, tripping up[55] in his long winding-sheet, and finally dropping the rusty dagger into the Minister’s jack-boots, where it was found in the morning by the butler. Once in the privacy of his own apartment, he flung himself down on a small pallet-bed,[56] and hid his face under the clothes. After a time, however, the brave old Canterville spirit asserted itself, and he determined to go and speak to the other ghost as soon as it was daylight. Accordingly, just as the dawn was touching the hills with silver, he returned towards the spot where he had first seen the phantom, feeling that, after all, two ghosts were better than one, and that, by the aid of his new friend, he might safely grapple with the twins. On reaching the spot, however, a terrible sight met his gaze. Something had evidently happened to the spectre, for the light had entirely faded from its hollow eyes, the falchion had fallen from its hand, and it was leaning up against the wall in a strained and uncomfortable attitude.[57] He rushed forward and seized it in his arms, when, to his horror, the head slipped off and rolled on the floor, the body assumed a recumbent posture,[58] and he found himself clasping a white dimity bed-curtain, with a sweeping-brush, a kitchen knife, and a hollow turnip lying at his feet! Unable to understand this curious transformation, he clutched the placard with haste, and there, in the grey morning light, he read these fearful words:

      YE OTIS GHOSTE

      Ye Onlie True and Originale Spook,

      Beware of Ye Imitationes.

      All others are counterfeite.[59]

      The whole thing flashed across him. He had been tricked, foiled, and outwitted! The old Canterville look came into his eyes; he ground his toothless gums together; and, raising his hands high above his head, swore according to the picturesque phraseology of the antique school, that, when Chanticleer had sounded twice his merry horn,[60] deeds of blood would happen, and murder walk abroad with silent feet.

      Hardly had he finished this awful oath when, from the red-tiled roof of a distant homestead, a cock crew. He laughed a long, low, bitter laugh, and waited. Hour after hour he waited, but the cock, for some strange reason, did not crow again. Finally, at half-past seven, the arrival of the housemaids made him give up his fearful vigil, and he returned back to his room, thinking of his vain oath and ruined hopes. There he consulted several books of ancient chivalry, of which he was fond, and found that, on every occasion on which this oath had been used, Chanticleer[61] had always crowed a second time. “Perdition seize the naughty fowl,[62]” he muttered. And he then retired to a comfortable lead coffin, and stayed there till evening.

      Exercises

      1. Answer the questions:

      1. Why was the United States Minister a little annoyed?

      2. When did the ghost appear for the second time?

      3. What did the twins do to the ghost?

      4. What did Mrs. Otis bring to the ghost?

      5. Did the ghost make a third attempt to frighten the United States Minister and his family?

      6. What was his plan of action?

      7. What did the ghost see when he turned the corner?

      8. What did the terrible spectre look like?

      9. Why was the ghost frightened?

      10. Who constructed the terrible spectre?

      When did the ghost return to his room?

      2. True or false?

      1. The United States Minister was naturally a little annoyed to find that his present had not been accepted.

      2. The twins were very sorry for the things they had done to the ghost.

      3. The second appearance of the ghost was on Saturday night.

      4. Mrs. Otis brought the ghost some pills.

      5. The ghost felt distressed because he had been unable to wear the suit of mail.

      6. The ghost resolved to make a third attempt to frighten the United States Minister and his family.

      7. The ghost bore Virginia a special grudge, being quite aware that it was she who was in the habit of removing the famous Canterville blood-stain by means of Pinkerton’s Paragon Detergent.

      8. When the ghost turned the corner he saw a beautiful lady right in front of him.

      9. The twins managed to outwit the ghost.

      10. At half-past seven the ghost returned back to his room, thinking of his vain oath and ruined hopes.

      3. Find in the text the English equivalents to the following words and expressions:

      справедливое замечание, по некоторой необъяснимой причине, в соответствии с, в полной темноте, несварение желудка, в бешенстве, турнир, в надлежащем состоянии, ржавый, безрассудный юнец, преподать урок, табличка, живописный, кровавые деяния, свинцовый гроб.

      4. Write questions to the following answers.

      1. The United States Minister was a little annoyed because his present had not been accepted.

      2. The chameleon-like colour of СКАЧАТЬ