Jack London. To Build a Fire (in English, in the original)

Jack London. To Build a Fire. Part 4

  • forks of the creek – у развилки ручья
  • he kept it up – продолжить идти с той же скоростью
  • exposed fingers – голые кисти руки
  • the sting – острая боль
  • struck – ударил (от to strike)
  • baring the other hand – оголив другую руку
  • He tried to take a mouthful, but the ice-muzzle prevented. – Он хотел откусить, но не мог, мешал ледяной намордник.
  • chuckled – засмеялся (от to chuckle)

At twelve o’clock the day was at its brightest. Yet the sun was too far south on its winter journey to clear the horizon. The bulge of the earth intervened between it and Henderson Creek, where the man walked under a clear sky at noon and cast no shadow. At half-past twelve, to the minute, he arrived at the forks of the creek. He was pleased at the speed he had made. If he kept it up, he would certainly be with the boys by six. He unbuttoned his jacket and shirt and drew forth his lunch. The action consumed no more than a quarter of a minute, yet in that brief moment the numbness laid hold of the exposed fingers. He did not put the mitten on, but, instead, struck the fingers a dozen sharp smashes against his leg. Then he sat down on a snow-covered log to eat. The sting that followed upon the striking of his fingers against his leg ceased so quickly that he was startled, he had had no chance to take a bite of biscuit. He struck the fingers repeatedly and returned them to the mitten, baring the other hand for the purpose of eating. He tried to take a mouthful, but the ice-muzzle prevented. He had forgotten to build a fire and thaw out. He chuckled at his foolishness, and as he chuckled he noted the numbness creeping into the exposed fingers. Also, he noted that the stinging which had first come to his toes when he sat down was already passing away. He wondered whether the toes were warm or numbed. He moved them inside the moccasins and decided that they were numbed.

  • one must not be too sure – никогда нельзя быть настолько уверенным в себе
  • thawed – оттаяла (от to thaw – таять)
  • outwitted – перехитрил (от to outwit)

Джек Лондон. У костра. He pulled the mitten on hurriedly and stood up. He was a bit frightened. He stamped up and down until the stinging returned into the feet. It certainly was cold, was his thought. That man from Sulphur Creek had spoken the truth when telling how cold it sometimes got in the country. And he had laughed at him at the time! That showed one must not be too sure of things. There was no mistake about it, it was cold. He strode up and down, stamping his feet and threshing his arms, until reassured by the returning warmth. Then he got out matches and proceeded to make a fire. From the undergrowth, where high water of the previous spring had lodged a supply of seasoned twigs, he got his firewood. Working carefully from a small beginning, he soon had a roaring fire, over which he thawed the ice from his face and in the protection of which he ate his biscuits. For the moment the cold of space was outwitted. The dog took satisfaction in the fire, stretching out close enough for warmth and far enough away to escape being singed.

  • his ancestry – его предки
  • keen intimacy – тесная связь
  • caresses – ласка
  • whip- lash – кнут
  • apprehension – опасение

When the man had finished, he filled his pipe and took his comfortable time over a smoke. Then he pulled on his mittens, settled the ear-flaps of his cap firmly about his ears, and took the creek trail up the left fork. The dog was disappointed and yearned back toward the fire. This man did not know cold. Possibly all the generations of his ancestry had been ignorant of cold, of real cold, of cold one hundred and seven degrees below freezing-point. But the dog knew; all its ancestry knew, and it had inherited the knowledge. And it knew that it was not good to walk abroad in such fearful cold. It was the time to lie snug in a hole in the snow and wait for a curtain of cloud to be drawn across the face of outer space whence this cold came. On the other hand, there was keen intimacy between the dog and the man. The one was the toil-slave of the other, and the only caresses it had ever received were the caresses of the whip- lash and of harsh and menacing throat-sounds that threatened the whip-lash. So the dog made no effort to communicate its apprehension to the man. It was not concerned in the welfare of the man; it was for its own sake that it yearned back toward the fire. But the man whistled, and spoke to it with the sound of whip-lashes, and the dog swung in at the man’s heels and followed after.

Read the story «To Build a Fire» in Russian online — «Развести костер» (часть 4) читать онлайн на русском языке

6 thoughts on “Jack London. To Build a Fire (in English, in the original)
  1. Vladimir says:

    Здравствуйте! Напутали Вы тут с температурой. Действительно, +32 градуса по Фаренгейту это 0 градусов по Цельсию, но -50 по Фаренгейту это -45,6 по Цельсию (а не -82, как у Вас). Кстати, самая низкая температура на Земле была зафиксирована в Антарктиде, около -89 по Цельсию. В 19 веке и в начале 20 века были популярны спиртовые термометры Реомюра. В рассказе «To build a fire» предложение «Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty odd degrees of frost» следует перевести так «Пятьдесят градусов ниже нуля по Реомюру означало восемьдесят с лишним градусов мороза по Фаренгейту».
    -50 Реомюр = -80,5 Фаренгейт = -62,5 Цельсий
    С уважением,
    В.

    • admin says:

      Спасибо огромное за столь дельное замечание. Признаюсь, ничего не знала о спиртовых термометрах Реомюра. Исправлю обязательно)

    • Vladimir says:

      Похоже, что я тоже чуть напутал :))
      Вариант перевода, где упоминается Реомюр, часто встречается в Интернете. Но в рассказе, видимо, речь _только_ о градусах Фаренгейта. Логика автора такая: температура замерзания воды это +32 по Фаренгейту (или 0 по Цельсию). Если термометр показывает -50 по Фаренгейту, то для автора это то же самое, что 82 градуса мороза.
      Если -75 по Фаренгейту, то для автора это 107 градусов мороза.

      В рассказе «To build a fire» читаем:
      It was seventy-five below zero. Since the freezing-point is thirty-two above zero, it meant that one hundred and seven degrees of frost obtained.

      -75 Фаренгейт = -59,4 Цельсий

      Холодно! :))

      С уважением,
      В.

    • admin says:

      То есть все равно около минус 60 градусов по Цельсию получается. ОК, но я еще сама попробую разобраться)) Спасибо!

  2. Соболев Александр Александрович, says:

    Картинка на обложке книжки не соответствует содержанию. Он развел костер под сосной…

    • Tatiana says:

      Вы очень внимательны. Спасибо! Буду благодарна, если вы поможете исправить это недоразумение и нарисуете такую картинку!

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