|
сжался, скукожился| to $20, the letters of “Dillingham” looked
blurred |
размыто|, as though they were thinking seriously of
contracting to a modest and unassuming D.
|…переделать на более скромное и непретенциозное| But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called “Jim” and greatly hugged by
Mrs. James Dillingham Young |
в английском часто принято называть супругу по имени мужа: миссис Джеймс…|, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.
Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag |прошлась пудрой по щекам|. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard. To-morrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving |она откладывала… Had been и глагол с окончанием -ing значит, что она что-то делала вплоть до того самого момента в рассказе| every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn’t go far |…далеко неуедешь|. Expenses had been greater |былибольше| than she had calculated. They always are |Итакпроисходитвсегда|. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour |Многиечасы| she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling |безукоризненное| – something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honour of being owned by Jim |что-тохотьблизко стоящее той радости принадлежать Джиму|.
There was a pier-glass |трюмо с зеркалом| between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier-glass in an $8 flat. A very thin and very agile |ловкий| person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips |отражение в целом ряду вытянутых полос|, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks |может получить более или менее верное представление о том, как он выглядит|. Della, being slender, had mastered the art.
Suddenly she whirled |to whirl – кружиться, вертеться| from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its colour within |в течение, в пределах чего-либо| twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down |to pull down – потянуть вниз| her hair and let it fall |буквально – позволила упасть. Лучше – отпустила