Дом ста дорог полностью

Данная книга из серии «Ходячий замок», сделана из двух: «House of Many Ways» и «Дом ста дорог», автор Диана Уинн Джонс.

В данном файле - первая половина книги (8 глав).

Причины такого "обрезания" следующие:

1. Лень, плюс знание о двух последующимх пунктах.

2. Файл из двух книг будет слишком "тяжел" (в некоторых читалках, открываться будет плохо).

3. По своему опыту знаю, что упорства читателя хватит, ну максимум на три главы, но если ВАША сила воли достоточна для прочтения половины книги... то, ВЫ сможете прочитать ее и целиком в оригинале, без подсказок.

Я старался соотнести по смыслу английский текст с его переводом, часто переводчик вводит в текст "отсебятину", но ведь это не "подстрочник", цель переводчика донести смысл... Но отсутствие «разжеванных» ответов, как мне кажется, будет лучше стимулировать мысль учащегося.

Полноценно работать с данным пособием можно на устройстве, поддерживающем гиперссылки: компьютер или различные «читалки» с сенсорным экраном, желательно со словарем.

Успехов!

W_cat.

[3] "Charmain must do it," said Aunt Sempronia. "We can't leave Great-Uncle William to face this on his own."

[4] "Your Great-Uncle William?" said Mrs. Baker. "Isn't he-" She coughed and lowered her voice because this, to her mind, was not quite nice. "Isn't he a wizard?"

[5] "Of course," said Aunt Sempronia. "But he has-" Here she too lowered her voice. "He has a growth, you know, on his insides, and only the elves can help him. They have to carry him off in order to cure him, you see, and someone has to look after his house. Spells, you know, escape if there's no one there to watch them. And I am far too busy to do it. My stray dogs' charity alone-"

[6] "Me too. We're up to our ears in wedding cake orders this month," Mrs. Baker said hastily. "Sam was saying only this morning-"

[7] "Then it has to be Charmain," Aunt Sempronia decreed. "Surely she's old enough now."

"Er-" said Mrs. Baker.

[8] They both looked across the parlor to where Mrs. Baker's daughter sat, deep in a book, as usual, with her long, thin body bent into what sunlight came in past Mrs. Baker's geraniums, her red hair pinned up in a sort of birds' nest, and her glasses perched on the end of her nose. She held one of her father's huge juicy pasties in one hand and munched it as she read. Crumbs kept falling on her book, and she brushed them off with the pasty when they fell on the page she was reading.

[9] "Er…did you hear us, dear?" Mrs. Baker said anxiously.

"No," Charmain said with her mouth full. "What?"

[10] "That's settled, then," Aunt Sempronia said. "I'll leave it to you to explain to her, Berenice, dear." She stood up, majestically shaking out the folds of her stiff silk dress and then of her silk parasol. "I'll be back to fetch her tomorrow morning," she said. "Now I'd better go and tell poor Great-Uncle William that Charmain will be taking care of things for him."

[11] She swept out of the parlor, leaving Mrs. Baker to wish that her husband's aunt was not so rich or so bossy, and to wonder how she was going to explain to Charmain, let alone to Sam. Sam never allowed Charmain to do anything that was not utterly respectable. Nor did Mrs. Baker either, except when Aunt Sempronia took a hand.

[12] Aunt Sempronia, meanwhile, mounted into her smart little pony-trap and had her groom drive her beyond the other side of town where Great-Uncle William lived.

[13] "I've fixed it all up," she announced, sailing through the magic ways to where Great-Uncle William sat glumly writing in his study. "My great-niece Charmain is coming here tomorrow. She will see you on your way and look after you when you come back. In between, she will take care of the house for you."

[14] "How very kind of her," said Great-Uncle William. "I take it she is well versed in magic, then?"

[15] "I have no idea," said Aunt Sempronia. "What I do know is that she never has her nose out of a book, never does a hand's turn in the house, and is treated like a sacred object by both her parents. It will do her good to do something normal for a change."

[16] "Oh, dear," said Great-Uncle William. "Thank you for warning me. I shall take precautions, then."

[17] "Do that," said Aunt Sempronia. "And you had better make sure there is plenty of food in the place. I've never known a girl who eats so much. And remains thin as a witch's besom with it. I've never understood it. I'll bring her here tomorrow before the elves come, then."

She turned and left.

[18] "Thank you," Great-Uncle William said weakly to her stiff, rustling back. "Dear, dear," he added, as the front door slammed. "Ah, well. One has to be grateful to one's relatives, I suppose."