как оставить его в лесу, где оно лежало)?
How foolish I had been (каким глупым, неразумным я был)! Why had I not
thought of the weight of the canoe before going to the labor of making it (почему я не
подумал о весе каноэ, перед тем как начать работу по созданию его)?
The wise man will always look before he leaps (мудрый человек всегда
посмотрит, прежде чем прыгнет). I certainly had not acted wisely (определенно не
действовал мудро).
I went back to my castle (вернулся в замок), feeling sad and thoughtful
(чувствуя себе грустным и задумчивым).
Why should I be discontented and unhappy (почему я должен быть таким
неудовлетворенным и несчастным)?
I was the master of all that I saw (я был владельцем всего, что я видел). I might
call myself the king of the island (я мог назвать себя королем острова).
I had all the comforts of life (я имел все удобства жизни).
I had food in plenty (еду в изобилии).
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I might raise shiploads of grain (мог бы вырастить корабли зерна; shipload —
судовой груз), but there was no market for it (не было рынка для него).
I had thousands of trees for timber (для древесины) and fue (топлива), but no
one wished to buy (но никто не хотел покупать).
I counted the money which I had brought from the ship (пересчитал деньги,
которые я принес с корабля). There were above a hundred pieces of gold and silver
(свыше 100 монет золота и серебра); but of what use were they (но какая польза от
них)?
I would have given all for a handful of peas or beans to plant (я отдал бы все за
горсть гороха и бобов /которые можно было бы/ посеять). I would have given all for
a bottle of ink (отдал бы все за бутылку чернил).
custom [‘kΛstəm] spread [spred] umbrella [Λm’brelə]
I BUILD A BIG CANOE
WHILE I was doing these things I was always trying to think of some way to
escape from the island. True, I was living there with much comfort. I was happier than I
had ever been while sailing the seas.
But I longed to see other men. I longed for home and friends.
You will remember that when I was over at the farther side of the island I had
seen land in the distance. Fifty or sixty miles of water lay between me and that land. Yet I
was always wishing that I could reach it.
It was a foolish wish. For there was no telling what I might find on that distant
shore.
Perhaps it was a far worse place than my little island. Perhaps there were savage
beasts there. Perhaps wild men lived there who would kill me and eat me.
I thought of all these things; but I was willing to risk every kind of danger rather
than stay where I was.
At last I made up my mind to build a boat. It should be large enough to carry me
and all that belonged to me. It should be strong enough to stand a long voyage over
stormy seas.
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I had seen the great canoes which Indians sometimes make of the trunks of trees. I
would make one of the same kind.
In the woods I found a cedar tree which I thought was just the right thing for my
canoe.
It was a huge tree. Its trunk was more than five feet through at the bottom.
I chopped and hewed many days before it fell to the ground. It took two weeks to
cut a log of the right length from it.
Then I went to work on the log. I chop and hewed and shaped the outside into the
form of a canoe. With hatchet and chisel I hollowed out the inside.
For full three months I worked on that cedar log. I was both proud and glad when
the canoe was finished. I had never seen so big a boat made from a single tree.
It was well shaped and handsome. More than twenty men might find room to sit
in it.
But now the hardest question of all must answered.
How was I to get my canoe into the water?
It lay not more than three hundred feet from the little river where I had first
landed with my raft.
But how was I to move it three hundred feet, or even one foot? It was so heavy
that I could not even roll it over.
I thought of several plans. But when I came to reckon the time and the labor, I
found that even by the easiest plan it would take twenty years to get the canoe into the
water.
What could I do but leave it in the woods where it lay?
How foolish I had been! Why had I not thought of the weight of the canoe before
going to the labor of making it?
The wise man will always look before he leaps. I certainly had not acted wisely.
I went back to my castle, feeling sad and thoughtful.
Why should I be discontented and unhappy?
I was the master of all that I saw. I might call myself the king of the island.
I had all the comforts of life.
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. f ranklang . r u
109
I had food in plenty.
I might raise shiploads of grain, but there was no market for it.
I had thousands of trees for timber and fuel, but no one wished to buy.
I counted the money which I had brought from the ship. There were above a
hundred pieces of gold and silver; but of what use were they?
I would have given all for a handful of peas or beans to plant. I would have given
all for a bottle of ink.
I MAKE AN UMBRELLA (зонтик)
AS the years went by (пока проходили годы) the things which I had brought
from the ship were used up or worn out (использовались /до конца/ и износились).
My biscuits lasted more than a year (печенья хватило более чем на год); for I
ate only one cake each day (так как я ел только одно печенье каждый день).
My ink soon gave out (чернила вскоре иссякли), and then I had no more use for
pens or paper (затем я не мог больше использовать карандаши и бумагу).
At last my clothes were all worn out (наконец одежда моя была вся изношена).
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The weather (погода) was always warm on my island and there was little need for
clothes (была малая необходимость в одежде). But I could not go without them (но я
не мог выходить без нее).
It so happened that I had saved the skins of all the animals I had killed (так
случилось, что я сохранял шкуры всех животных, /которых/ я убил).