Легкое чтение на английском языке. Дж. Свифт. Путешествия Гулливера / Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels

The city is an exact square. Each side is five hundred feet long. The two main streets, which divide the city into quarters, are five feet wide. I could not enter the lanes and alleys, which are only twelve to eighteen inches wide. The town can house about five hundred thousand people. The houses are from three to five stories high and the many shops and markets are well stocked.

The Emperor’s palace is in the centre of the city (императорский дворец расположен в центре города), where the two main streets meet (где пересекаются: «встречаются» две главные улицы). It is surrounded by a two-foot wall (он окружен стеною в два фута вышины) which is twenty feet from the buildings (которая находится на расстоянии в двадцать футов от построек). The space between the wall and the palace is so wide (пространство между стеною и дворцом такое широкое) that I was able to see the palace easily (что я легко смог его оглядеть). I wanted to see the inner courtyard with the royal apartments (я хотел осмотреть внутренний двор с королевскими апартаментами), but this was extremely difficult (но это было чрезвычайно трудно /сделать/) because the main gates were only eighteen inches high and seven inches wide (потому что главные ворота имели только восемнадцать дюймов в высоту и семь дюймов в ширину). The buildings of the outer courtyard, however, were at least five feet high (здания внешнего двора были, однако, по крайней мере пяти футов высотой) and it was impossible for me to climb over them (и для меня было невозможно = я не мог перебраться через них) without the risk of damaging them (без риска = не рискуя повредить их).

The Emperor’s palace is in the centre of the city, where the two main streets meet. It is surrounded by a two-foot wall which is twenty feet from the buildings. The space between the wall and the palace is so wide that I was able to see the palace easily. I wanted to see the inner courtyard with the royal apartments, but this was extremely difficult because the main gates were only eighteen inches high and seven inches wide. The buildings of the outer courtyard, however, were at least five feet high and it was impossible for me to climb over them without the risk of damaging them.

The Emperor was very keen for me to see his palace (очень хотел, чтобы я посмотрел его дворец; keen – увлеченный, пылкий; стремящийся /к чему-либо/), so I spent the next three days (поэтому следующие три дня я провел) cutting down some of the largest trees in the royal park with my knife (срезая своим ножом некоторые из самых крупных деревьев в королевском парке) in order to make two three-foot-high stools (чтобы изготовить два табурета в три фута высотой). Then I went through the city again to the palace (затем я снова прошел через город ко дворцу) carrying my two stools (неся два моих табурета).

The Emperor was very keen for me to see his palace, so I spent the next three days cutting down some of the largest trees in the royal park with my knife in order to make two three-foot-high stools. Then I went through the city again to the palace carrying my two stools.