Anne of Green Gables. Аня из Зелёных Мезонинов. Адаптированная книга на английском
Люси Мод Монтгомери
Мэтью и Марилла ждут из приюта мальчика. А приходит девочка. Девочка Аня с рыжими волосами и веснушками, которая просит называть её Корделия, потому что так звучит благородней. У Ани поразительная способность находить неприятности – ни дня без приключений! Текст сокращен и адаптирован под уровень B1-. Подойдет для чтения, начиная с 8-го класса, а также взрослым, изучающим английский язык. В книге есть сноски с переводом слов и небольшие упражнения на повторение лексики.
Люси Мод Монтгомери
Anne of Green Gables. Аня из Зелёных Мезонинов. Адаптированная книга на английском
Chapter 1
Matthew Cuthbert, wearing his white suit, at half past three was riding out of Avonlea. The horse wasn’t the best, so he was riding not so fast. Matthew didn’t come out of home in Green Gables very often, so this was unusual. But where was he going?
His sister Marilla sent him off to get an orphan[1 - ['?:f(?)n] – сиротский] boy.
Matthew and Marilla were a brother and a sister, they were in their fifties. Marilla was a tall and thin woman, she had dark hair with some grey parts. Matthew had grey hair and a beard[2 - [b??d] – борода]. He was afraid of women and thought they laughed[3 - [l??f] – смеяться] at him.
They thought about adopting[4 - adopt – [??d?pt] – усыновить/удочерить] a boy all winter. Matthew was not so young anymore, he couldn’t work as hard as he used to.[5 - как раньше] A boy would be such a help. They wanted a boy of ten or eleven years old: old enough to help and young enough to teach him everything.
Marilla’s friend Mrs. Rachel told her that adopting a child is a very foolish[6 - [?fu?l??] – глупая] thing to do. Marilla wanted to bring a strange child home not knowing his parents and not knowing the boy’s personality[7 - [?p??s??n?l?ti] – характер, личность]. She also told her some stories she heard about orphan children and awful[8 - [???fl] – ужасный] things they did.
“Well, I hope everything will be all right,” said Marilla to her friend.
Exercise: What are these words?
orphan
to laugh
enough
adopt
personality
Chapter 2
Matthew Cuthbert and his slow horse were going down the road to the train station. He needed to pick a boy from there.
He came to the station but there was no train. He thought he came too early. He looked around and tried to find a sign[9 - [sa?n] – знак, намёк] of any boy. However, there was a girl. She sat there waiting for something or somebody. Matthew walked past her to the officer.
“Excuse me, when is the five-thirty train going to arrive?” asked Matthew.
“The five-thirty train was here and went away half an hour ago,” the officer answered. “But there is a passenger for you from the train – a little girl.”
“But I came here for a boy,” said Matthew.
“But I came here for a boy,” said Matthew.
The officer whistled[10 - wisl [?w?sl] – свистеть]. “A mistake. Mrs. Spencer came off the train with that girl and said you and sister were adopting[11 - adopt – [??d?pt] – усыновить/удочерить] her from a children’s home.”
A girl was about eleven years old, she was wearing an ugly yellow dress and a grey hat. Under the hat she had two thick braids[12 - [bre?d] – косичка] of red hair. Her face was small and white, she also had freckles[13 - [?frekl] – веснушка]. Her eyes were green or grey in different moods[14 - [mu?d] – настроение].
Matthew came to her.
“Are you Mr. Matthew Cuthbert of Green Gables?” the girl asked. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come. I imagined[15 - [??m?d??n] – воображать, представлять] all the bad things that could happen to you. I was going to climb the cherry[16 - [?t?eri] – вишня] tree and sleep there.”
Matthew took her thin[17 - [??n] – тонкий] hand. He couldn’t tell the child that there was a mistake and that he didn’t come for a girl. He decided to take her home and let Marilla tell her everything.
“I am sorry I was late,” he said shyly[18 - [??a?li] – скромно]. “Come along. The horse is over there. Give me your bag.”
“Oh, I can carry[19 - [?k?ri] – носить] it,” said the girl cheerfully[20 - [?t???f?li] – радостно]. “It isn’t heavy[21 - [?hevi] – тяжелый]. I’ve got all my belongings[22 - [b??l?n?nz] – вещи] in here.”
The girl really liked to talk.
“I like imagining[23 - [??m?d??n] – воображать, представлять] things about people,” she said. “But there’s not much place for imagination[24 - [??m?d???ne??n] – воображение] in a children’s home. Now I am wearing this ugly yellow dress, but I imagine I’m wearing a beautiful blue dress instead, and a wonderful hat with flowers. Oh, you see this plum[25 - [pl?m] – слива] trees?” the girl asked. “What do they make you think of?”
“Well, I dunno[26 - I don’t know],” said Matthew.
“Of white dresses and weddings[27 - [?wed?n] – свадьба] of course!” said the girl. “And you see these red flowers alongside the road? Why are they red?”
“Well, I dunno.”
“We will need to find this out one day,” said the girl. “There are so many things in the world I want to know about, but people can’t know everything. There won’t be place for imagination then.”
Matthew liked the girl already. He liked when people loved talking and didn’t expect[28 - [?k?spekt] – ожидать] him to talk too.
“I’m afraid I talk too much,” said the girl “Mrs. Spencer always told me I talked too much.”
“Oh, you can talk as much as you like,” said Matthew.
“What would you like to be, if you could choose? Beautiful as an angel, very clever or to be the kindest person?” she asked Matthew.
“Well, I… I don’t know.”
“I can’t choose either[29 - [?a???] – тоже],” said the girl.
“We are almost here. That’s Green Gables over that hill,” said Matthew.
The girl took her old bag and went to the house after Matthew.
Exercise: What are these words?
to answer
to whistle
cheerfully
imagination