One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies |были по одному центу|. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing |торгуясь и мучая| the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied |пока щеки не начинали гореть от их молчаливого осуждения в скупости, точно имела место быть раз уж приходилось так торговаться|. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing left to do but flop down |кроме как завалиться… Слово “but” – это не только “но”. Это еще и “кроме”| on the shabby little couch and howl |завыть|. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs |Это приводит к мысли о том, что жизнь состоит из слез…|, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.
While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second |Пока хозяйка… скользила вниз от первой стадии ко второй… Тут О. Генри имеет в виду, что моральный дух Деллы становился все слабее|, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description |не то чтобы это подходило под описание вопиющей нищеты|, but it certainly had that word on the look-out for the mendicancy squad |скорее выглядело, как красноречиво молчащая бедность|.
In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go |куда письмо и не поместится|, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring |буквально – ни одному смертному пальцу не заставить его зазвонить. Лучше – ни один живой человек не выдавит из него звонок|. Also appertaining thereunto was |там же прикреплялась| a card bearing the name “Mr. James Dillingham Young.”
The “Dillingham” had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity |Неправильный глагол “to fling” – это швырять, растягивать, бросать, забрасывать. Здесь имеется в виду, что имя Джеймса на карточке растянулось во всю длину «под бризом», или недавним периодом благосостояния| when its possessor was being paid |ему платили| $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk |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 не уедешь|. Expenses had been greater |были больше| than she had calculated. They always are |И так происходит всегда|. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour |Многие часы| 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-то хоть близко 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| to its full length.
Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs |в конце имени Джима стоит “s”, а значит речь о семье Янгов, а не о Джиме| in which they both took a mighty pride |чем они очень гордились|. One was Jim’s gold watch that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other was Della’s hair. Had the Queen of Sheba lived |Если бы хоть сама царица Савская жила…| in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out of the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts |специально сушила бы волосы напротив окна, просто чтобы заставить померкнуть|. Had King Solomon been the janitor |у слова “a janitor” много значений. Это и уборщик, и дворник, и слуга, и швейцар. Тут О. Генри имеет в виду именно швейцара, который стоит и встречает гостей, а в подвале у него все богатства Соломона, а Джим бы, зная об этих богатствах все равно проходил бы мимо и вытаскивал бы свои прекрасные часы, а швейцар-Соломон, видел бы эти часы, и при всех своих богатствах, завидовал бы Джиму|, with all his treasures piled up |to pile up – собирать в кучу, накапливать| in the basement, Jim would have pulled out |выдергивал бы. Would и have, и третья форма глагола здесь значат, что вся эта ситуация гипотетическая и в реальной жизни никак не возможна| his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.
So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining |сверкая, окутали ее| like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment |одеяние| for her. And then she did it up |подняла их| again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered |засомневалась. Сейчас в речи в этом смысле чаще используется слово ”to doubt”| for a minute and stood still |to stand still – замереть| while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.
On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat |О. Генри часто пользуется приемом инверсии – переставляет слова в предложении так, что оно получается не вполне стандартным для английского языка. On went her old brown jacket – это инверсия. Обычное предложение выглядело бы “her old brown jacket went on” – она надела| With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she cluttered out |устремилась| of the door and down the stairs to the street.
Where she stopped the sign read |буквально – на знаке читалось|: “M-me Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds.” One flight up Della ran |взбежала на один пролет, а значит, на второй этаж|, and collected herself, panting |перевела дух|. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the “Sofronie |не выглядела сообразно своему имени|.”
“Will you buy my hair?” asked Della.
“I buy hair,” said Madame. «Take yer |это не опечатка. О. Генри передает произношение мадам| hat off and let’s have a sight at the looks of it.”
Down rippled the brown cascade.
“Twenty dollars,” said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.
“Give it to me quick” said Della.
Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings |пролетели на розовых крыльях|. Forget the hashed metaphor |Буквально – забудьте грубую метафору. Лучше – простите за избитую метафору|. She was ransacking |рыскала| the stores for Jim’s present.
She found it at last |наконец|. It surely had been made |было сделано| for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out |вывернула их на изнанку в поисках|. It was a platinum fob chain |цепочка для часов| simple and chaste |строгая| in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation |ценная самим материалом, а не показушными орнаментами| – as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim’s. It was like him |Это была его вещь|. Quietness and value – the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 78 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious |может переживать о времени| about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap |украдкой из-за кожаного ремешка…| that he used in place of a chain.
When Della reached home her intoxication |тут О. Генри имеет в виду не интоксикацию в буквальном смысле, а нечто вроде воодушевления, на смену которому пришел разум| gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love |последствия великодушия и любви|. Which is always a tremendous task |огромная задача| dear friends —a mammoth |громадная| task.
Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy |школьника, удравшего с уроков|. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.
“If Jim doesn’t kill me,” she said to herself, “before he takes a second look at me, he’ll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl |на хористку с Кони Айленда. Кони Айленд, кстати, у О. Генри будет часто появляться в рассказах. Не мудрено. Ранее на этой окраине Бруклина была куча развлечений: рестораны, кафе, парк аттракционов и пляж. Сейчас там остался только пляж и огромная община русскоязычных иммигрантов и палестинцев. Да, да, тот самый пресловутый Брайтон Бич находится именно на Кони Айленде|. But what could I do – oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?”
At 7 o’clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops |ребрышки|.
Jim was never late. Della doubled |сложила вдвое| the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white |побледнела| for just a moment. She had a habit of saying little silent prayers about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: “Please, God, make him think I am still pretty.”
The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two – and to be burdened with |а уже с таким грузом…| a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.
Jim stepped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail |как сеттер на запах перепела|. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval |nor – это частица “не” или “ни” при перечислении|, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared |внимательно смотрел| at her fixedly |неотрывно| with that peculiar expression on his face.
Della wriggled off |соскочила со| the table and went for him.
“Jim, darling,” she cried, “don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn’t have lived through |не смогла бы встретить…| Christmas without giving you a present. It’ll grow out again – you won’t mind |ты не будешь сердиться|, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say ‘Merry Christmas!’ Jim, and let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice – what a beautiful, nice gift I’ve got for you.”
“You’ve cut off your hair?” asked Jim, laboriously |с трудом|, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet |как будто он еще не осознал…|, even after the hardest mental labour.
“Cut it off and sold it,” said Della. “Don’t you like me just as well, anyhow? I’m me without my hair, ain’t I |ain’t – жаргонное производное глагола to be, которое всегда используется в отрицании и без привязки к лицу: He ain’t good, they ain’t here…|?”
Jim looked about the room curiously.
“You say your hair is gone?” he said, with an air almost of idiocy.
“You needn’t look for it,” said Della. “It’s sold, I tell you —sold and gone, too. It’s Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you |это было сделано для тебя|. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,” she went on with a sudden serious sweetness, “but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?”
Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake |опять инверсия и нестандартный порядок слов|. He enfolded |обнял| his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction |давайте будем скромны и посмотрим на что-нибудь другое, в другом направлении|. Eight dollars a week or a million a year – what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit |остряк | would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them |этого среди них не было|. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on |впрочем неясность этого утверждения будет разъяснена позже|.
Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.
“Don’t make any mistake, Dell,” he said, “ about me. I don’t think there’s anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less |нет ничего.., что заставит любить тебя меньше|. But if you’ll |вообще-то, по строгим правилам, will после if тут стоять не должно, и О. Генри об этом точно знает. Видимо, он тем самым он хочет сказать, что Джим – парень простой, в университетах не учился| unwrap that package you may see why you had me going |я так себя вел| a while at first.»
White fingers and nimble |проворно| tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating |требующие| the immediate employment |здесь это не трудоустройство, а вмешательство| of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.
For there lay The Combs |гребни для волос| – the set of combs, side and back |задние и боковые|, that Della had worshipped |обожала| for long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise-shell |из панциря черепахи|, with jewelled rims —just the shade to wear |под цвет ее волос| in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned |изнывало и томилось| over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone |локонов… больше не было|.
But she hugged them to her bosom |к груди|, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes |глазами с поволокой| and a smile and say: “My hair grows so fast, Jim!”
And then Della leaped up |прыгнула| like a little singed cat and cried, “Oh, oh!”
Jim had not yet seen |еще пока не видел| his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly |воодушевленно| upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit |пылкой души|.
“Isn’t it a dandy |превосходна|, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You’ll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it.”
Instead of obeying |Вместо того, чтобы подчиниться|, Jim tumbled down |рухнул| on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.
“Dell,” said he, “let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep ‘em |them. Разговорное сокращение| a while. They’re too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on |пора накладывать ребрышки|.”
The magi, as you know, were wise men – wonderfully wise men – who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger |ясли|. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise |Будучи мудрыми|, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication |их можно было даже обменять, в случае повторения|. And here I have lamely |нескладно| related to you the uneventful |не насыщенную событиями| chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise |ко всем мудрым| of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.