Дракула / Dracula

Брэм Стокер

Легко читаем по-английски

Когда Джонатан Харкер прибыл в мрачный замок Дракулы в Трансильвании, он и не предполагал, что с ним может случиться. Однако ужасные ночные повадки хозяина замка вскоре заставили Харкера опасаться за свою жизнь… Это рассказ о битве со злом, которую ведут профессор Ван Хелсинг и его молодые друзья. Их противник – самый коварный вампир в мире.

Текст адаптирован для продолжающих изучать английский язык (уровень 3 – Intermediate) и сопровождается комментариями, упражнениями и словарем.

Брэм Стокер / Bram Stoker

Дракула / Dracula

© Матвеев С. А., адаптация текста, упражнения, словарь, 2017

© ООО «Издательство АСТ», 2017

Jonathan Harker’s[1 - Jonathan Harker – Джонатан Харкер] Journal

3 May. Bistritz.[2 - Bistritz – Бистрица (город на западе Румынии в Трансильвании на реке Бистрица)] – I left Munich at 8:35 P. M. on May 1st, and arrived at Vienna early next morning. The train was an hour late. I could walk through the streets a little; Buda-Pesth[3 - Buda-Pesth (Budapest) – Будапешт] seems a wonderful place. We were leaving the West and entering the East. Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale.[4 - Hotel Royale – отель «Ройяль»] I had for dinner, or rather supper, chicken with red pepper, which was very good but thirsty. I asked the waiter, and he said it was a national dish. I used German here.

Before my journey, I visited the British Museum, and studied some of the books and maps in the library regarding Transylvania.[5 - Transylvania – Трансильвания (историческая область на северо-западе Румынии)] It was impossible to mark the exact locality of the Castle Dracula, as there were no maps of this country; but I found that Bistritz, the town named by Count Dracula,[6 - Count Dracula – граф Дракула] was a well-known place.

I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had queer dreams. Anyway, in the morning the continuous knocking at my door woke me up. My train started at eight.

All day long we were watching beautiful views. Sometimes we saw little towns or castles on top of the hills; sometimes we ran by rivers and streams. At every station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds. The strangest figures we saw were the Slovaks[7 - the Slovaks – словаки] with their big cowboy hats, great trousers, white linen shirts, and enormous heavy leather belts. They looked like real brigands.

We got to Bistritz in the evening. It was a very interesting old place. Earlier, Count Dracula directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel.[8 - Golden Krone Hotel – гостиница «Золотая крона»] An elderly woman in the usual peasant dress smiled, and gave me a letter:

My Friend, welcome to the Carpathians[9 - Carpathians – Карпаты]. I am anxiously expecting you. Sleep well tonight. At the Borgo Pass[10 - Borgo Pass – перевал Борго]my carriage will await you and will bring you to me. I hope that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you will enjoy your stay on my beautiful land.

Your friend,

Dracula.

4 May. – My landlord got a letter from the Count to give the best place on the coach[11 - the best place on the coach – лучшее место в дилижансе] for me. He and his wife, the old lady who had received me, looked frightened. When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife said that they knew nothing at all, and simply refused to speak further. It was all very mysterious and suspicious.

Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a very hysterical way, “Must you go? Oh! Young Herr, must you go?”

She was very excited, and mixed German with some other language which I did not know at all. When I told her that I must go at once, and that I had important business, she asked again, “Do you know what day it is? It is the eve of St. George’s Day.[12 - the eve of St. George’s Day – канун Св. Георгия] Do you not know that tonight, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things