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Harris' thoughts took a new tack. She reflected upon the evening she had made out the football coupon with Mrs. Butterfield and the curious sense of certainty she had experienced that this would win her the coveted dress. The results, it is true, had been in line with what she knew by experience were the disappointments of life, and yet, after all, had they? She had won a hundred pounds, nay, more, a hundred and two pounds, seven shillings and nine pence ha'penny.
Why then this curious sum (почему тогда такая любопытная сумма), what was the message or the meaning it held for her (какое сообщение или значение она содержала для нее: to hold — держать; содержать)? For Mrs. Harris' world was filled with signals (для миссис Харрис мир был полон сигналов), signs (знаков), messages (посланий), and portents from on High (и предзнаменований Свыше). With the price of a Dior dress of four hundred fifty pounds (при цене платья от Диора в четыреста пятьдесят фунтов), three hundred fifty pounds was still wholly out of her reach (триста пятьдесят фунтов были по-прежнему полностью вне ее досягаемости).
curious ['kjuqrIqs], message ['mesIG], portent ['pLtqnt]
Why then this curious sum, what was the message or the meaning it held for her? For Mrs. Harris' world was filled with signals, signs, messages, and portents from on High. With the price of a Dior dress of four hundred fifty pounds, three hundred fifty pounds was still wholly out of her reach.
But wait (но подождите)! A flash of insight and inspiration came to her (вспышка озарения и вдохновения пришла к ней: to come — приходить; случаться), and she snapped on the light and sat up in bed with the sheer excitement of it (и она неожиданно включила свет и села в своей кровати с явным волнением от нее = вызванным ей). It was not really three hundred fifty pounds any longer (на самом деле, это теперь было не триста пятьдесят фунтов). She had not only her hundred pounds in the bank (она имела не только свои сто фунтов в банке), but a start of two pounds, seven shillings, ninepence ha'penny on the second hundred (но начало в два фунта, семь шиллингов и 9,5 пенсов от второй сотни), and once she had achieved that (и когда она завершит ее; to achieve — добиваться, достигать; доводить до конца, выполнять) the third hundred pounds would no longer be so difficult (третья сотня фунтов не будет больше так трудна).
insight ['InsaIt], inspiration ["Inspq'reISqn], sheer [SIq]
But wait! A flash of insight and inspiration came to her, and she snapped on the light and sat up in bed with the sheer excitement of it. It was not really three hundred fifty pounds any longer. She had not only her hundred pounds in the bank, but a start of two pounds, seven shillings, ninepence ha'penny on the second hundred, and once she had achieved that the third hundred pounds would no longer be so difficult.
"That's it (вот оно что)," said Mrs. Harris to herself aloud (сказала миссис Харрис сама себе вслух), "I'll 'ave it if it is the last thing I do and it takes the rest of me life (я заполучу его, если это последнее, что я сделаю, и если это займет остаток моей жизни)." She got out of bed (она поднялась с постели), secured pencil and paper (взяла карандаш и бумагу: to secure — охранять; завладеть), and began to figure (и начала считать). Mrs. Harris had never in her life paid more than five pounds (миссис Харрис никогда в ее жизни не платила больше пяти фунтов), roughly the equivalent of fourteen dollars (примерно: «грубо» — эквивалент 14 долларов), for a dress (за платье), a sum she noted down on the paper opposite the utterly fantastic figure of four hundred fifty pounds (эту сумму она записала на бумагу напротив крайне фантастической цифры в четыреста пятьдесят фунтов). |
