secure [sI'kjuq], figure ['fIgq], utterly ['AtqlI]

"That's it," said Mrs. Harris to herself aloud, "I'll 'ave it if it is the last thing I do and it takes the rest of me life." She got out of bed, secured pencil and paper, and began to figure.

Mrs. Harris had never in her life paid more than five pounds, roughly the equivalent of fourteen dollars, for a dress, a sum she noted down on the paper opposite the utterly fantastic figure of four hundred fifty pounds.

Had Lady Dant named some such sum as fifty or sixty pounds as the price of the marvelous creations in her closet (если бы леди Дант назвала какую-нибудь сумму вроде пятидесяти или шестидесяти фунтов в качестве цены чудесных творений в своем шкафу) it is quite possible (вполне возможно) that Mrs. Harris would have put the entire matter out of her head immediately (что миссис Харрис выбросила бы все дело из своей головы незамедлительно) as not only a gap in price she was not prepared to consider (не только как разницу в цене, которую она не была готова рассматривать = платить которую не намеревалась; gap — пролом, брешь, щель, дыра; промежуток; /глубокое/ расхождение), but also a matter of a class into which she preferred not to encroach (но также как и вопрос /более высокого/ общественного слоя, в который она предпочитала не вторгаться).

marvelous ['mRvqlqs], entire [In'taIq], preferred [prI'fWd]

Had Lady Dant named some such sum as fifty or sixty pounds as the price of the marvelous creations in her closet it is quite possible that Mrs. Harris would have put the entire matter out of her head immediately as not only a gap in price she was not prepared to consider, but also a matter of a class into which she preferred not to encroach.

But the very outrageousness of the sum (но чрезмерность/неоправданность этой суммы) put it all into a wholly different category (переместило все это в совершенно другую категорию). What is it that makes a woman yearn for chinchilla (что, /скажите,/ заставляет женщину жаждать = мечтать о мехе шиншиллы), or Russian sables (или русских соболях), a Rolls-Royce (о роллс-ройсе), or jewels from Cartier (или драгоценностях от Картье), or Van Cleef & Arpels (или Ван Клиф и Арпельс), or the most expensive perfume (или о самых дорогих духах), restaurant (ресторане), neighborhood, etc. (квартале и т.д.)? It is this very pinnacle and preposterousness of price (это сама величина: «вершина» и несообразность цены; pinnacle — остроконечная башенка, бельведер, шпиц; вершина, пик) that is the guarantee of the value of her femininity and person (которая является гарантией ценности ее женственности и достоинства: «личности»). Mrs. Harris simply felt that if one owned a dress so beautiful that it cost four hundred fifty pounds (миссис Харрис просто чувствовала, что если кто-то владеет настолько красивым платьем, что оно стоит четыреста пятьдесят фунтов) there was then nothing left upon earth to be desired (тогда на земле больше нечего и желать: «ничего не остается быть желаемым»). Her pencil began to move across the paper (ее карандаш начал двигаться по бумаге).

outrageous [aut'reIGqs], jewels ['GHqlz], restaurant ['restqrLN], preposterousness [prI'pOstqrqsnIs], guarantee ["gxrqn'tJ]

But the very outrageousness of the sum put it all into a wholly different category. What is it that makes a woman yearn for chinchilla, or Russian sables, a Rolls-Royce, or jewels from Cartier, or Van Cleef & Arpels, or the most expensive perfume, restaurant, neighborhood, etc.? It is this very pinnacle and preposterousness of price that is the guarantee of the value of her femininity and person. Mrs. Harris simply felt that if one owned a dress so beautiful that it cost four hundred fifty pounds there was then nothing left upon earth to be desired.