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115
when children are quiet it generally means that they are absorbed in some delicious mischief,
13
1 got up
from my chair and looked over the balustrade to see what they were doing. I expected to catch them
dabbling in water, making a bonfire, covering themselves with tar. But what I actually saw was Guido, with
a burnt stick in his hand, demonstrating on the smooth paving-stones of the path, that the square on the
hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. Robin
listened, with an expression on his bright, freckled face of perfect incomprehension.
Guido implored: 'But do just look at this. It's so beautiful. It's so easy.'
So easy... The theorem of Pythagoras seemed to explain for me Guide's musical predilections. It was not
an infant Mozart we had been cherishing; it was a little Archimedes with, like most of his kind, an incidental
musical twist.
14
Leaning on the rail of the balcony, I watched the children below. I thought of the extraordinary thing I
had just seen and of what it meant.
I thought of the vast differences between human beings. We classify men by the colour of their eyes and
hair, the shape of their skulls. Would it not be more sensible to divide them up into intellectual species?
There would be even wider gulfs between the extreme mental types than between a Bushman and a
Scandinavian.'
5
This child, I thought, when he grows up, will be to me, intellectually, what a man is to a dog.
Proper Names
Archimedes [,
k
'mi:di:z] — Архимед
Aldous Huxley ['
ld
s 'h
ksl
] — Олдос Хаксли
Guido ['
wi:d
] — Гвидо
Robin ['r
b
n] — Робин
Bach [b
k] — Бах
D Minor Concerto ['di: 'ma
n
k
n'
:t
] — концерт «Ре-минор»
Coriolan [,k
r
'l
t] — Кориолан
Mozart ['m
ts
t] — Моцарт
Pythagoras [pa
'
r
s] — Пифагор
Vocabulary Notes
1. We had two sets of them ... — Это были две семьи ...
2. ... after a few days' residence... — ... прожив несколько дней ...
3. ... in the peasant's youngest child we had discovered the perfect play-fellow for our own small boy. —
... младший реб¸нок из этой крестьянской семьи оказался прекрасным другом для нашего
собственного малыша.
4. ... thirty months are crammed with half a lifetime's experience ... — ... в тридцать месяцев вмещается
опыт, приобретаемый за полжизни ...
5. ... regarded him as the model and perfect Big Boy ... — ... считал его образцом для подражания и
настоящим Большим Мальчиком...
6. ... given to brooding ... — ... склонный к размышлениям ...
7. ... he would suddenly break off, to stand, his hands behind his back ... — ... он вдруг неожидано
прерывал сво¸ занятие и вставал, заложив руки за спину...
8. ... domed in a curve that was like the subtle curve of a rose petal. — ... очертания которого
напоминали тонкие очертания лепестка розы.
9. ... I let Guido loose on it. — ... я разрешил Гвидо играть на н¸м сколько угодно.
10. ... to make up little pieces on his own account. — ... самостоятельно сочинять маленькие
произведения.
11. ... he did not show himself so fertile ... — ... он не особенно преуспел ...
12. ... as I was to find out... — ... как мне было суждено обнаружить ...
13. ... they are absorbed in some delicious mischief... — ... они увлечены какой-нибудь
восхитительной шалостью...
14. ... with, like most of Ms kind, an incidental musical twist. — ... как
это бывает в большинстве
подобных случаев, неожиданно надел¸нный ещ¸ и музыкальными способностями.
15. ... between a Bushman and a Scandinavian. — ... между бушменом и скандинавом (Прим.:
бушмен — представитель народности, проживающей в Южной Африке).
Comprehension Check
1.
What made the family rent the house?
2.
What were the two sets of neighbours they had?