TEXT. A FRIEND IN NEED for Homereading

TEXT. A FRIEND IN NEED by William Somerset Maugham (abridged)

Maugham, William Somerset (1874-1965): an English writer. He achieved a great success as a novelist with such novels as "Of Human Bondage", "The Razor's Edge" and others, as a dramatist with Ms witty satirical plays "Our Betters", "The Circle", etc., but he is best known by his short stories.

At the beginning of his literary career Maugham was greatly influenced by French naturalism. Later on, his outlook on life changed. It became cool, unemotional and pessimistic. He says that life is too tragic and senseless to be described. A writer can't change life, he must only try to amuse his reader, stir his imagination. And this is where Maugham achieves perfection: his stories are always fascinating. Maugham's skill in depicting scenes and characters with a few touches is amazing and whether he means it or not his novels, stories and plays reveal the vanity, hypocrisy and brutality of the society he lives in. So does the story "A Friend in Need". Burton, a prosperous businessman, is not.in the least concerned about the troubles and needs of those who have failed in life. Without a moment's hesitation he sends a man to death just because his presence bores him, and later on he remembers the fact with a "kindly chuckle".

When Maugham described people and places in his short stories, he did it mostly from his personal experience.

"It's rather a funny story," he said. "He wasn't a bad chap. I liked him. He was always well-dressed and smart-looking. He was handsome in a way, with curly hair and pink-andwhite cheeks. Women thought a lot of him. There was no harm in him, you know, he was only wild. Of course he drank too much. Those sort of fellows always do. A bit of money used to come in for him once a quarter and he made a bit more by card-playing. He won a good deal of mine, I know that."

Burton gave a kindly little chuckle. I knew from my own experience that he could lose money at bridge with a good grace.

"I suppose that is why he came to me when he went broke, that and the fact that he was a namesake of mine. He came to see me in my office one day and asked me for a job. I was rather surprised. He told me that there was no more money coming from home and he wanted to work. I asked him how old he was.

"Thirty-five," he said.

"And what have you been doing hitherto?" I asked him.

"Well, nothing very much," he said.

I couldn't help laughing.

"I'm afraid I can't do anything for you just yet," I said. "Come back and see me in another thirty-five years, and I'll see what I can do."

He didn't move. He went rather pale. He hesitated for a moment and then told me that he had had bad luck at cards for some time. He hadn't been willing to stick to bridge, he'd been playing poker, and he'd got trimmed. He hadn't a penny. He'd pawned everything he had. He couldn't pay his hotel bill and they wouldn't give him any more credit. He was down and out. If he couldn't get something to do he'd have to commit suicide.

I looked at him for a bit. I could see now that he was all to pieces. He'd been drinking more than usual and he looked fifty. The girls wouldn't have thought so much of him if they'd seen him then.

"Well, isn't there anything you can do except play cards?" I asked him.

"I can swim," he said.

"Swim!"

I could hardly believe my ears; it seemed such an insane answer to give.

"I swam for my university."[1]

I got some glimmering of what he was driving at. I've known too many men who were little tin gods at their university to be impressed by it.

"I was a pretty good swimmer myself when I was a young man," I said.

Suddenly I had an idea.

Pausing in his story, Burton turned to me.

"Do you know Kobe?" he asked.

"No," I said, "I passed through it once, but I only spent a night there."

"Then you don't know the Shioya Club. When I was a young man I swam from there round the beacon and landed at the creek of Tarumi. It's over three miles and it's rather difficult on account of the currents round the beacon. Well, I told my young namesake about it and I said to him that if he'd do it I'd give him a job. I could see he was rather taken aback.

"You say you're a swimmer," I said.

"I'm not in very good condition," he answered.

I didn't say anything. I shrugged my shoulders. He looked at me for a moment and then he nodded.

"All right," he said. "When do you want me to do it?"

I looked at my watch. It was just after ten.

"The swim shouldn't take you much over an hour and a quarter. I'll drive round to the creek at half past twelve and meet you. I'll take you back to the club to dress and then we'll have lunch together,"

"Done," he said.

We shook hands. I wished him good luck and he left me. I had a lot of work to do that morning and I only just managed to get to the creek at Tarumi at half past twelve. But I needn't have hurried; he never turned up."

"Did he funk it at toe last moment?" I asked.

"No, he didn't funk it. He started all right. But of course he'd ruined his constitution by drink and dissipation. The currents round the beacon were more than he could manage. We didn't get the body for about three days."

I didn't say anything for a moment or two, I was a trifle shocked. Then I asked Burton a question.

"When you made him that offer of a job, did you know he'd be drowned?"

He gave a little mild chuckle and he looked at me with those kind and candid blue eyes of his. He rubbed his chin with his hand.

"Well, I hadn't got a vacancy in my office at the moment."

VOCABULARY NOTES

1. to curl υt/i. 1. завивать(-ся), закручивать(-ся), e.g. She has curled her hair. The old man was curling his long moustache.

2. виться, клубиться, е.g. Does her hair curl naturally or does she curl it in curlers? The smoke from our camp-fires curled upwards among the trees.

to curl one's lip презрительно кривить рот, е.g. I don't like the way she curls her lip when talking to me.

to curl up свертывать(-ся), е.g. The child curled up in the arm-chair and went to sleep.

curling adj вьющийся (о волосах)

Cf. curled adj завитой and curly adj кудрявый, е.g. I don't like curled hair. But I liked this plump curly-headed little boy.

curl n 1. локон, завивка; 2. все, что имеет форму завитка, е.g. The girl had long curls over her shoulders. How do you keep your hair in curl? Soon we saw the curls of smoke rise upwards.

2. to break (broke, broken) υt/i 1. ломать(-ся), разбивать(-ся), е.g. Не fell and broke his leg. Who broke the window? Glass breaks easily.

to break (smth.) in two (three, etc.) разбить(-ся), разломать(-ся), разорвать(-ся) на две (три и т.д.) части, е.g. The mother broke the bread in two and gave each child a piece.

to break to pieces разбить(-ся) вдребезги, е.g. The vase fell and broke to pieces.

2. чувствовать себя разбитым (морально, физически), разориться, usu. to be broken, е.g. Не was completely broken as the result of the failure of his business. She was broken after her husband's death.

3. нарушать, as to break the law, a promise, one's word, an appointment

Ant. to keep, е.g. She broke the appointment. = She did not keep it

to break with smb. or smth. (old habits, traditions, etc.) порвать с.., покончить с..., е.g. Не can't break with his bad habits.

to break off прекратить внезапно (разговор, беседу), е.g. When she came in he broke off. He broke off in the middle of a sentence.

N o t e: No object after break off. Cf. in Russian: прекратить разговор.

to break out начинаться внезапно, вспыхнуть (об эпидемии, пожаре, войне), е.g. A fire broke out during the night.

to break through (smth.) прорывать(-ся), е.g. The partisans broke through the enemy's line.

to break the record побить рекорд

break n перемена, перерыв (в работе, учебе и т.д.), е.g. I feel tired, let's have a break. We're working since nine o'clock without a break.

3. to stick (stuck, stuck) υt/i 1. приклеивать(-ся), наклеивать; липнуть; прикреплять, as to stick a stamp on a letter, to stick a notice on a board. These stamps won't stick. The nickname stuck to him.

2. оставаться; держаться, придерживаться? стоять на своем, е.g. Friends should stick together. You must stick to your promise. Though Tom saw that nobody believed him, he stuck to his words. Stick to business! (He отвлекайтесь!)

3. втыкать, затыкать; засовывать, е.g. The girl stuck a flower in her hair. He stuck his hands in his pockets.

4. застрять, завязнуть, е.g. The splinter stuck in my finger. The car stuck in the mud. The key stuck in the keyhole.

4. to drive (drove, driven) υt/i 1. гнать (скот); преследовать (неприятеля), е.g. Не drove the horses into the forest.

2. править, управлять (машиной, автомобилем), е.g. He's learning to drive.

3. ехать (в автомобиле, экипаже), е.g. Shall we drive home or walk?

N o t e: With reference to travelling on a bicycle, on a horse or other animal the verb to ride is used, е.g. He jumped on his horse and rode away. He rode over on his bicycle to see me yesterday.

to drive up (away) подъезжать (отъезжать), e.g. We drove up to the house.

to drive at (colloq.) клонить к чему-л., намекать на что-л., е.g. I could not understand what he was driving at.

to drive smb. mad сводить с ума

drive n катание, езда, прогулка (в автомобиле, экипаже), е.g. We had a nice drive.

to go for a drive прокатиться, совершить прогулку в автомобиле, е.g. Shall we go for a drive round the town?

driver n шофер, водитель, машинист, as a bus-driver, tram-driver, taxi-driver, engine-driver

5. pause n пауза, перерыв; передышка, е.g. There was a short pause while the next speaker got on to the platform. A pause is made because of doubt or hesitation or for the sake of expressiveness when speaking, singing, reading, etc.

Syn. break

to make a pause делать паузу, останавливаться, е.g. The speaker made a short pause to stress his words.

to pause υi делать паузу, останавливаться, е.g. Не paused to collect his thoughts. He went on without pausing.

Syn. stop

N о t e: to stop is usually used when the action is not supposed to continue; to pause is used when there is only a temporary break in the action, especially in speech or writing, е.g. He paused until the noise stopped.

6. to nod υi/t 1. кивать головой, е.g. I asked him if he could ring me up and he nodded. She nodded to me as she passed.

Syn. bow

N о t e: to sod refers lo a quick motion of the head only, and is less formal than to bow, which is a slower, formal bending, usually of the body as well as the head, е.g. The servant bowed and left the room.

Ant to shake one's bead

2. дремать, клевать носом, е.g. She sat in the armchair nodding over her book.

nod n кивок, е.g. She passed me with a nod. She gave me a nod.

7. ruin n 1. гибель, крушение, разорение, е.g. The death of Davy's mother was the ruin of his hopes.

to bring smb. (smth.) to ruin разорить, погубить, е.g. Не brought his family to ruin.

2. развалины (often pl), руины, е.g. The ruins of Rome. The enemy left the city in rains.

rain υt губить, разрушать, разорять

to ruin one's life (hopes, business, constitution), е.g. He knew that he himself had ruined his life by stealing the money.

to rain oneself разориться, е.g. The fellow rained himself by card-playing.

ruinous adj разорительный, губительный, разрушительный

8. to rub υt/i тереть(-ся), натирать, е.g. The gymnast rubbed his hands with talc. The dog rubbed its nose against my coat.

to rub smth. dry вытирать насухо, е.g. Не rubbed Ms face (hands) dry.

to rub in втирать (мазь и т. д.), е.g. Rub the oil in well.

to rub off стирать (удалять с поверхности), е.g. Rub the words off the blackboard.

to rub out стирать (написанное чернилами, карандашом), в. д. She rubbed all the pencil marks out.

to rub one's hands (together) потирать руки от удовольствия, е.g. His manner of rubbing bis hands gets on my nerves.

rub n, е.g. She gave the spoons a good rub.

9. vacant adj незанятый, свободный; вакантный, пустой, е.g. The telephone booth was vacant and I was able to telephone at once. She gazed into vacant space.

N o t e: The Russian words свободный and пустой have different English equivalents:

1. свободный may be translated by vacant, free, not engaged, spare, loose.

vacant means "not occupied," as a vacant seat (room, house, flat); a vacant post (position); a vaсant mind

free means "independent," as a free person; a free state; free will

not engaged means "not occupied, not busy," е.g. You are not engaged now, are you?

Ant. engaged, busy

Spare means "additional to what is usually needed," е.g. I have spare time today. I've got spare cash about me and can lend you 3 or 5 roubles.

loose means "not tight or not fitting close," е.g. He had loose clothes on. All the window frames in my flat are loose.

Ant tight

2. пустой has the following English equivalents: vacant, empty, blank, shallow.

(See the notes to the word blank on p. 164.)

vacancy n вакантная должность, е.g. We have a vacancy on our staff. We advertised for a secretary to fill the vacancy.

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[1] to swim for one's university: to take part in swimming races held between one's university team and some other teams. Practically every school, college and university in Great Britain has its own sports clubs, and there are various outdoor sports competitions held annually within each school, as well as between different schools, colleges, and universities. These are, as a rule, attended by spectators drawn from all sections of the public, and the Oxford and Cambridge boat races, in which crews from these two universities compete every spring on the Thames, arouse national interest.