Elephants can remember поговорка
Обновлено: 22.11.2024
"Elephants?" said Mademoiselle Zeiie.
"It is what she called them," said Poirot.
"Elephants can remember," explained Mrs. Oliver. "That was the idea I started on. And people can remember things that happened a long time ago just like elephants can. Not all people, of course, but they can usually remember something. There were a lot of people who did. I turned a lot of the things I heard over to Monsieur Poirot and he-he has made a sort of-oh, if he was a doctor I should call it a sort of diagnosis, I suppose." "I made a list," said Poirot. "A list of things that seemed to be pointers to the truth of what happened all those years ago.
I shall read the various items to you to see perhaps if you who were concerned in all this feel that they have any significance.
You may not see their significance or you may see it plainly." "One wants to know," said Celia. "Was it suicide, or was it murder? Did somebody-some outside person-kill both my father and my mother, shoot them for some reason we don't know about, some motive. I shall always think there was something of that kind or something else. It's difficult, but-" "We will stay here, I think," said Poirot. "We will not go into the house as yet. Other people have lived in it and it has a different atmosphere. We will perhaps go in if we wish when we have finished our court of inquiry here." "It's a court of inquiry, is it?" said Desmond.
"Yes. A court of inquiry into what happened." He moved towards some iron seats which stood near the shelter of a large magnolia near the house. Poirot took from the case he carried a sheet of paper with writing on it. He said to Celia: "To you, it has got to be that way? A definite choice.
Suicide or murder." "One of them must be true," said Celia.
"I shall say to you that both are true, and more than those two. According to my ideas, we have here not only a murder and also a suicide, but we have as well what I shall call an execution, and we have a tragedy also. A tragedy of two people who loved each other and who died for love. A tragedy of love may not always belong to Romeo and Juliet. It is not necessarily only the young who suffer the pains of love and are ready to die for love. No. There is more to it than that." "I don't understand," said Celia.
"Not yet." "Shall I understand?" said Celia.
"I think so," said Poirot. "I will tell you what I think happened and I will tell you how I came to think so. The first things that struck me were the things that were not explained by the evidence that the police examined. Some things were very commonplace, were not evidence at all, you'd think.
Among the possessions of the dead Margaret Ravenscroft, were four wigs." He repeated with emphasis, "Four wigs." He looked at Zeiie.
"She did not use a wig all the time," said Zeiie. "Only occasionally. If she traveled or if she'd been out and got very disheveled and wanted to tidy herself in a hurry, or sometimes she'd use one that was suitable for evening wear." "Yes," said Poirot, "it was quite the fashion at that particular date. People certainly when they traveled abroad usually had a wig or two wigs. But in her possession were four wigs.
Four wigs seemed to me rather a lot. I wondered why she needed four. According to the police whom I asked, it was not that she had any tendency to baldness. She had the ordinary hair a woman of her age would have and in good condition.
All the same, I wondered about those. One of the wigs had a gray streak in it, I learned later. It was her hairdresser who told me that. And one of the wigs had little curls. It was the latter wig she was wearing the day she died." "Is that significant in any way?" asked Celia. "She might have been wearing any of them." "She might. I also learned the housekeeper told the police that she had been wearing that particular wig almost all the time for the last few weeks before she died. It appeared to be her favorite one." "I can't see-" "There was also a saying that Superintendent Garroway quoted to me, 'Same man-different hat.' It gave me furiously to think." Celia repeated, "I don't see-" Poirot said, "There was also the evidence of the dog-" "The dog-what did the dog do?" "The dog bit her. The dog was said to be devoted to its mistress, but in the last few weeks of her life, the dog turned on her more than once and bit her quite severely." "Do you mean it knew she was going to commit suicide?" Desmond stared.
"No, something much simpler than that-" "I don't-" Poirot went on-"No, it knew what no one else seemed to know. It knew she was not its mistress. She looked like its mistress. The housekeeper who was slightly blind and also deaf saw a woman who wore Molly Ravenscroft's clothes and the most recognizable of Molly Ravenscroft's wigs-the one with little curls all over the head. The housekeeper said only that her mistress had been rather different in her manner the last few weeks of her life. 'Same man-different hat,' had been Garroway's phrase. And the thought-the conviction- came to me then. Same wig-different woman. The dog knew-he knew by what his nose told him. A different woman, not the woman he loved-a woman whom he disliked and feared. And I thought, suppose that woman was not Molly Ravenscroft-but who could she be? Could she be Dolly-the twin sister?" "But that's impossible," said Celia.
"No, it was not impossible. After all, remember, they were twins. I must come now to the things that were brought to my notice by Mrs. Oliver. The things people told her or suggested to her. The knowledge that Lady Ravenscroft had recently been in hospital or in a nursing home and that she perhaps had known that she suffered from cancer, or thought that she did. Medical evidence was against that, however. She still might have thought she did, but it was not the case. Then I learned little by little the early history of her and her twin sister, who loved each other very devotedly as twins do, did everything alike, wore clothes alike, the same things seemed to happen to them, they had illnesses at the same time, they married about the same time or not very far removed in time.
And eventually, as many twins do, instead of wanting to do everything in the same fashion and the same way, they wanted to do the opposite. To be as unlike each other as they could.
And even between them grew a certain amount of dislike.
More than that. There was a reason in the past for that.
Alistair Ravenscroft as a young man fell in love with Dorothea Preston-Grey, the elder twin of the two. But his affection shifted to the other sister, Margaret, whom he married.
There was jealousy then, no doubt, which led to an estrangement between the sisters. Margaret continued to be deeply attached to her twin, but Dorothea no longer was devoted in any way to Margaret. That seemed to me to be the explanation of a great many things. Dorothea was a tragic figure. By no fault of her own but by some accident of genes, of birth, of hereditary characteristics, she was always mentally unstable.
At quite an early age she had, for some reason which has never been made clear, a dislike of children. There is every reason to believe that a child came to its death through her action. The evidence was not definite, but it was definite enough for a doctor to advise that she should have mental treatment, and she was for some years treated in a mental home. When reported cured by doctors, she resumed normal life, came often to stay with her sister and went out to India, at a time when they were stationed out there, to join them there. And there, again, an accident happened. A child of a neighbor.
And again, although perhaps there was no very definite proof, it seems again Dorothea might have been responsible for it.
General Ravenscroft took her home to England and she was placed once more in medical care. Once again she appeared to be cured, and after psychiatric care it was again said that she could go once more and resume a normal life. Margaret believed this time that all would be well, and thought that she ought to live with them so that they could watch closely for any signs of any further mental disability. I don't think that General Ravenscroft approved. I think he had a very strong belief that just as someone can be born deformed, spastic or crippled in some way, she had a deformity of the brain which would recur from time to time and that she would have to be constantly watched and saved from herself in case some other tragedy happened." "Are you saying," asked Desmond, "that it was she who shot both the Ravenscrofts?" "No," said Poirot, "that is not my solution. I think what happened was that Dorothea killed her sister, Margaret. They walked together on the cliff one day and Dorothea pushed Margaret over. The dormant obsession of hatred and resentment of the sister who though so like herself, was sane and healthy, was too much for her. Hate, jealousy, the desire to kill all rose to the surface and dominated her. I think that there was one outsider who knew, who was here at the time that this happened. I think you knew. Mademoiselle Zeiie." "Yes," said Zeiie Meauhourat, "I knew. I was here at the time. The Ravenscrofts had been worried about her. That is when they saw her attempt to injure their small son, Edward.
Где искать пословицы и поговорки на английском языке по темам?
Возможно, это не все высказывания, не имеющие русских аналогов, ведь английских пословиц (и их значений) огромное множество. Кстати, ты вполне можешь поискать их самостоятельно в нашей Библиотеке материалов по запросу “proverb”, чтобы насытить свою английскую речь чудесными выражениями. Успехов! 🙂
До чего полезная статья! Расскажу про нее друзьям!
ykaneva 2020-09-24T14:00:12+00:00 October 25th, 2016 | Практика английского, ТОП статей в блоге | 65 Comments 65 264,934Похожие записи
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Юрий 2 October, 2021 (2 days ago) в 18:20- Ответить NotPupkin 9 September, 2021 (4 weeks ago) в 10:37- Ответить Любовь 24 August, 2021 в 07:14- Ответить Lex 19 July, 2021 в 17:10- Ответить ОЛЕГОЛЕГ 13 July, 2021 в 18:31- Ответить Милорд 24 July, 2021 в 14:25- ОтветитьЗдесь вроде бы статья об английских пословицах, а не клуб коммунистов с деменцией.
Следующая пословица
⠀
Но есть высказывания, которые вообще не имеют эквивалента в русском языке. Такие пословицы в наибольшей степени отражают отличия менталитета, поэтому составляют для нас особый интерес.
Кстати, сегодня мы узнаем не только смысл этих английских пословиц, но и связанные с ними занимательные истории.
Следующая пословица
Изучайте английский язык с помощью параллельного текста книги "Слоны помнят все". Метод интервальных повторений для пополнения словарного запаса английских слов. Встроенный словарь. Аналог метода Ильи Франка по изучению английского языка. Всего 810 книг и 2527 познавательных видеороликов в бесплатном доступе.
Because of them, probably, Nanny was having a reasonably comfortable old age with money supplied.
Может, это кто-то из ее питомцев позаботился о том, чтобы Няня доживала свои дни в покое и уюте и чтобы ни в чем не нуждалась.
Mrs Oliver felt a sudden desire to burst out crying.
Миссис Оливер внезапно почувствовала, что на глаза у нее навертываются слезы.
This was so unlike her that she was able to stop herself by an effort of will.
She followed Mrs Matcham to the kitchen.
Но это было настолько не в ее характере, что она тут же взяла себя в руки и торопливо двинулась за миссис Мэтчем на кухню.
There she produced the offering she had brought.
Там она вынула из сумочки красивую коробочку.
‘Well, I never!
— Да что вы, честное слово!
A tin of Tophole Thathams tea.
Always my favourite.
Мой самый любимый чай!
Fancy you remembering.
Подумать только, не забыли.
I can hardly ever get it nowadays.
Теперь мне его редко удается достать.
And that’s my favourite tea biscuits.
И печенье, которое я всегда любила.
Well, you are a one for never forgetting.
Да, вы из тех, кто никогда не забывает.
What was it they used to call you – those two little boys who came to play – one would call you Lady Elephant and the other one called you Lady Swan.
Как это они вас прозвали — те двое мальчишек, которые приходили к вам играть — один назвал вас Леди Слон, а другой — Леди Лебедь.
The one who called you Lady Elephant used to sit on your back and you went about the floor on all fours and pretended to have a trunk you picked things up with.’
Тот, что вас прозвал Леди Слон, любил кататься на вашей спине, а вы расхаживали на четвереньках и делали вид, что берете всякие там игрушки хоботом.
‘You don’t forget many things, do you, Nanny?’ said Mrs Oliver.
— Господи, и как вы все это помните! — изумилась миссис Оливер.
‘Ah,’ said Mrs Matcham.
— Да уж, — сказала миссис Мэтчем.
‘Elephants don’t forget.
— Слоны помнят все.
That’s the old saying.’
Есть такая старая-старая поговорка.
Chapter 8 Mrs Oliver at Work
Глава 6
Миссис Оливер берется за дело
Mrs Oliver entered the premises of Williams & Barnet, a well-appointed chemist’s shop also dealing with various cosmetics.
Миссис Оливер вошла в аптеку.
У
«Уильямса и Барнета» был не только богатый запас лекарств, но и отличный выбор косметики.
She paused by a kind of dumb waiter containing various types of corn remedies, hesitated by a mountain of rubber sponges, wandered vaguely towards the prescription desk and then came down past the well-displayed aids to beauty as imagined by Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubinstein, Max Factor and other benefit providers for women’s lives.
Она задержалась у вращающейся витринки с разнообразными средствами от мозолей, постояла около пестрой горки резиновых губок, рассеянно миновала окошечко провизора и соблазнительную витрину, где был выставлен напоказ весь косметический арсенал, все новинки от Элизабет Арден, Елены Рубинштейн и Макса Фактора.
She stopped finally near a rather plump girl and enquired for certain lipsticks, then uttered a short cry of surprise.
Наконец она остановилась напротив пухленькой продавщицы за прилавком и стала спрашивать ее про какую-то губную помаду, но вдруг вскрикнула:
Следующая пословица
"Something to do with the Zoological Gardens?" she inquired.
"Hardly," said Poirot. "No, do not mention elephants in your letter. There can be too much of anything. Elephants are large animals. They occupy a great deal of the horizon. Yes.
We can leave elephants. They will no doubt arise in the course of the conversation I propose to hold with Desmond Burton-Cox." "Mr. Desmond Burton-Cox," announced George, ushering in the expected guest.
Poirot had risen to his feet and was standing beside the mantelpiece. He remained for a moment or two without speaking, then he advanced, having summed up his own impression. A somewhat nervous and energetic personality.
Quite naturally so, Poirot thought. A little ill at ease but managing to mask it very successfully. He said, extending a hand, "Mr. Hercule Poirot?" "That is right," said Poirot. "And your name is Desmond Burton-Cox. Pray sit down and tell me what I can do for you, the reasons why you have come to see me." "It's all going to be rather difficult to explain," said Desmond Burton-Cox.
"So many things are difficult to explain," said Hercule Poirot, "but we have plenty of time. Sit down." Desmond looked rather doubtfully at the figure confronting him. Really, a very comic personality, he thought. The eggshaped head, the big moustaches. Not somehow very imposing.
Not quite, in fact, what he had expected to encounter.
"You-you are a detective, aren't you?" he said. "I mean you-you find out things. People come to you to find out, or to ask you to find out things for them." "Yes," said Poirot, "that is one of my tasks in life." "I don't suppose that you know what I've come about or that you know anything much about me." "I know something," said Poirot.
"You mean Mrs. Oliver, your friend Mrs. Oliver. She's told you something?" "She told me that she had had an interview with a goddaughter others, a Miss Celia Ravenscroft. That is right, is it not?" "Yes. Yes, Celia told me. This Mrs. Oliver, is she-does she also know my mother-know her well, I mean?" "No. I do not think that they know each other well. Accord108
ing to Mrs. Oliver, she met her at a literary luncheon recently and had a few words with her. Your mother, I understand, made a certain request to Mrs. Oliver." "She'd no business to do so," said the boy.
His eyebrows came down over his nose. He looked angry now, angry-almost revengeful.
"Really," he said, "Mother's-I mean-" "I understand," said Poirot. "There is much feeling these days, indeed perhaps there always has been. Mothers are continually doing things which their children would much rather they did not do. Am I right?" "Oh, you're right enough. But my mother-I mean, she interferes in things in which really she has no concern." "You and Celia Ravenscroft, I understand, are close friends.
Mrs. Oliver understood from your mother that there was some question of marriage. Perhaps in the near future?" "Yes, but my mother really doesn't need to ask questions and worry about things which are-well, no concern of hers." "But mothers are like that," said Poirot. He smiled faintly.
He added, "You are, perhaps, very much attached to your mother?" "I wouldn't say that," said Desmond. "No, I certainly wouldn't say that. You see-well, I'd better tell you straightaway, she's not really my mother." "Oh, indeed. I had not understood that." "I'm adopted," said Desmond. "She had a son. A little boy who died. And then she wanted to adopt a child, so I was adopted, and she brought me up as her son. She always speaks of me as her son, and thinks of me as her son, but I'm not really her son. We're not a bit alike. We don't look at things the same way." "Very understandable," said Poirot.
"I don't seem to be getting on," said Desmond, "with what I want to ask you." "You want me to do something, to find out something, to cover a certain line of interrogation?" "I suppose that does cover it. I don't know how much you know about-about well, what the trouble is all about." "I know a little," said Poirot. "Not details. I do not know very much about you or about Miss Ravenscroft, whom I have not yet met. I'd like to meet her." "Yes, well, I was thinking of bringing her to talk to you, but I thought I'd better talk to you myself first." "Well, that seems quite sensible," said Poirot. "You are unhappy about something? Worried? You have difficulties?" "Not really. No. No, there shouldn't be any difficulties.
There aren't any. What happened is a thing that happened years ago when Celia was only a child, or a schoolgirl at least.
And there was a tragedy, the sort of thing that happens- well, it happens every day, any time. Two people you know whom something has upset very much and they commit suicide.
A sort of suicide pact, this was. Nobody knew very much about it or why, or anything like that. But, after all, it happens and it's no business really of people's children to worry about it. I mean, if they know the facts, that's quite enough, I should think. And it's no business of my mother's at all." "As one journeys through life," said Poirot, "one finds more and more that people are often interested in things that are none of their own business. Even more so than they are in things that could be considered as their own business." "But this is all over. Nobody knew much about it or anything.
But, you see, my mother keeps asking questions. Wants to know things, and she's got at Celia. She's got Celia into a state where she doesn't really know whether she wants to marry me or not." "And you? You know if you want to marry her still?" "Yes, of course I know. I mean to marry her. I'm quite determined to marry her. But she's got upset. She wants to know things. She wants to know why all this happened and she thinks-I'm sure she's wrong-she thinks that my mother knows something about it. That she's heard something about it.
"Well, I have much sympathy for you," said Poirot, "but it seems to me that if you are sensible young people and if you want to marry, there is no reason why you should not. I may say that I have been given some information at my request about this sad tragedy. As you say, it is a matter that happened many years ago. There was no full explanation of it.
There never has been. But in life one cannot have explanations of all the sad things that happen." "It was a suicide pact," said the boy. "It couldn't have been anything else. But-well…" "You want to know the cause of it. Is that it?" "Well, yes, that's it. That's what Celia's been worried about, and she's almost made me worried. Certainly my mother is worried, though, as I've said, it's absolutely no business of hers. I don't think any fault is attached to anyone. I mean, there wasn't a row or anything. The trouble is, of course, that we don't know. Well, I mean, I shouldn't know anyway because I wasn't there." "You didn't know General and Lady Ravenscroft or Celia?" "I've known Celia more or less all my life. You see, the people I went to for holidays and her people lived next door to each other when we were very young. You know-just children. And we always liked each other, and got on together and all that. And then, of course, for a long time all that passed over. I didn't meet Celia for a great many years after that. Her parents, you see, were in Malaya, and so were mine.
I think they met each other again there-I mean my father and mother. My father's dead, by the way. But I think when my mother was in India she heard things and she's remembered now what she heard and she's worked herself up about them and she sort of-sort of thinks things that can't possibly be true. I'm sure they aren't true. But she's determined to worry Celia about them. I want to know what really happened.
Celia wants to know what really happened. What it was all about. And why? And how? Not just people's silly stories." "Yes," said Poirot, "it is not unnatural perhaps that you should both feel that. Celia, I should imagine, more than you.
She is more disturbed by it than you are. But, if I may say so, does it really matter? What matters is the now, the present. The girl you want to marry, the girl who wants to marry you-what has the past to do with you? Does it matter whether her parents had a suicide pact or whether they died in an airplane accident or one of them was killed in an accident and the other one later committed suicide? Whether there were love affairs which came into their lives and made for unhappiness." "Yes," said Desmond Burton-Cox, "yes, I think what you say is sensible and quite right but-well, things have been built up in such a way that I've got to make sure that Celia is satisfied. She's-she's a person who minds about things although she doesn't talk about them much." "Has it not occurred to you," said Hercule Poirot, "that it may be very difficult, if not impossible, to find out what really happened?" "You mean which of them killed the other or why, or that one shot the other and then himself. Not unless-not unless there had been something," "Yes, but that something would have been in the past, so why does it matter now?" "It oughtn't to matter-it wouldn't matter but for my mother interfering, poking about in things. It wouldn't have mattered.
Уникальное наследие: пословицы на английском языке с переводом
1. If you can’t be good, be careful.
Дословный перевод: Если не можешь быть хорошим, будь осторожен.
Если ты собираешься делать безнравственные вещи, убедись, что они не опасны для тебя или общества. Когда ты планируешь сделать что-то аморальное, удостоверься, что об этом никто не узнает.
2. A volunteer is worth twenty pressed men.
Дословный перевод: Один доброволец стоит двадцати принужденных.
Заметь, что в этой пословице можно менять соотношение цифр:
100 volunteers are worth 200 press’d men.
One volunteer is worth two pressed men
3. Suffering for a friend doubleth friendship.
Дословный перевод: Страдание за друга удваивает дружбу.
Еще одна интересная с точки зрения образов английская пословица о дружбе: Friends are made in wine and proven in tears (дружба рождается в вине, а проверяется в слезах).
4. A woman’s work is never done.
Дословный перевод: Женский труд никогда не заканчивается.
Ну вот и о нашей нелегкой женской доле английские пословицы позаботились 🙂 Выражение пошло от старинного двустишия:
Получается, значение пословицы в том, что женские дела (в отличие от мужских) длятся бесконечно. Видно это из примера:
5. Comparisons are odious / odorous.
Дословный перевод: Сравнения отвратительны / воняют.
Люди должны оцениваться по их собственным заслугам, не стоит кого-либо или что-либо сравнивать между собой.
6. Money talks.
Дословный перевод: Деньги говорят (сами за себя).
Кстати, пословица использована в названии песни австралийской рок-группы AC/DC.
7. Don’t keep a dog and bark yourself.
Дословный перевод: Не держи собаку, если лаешь сам.
Значение этой английском пословицы: не работай за своего подчиненного. Высказывание очень древнее: первое упоминание зафиксировано еще в 1583 году.
По поводу отсутствия аналога: в разных источниках дана разная информация. Кто-то согласен с тем, что аналогов в русском языке нет, другие в качестве эквивалента предлагают пословицу:
За то собаку кормят, что она лает.
Однако, в Большом словаре русских пословиц такой пословицы о собаке нет вообще. Возможно, то что предлагают нам в качестве альтернативы, это адаптированный перевод именно английской пословицы (такое бывает).
8. Every man has his price.
Дословный перевод: У каждого есть своя цена.
Согласно этой пословице, подкупить можно любого, главное предложить достаточную цену. Наблюдение впервые зафиксировано в 1734 году, но, скорее всего, имеет и более давнюю историю.
9. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Imitation is a kind of artless Flattery (Имитация является своего рода бесхитростной лестью).
10. It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
Дословный перевод: Лучше зажечь свечу, чем проклинать темноту.
Вопрос об аналоге снова спорен: в некоторых источниках, где даны английские пословицы с переводом на русский, эквивалентом называют:
Лучше пойти и плюнуть, чем плюнуть и не пойти.
11. Stupid is as stupid does
Дословный перевод: Глуп тот, кто глупо поступает.
12. You can’t make bricks without straw
Дословный перевод: Нельзя сделать кирпич без соломы.
Согласно википедии выражение берет начало из библейского сюжета, когда Фараон в наказание запрещает давать израильтянам солому, но приказывает делать то же количество кирпичей, как и раньше.
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