A dog's heart (A Monstrous Story) / Собачье сердце (Чудовищная история). Книга для чтения на английском языке

Next, steam redolent of crayfish rose from the plates; the dog sat in the shade of the tablecloth with the air of a watchman at a gunpowder warehouse, while Filipp Filippovich tucked the tail of the taut napkin into his collar and preached: “Food, Ivan Arnoldovich, is a tricky thing. One must know how to eat, and just imagine, the majority of people don’t know how at all. One needs to know not only what to eat but when and how.” (Filipp Filippovich waved his spoon significantly.) “And what to say, yes! If you care about your digestion, here is good advice – do not talk about Bolshevism or medicine while eating. And, God forbid, don’t read Soviet newspapers before dinner!”

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Примечания

1

I’m done for – Я пропал

2

Central Economic Council – Центральный совет народного хозяйства

3

en sauce piquante – (фр.) в соусе пикан

4

Celeste Aida: ‘Heavenly Aida’, the aria sung by the Egyptian warrior Radames, expressing his love for the Ethiopian slave Aida, from the opera of the same name by Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901). (the translator’s note)

5

Council of Normalized Nutrition – Совет нормального питания

6

fil de Perse – (от фр. «персидская нить») фильдеперс, фильдеперсовый

7

chocolates, and bottles of Abrau-Durso: Chocolates and domestic Champagne-style wine from the northern Caucasus were the height of luxury for a mid-level Soviet bureaucrat. (the translator’s note)

8

Sharik: A typical name for a dog in Russia, the equivalent of Fido. (the translator’s note)

9

to put away – (зд.) лопать, уплетать

10

Central Economy Co-op – кооператив Центрохоза

11

the fancy stores on Okhotny Ryad: A square outside the Kremlin in Moscow whose luxury shops symbolized excess; they were torn down in the 1920s and in 1935 replaced by the Moskva Hotel. (the translator’s note)

12

Moscow Agricultural Processing Trust – Моссельпром (торгово-промышленная организация 1922–1937 гг.)

13

gold braid – золотой позумент (тесьма, оторочка)

14

The goings-on. – Что делается.

15

MSPO Meat Trade – МСПО – мясная торговля

16

Backstein cheese – сыр бакштейн

17

no tipping – на чай не давать

18

a tubby, double-sided bitch of a letter that didn't stand for anything he knew: The Cyrillic letter F looks like this: Ф; the word being spelt out is “Professor”. (the translator’s note)

19

Now you’re talking, this is it – Вот это да, это я понимаю

20

They had their way after all – Все-таки отделали

21

From Seville to Granada… in the quiet twilight of the nights: The opening lines of the romance Don Juan's Serenade by Tchaikovsky, based on the poem by Alexei Tolstoy. (the translator’s note)

22

when you get the runs – когда у тебя живот схватит

23

got his bearings – собрался

24

Parole d’honneur – (фр.) Честное слово

25

Rue de la Paix – Рю де ла Пэ (улица в центре Парижа)

26

Zhirkost – «Жиркость» (советское учреждение по изготовлению косметических средств)

27

Madame – (фр.) госпожа, сударыня

28

Isadora Duncan: A pioneering and extravagant figure in modern dance, Isadora Duncan (1877–1927) had strong connections with the USSR, moving to Russia for a short period in 1922, when she married Soviet poet Sergei Yesenin (1895–1925). (the translator’s note)

29

The Gardens of Semiramide: Semiramide was a legendary Assyrian queen, also known as Semiramis II, for whom the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were supposedly built. (the translator’s note)

30

The newly blessed: The Chairman of the People’s Commissars, Alexei Rykov (1881–1938), blessed the introduction of a new vodka with a lower alcoholic content. (the translator’s note)

31

proof – пруф (единица измерения крепости спиртных напитков, равняется приблизительно ½ градуса); «sixty proof» = 30 градусов, «eighty proof» = 40 градусов

32

hors d’oeuvres – (фр.) закуски

33

zakuski for vodka: Russians accompany vodka with zakuski, appetizers. The Slavyansky Bazaar, a celebrated Moscow restaurant (and the scene of Stiva Oblonsky’s sumptuous banquet in Anna Karenina), was known for a special appetizer: roasted bone marrow served in toasted ryebread cups. (the translator’s note)