Any grown man could reasonably expect, and he found life interesting.

 

 

1 Tom Hagen was thirty-five years old, a tall crew-cut man (подстриженный ежиком),

very slender (стройный, тонкий), very ordinary-looking (самой обыкновенной

внешности). He was a lawyer (адвокатом) but did not do the actual detailed legal work

for the Corleone family business (но не занимался собственно судебной практикой)

though he had practiced law for three years after passing the bar exam (хотя и работал

по профессии: «в юридической области» после сдачи экзамена на адвоката; bar –

юридическая деятельность; адвокат).

2 At the age of eleven he had been a playmate of eleven-year-old Sonny Corleone

(товарищ по играм). Hagen's mother had gone blind (ослепла) and then died during

his eleventh year. Hagen's father, a heavy drinker, had become a hopeless drunkard

(превратился в безнадежного пьяницу). A hard-working carpenter (трудяга-плотник),

he had never done a dishonest thing in his life (ни разу не совершил ничего

нечестного). But his drinking destroyed his family (но его пьянство разрушило его

семью) and finally killed him. Tom Hagen was left an orphan (был оставлен сиротой)

who wandered the streets and slept in hallways (в проходах, коридорах). His younger

sister had been put in a foster home (была отдана в приют; to foster – воспитывать,

растить), but in the 1920's the social agencies did not follow up cases of twelve-year-

old boys (не занимались делами; to follow up – упорно, энергично преследовать;

доводить до конца) who were so ungrateful as to run from their charity (которые были

настолько неблагодарны, что сбежали от их милосердия, благотворительности

[‘t∫жrıtı]). Hagen, too, had an eye infection. Neighbors whispered that he had caught

(заразился: «подхватил»; to catch) or inherited it from his mother (или унаследовал),

and so therefore it could be caught from him (поэтому это может быть подхвачено от

него = от него можно заразиться). He was shunned (его избегали, обходили

стороной, остерегались: «он был избегаем»; to shun). Sonny Corleone, a

warmhearted and imperious (властный [ım'pı∂rı∂s]) eleven-year-old, had brought his

friend home and demanded that he be taken in (потребовал, чтобы его приняли:

«чтобы он был принят, впущен»; to demand [dimα:nd]). Tom Hagen was given a hot

 

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dish of spaghetti (ему дали порцию: «блюдо» горячих спагетти) with oily rich tomato

sauce, the taste of which he had never forgotten, and then given a metal folding bed to

sleep on (раскладушку; to fold – складывать).

3 In the most natural way, without a word being spoken or the matter discussed in any

fashion (не обсуждая никак: «никаким манером» это дело), Don Corleone had

permitted the boy to stay in his household (позволил остаться в своем семействе).

Don Corleone himself took the boy to a special doctor and had his eye infection cured.

He sent him to college and law school. In all this the Don acted not as a father but

rather as a guardian (скорее как опекун [gα:dj∂n]). There was no show of affection (не

было выражения любви, привязанности) but oddly enough (как ни странно:

«довольно странно») the Don treated Hagen more courteously than his own sons

(обращался вежливее), did not impose a parental will upon him (не навязывал ему

родительской воли: «не накладывал на него родительскую волю»; parental

[p∂’rentl]). It was the boy's decision (решение [dı’sıG∂n]) to go to law school after

college. He had heard Don Corleone say once, "A lawyer with his briefcase can steal

more (украсть) than a hundred men with guns (с пистолетами)." Meanwhile, much to

the annoyance of their father (к вящей досаде их отца; annoyance [∂’noı∂ns] – досада,

раздражение; to annoy [∂’noı] – досаждать, докучать), Sonny and Freddie insisted on

going into the family business (настаивали на том, чтобы войти в семейный бизнес)

after graduation from high school (после окончания старших классов). Only Michael

had gone on to college, and he had enlisted in the Marines (записался =

завербовался в морскую пехоту) the day after Pearl Harbor.