Английский язык с Робинзоном Крузо (в пересказе для детей),

I was the master of all that I saw (я был владельцем всего, что я видел). I might call myself the king of the island (я мог назвать себя королем острова).

I had all the comforts of life (у меня были все удобства жизни).

I had food in plenty (у меня была еда в изобилии).

I might raise shiploads of grain (я мог бы вырастить корабли зерна; shipload — судовой груз), but there was no market for it (но для него не было рынка).

I had thousands of trees for timber and fuel (у меня были тысячи деревьев для древесины топлива), but no one wished to buy (но никто не хотел покупать).

I counted the money which I had brought from the ship (я пересчитал деньги, которые я принес с корабля). There were above a hundred pieces of gold and silver (свыше ста монет золота и серебра); but of what use were they (но какая польза от них)?

I would have given all for a handful of peas or beans to plant (я отдал бы все за горсть гороха и бобов /которые можно было бы/ посеять). I would have given all for a bottle of ink (я отдал бы все за бутылку чернил).

escape [ɪsˈkeɪp], reach [ri:tʃ], distant [ˈdɪst(ǝ)nt], danger [ˈdeɪnʤǝ], enough [ɪˈnʌf], canoe [kǝˈnu:], chisel [ˈtʃɪz(ǝ)l], discontented [ˌdɪskǝnˈtentɪd], market [ˈmɑ:kɪt], fuel [ˈfju:ǝl]

I BUILD A BIG CANOE

WHILE I was doing these things I was always trying to think of some way to escape from the island. True, I was living there with much comfort. I was happier than I had ever been while sailing the seas.

But I longed to see other men. I longed for home and friends.

You will remember that when I was over at the farther side of the island I had seen land in the distance. Fifty or sixty miles of water lay between me and that land. Yet I was always wishing that I could reach it.

It was a foolish wish. For there was no telling what I might find on that distant shore.

Perhaps it was a far worse place than my little island. Perhaps there were savage beasts there. Perhaps wild men lived there who would kill me and eat me.

I thought of all these things; but I was willing to risk every kind of danger rather than stay where I was.

At last I made up my mind to build a boat. It should be large enough to carry me and all that belonged to me. It should be strong enough to stand a long voyage over stormy seas.

I had seen the great canoes which Indians sometimes make of the trunks of trees. I would make one of the same kind.

In the woods I found a cedar tree which I thought was just the right thing for my canoe.

It was a huge tree. Its trunk was more than five feet through at the bottom.

I chopped and hewed many days before it fell to the ground. It took two weeks to cut a log of the right length from it.

Then I went to work on the log. I chop and hewed and shaped the outside into the form of a canoe. With hatchet and chisel I hollowed out the inside.