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

You would have laughed to see them. They were funny things, I tell you. But when I went out in the rain, they kept me dry.

This, I think, put me in mind of an umbrella.

I had seen umbrellas in Brazil, although they were not yet common in England. They were of much use in the summer when the sun shone hot.

I thought that if they were good in Brazil, they would be still better here, where the sun was much hotter.

So I set about the making of one.

I took great pains with it, and it was a long time before it pleased me at all.

I could make it spread, but it did not let down. And what would be the use of an umbrella that could not be folded?

I do not know how many weeks I spent at this work. It was play work rather than anything else, and I picked it up only at odd times.

At last I had an umbrella that opened and shut just as an umbrella should.

I covered it with skins, with the hair on the outside. In the rain it was as good as a shed. In the sun it made a pleasant shade.

I could now go out in all kinds of weather. I need not care whether the rain fell or the sun shone.

For the next five years I lived very quietly. I kept always busy and did not allow myself to feel lonely.

I divided each day into parts according to my several duties.

After reading in my Bible, it was my custom to spend about three hours every morning in search of food. Through the heat of the day, I busied myself in the shade of my castle or bower.

In the evening, when the sun was low, I worked in my fields. But sometimes I went to work very early in the morning and left my hunting until the afternoon.

I HAVE A PERILOUS ADVENTURE

(я переживаю опасное приключение; peril — опасность; риск, угроза)

I HAD never given up the idea of having a canoe (я никогда не оставлял идею иметь каноэ; to give up — оставить, отказаться; бросить /например, привычку/).

My first trial, as you have seen, was a failure (моя первая попытка, как вы видели, была провалом). I had made too big a boat (я сделал слишком большую лодку), and I had made it too far from the water (и я сделал ее слишком далеко от воды). I could do better another time (я мог сделать лучше в другой раз).

One day after I had harvested my grain (однажды после того, как я собрал зерно), I set to work (принялся за работу).