Жюль Верн
The Mysterious Island. B2 / Таинственный остров

В оформлении использованы иллюстрации, предоставленные агентством Shutterstock.

© Грек А. А., адаптация, словарь, упражнения, 2023

© ООО «Издательство АСТ», 2023

* * *

Before-Reading Questions

1. Have you read or heard stories about desert islands and pirates? Did they have anything in common? What makes them so fascinating?

2. What do you know about the American Civil War? What were the origins of the war and what did the opposing sides stand for? What part did Abraham Lincoln play in the conflict?

3. “Deus ex machina” is a plot mechanism applied to get the characters out of seemingly unsolvable trouble by an unlikely occurrence. It might be a sudden death of the main villain or a wealthy relative. Can you remember stories where the author applied the mechanism to move the plot forward? Was it believable?

Chapter I

– Are we going up again?

– Not at all; we are going down!

– Mr. Smith, we are falling!

– Throw over all the ballast!

– The last bag is empty!

– Does the balloon rise again?

– No!

– I hear the waves, the sea is under us!

– Five hundred feet!

These words rang through the air abovethe Pacific, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon of the 23d of March, 1865.

The hurricane lasted from the 18th to the 26th of March. It covered a space of 1,800 miles, it destroyed cities in America and Europe and Asia. Hundreds of shipwrecks, thousands of people in the sea!

But something was in the sky. A balloon rushed through space with a velocity ofninety miles an hour. Below the balloon, there was a basket with five men.

The storm was terrible. The passengers were unable to determine the course. They did not know where they were. They did not see anything. The thick fog was under the balloon. Around them everything was obscure. No light, no sound.

The balloon rose to a height of 4,500 feet. The passengers discovered that the sea wasbeneath them. The dangers above were less formidable than below.

The night passed. Atdawn, the clouds rose high into the heavens. In a few hours, the whirlwind disappeared. The balloon was again sinking slowly.

There was no land, not even an island,beneath them. It was a terrible situation. These men were unfortunate. The gas continued to escape. They fell fast. At 1 o’clock they were 600 feet above the sea. The gas poured out. Soon the voyagers, balloon, and basket will disappear beneath the waves.

These men were strong. They were silent. They were ready to struggle. It was 2 o’clock, and the balloon was only 400 feet above the waves. Then they heard a voice:

–Is everything thrown out?

– No, we have 10,000 francs in gold.

A heavy bag fell into the sea.

– Does the balloon rise?

– A little, but it will soon fall again.

– Now the basket!

The basket fell into the sea. They wanted to lighten the apparatus. The five passengers clambered into the net around the hoop. The balloon went up. But soon it began todescend

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «Литрес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на Литрес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.