Short stories. Unit 4. A Foul Play

Unit 4

A Foul Play

R. Ruark

In 1943 Lieutenant Alexander Barr was ordered into the Armed Guard aboard the merchant ship, like many other civillian officers with no real mechanical skills - teachers, writers, lawyers.

His men were the rag-tag of merchant service and knew very little of it. Lieutenant Alec Barr had his crew well in hand except one particularly unpleasant character, a youngster called Zabinski. Every ship has its problem child, and Zabinski was Alec's cross. If anybody was drunk and in trouble ashore, it was Zabinski. If anybody was smoking on watch, or asleep on watch, it always was Zabinski. Discipline on board was hard to keep and Zabinski made it worse.

Alec called the boy to his cabin. "I've tried to reason with you," he said. "I've punished you with everything from confinement to ship to extra duty. I've come to the conclusion that the only thing you may understand is force. I've got some boxing gloves. Navy Regulations say they should be used for recreation. We are going to have some."

"That's all right", Zabinski said smiling.

Alec announced the exhibition of boxing skill. A lot of people gathered on deck to watch the match.

It didn't take Lieutenant Barr long to discover that he was in the ring with a semiprofessional. They were fighting two-minute rounds. But from the first five seconds of the first round Alec knew that Zabinski could knock him out with a single punch if he wanted to. But Zabinski didn't want to, he was toying with his commander, and the snickers grew into laughter.

In the third round Alec held up a glove. "Time out!", he said. "I'm going to my cabin, I'll soon be back". He turned and ran up to his cabin. In the cabin there was a safe. Alec's duty was to pay wages to his personnel. Alec Barr opened the safe and took out a paper-wrapped roll of ten-cent coins. He put this roll of silver coins into his glove and returned on deck.

"Let's go!" he said and touched gloves with Zabinski. It had pleased Zabinski before to allow the officer to knock him from time to time because it gave him a chance for a short and painful punch. But now the silver-weighted glove crashed into the boy's chin and Zabinski was out. He was lying on the floor motionless. Alec Barr looked briefly at the boy. "Somebody throw some water on him," he said coldly to the seamen. And he went up to his room to clean his cuts and put the roll of coins back to the safe. After that Lieutenant Alexander Barr had no more personnel trouble aboard ship.

foul play	нечестная игра
lieutenant	лейтенант
be ordered into the Armed Guard	быть призванным в вооруженную охрану
a merchant ship /service	торговое судно / рейсы торгового флота
like other officers	как и другие офицеры / подобно другим офицерам
civilian	гражданский (ант. военный)
mechanical skills	знание механики / квалификация, компетентность в области механики
rag-tag	случайные люди, сборная солянка
to have smb well in hand	держать в ежовых рукавицах, контролировать, управляться
crew	команда (корабля)
an unpleasant character	неприятный тип
a youngster	мальчишка, юнец
a problem child	трудный ребенок, черная овца, пепито дьяболо
a cross	крест
to be in trouble	находиться в трудном положении, иметь неприятности
ashore	на берегу
on watch	на вахте
to keep discipline	поддерживать дисциплину
a cabin	каюта
to reason with smb	урезонить к-л, поговорить по хорошему, уговорить к-л
to punished smb with smt	наказывать к-л каким-то образом
confinement to ship	удерживать на корабле (в т.ч. под стражей), не разрешать сходить на берег, не пускать в увольнительную,
an extra duty	наряд вне очереди
to come to the conclusion that	придти к заключению, что
force	сила
boxing gloves	боксерские перчатки
Navy Regulations	морской воинский устав
recreation	отдых, развлечение
exhibition of boxing skill	демонстрация боксерского искусства / искусства боксерского боя
on deck	на палубе
It didn't take him long to do	ему не пришлось долго… / ему не понадобилось много времени, чтобы
to discover that	обнаружить, что
in the ring	на ринге
a semiprofessional	полупрофессионал
to knock smb out with a single punch	выбить / отправить в нокаут к-л с одного удара / одним ударом
to toy with smb	играть с к-л (иносказательно)
a commander	катретранг, капитан судна
snickers	смешки, хихиканье
in the third round	во время 3 раунда
to hold up a hand	поднять руку
to pay wages	платить зарплату
personnel	персонал, работники
paper-wrapped	завернутый в бумагу
a roll of ten-cent coins	столбик / колбаска 10-центовых монет
it gave him a chance for smt	это дало ему возможность сд. ч-л
a painful punch	болезненный удар
a silver-weighted glove	нагруженная серебряными монетами перчатка
to crash into	обрушиться на / врезаться в
be out	потерять сознание, вырубиться
motionless	неподвижный, без движения
to looked briefly at	посмотреть быстро, мимолетно / бросить (короткий, быстрый, беглый, мимолетный) взгляд
to throw water on smb	плеснуть на к-л водой
a seaman	моряк, матрос
a cut	порез, рана
aboard ship	на борту корабля

I

Find in the text English equivalents for the folloving words and expressions:

был назначен, на борту торгового корабля, команду корабля в подчинении, “трудный” ребенок, спать на вахте, поддерживать дисциплину, наряд вне очереди, демонстрация боксерских умений, на ринге, отправить в нокаут одним ударом, выплачивать зарплату, завернутый в бумагу, лежать без движений.

II

Give Russian equivalents for the following words and expressions from the text and use them in the sentences of your own.

with no skills, reason with smb, punish smb with smth, come to the conclusion, take smb (not) long to do smth, please smb, from time to time, have trouble with smb.

III

Questions on the text:

1) Why was Alexander Barr being a civillian officer ordered aboard the merchant ship?

2) Explain the phrase "He had his crew well in hand."

3) What proves that Zabinsky was a problem child?

4) What sort of measures did Lieutenant Barr use to reason with the youngster?

5) Did Alec Barr really mean to have some recreation when he spoke about boxing?

6) Why was Zabinski smiling when he accepted Lieutenant's suggestion?

7) Did it take Barr long to discover Zabinski's boxing skills?

8) What was the reaction of the seamen who had gath­ered on deck to watch the match?

9) Why did Barr ask for the time out?

10) What was Zabinski's tactics during the match? Prove that he didn't expect a change in the course of the match.

11) What did Alexander Barr do after he had knocked the boy out?

12) Did the result of the match help Lieutenant to keep discipline on board?

IV

Discuss the following:

1) Supposing Zabinski guessed something wrong in Lieutenant's behaviour. How do you think he would have acted?

2) What kind of methods did Alexander Barr use try­ing to reason with the boy? Were they proper meth­ods? Which methods to your mind should he have applied? Could Barr's methods of keeping discipline be justified?

3) Comment on the title of the story. Is the word "foul" used in its direct or figurative meaning?

4) Give a character sketch of 1) Zabinski, 2) Lieuten­ant Barr

V

Retell the story on the part of 1) Alexander Barr, 2) Zabinski, 3) one of the sailors.