Day 25: A Book Known Only by Heart
In a second-hand bookshop in Moscow, a retired engineer asks the bookseller to help him find a book from his childhood.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title.
- Read the dialogue and its translation. The audio for this lesson is coming soon.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Russian audio, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio for this lesson is coming soon. For now, read the dialogue and its translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day
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A
Добрый день, вы ведь букинист? Ищу книгу из детства, только название и автора начисто запамятовал.
Good afternoon, you're the bookseller, aren't you? I'm looking for a book from my childhood, only I've clean forgotten the title and the author.
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B
Таких покупателей у нас половина, не беда. Рассказывайте, что помните, будем искать вместе.
Half our customers are like that, no matter. Tell me what you remember, and we'll look together.
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A
Там была шхуна, пропавшая во льдах, и мальчик, который вырос и её искал. Название вертится на языке... «Святая» какая-то.
There was a schooner lost in the ice, and a boy who grew up and searched for it. The name's on the tip of my tongue... 'Saint' something.
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B
Льды, шхуна... У Жюля Верна подобного хоть отбавляй. А фразу какую-нибудь не припомните?
Ice, a schooner... Jules Verne has any number of stories like that. But can't you recall any phrase?
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A
Девиз помню, мы его мальчишками во дворе горланили: что-то вроде «бороться и не сдаваться»... нет, длиннее.
I remember a motto, we used to bawl it out in the yard as boys: something like 'fight and don't give up'... no, it was longer.
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B
«Бороться и искать, найти и не сдаваться»? Тогда и гадать нечего: Каверин, «Два капитана», шхуна «Святая Мария».
'To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield'? Then there's no need to guess: Kaverin, The Two Captains, the schooner Saint Maria.
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A
Точно, «Святая Мария»! А мальчика звали Саня... как же его... Григорьев, конечно.
That's it, the Saint Maria! And the boy was called Sanya... what was it... Grigoryev, of course.
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B
Минутку, у меня было одно издание... Вот, детское, семидесятых годов: переплёт потрёпанный, корешок подклеен, зато все страницы на месте.
One moment, I had an edition... Here, a children's one from the seventies: the binding's battered and the spine's been glued, but all the pages are there.
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A
Та самая! Моя была такая же, зачитанная до дыр, да в институте дал кому-то почитать, и с концами.
That's the one! Mine was just the same, read to pieces, but at college I lent it to someone, and that was the last I saw of it.
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B
Значит, книга сама к вам вернулась, как по сюжету: искали и нашли. Берите, для вас со скидкой.
So the book has come back to you by itself, just like in the story: you searched and you found. Take it, at a discount for you.
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