TEXT. A DAY'S WAIT by Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway, Ernest (1899-1961): a prominent American novelist and short-story writer. He began to write fiction about 1923, his first books being the reflection of his war experience. "The Sun Also Rises" (1926) belongs to this period as well as "A Farewell to Arms" (1929) in which the antiwar protest is particularly powerful.

During the Civil War Hemingway visited Spain as a war correspondent. His impressions of the period and his sympathies with the Republicans found reflection in his famous play "The Fifth Column" (1937), the novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1940) and a number of short stories.

His later works are "Across the River and into the Trees" (1950) and "The Old Man and the Sea" (1952) and the very last novel "Islands in the Stream" (1970) published after the author's death. In 1954 he was awarded a Nobel Prize for literature.

Hemingway's manner is characterized by deep psychological insight into the human nature. He early established himself as the master of a new style: laconic and somewhat dry.

He came into the room to shut the windows while we were still in bed and I saw he looked ill. He was shivering, his face was white, and he walked slowly as though it ached to move. "What's the matter, Schatz?"[12]

"I've got a headache."

"You'd better go back to bed."

"No, I'm all right."

"You go to bed. I'll see you when I'm dressed."

But when I came downstairs he was dressed, sitting by the fire, looking a very sick and miserable boy of nine years. When I put my hand on his forehead I knew he had a fever.

"You go up to bed," I said, "you're sick."

"I'm all right," he said.

When the doctor came he took the boy's temperature.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"One hundred and two."[13]

Downstairs, the doctor left three different medicines in different colored capsules with instructions for giving them. One was to bring down the fever, another a purgative, the third to overcome an acid condition. The germs of influenza can only exist in an acid condition, he explained. He seemed to know all about influenza and said there was nothing to worry about if the fever did not go above one hundred and four degrees. This was a light epidemic of flu and there was no danger if you avoided pneumonia.

Back in the room I wrote the boy's temperature down and made a note of the time to give the various capsules.

"Do you want me to read to you?"

"All right, if you want to," said the boy. His face was very white and there were dark areas under his eyes. He lay still in the bed and seemed very detached from what was going on.

I read aloud from Howard Pyle's[14] Book of Pirates, but I could see he was not following what I was reading.

"How do you feel, Schatz?" I asked him.

"Just the same, so far," he said.

I sat at the foot of the bed and read to myself while I waited for it to be time to give another capsule. It would have been natural for him to go to sleep, but when I looked up he was looking at the foot of the bed, looking very strangely.

"Why don't you try to go to sleep? I'll wake you up for the medicine."

"I'd rather stay awake."

After a while he said to me, "You don't have to stay in here with me, Papa, if it bothers you."

"It doesn't bother me."

"No, I mean you don't have to stay if it's going to bother you."

I thought perhaps he was a little light-headed and after giving him the prescribed capsules at eleven o'clock I went out for a while.

It was a bright, cold day, the ground covered with a sleet that had frozen so that it seemed as if all the bare trees, the bushes, the cut brush and all the grass and the bare ground had been varnished with ice. I took the young Irish setter for a little walk up the road and along a frozen creek.

At the house they said the boy had refused to let any one come into the room.

"You can't come in," he said. "You mustn't get what I have." I went up to him and found him in exactly the position I had left him, white-faced, but with the tops of his cheeks flushed by the fever, staring still, as he had stared, at the foot of the bed.

I took his temperature.

"What is it?"

"Something like a hundred," I said. It was one hundred and two and four tenths.

"It was a hundred and two," he said.

"Who said so?"

"The doctor."

"Your temperature is all right," I said. "It's nothing to worry about."

"I don't worry," he said, "but I can't keep from thinking."

"Don't think," I said. "Just take it easy."

"I'm taking it easy," he said and looked worried about something.

"Take this with water."

"Do you think it will do any good?"

"Of course, it will,"

I sat down and opened the Pirate Book and commenced to read but I could see he was not following, so I stopped.

"About what time do you think I'm going to die?" he asked.

"What?"

"About how long will it be before I die?"

"You aren't going to die. What's the matter with you?"

"Oh, yes, I am. I heard him say a hundred and two."

"People don't die with a fever of one hundred and two. That's a silly way to talk!"

"I know they do. At school in France the boys told me you can't live with forty-four degrees. I've got a hundred and two."

He had been waiting to die all day, ever since nine o'clock in the morning.

"You poor Schatz," I said. "Poor old Schatz, it's like miles and kilometers. You aren't going to die. That's a diflerent thermometer. On that thermometer thirty-seven is normal. On this kind it's ninety-eight."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," I said. "It's like miles and kilometers. You know, like how many kilometers we make when we do seventy miles in the car?"

"Oh," he said.

But his gaze at the foot of the bed relaxed slowly. The hold over himself relaxed too, finally, and the next day it was very slack and he cried very easily at little things that were of no importance.

VOCABULARY NOTES

1. to shiver υi дрожать, as shiver with cold

Syn. to tremble, to shudder, to start; to tremble is the most general word; shuddering/starting is generally the result of (great) fear or disgust, е.g. He seemed perfectly calm, only a slight trembling of his voice and hands showed he was excited. Keith shuddered at the sight of the dead body. The child was shivering with cold. She started when they came in.

2. ache n (a continuous, not sharp or sudden, pain). Usually used in compounds: headache, toothache, stomachache, earache, backache, е.g. I had a bad headache yesterday. Some people have (a) bad earache when the plane is losing height. But: to have a sore throat, eye, finger, etc., е.g. I can't speak loude?, I have a sore throat.

Syn. pain n to feel (have) a bad (sharp, slight) pain in..., е.g. I feel a sharp pain in my right knee. My leg gives me much pain.; painful adj болезненный, тяжелый

Ant. painless, е.g. It was a painful (painless) operation.

to ache υ i/t болеть (чувствовать боль) — to be in continuous pain, e, g. My ear aches. After climbing the mountain he ached all over.

Cf.: hurt υt/i причинять боль, е.g. It hurts the eyes to look at the sun. My foot hurts (me) when I walk.

3. medicine n 1. лекарство, е.g. What medicine (s) do you take for your headaches? 2. медицина, e.g. He is fond of medicine, he wants to become a surgeon.

medical adj, е.g. He studies at a Medical Institute. He is a medical student. My medical knowledge leaves much to be desired. You'd better consult your surgeon.

4. condition n 1. состояние; to be in (a) good (bad) condition, е.g. After the thunderstorm our garden was in a terrible condition, quite a number of trees were broken. Every parcel arrived in good condition (nothing was broken or spoiled).; to be in no condition to do smth., е.g. He is in no condition to travel. The ship was in no condition to leave harbour, He can sing very well, but tonight he is in no condition to do it, he has a sore throat.

2. условие; under good (bad) condition(s), е.g. The unemployed live under very hard conditions.; on condition that = if, е.g. I will do it on condition that you give me the time I need.; conditional adj, е.g. Conditional sentences contain "if or its synonyms.

5. foot n (pl feet) 1. нога (ниже щиколотки, ступня), е.g. The boyjumped to his feet. A dog's feet are called paws.; 2. фут (около) 30,5 см, pl часто без изменений, е.g. The boy was too tall for his age and he was three foot two in his shoes.; 3. подножие, нижняя часть, основание, as the foot of the mountain, at the foot of the page, the foot of the bed, е.g. This boy is at the foot of his class.

Ant. top, head, as the top of the mountain, the top (head) of the page, at the head of the bed, etc. е.g. This boy is at the head of his class.

on foot (= walking, not riding), е.g. When people are having their walking holiday they cover long distances on foot. (Cf.: by train, by bus, etc.)

footnote n сноска

6. prescribe υi прописывать лекарство, е.g. Doctor, will you prescribe a tonic for me? What can you prescribe for my headache (cold, etc.)?

prescription n рецепт; to make up a prescription for smb., е.g. Please call in at the chemist's and have this prescription made up for me; to write out a prescription.

7. bare adj 1. обнаженный, голый, непокрытый (usu. about some part of our body), е.g. His head was bare.

Syn. naked (= having no clothes on), е.g. Victorine was shocked when she learned that she would have to sit for the painter quite naked.

barefoot adj predic, adv = with bare feet, without shoes and stockings, е.g. Children like to go (run, walk) barefoot.

barefooted adj, attr. Barefooted people were standing on the bank.

bare-legged (-armed) adj = with bare legs (arms), е.g. When we speak of bare-legged children we mean children wearing shoes, but no stockings; bare-footed children wear neither shoes nor stockings.

bare-beaded, adj = without a hat, е.g. It's already too cold to go bare-headed.

2. пустой, голый, лишенный чего-л., as a bare room (with little or no furniture), bare walls (without pictures or wallpaper), bare trees (without leaves), bare facts (only facts; nothing but facts).

Cf.: a bare room (no furniture), an empty room (no people), a vacant room (a room in which either no one is living at present or no one is working; a room which can be occupied), е.g. After the piano was taken out, the room seemed quite bare. I thought I heard voices in the next room, but it was empty. "Won't you look for a vacant room in which we could have a consultation?" — "I'm told that all the rooms are occupied."

8. refuse υt/i отказывать(ся), е.g. She refused my offer. She can't refuse her children anything. He refused to do what I asked him.

N о t e: In the meaning of sacrificing smth., parting with smth., the English verb to give up is used, е.g. He gave up the idea of going there. Roger promised to give up smoking, but he didn't keep his promise.

refusal n, е.g. He answered her invitation, with a cold refusal,

9. like adj похожий, подобный, е.g. They are as like as two peas. What is he like? (= What sort of person is he?) What does he look like? (= What kind of appearance has he got?) How does she look today? (= What is her appearrance today?) It looks like gold. (= It has the appearance of gold.) It looks like rain. It was just like him to take the biggest piece of cake. There is nothing like home.

like prep or adv подобно, как, е.g. I can't do it like you. They are behaving like little children, I've never heard him sing like that.

Note: to act like means to do smth. in the same way or in the manner of other people, е.g. She can play like a real pianist.; to act as means acting in the capacity of smb., e g. Some of our students act as guides during summer.

alike adj predic одинаковый, похожий, подобный, е.g. The houses in this street are alike. (Cf.: The houses in this street are like those in the next street.)

likeness n сходство, е.g. I cannot see much likeness between the twins.

unlike adj непохожий, е.g. She was unlike all other girls.

unlike prep в отличие от, е.g. Unlike other girls she was not at all talkative.

NOTES ON STYLE

A. The terms style, stylistic are generally used in two different meanings. In lexicology the term functional style is used which may be defined as a system of expressive means peculiar to a specific sphere of communication. Otherwise speaking, the choice of words and of modes of expression depends on the situation in which the process of communication is realized, whether it is a friendly talk, an official letter or report, a poem, a scientific article, etc. According to the situation (or the sphere of communication) we may distinguish formal (bookish, learned) and informal (colloquial) words. The former are peculiar to fiction, scientific prose, lectures, official talks; the latter are used in everyday talks with friends and relatives. One should also keep ip mind that there are a great number of words that are independent of the sphere of communication, i. e. that can be used in a lecture, in an informal talk, in a poem, etc. Such words are stylistically neutral (е.g. bread, word, book, go, takes, white, etc.).

Students should be warned against taking the term colloquial as a kind of encouragement to use words thus marked as much as possible. The term implies that the words called colloquial are limited by their sphere of usage and, if used in a wrong situation (е.g. in a student's composition, in a conversation with an official acquaintance or with one higher in authority), may produce the impression of impoliteness or even rudeness.

E. g. He is a jolly chap. = Он парень что надо, (chap n, coll.; jolly adj, coll.) The stylistically neutral way of putting it is: He is a good (fine) man.

How are the kids? = Как ваши ребята? (kid n, coll.) The stylistically neutral way How are your children?

I'm all right. = Co мной все нормально. (all right coll.) The stylistically neutral way I feel (am) quite well.

Compare:

Neutral Colloquial Bookish

begin start commence

continue go on proceed

end, finish be over (through) terminate

buy get purchase

Note also that such abbreviations as I'm, I've, I'll, you'd, you're, etc. are characteristic of colloquial style. Therefore, students will be well advised to avoid them in their compositions, essays, precis, etc.

B. The term style may be also used with reference to the manner of writing of some particular author. E. g. Hemingway's style is characterized by laconism and lack of detail. The syntax of his sentences is very simple, the dialogues are almost monosyllabic and seemingly unemotional. Yet, through the austere form the author manages sometimes to create a narration of great tension.

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