Lord Jim ebook

Lord Jim

SeriaCzytamy w oryginale to atrakcyjna pomoc dla uczących się języka angielskiego. Śledząc losy bohaterów powieści możemy na bieżąco porównywać tekst angielski i polski, ucząc się na podstawie wielkiej literatury. Adaptacja została przygotowana z myślą o czytelnikach średniozaawansowanych, jednak dzięki wersji polskiej z książki korzystać mogą również początkujący.

Aby zmienić wersję językową – kliknij w numer akapitu.

Zapraszamy na www.44.pl gdzie dostępne są dodatkowe pomoce do samodzielnej nauki: angielska wersja audio (format mp3) oraz zeszyt ćwiczeń z kluczem odpowiedzi.

[ 1 ] He was an inch or two under six feet tall and powerfully built. His voice was deep and loud and he was always very well dressed. He worked in the ports of the Far East. He was known as Jim, just Jim. He had another name, but he was afraid of anyone knowing it, because he wanted to hide a fact. And when the fact was known, he would suddenly leave port. He was travelling slowly but surely towards the rising sun.

[ 2 ] Afterwards, when he finally decided to leave the ports behind him, the Malays of the jungle village he came to live in added another word to his name. They called him Tuan Jim or Lord Jim.

[ 3 ] Jim had always wanted to be a sailor and after two years of training he went to sea, he had dreamed of the sea and the adventures it would bring all his life. So when he finally entered the regions so well known to his imagination, he found them strangely empty of excitement. However, he worked hard, was gentlemanly and had a thorough knowledge of his duties. In time, when still very young, he became chief mate of a fine ship.

[ 4 ] On this ship, Jim had his first piece of bad luck; he was badly injured during a storm when one of the ship’s sails fell on him. His Scottish captain would say afterwards, “Man! It was a perfect miracle how he survived it!”. Jim’s injuries continued and when the ship arrived at the next port, Jim was left behind. In this Eastern city Jim met many new characters, generally of two kinds. Some, very few, lived energetic lives, full of dreams, dangers, hopes and plans. However most were lazy, they hated the horror of hard work, they loved short voyages and the difference of being white. They led easy lives. At first this gossiping crowd seemed to be nothing more than shadows, but after a time Jim became fascinated with them and their lives of leisure, so he gave up the idea of going back to England, and took the job of chief mate on a ship called the Patna. The ship was to carry eight hundred pilgrims to a port in the Red Sea. The captain of this ship was a German, who had no love for his home country. He was enormously fat, and looked like a baby elephant who had been trained to walk on his back legs.

[ 5 ] A month or so later, Jim was in court, trying to explain what had happened on the Patna. This was when we first looked at each other, and I still remember Jim’s story quite clearly. Everybody was there in that courtroom as it was such a notorious story. There had been four of them who escaped from the ship. The captain, as soon as he realised the seriousness of his actions, had run away immediately, saying in broken English “Bah! the Pacific is big, my friend, I know where there is plenty of room for me. I vill an Amerigan citizen begome.” One of the others, an older man with a long grey moustache, had drunk himself into insanity, it is said he had been drinking four bottles a day of the most evil rum.

[ 6 ] Jim was the only one of the four who was able and willing to stand trial and when our eyes first met in court he gave me a dark unfriendly stare. I was very interested to find out his story. What had this clean, honest, young man been doing, why had he escaped with his crew members when they seemed no better than criminals?

[ 7 ] That had been the second day of the trial. This was when I had my first meeting with Jim. I was walking out of the court with my friend and we had just gone past Jim. At that moment my companion nearly fell over a little yellow dog that had been wandering about between people’s legs.

[ 8 ] “Look at that miserable dog,” said my friend.

[ 9 ] ”Did you speak to me?” asked Jim, directing the question to me.

[ 10 ] “No,” I replied.

[ 11 ] “You say you didn’t, but I heard you, and what did you mean by staring at me all this morning during the trial. I won’t let any man call me names outside this court. Even if you were the size of two men, and as strong as six, I would tell you what I thought of you,” he said.

[ 12 ] “Please stop, and tell me what I called you,” I replied.

[ 13 ] “Now you see I’m not afraid you try to crawl out of it. Who is the miserable dog now – hey?” he asked me.

[ 14 ] I directed my finger towards the little animal by the entrance of the court. He looked confused at first and then amazed, as if the dog were some monster.

[ 15 ] “Nobody was trying to insult you,” I said. He turned a bright shade of red, and hurriedly walked away. I decided to go after him and asked why he was running away.

[ 16 ] “Never! Not from any man on earth!” he paused and then continued more calmly, “I’m sorry, it was my mistake, I don’t mind people staring in court, but not outside.” I was very curious about this man, and so I invited him to have dinner with me.

[ 17 ] We met that evening at the hotel I was staying at. The restaurant was busy with many kinds of people, lone individuals, married couples, small parties and large noisy ones. Jim was quiet at first, but a little wine relaxed him.

[ 18 ] “This court business must be very hard for you,”

[ 19 ] “It is – hell,” And so he told me his story. “The ship had hit some hidden underwater object, it must have been another ship which had been lost, but hadn’t sunk to the bottom of the sea. I went to the bottom of the boat to inspect the hull, and I tell you honestly it was bending under the weight of the sea. I was certain the ship would sink at any moment, and I would be drowned. I looked at the passengers sleeping and thought to myself, they are already dead. They were dead. Nothing could save them! There weren’t enough boats, and there wasn’t enough time. No time! Where would the compassion be in making all those people terrified when I couldn’t save them on my own? The other crew members were all grouped around one of the lifeboats, trying to get it into the water, I wouldn’t help, how could I? How could I save myself, and leave all those other people to die? ‘Coward’ the captain called me. Coward!” he laughed bitterly.

[ 20 ] I stood