| The frog is almost five hundred million years old. | Лягушачье племя, например, существует около пятисот миллионов лет. |
| Could you really say with much certainty that America, with all its strength and prosperity, with its fighting man that is second to none, and with its standard of living that is the highest in the world, will last as long as... the frog?' | Можете ли вы сказать наверняка, что Америка со всей ее силой и преуспеянием, с ее солдатами, с ее самым высоким уровнем жизни на земле будет существовать так же долго, как лягушачье племя?.. |
| Nately wanted to smash his leering face. | Нейтли так и подмывало дать по этой ехидной морде. |
| He looked about imploringly for help in defending his country's future against the obnoxious calumnies of this sly and sinful assailant. He was disappointed. | Он пристально осмотрелся, словно хотел призвать кого-нибудь на помощь, чтобы защитить будущее своей страны от несносной клеветы. |
| Yossarian and Dunbar were busy in a far corner pawing orgiastically at four or five frolicsome girls and six bottles of red wine, and Hungry Joe had long since tramped away down one of the mystic hallways, propelling before him like a ravening despot as many of the broadest-hipped young prostitutes as he could contain in his frail wind-milling arms and cram into one double bed. | Но, к его огорчению, Йоссариан и Данбэр были слишком увлечены девицами, устроившись в дальнем углу комнаты, а Заморыш Джо вообще исчез из поля зрения. |
| Nately felt himself at an embarrassing loss. | На душе у Нейтли скребли кошки. |
| His own girl sat sprawled out gracelessly on an overstuffed sofa with an expression of otiose boredom. | Его девица грациозно возлегала на тугой, пружинистой софе с выражением ленивой скуки. |
| Nately was unnerved by her torpid indifference to him, by the same sleepy and inert poise that he remembered so vivdly, so sweetly, and so miserably from the first time she had seen him and ignored him at the packed penny-ante blackjack game in the living room of the enlisted men's apartment. | Из-за ее полнейшего равнодушия к нему Нейтли совсем пал духом. Вот точно так же сонно и вяло посмотрела она на него во время их первой встречи на квартире сержантско-рядового состава, когда рядовые резались в очко, - посмотрела и отвернулась. Сколько раз потом с такой отчетливостью, сладостью и горечью вспоминал он этот взгляд. |
| Her lax mouth hung open in a perfect O, and God alone knew at what her glazed and smoky eyes were staring in such brute apathy. | Ее безвольный рот был слегка приоткрыт, будто она собиралась произнести "О", и одному богу было известно, на чем она остановила ленивый, как у коровы, подернутый дымкой, апатичный взгляд. |
| The old man waited tranquilly, watching him with a discerning smile that was both scornful and sympathetic. A lissome, blond, sinuous girl with lovely legs and honey-colored skin laid herself out contentedly on the arm of the old man's chair and began molesting his angular, pale, dissolute face languidly and coquettishly. | Старик спокойно дожидался ответа, наблюдая за Нейтли с гнусной улыбкой. |
| Nately stiffened with resentment and hostility at the sight of such lechery in a man so old. He turned away with a sinking heart and wondered why he simply did not take his own girl and go to bed. This sordid, vulturous, diabolical old man reminded Nately of his father because the two were nothing at all alike. Nately's father was a courtly white-haired gentleman who dressed impeccably; this old man was an uncouth bum. Nately's father was a sober, philosophical and responsible man; this old man was fickle and licentious. Nately's father was discreet and cultured; this old man was a boor. Nately's father believed in honor and knew the answer to everything; this old man believed in nothing and had only questions. Nately's father had a distinguished white mustache; this old man had no mustache at all. Nately's father-and everyone else's father Nately had ever met-was dignified, wise and venerable; this old man was utterly repellent, and Nately plunged back into debate with him, determined to repudiate his vile logic and insinuations with an ambitious vengeance that would capture the attention of the bored, phlegmatic girl he had fallen so intensely in love with and win her admiration forever. | Нейтли ввязался с ним в спор не только из решимости опровергнуть порочную логику и клеветнические утверждения, но и желая привлечь к себе внимание и вызвать восхищение этой скучающей флегматичной девицы, в которую он был так страстно влюблен. |
| 'Well, frankly, I don't know how long America is going to last,' he proceeded dauntlessly. | - Ну... честно говоря, я не знаю, сколько просуществует Америка, - отважно продолжал он. |
| 'I suppose we can't last forever if the world itself is going to be destroyed someday. | - Я так полагаю, если рано или поздно погибнет мир, то и Америка не вечна. |
| But I do know that we're going to survive and triumph for a long, long time.' | Но зато я знаю точно: сейчас мы выживем, и наш триумф будет продолжаться долго, очень долго. |
| 'For how long?' mocked the profane old man with a gleam of malicious elation. | - Но все же, как долго? - подначивал старикашка в порыве злорадного воодушевления. |
| 'Not even as long as the frog?' | - Надеюсь, не дольше, чем проживет лягушачье племя? |
| 'Much longer than you or me,' Nately blurted out lamely. | - Во всяком случае, гораздо дольше, чем проживем мы с вами, - неудачно выпалил Нейтли. |
| ' Oh, is that all! | - Только и всего-то! |
| That won't be very much longer then, considering that you're so gullible and brave and that I am already such an old, old man.' | Это не так уж много, если учесть, что вы слишком храбры и легковерны, а я слишком стар. |
| 'How old are you?' Nately asked, growing intrigued and charmed with the old man in spite of himself. | - Сколько же вам лет? - полюбопытствовал Нейтли. |
| ' A hundred and seven.' | - Сто семь. |
| The old man chuckled heartily at Nately's look of chagrin. 'I see you don't believe that either.' | - Заметив досаду Нейтли, старикашка добродушно захихикал: - Я вижу, вы не верите? |
| 'I don't believe anything you tell me,' Nately replied, with a bashful mitigating smile. |