2 сентября 1666 года, то есть 352 года и 2 дня назад, на столицу Великобритании обрушился самый большой пожар в истории. Перед вами текст об этом событии, в котором выделена наиболее полезная лексика и грамматические конструкции.
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Poor souls (душа)… they could not have imagined (не могли представить) the new disaster (бедствие) that was to befall (обрушиться) them in 1666.
A fire started on September 2nd in the King’s bakery in Pudding Lane near London Bridge. Fires were quite a common occurrence (явление; происшествие) in those days and were soon quelled (подавлены). Indeed, when the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Thomas Bloodworth was woken up to be told about the fire (разбудили, чтобы сказать о пожаре), he replied “Pish! A woman might piss it out!” (Тьфу! Да любая женщина может пописать и потушить его!). However that summer had been very hot and there had been no rain for weeks, so consequently (следовательно) the wooden houses and buildings were tinder dry.
The fire soon took hold: 300 houses quickly collapsed (разрушились) and the strong east wind spread (распространил) the flames further, jumping from house to house.
As the fire raged on (бушевало), people tried to leave the city and poured down to the River Thames in an attempt to escape (убежать) by boat.
Absolute chaos reigned (царил), as often happens today, as thousands of ‘sightseers’ (зеваки) from the villages came to view the disaster. Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, the diarists, both gave dramatic, first-hand accounts (информация из первых рук) of the next few days. Samuel Pepys, who was a clerk (чиновник) of the Privy Seal (Малая печать, частная печать правящего монарха для удостоверения официальных документов), hurried off (поспешил) to inform King Charles II. The King immediately ordered that all the houses in the path (на пути, обратите внимание на предлог, он отличается от русского языка) of the fire should be pulled down to create a ‘fire-break’. This was done with hooked poles, but to no avail (но безуспешно) as the fire outstripped them!
By the 4th September half of London was in flames. The King himself joined the fire fighters, passing buckets (вёдра) of water to them in an attempt (в попытке) to quell (потушить) the flames, but the fire raged on.
As a last resort gunpowder (порох) was used to blow up houses that lay in the path of the fire, and so create an even bigger fire-break, but the sound of the explosions started rumours (слухи) that a French invasion (вторжение) was taking place…. even more panic!
As refugees (беженцы) poured out of the city, St. Paul’s Cathedral was caught in the flames. The acres of lead (свинец) on the roof melted (расплавились) and poured down on to the street like a river, and the great cathedral collapsed. Luckily the Tower of London escaped the inferno (ад), and eventually (в итоге) the fire was brought under control, and by the 6th September had been extinguished (погашен)altogether (полностью).
Only one fifth of London was left standing! Virtually (фактически) all the civic buildings had been destroyed as well as 13,000 private dwellings (жилища), but amazingly only six people had died (цифра, безусловно, занижена для красивой легенды; во время пожара такого масштаба образуется огненный смерч, засасывающий в эпицентр всё вокруг).
Hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless (бездомными). Eighty-nine parish churches, the Guildhall, numerous other public buildings, jails, markets and fifty-seven halls were now just burnt-out shells. The loss of property was estimated(оценивался) at £5 to £7 million. King Charles gave the fire fighters a generous(щедрый) purse (сумку) of 100 guineas to share between them. Not for the last time would a nation honour its brave fire fighters.
In the immediate aftermath (последствие) of the fire, a poor demented French watchmaker (часовщик) called (Lucky) Hubert, confessed to starting the fire deliberately (умышленно): justice was swift (незамедлительный) and he was rapidly hanged (повешен). It was sometime later however that it was realised that he couldn’t have started it, as he was not in England at the time!
Although the Great Fire was a catastrophe, it did cleanse (очистить) the city. The overcrowded and disease ridden streets were destroyed and a new London emerged. A monument was erected in Pudding Lane on the spot where the fire began and can be seen today, where it is a reminder of those terrible days in September 1666.
Sir Christopher Wren was given the task of re-building London, and his masterpiece(шедевр) St. Paul’s Cathedral was started in 1675 and completed in 1711. In memory of Sir Christopher there is an inscription (надпись) in the Cathedral, which reads, “Si Monumentum Requiris Circumspice”. – “If you seek his monument, look round”.
Wren also rebuilt 52 of the City churches, and his work turned the City of London into the city we know today.
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