Three Men in a Boat — BG

PREFACE.

The chief beau­ty of this book lies not, so much in its lit­er­ary style, or in the extent and use­ful­ness of the infor­ma­tion it con­veys, as in its sim­ple truth­ful­ness. Its pages form the record of events that real­ly hap­pened. All that has been done is to colour them; and, for this, no extra charge has been made. George and Har­ris and Mont­moren­cy are not Poet­ic ideals, but things of flesh and blood — espe­cial­ly George, who weighs about twelve stone. Oth­er works may excel this in depth of thought and knowl­edge of human nature: oth­er books may rival it in orig­i­nal­i­ty and size; but, for hope­less and incur­able verac­i­ty, noth­ing yet dis­cov­ered can sur­pass it. This, more than all its oth­er charms, will, it is felt, make the vol­ume pre­cious in the eye of the earnest read­er; and will lend addi­tion­al weight to the les­son that the sto­ry teach­es. LONDON, August, 1889

chief [tʃi:f] adj главен, основен, най-важен.

lie [lai] v се състои.

extent [iksˈ­tent] n степен, размер; обхват, обсег.

con­vey [kənˈvei] v предавам, съобщавам; изразявам, излагам, казвам.

truth­ful­ness [ˈtru:θfulnis] n правдивост; честност, искреност, откритост.

form [fɔ:m] v съставлявам, представлявам.

all that has been done is ⇒ само беше.

colour [ˈkʌlə] v прен. украсявам.

charge [ˈtʃa:dʒ] n поръчение, задължение.

flesh and blood ⇒ жив; от плът и кръв; flesh [fleʃ] n плът.

stone [stoun] n мярка за тегло (= 14 lb = 6,35 кг).

excel [ikˈsel] v превъзхождам, превишавам, надвишавам (in, at).

rival [rivl] v съпернича с; конкурирам.

incur­able [inˈkjuərəbl] adj непоправим, закоравял, закостенял, заклет, неизкореним.

verac­i­ty [veˈræsi­ti] n истинност, правдивост.

sur­pass [sə:ˈpa:s] v надминавам, надхвърлям; превъзхождам.

it is felt ⇒ усеща се, струва ми се.

pre­cious [ˈpreʃəs] adj скъп, ценен.

earnest [ˈə:nist] adj ревностен.

land [lænd] v разг. спечелвам, придобивам; тук придавам.

weight [weit] n значение, важност; тежест.