Мэри Поппинс

УДК 
372.881.111.1

ББК 
81.2 Англ-93

 
Т66

ISBN 978-5-9925-0515-3

Трэверс, Памела Линдон.

Т66         Мэри Поппинс : книга для чтения на английском 

языке. — Санкт-Петербург : КАРО, 2021. — 192 с. — 
(Modern Prose).

ISBN 978-5-9925-0515-3.

Предлагаем вниманию читателей знаменитую сказочную 

повесть английской писательницы П. Л. Трэверс об идеальной 
няне, на которой держался весь дом и которая при этом понимала язык зверей и птиц, летала на зонтике и превратила жизнь 
своих подопечных в сказку.

Неадаптированный текст снабжен комментариями и сло
варем. Для учащихся старших классов школ с углубленным изучением английского языка, студентов языковых вузов и всех 
любителей английской литературы и английского юмора.

УДК 372.881.111.1 
ББК 81.2 Англ-93

© КАРО, 2021

Об авторе

Памела Линдон Трэверс (настоящее имя Хелен 
Линдон Гофф) родилась в Австралии в 1899 году 
(по другим данным — в 1906), умерла в 1996 году.
Писать начала с детства — сочиняла рассказы 
и пьесы для школьных спектаклей, а братьев и сестер развлекала волшебными рассказами. Ее поэмы были опубликованы, когда ей не исполнилось 
и двадцати, на страницах одного австралийского 
журнала.
В 1923 году будущая писательница перебралась 
в Англию. Поначалу пробовала себя на сцене (Паме ла — это ее сценический псевдоним), играя в 
пьесах Шекспира, но потом увлечение литературой 
победило, и она стала публиковать свои произведения под псевдонимом «P. L. Travers» (два первых инициала использовались для скрытия женского имени — обычная для англоязычных писательниц практика).
В 1925 году в Ирландии Трэверс познакомилась с 
поэтом­мистиком Джорджем Уильямом Расселлом, 
оказавшим на нее большое влияние — и как чело

Об автОре

век, и как литератор. Он тогда был редактором журнала «Айриш Стэйтсмэн» и принял для публикации 
несколько ее поэм. Через Расселла Трэверс познакомилась с Уильямом Батлером Йейтсом и другими ирландскими поэтами, которые привили ей интерес к мировой мифологии.
В 1934 году в свет вышла «Мэри Поппинс» и принесла автору первый настоящий успех. Последовали 
продолжения книги, а также романы, сборники стихов и нехудожественные произведения. В 1964 году 
появился фильм «Мэри Поппинс» с Джули Эндрюс 
в главной роли. Фильм был выдвинут на «Оскар» в 
тринадцати номинациях и удостоился пяти наград.
О жизни П. Л. Трэверс известно мало — она не 
любила давать интервью и посвящать журналистов 
в подробности своей личной жизни. «Если вас интересуют факты моей биографии, — однажды сказала она, — то история моей жизни содержится в 
„Мэри Поппинс“ и других моих книгах».

Chapter One

EAST WIND

If you want to find Cherry Tree Lane all you have 
to do is ask the Policeman at the crossroads. He will 
push his helmet slightly to one side, scratch his head 
thoughtfully, and then he will point his huge whitegloved finger and say: “First to your right, second to 
your left, sharp right again, and you’re there. Good 
morning.”
And sure enough, if you follow his directions 
exactly, you wil be there — right in the middle of 
Cherry Tree Lane, where the houses run down one side 
and the Park runs down the other and the cherry trees 
go dancing right down the middle.
If you are looking for Number Seventeen — and it 
is more than likely that you will be, for this book is all 
about that particular house — you will very soon find 
it. To begin with, it is the smallest house in the Lane. 
And besides that, it is the only one that is rather 

Chapter One

6

dilapidated and needs a coat of paint1. But Mr. Banks, 
who owns it, said to Mrs. Banks that she could have 
either a nice, clean, comfortable house or four children. 
But not both, for he couldn’t afford it.
And after Mrs. Banks had given the matter some 
consideration she came to the conclusion that she 
would rather have Jane, who was the eldest, and 
Michael, who came next, and John and Barbara, who 
were Twins and came last of all. So it was settled, and 
that was how the Banks family came to live at Number 
Seventeen, with Mrs. Brill to cook for them, and Ellen 
to lay the tables, and Robertson Ay to cut the lawn and 
clean the knives and polish the shoes and, as Mr. Banks 
always said, “to waste his time and my money”.
And, of course, besides these there was Katie Nanna, 
who doesn’t really deserve to come into the book at all 
because, at the time I am speaking of, she had just left 
Number Seventeen.
“Without a by your leave2 or a word of warning. 
And what am I to do?” said Mrs. Banks.
“Advertise, my dear,” said Mr. Banks, putting on his 
shoes. “And I wish Robertson Ay would go without a 
word of warning, for he has again polished one boot and 
left the other untouched. I shall look very lo psided.”
“That,” said Mrs. Banks, “is not of the least importance. You haven’t told me what I’m to do about Katie 
Nanna.”

1 needs a coat of paint — (разг.) нуждается в покраске
2 Without a by your leave — (разг.) Без объяснения 
причин

east Wind

7

“I don’t see how you can do anything about her since 
she has disappeared,” replied Mr. Banks. “But if it were 
me — I mean I — well, I should get somebody to put 
in the Morning Paper the news that Jane and Michael 
and John and Barbara Banks (to say nothing of their 
Mother) require the best possible Nannie at the lowest 
possible wage and at once. Then I should wait and watch 
for the Nannies to queue up outside the front gate, and 
I should get very cross with them1 for holding up the 
traffic and making it necessary for me to give the 
policeman a shilling for putting him to so much trouble. 
Now I must be off. Whew, it’s as cold as the North Pole. 
Which way is the wind blowing?”
And as he said that, Mr. Banks popped his head out 
of the window and looked down the Lane to Admiral 
Boom’s house at the corner. This was the grandest house 
in the Lane, and the Lane was very proud of it because 
it was built exactly like a ship. There was a flagstaff in 
the garden, and on the roof was a gilt weathercock 
shaped like a telescope.
“Ha!” said Mr. Banks, drawing in his head very 
quickly. “Admiral’s telescope says East Wind. I thought 
as much.2 There is frost in my bones. I shall wear two 
overcoats.” And he kissed his wife absentmindedly on 
one side of her nose and waved to the children and 
went away to the City.

1 should get very cross with them — (разг.) буду раздражаться (сердиться на них)
2 I thought as much. — (разг.) Так я и думал.

Chapter One

8

Now, the City was a place where Mr. Banks went 
every day — except Sundays, of course, and Bank 
Holidays1 — and while he was there he sat on a large 
chair in front of a large desk and made money. All day 
long he worked, cutting out pennies and shillings and 
half­crowns and threepenny­bits. And he brought them 
home with him in his little black bag. Sometimes he 
would give some to Jane and Michael for their moneyboxes, and when he couldn’t spare any he would say, 
“The Bank is broken,” and they would know he hadn’t 
made much money that day.
Well, Mr. Banks went off with his black bag, and 
Mrs. Banks went into the drawing­room and sat there 
all day long writing letters to the papers and begging 
them to send some Nannies to her at once as she was 
waiting; and upstairs in the Nursery, Jane and Michael 
watched at the window and wondered who would 
come. They were glad Katie Nanna had gone, for they 
had never liked her. She was old and fat and smelt of 
barley­water. Anything, they thought, would be better 
than Katie Nanna — if not much better.
When the afternoon began to die away behind the 
Park, Mrs. Brill and Ellen came to give them their 
supper and to bath the Twins. And after supper Jane 
and Michael sat at the window watching for Mr. Banks 
to come home, and listening to the sound of the East 
Wind blowing through the naked branches of the 

1 Bank Holidays — официально установленные выходные дни, не выпадающие на субботу и воскресенье

east Wind

9

cherry trees in the Lane. The trees themselves, turning 
and bending in the half light, looked as though they 
had gone mad and were dancing their roots out of the 
ground.
“There he is!” said Michael, pointing suddenly to a 
shape that banged heavily against the gate. Jane peered 
through the gathering darkness.
“That’s not Daddy,” she said. “It’s somebody else.”
Then the shape, tossed and bent under the wind, 
lifted the latch of the gate, and they could see that it 
belonged to a woman, who was holding her hat on with 
one hand and carrying a bag in the other. As they watched, 
Jane and Michael saw a curious thing happen. As soon as 
the shape was inside the gate the wind seemed to catch 
her up into the air and fling her at the house. It was as 
though it had flung her first at the gate, waited for her to 
open it, and then lifted and thrown her, bag and all1, at 
the front door. The watching children heard a terrific 
bang, and as she landed the whole house shook.
“How funny! I’ve never seen that happen before,” 
said Michael.
“Let’s go and see who it is!” said Jane, and taking 
Michael’s arm she drew him away from the window, 
through the Nursery and out on to the landing. From 
there they always had a good view of anything that 
happened in the front hall.
Presently they saw their Mother coming out of the 
drawing­room with a visitor following her. Jane and 

1 bag and all — (разг.) со всеми пожитками

Chapter One

10

Michael could see that the newcomer had shiny black 
hair — “Rather like a wooden Dutch doll,” whispered 
Jane. And that she was thin, with large feet and hands, 
and small, rather peering blue eyes.
“You’ll find that they are very nice children,” 
Mrs. Banks was saying.
Michael’s elbow gave a sharp dig at Jane’s ribs.
“And that they give no trouble at all,” continued 
Mrs. Banks uncertainly, as if she herself didn’t really 
believe what she was saying. They heard the visitor sniff 
as though she didn’t either.
“Now, about references —” Mrs. Banks went on. 
“Oh, I make it a rule never to give references,” said 
the other firmly. 
Mrs. Banks stared.
“But I thought it was usual,” she said. “I mean — I 
understood people always did.”
“A very old­fashioned idea, to my mind,” Jane and 
Michael heard the stern voice say. “Very old­fashioned. 
Quite out of date1, as you might say.”
Now, if there was one thing Mrs. Banks did not like, 
it was to be thought old­fashioned. She just couldn’t 
bear it. So she said quickly:
“Very well, then. We won’t bother about them. I 
only asked, of course, in case you — er — required it. 
The nursery is upstairs —” And she led the way towards 
the staircase, talking all the time, without stopping 

1 Quite out of date — (разг.) Совершенно старомодно 
(устарело)