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Neil Gaiman "American Gods", Chapter 1 (p1)

Chapter 1 (p1)

Shadow had done three years in prison.

He was big enough, and looked don't-fuck-with-me enough that his biggest problem was killing time. So he kept himself in shape, and taught himself coin tricks, and thought a lot about how much he loved his wife. The best thing—in Shadow's opinion, perhaps the only good thing—about being in prison was a feeling of relief.

The feeling that he'd plunged as low as he could plunge and he'd hit bottom. He didn't worry that the man was going to get him, because the man had got him. He did not awake in prison with a feeling of dread; he was no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, because yesterday had brought it. It did not matter, Shadow decided, if you had done what you had been convicted of or not.

In his experience everyone he met in prison was aggrieved about something: there was always something the authorities had got wrong, something they said you did when you didn't—or you didn't do quite like they said you did. What was important was that they had got you. He had noticed it in the first few days, when everything, from the slang to the bad food, was new.

Despite the misery and the utter skin-crawling horror of incarceration, he was breathing relief. Shadow tried not to talk too much.

Somewhere around the middle of year two he mentioned his theory to Low Key Lyesmith, his cellmate. Low Key, who was a grifter from Minnesota, smiled his scarred smile.

“Yeah,” he said. “That's true. It's even better when you've been sentenced to death. That's when you remember the jokes about the guys who kicked their boots off as the noose flipped around their necks, because their friends always told them they'd die with their boots on.” “Is that a joke?” asked Shadow.

“Damn right.

Gallows humor. Best kind there is—bang, the worst has happened. You get a few days for it to sink in, then you're riding the cart on your way to do the dance on nothing.” “When did they last hang a man in this state?” asked Shadow.

“How the hell should I know?” Lyesmith kept his orange-blond hair pretty much shaved.

You could see the lines of his skull. “Tell you what, though. This country started going to hell when they stopped hanging folks. No gallows dirt. No gallows deals.” Shadow shrugged.

He could see nothing romantic in a death sentence. If you didn't have a death sentence, he decided, then prison was, at best, only a temporary reprieve from life, for two reasons.

First, life creeps back into prison. There are always places to go further down, even when you've been taken off the board; life goes on, even if it's life under a microscope or life in a cage. And second, if you just hang in there, some day they're going to have to let you out. In the beginning it was too far away for Shadow to focus on.

Then it became a distant beam of hope, and he learned how to tell himself “this too shall pass” when the prison shit went down, as prison shit always did. One day the magic door would open and he'd walk through it. So he marked off the days on his Songbirds of North America calendar, which was the only calendar they sold in the prison commissary, and the sun went down and he didn't see it and the sun came up and he didn't see it. He practiced coin tricks from a book he found in the wasteland of the prison library; and he worked out; and he made lists in his head of what he'd do when he got out of prison.

Chapter 1 (p1) Kapitel 1 (p1) Capítulo 1 (p1) Chapitre 1 (p1) 1장 (p1) 1 skyrius (p1) Rozdział 1 (p1) Capítulo 1 (p1) Глава 1 (стр. 1) Bölüm 1 (s1) Розділ 1 (стор. 1) 第 1 章(p1) 第 1 章(p1)

Shadow had done three years in prison. قضى شادو ثلاث سنوات في السجن. Тень провел три года в тюрьме. Shadow üç yıl hapis yattı.

He was big enough, and looked don’t-fuck-with-me enough that his biggest problem was killing time. لقد كان كبيرًا بما يكفي ، وبدا أنه لا يمارس الجنس معي بما يكفي لأن مشكلته الأكبر كانت قتل الوقت. Era suficientemente grande e tinha um ar de "não me lixes" que o seu maior problema era matar o tempo. Он был достаточно большим, и выглядел не так, как надо, со мной, что его самая большая проблема - убивать время. Yeterince büyüktü ve benimle en büyük probleminin zaman kazandığı kadar benimle dalga geçiyordu. So he kept himself in shape, and taught himself coin tricks, and thought a lot about how much he loved his wife. لذلك حافظ على لياقته البدنية ، وعلم نفسه حيلًا للعملة المعدنية ، وفكر كثيرًا في مدى حبه لزوجته. Поэтому он держал себя в форме, учил себя хитрости монет и много думал о том, как сильно он любит свою жену. Bu yüzden kendisini formda tuttu ve kendisine bozuk para püf noktaları öğretti ve karısını ne kadar sevdiğini çok düşündü. The best thing—in Shadow’s opinion, perhaps the only good thing—about being in prison was a feeling of relief. أفضل شيء - في رأي Shadow ، ربما الشيء الجيد الوحيد - أن تكون في السجن هو الشعور بالارتياح. Лучшая вещь - по мнению Шэдоу, возможно, единственная хорошая вещь - быть в тюрьме - это чувство облегчения. Shadow'un görüşüne göre, hapishanede olmanın en iyi yanı belki de tek iyi şey rahatlamaktı. 在影子看来,入狱最好的事情——也许是唯一的好处——就是一种如释重负的感觉。

The feeling that he’d plunged as low as he could plunge and he’d hit bottom. الشعور بأنه قد انخفض إلى أدنى مستوى يمكن أن يغرق فيه وأنه قد وصل إلى القاع. Ощущение, что он упал настолько низко, насколько мог, и достиг дна. 那种感觉,他已经跌到了能跌到的最低点,而且已经触底了。 He didn’t worry that the man was going to get him, because the man had got him. لم يقلق من أن الرجل سيحصل عليه ، لأن الرجل قد أمسك به. Он не беспокоился о том, что мужчина его поймает, потому что он его получил. He did not awake in prison with a feeling of dread; he was no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, because yesterday had brought it. لم يستيقظ في السجن وهو يشعر بالرهبة. لم يعد خائفًا مما قد يجلبه الغد ، لأن الأمس جلبه. Он не проснулся в тюрьме с чувством страха; он больше не боялся того, что может принести завтра, потому что вчера принесло это. It did not matter, Shadow decided, if you had done what you had been convicted of or not. قرر شادو أنه لا يهم إذا كنت قد فعلت ما أدين به أم لا. Это не имело значения, решил Шэдоу, сделали ли вы то, за что были осуждены, или нет. 影子决定,无论你是否做了被定罪的事情,都没关系。

In his experience everyone he met in prison was aggrieved about something: there was always something the authorities had got wrong, something they said you did when you didn’t—or you didn’t do quite like they said you did. من خلال تجربته ، كان كل شخص قابله في السجن حزينًا بشأن شيء ما: كان هناك دائمًا شيء ما أخطأت السلطات فيه ، شيء قالوا إنك فعلته عندما لم تفعله - أو لم تفعله تمامًا كما قالوا لك. Segundo a sua experiência, todas as pessoas que conheceu na prisão estavam descontentes com alguma coisa: havia sempre algo que as autoridades tinham feito mal, algo que diziam que se fazia quando não se fazia - ou que não se fazia exatamente como diziam que se fazia. По его опыту, все, кого он встречал в тюрьме, были чем-то огорчены: всегда было что-то, что власти ошибались, что-то, что, по их словам, вы делали, когда вы этого не делали, или вы делали не совсем так, как они говорили. What was important was that they had got you. المهم هو أنهم حصلوا عليك. O que importava era que eles o tinham apanhado. Что было важно, так это то, что они получили тебя. 重要的是他们抓住了你。 He had noticed it in the first few days, when everything, from the slang to the bad food, was new. لقد لاحظ ذلك في الأيام القليلة الأولى ، عندما كان كل شيء ، من العامية إلى الطعام السيئ ، جديدًا. Tinha-o notado nos primeiros dias, quando tudo, desde a gíria à má comida, era novo. Он заметил это в первые несколько дней, когда все, от сленга до плохой еды, было новым. 他在最初几天就注意到了这一点,当时一切,从俚语到难吃的食物,都是新的。

Despite the misery and the utter skin-crawling horror of incarceration, he was breathing relief. على الرغم من البؤس والرعب المطلق من السجن ، إلا أنه كان يتنفس الراحة. Despite the misery and the utter skin-crawling horror of incarceration, he was breathing relief. Apesar da miséria e do horror absoluto do encarceramento, ele respirava aliviado. Несмотря на страдания и ужасный ужас заключения, он облегченно дышал. Shadow tried not to talk too much. حاول شادو ألا يتحدث كثيرًا. Тень старался не говорить слишком много.

Somewhere around the middle of year two he mentioned his theory to Low Key Lyesmith, his cellmate. في مكان ما في منتصف العام الثاني ، ذكر نظريته لزميله في الزنزانة Low Key Lyesmith. Somewhere around the middle of year two he mentioned his theory to Low Key Lyesmith, his cellmate. Где-то в середине второго года он упомянул свою теорию Лайсмиту, его сокамернику. Low Key, who was a grifter from Minnesota, smiled his scarred smile. Low Key, who was a grifter from Minnesota, smiled his scarred smile. Низкий Ключ, который был мошенником из Миннесоты, улыбнулся его искаженной улыбкой.

“Yeah,” he said. «Да», сказал он. “That’s true. "Это правда. It’s even better when you’ve been sentenced to death. It's even better when you've been sentenced to death. Еще лучше, когда тебя приговорили к смерти. That’s when you remember the jokes about the guys who kicked their boots off as the noose flipped around their necks, because their friends always told them they’d die with their boots on.” That's when you remember the jokes about the guys who kicked their boots off as the noose flipped around their necks, because their friends always told them they'd die with their boots on.” Именно тогда вы вспоминаете анекдоты о парнях, которые сбросили свои ботинки, когда петля перевернулась на шеях, потому что их друзья всегда говорили им, что они умрут, надев ботинки ». 那时你就会想起一些笑话,那些人在绞索套在他们脖子上时踢掉了他们的靴子,因为他们的朋友总是告诉他们,穿着靴子他们就会死。” “Is that a joke?” asked Shadow. «Это шутка?» - спросил Шэдоу.

“Damn right. «Чертовски верно.

Gallows humor. Gallows humor. Висельный юмор. Best kind there is—bang, the worst has happened. Лучший вид - взрыв, худшее случилось. You get a few days for it to sink in, then you’re riding the cart on your way to do the dance on nothing.” You get a few days for it to sink in, then you're riding the cart on your way to do the dance on nothing.” У вас есть несколько дней, чтобы он погрузился, а затем вы едете на телеге, чтобы танцевать ни на чем ». “When did they last hang a man in this state?” asked Shadow. «Когда они в последний раз вешали человека в таком состоянии?» спросил Тень.

“How the hell should I know?” Lyesmith kept his orange-blond hair pretty much shaved. “How the hell should I know?” Lyesmith kept his orange-blond hair pretty much shaved. «Как, черт возьми, я должен знать?» Lyesmith держал свои оранжево-светлые волосы почти побритыми.

You could see the lines of his skull. “Tell you what, though. «Скажи, что, хотя. This country started going to hell when they stopped hanging folks. Эта страна начала идти в ад, когда они перестали вешать людей. No gallows dirt. No gallows dirt. Нет виселицы грязи. No gallows deals.” No gallows deals.” Никаких сделок с виселицей. Shadow shrugged.

He could see nothing romantic in a death sentence. He could see nothing romantic in a death sentence. 他看不出死刑有什么浪漫之处。 If you didn’t have a death sentence, he decided, then prison was, at best, only a temporary reprieve from life, for two reasons. If you didn't have a death sentence, he decided, then prison was, at best, only a temporary reprieve from life, for two reasons. Если бы у вас не было смертного приговора, решил он, тогда тюрьма - это, в лучшем случае, лишь временное освобождение от жизни по двум причинам.

First, life creeps back into prison. First, life creeps back into prison. Во-первых, жизнь возвращается в тюрьму. There are always places to go further down, even when you’ve been taken off the board; life goes on, even if it’s life under a microscope or life in a cage. Всегда есть места, куда можно пойти еще ниже, даже если вас сняли с доски; жизнь продолжается, даже если это жизнь под микроскопом или жизнь в клетке. And second, if you just hang in there, some day they’re going to have to let you out. А во-вторых, если вы просто будете там висеть, однажды они должны будут вас отпустить. 其次,如果你坚持下去,有一天他们将不得不让你出去。 In the beginning it was too far away for Shadow to focus on. 一开始,距离太远,影子无法集中注意力。

Then it became a distant beam of hope, and he learned how to tell himself “this too shall pass” when the prison shit went down, as prison shit always did. Then it became a distant beam of hope, and he learned how to tell himself “this too shall pass” when the prison shit went down, as prison shit always did. Затем это стало далеким лучом надежды, и он научился говорить себе: «Это тоже пройдет», когда тюремное дерьмо рухнуло, как это всегда было в тюрьме. 然后它变成了一道遥远的希望之光,当监狱的粪便倒塌时,他学会了如何告诉自己“这也会过去”,就像监狱的粪便总是这样一样。 One day the magic door would open and he’d walk through it. Однажды волшебная дверь откроется, и он войдет в нее. So he marked off the days on his Songbirds of North America calendar, which was the only calendar they sold in the prison commissary, and the sun went down and he didn’t see it and the sun came up and he didn’t see it. So he marked off the days on his Songbirds of North America calendar, which was the only calendar they sold in the prison commissary, and the sun went down and he didn't see it and the sun came up and he didn't see it. Поэтому он отметил дни в своем календаре «Певчие птицы Северной Америки», который был единственным календарем, который они продавали в тюремном комиссаре, и солнце садилось, и он не видел его, и солнце садилось, и он не видел его. , He practiced coin tricks from a book he found in the wasteland of the prison library; and he worked out; and he made lists in his head of what he’d do when he got out of prison. He practiced coin tricks from a book he found in the wasteland of the prison library; and he worked out; and he made lists in his head of what he'd do when he got out of prison. Он практиковал трюки с монетами из книги, которую нашел в пустошах тюремной библиотеки; и он работал; и он сделал списки в своей голове, что он будет делать, когда он выйдет из тюрьмы.