"Valentin Katayev. The Cottage in the Steppe (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

creating a strictly academic atmosphere and instilling in Gavrik a reverence
for science.
After dinner Vasily Petrovich left for the cemetery. Auntie took Pavlik
to an exhibition. Dunyasha had the afternoon off and went to visit her
relatives. Petya could not have wished for anything better. He paced up and
down the room with his hands behind his back like a veteran schoolmaster and
rehearsed his introductory speech for the first lesson. It would be wrong to
say that he was nervous, but he felt something akin to what a skater feels
as he is about to glide across the rink.
Gavrik was not long in coming. He appeared at exactly the appointed
hour. It was significant that he did not come up the back stairs and through
the kitchen, as was his wont, after whistling from the yard below; Gavrik
rang the front-door bell, said "hullo" quietly, hung up his threadbare coat
in the hall, and smoothed his hair in front of the mirror. His hands were
scrubbed clean, and before entering he carefully tucked his cotton shirt
with its mother-of-pearl buttons under his narrow belt. He had a new
five-kopek notebook with a pink blotter peeping out of it and a new pencil
stuck in the middle. Petya led his friend into the study and sat him down at
the desk, between microscope and globe, which objects drew a guarded look
from Gavrik.
"Well," Petya said sternly and suddenly became embarrassed.
He stopped, waited manfully for his bashfulness to pass, and then tried
once more:
"Well.... Latin is one of the richest and mightiest of the
Indo-European languages. Originally, as was the case with the Umbrian and
Oscan languages, it was one of the group of main dialects of the
non-Etruscan population of Central Italy, the dialect of the inhabitants of
the Latium Plain, whence the Romans came. Is that clear?"
"No," Gavrik said, shaking his head.
"What is unclear?"
"The main dialects of the non-Etruscans," Gavrik repeated carefully,
giving Petya a pitiful look.
"Never mind. You'll soon catch on. It's just because it's new to you.
Let's continue. At a time when the languages of the other peoples of
Italy-say, the Etruscans, Iiapygians, and Ligurians, not counting, of
course, the Umbrians and Sabellians who were akin to the Latins-remained, so
to speak, isolated as local dialects in secluded regions," Petya made a
circle with his arms in a highly professional manner to indicate that the
other languages of Italy had remained secluded, "thanks to the Romans, Latin
not only emerged as the main language of Italy, but developed into the
literary language as well." Petya raised his finger significantly. "Clear?"
"No," Gavrik repeated miserably and shook his head again. "You know
what, Petya? Show me their alphabet instead."
"I know what comes first better than you do," Petya said dryly.
"Maybe we can do the bit about the Etruscans and the Umbrians later,
just now I'd like to take a shot at those Latin letters. Huh?"
"Who's tutor here? You or me?"
"You."
"Very well then, pay attention."
"I'm listening," Gavrik said obediently.