| Альпинизм на Луне опасен, если вы чрезмерно самоуверенны: при падении с высоты 600 футов вы можете разбиться здесь так же сильно, как с высоты 100 футов на Земле. |
| We made our first halt on a wide ledge about four thousand feet above the plain. Climbing had not been very difficult, but my limbs were stiff with the unaccustomed effort, and I was glad of the rest. We could still see the tractor as a tiny metal insect far down at the foot of the cliff, and we reported our progress to the driver before starting on the next ascent. Inside our suits it was comfortably cool, for the refrigeration units were fighting the fierce sun and carrying away the body-heat of our exertions. We seldom spoke to each other, except to pass climbing instructions and to discuss our best plan of ascent. I do not know what Garnett was thinking, probably that this was the craziest goose-chase he had ever embarked upon. I more than half agreed with him, but the joy of climbing, the knowledge that no man had ever gone this way before and the exhilaration of the steadily widening landscape gave me all the reward I needed. I don't think I was particularly excited when I saw in front of us the wall of rock I had first inspected through the telescope from thirty miles away. | На широком уступе, на высоте 4000 футов над долиной мы сделали первый привал. |
| It would level off about fifty feet above our heads, and there on the plateau would be the thing that had lured me over these barren wastes. | Над нашими головами, примерно футах в пятидесяти, было плато и тот предмет, который заманил меня и заставил преодолевать эти бесплодные пустоши. |
| It was, almost certainly, nothing more than a boulder splintered ages ago by a falling meteor, and with its cleavage planes still fresh and bright in this incorruptible, unchanging silence. | Я предполагал, что увижу валун, отколотый упавшим метеоритом много веков тому назад, и грани его, все еще свежие, сверкали в этой незыблемой веками тишине. |
| There were no hand-holds on the rock face, and we had to use a grapnel. | На скале не видно было ни одного выступа, за который можно было бы ухватиться руками, и нам пришлось использовать кошку. |
| My tired arms seemed to gain new strength as I swung the three-pronged metal anchor round my head and sent it sailing Lip toward the stars. | В мои усталые руки словно влилась новая сила, когда я раскручивал над головой трехзубцовый крюк, чтобы бросить его к звездам. |
