Ray Bradbury A Sound of Thunder (10/25)

"How do we know which animals to shoot (как мы узнаем, /в/ каких животных стрелять)?"

"They're marked with red paint (они отмечены красной краской)," said Travis. "Today, before our journey (сегодня, перед нашим путешествием), we sent Lesperance here back with the Machine (мы послали Лесперанса сюда /назад/ на Машине). He came to this particular era and followed certain animals (он прибыл в эту самую эру и проследил за определенными животными)."

"Studying them (изучая их)?"

"Right," said Lesperance. "I track them through their entire existence (я прослеживаю их через всю их жизнь), noting which of them lives longest (замечая, кто из них живет дольше всего). Very few (/таких/ очень мало). How many times they mate (сколько раз они спариваются). Not often (нечасто). Life's short (жизнь коротка).

When I find one that's going to die (когда я нахожу животное, которое должно умереть: one здесь замещает существительное animal) when a tree falls on him (когда на него упадет дерево), or one that drowns in a tar pit (или которое утонет в смоляной яме), I note the exact hour, minute, and second (я отмечаю точный час, минуту и секунду). I shoot a paint bomb (я стреляю красящей бомбой). It leaves a red patch on his side (она оставляет красное пятно на его боку). We can't miss it (мы не можем не заметить его: to miss – упустить). Then I correlate our arrival in the Past so (затем я рассчитываю наше прибытие в прошлое так: to correlate – устанавливать соотношение) that we meet the Monster not more than two minutes before he would have died anyway (что мы встретим чудовище не более чем за две минуты до того, как оно все равно умрет). This way, we kill only animals with no future (таким образом, мы убиваем только животных без будущего), that are never going to mate again (которые никогда больше не спарятся). You see how careful we are (вы видите, как мы осторожны)?"

"How do we know which animals to shoot?"

"They're marked with red paint," said Travis. "Today, before our journey, we sentLesperance here back with the Machine. He came to this particular era and followed certain animals."

"Studying them?"

"Right," said Lesperance. "I track them through their entire existence, noting which of them lives longest. Very few. How many times they mate. Not often. Life's short.

When I find one that's going to die when a tree falls on him, or one that drowns in a tar pit, I note the exact hour, minute, and second. I shoot a paint bomb. It leaves a red patch on his side. We can't miss it. Then I correlate our arrival in the Past so that we meet the Monster not more than two minutes before he would have died anyway. This way, we kill only animals with no future, that are never going to mate again. You see how careful we are?"