"The Giver Quartet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lowry, Lois)

Jonas interrupted. "What was his name?"



His mother replied, "Her, not his. It was a female. But we are never to speak the name, or to use it again for a newchild."



Jonas was shocked. A name designated Not-to-Be-Spoken indicated the highest degree of disgrace.



"What happened to her?" he asked nervously.



But his parents looked blank. "We don't know," his father said uncomfortably. "We never saw her again."



A silence fell over the room. They looked at each other. Finally his mother, rising from the table, said, "You've been greatly honored, Jonas. Greatly honored.''



Alone in his sleepingroom, prepared for bed, Jonas opened his folder at last. Some of the other Twelves, he had noticed, had been given folders thick with printed pages. He imagined Benjamin, the scientific male in his group, be-ginning to read pages of rules and instructions with relish. He pictured Fiona smiling her gentle smile as she bent over the lists of duties and methods that she would be required to learn in the days to come.



But his own folder was startlingly close to empty. Inside there was only a single printed sheet. He read it twice.



JONAS



RECEIVER OF MEMORY



1. Go immediately at the end of school hours each day to the Annex entrance behind the House of the Old and present yourself to the attendant.



2. Go immediately to your dwelling at the conclusion of Training Hours each day.



3. From this moment you are exempted from rules governing rudeness. You may ask any question of any citizen and you will receive answers.