OS X V10.7 Lion :: Address Book Import From ICloud To IMac?

I am trying to import my address book contacts information from iCloud to my iMac. I want the addresses to be physically on the iMac and to stay there when I turn off contacts in my iMac iCloud settings. I thought I could do it by exporting the Address Book to an external hard drive with iCloud contacts on, turning iCloud contacts off, and importing the Address Book from the external drive. Well, the iMac was not so easily fooled; when I did this, it turned Contacts back on in the iCloud settings and when I then turned it off (again) and clicked to save contacts on the iMac, the address book was empty again. How can I actually, physically, transfer my Contacts from iCloud to my IMac? I am doing this as a means of copying my iPhone (and IPad) contacts to my iMac. I want the contacts to be the same in all three devices with iCloud contacts turned off on all three devices.