Un fin renard /Thème

Réponse: Un fin renard /Thème de here4u, postée le 13-03-2014 à 20:14:01 (S | E)
A Cunning Fox (1)

Our hero had rather lightly (2) fancied that he would have some (3) easy sport at the expense of a sort of provincial wit (4), a braggart by trade(5); he discovered that provincial logic (6) is better than provincial verse(7). Far from (8) making a fool of Du Poirier, he had all the trouble in the world (9) to avoid slipping into a ridiculous position himself. One thing is sure: he was completely cured (10) of his boredom by (11) the sight of such a strange animal. Du Poirier may be around fifty years old(12); he had big, heavily pronounced features. Two small deep-set, grey-green eyes turned restlessly, moving with astonishing activity and looking as if they were darting flames (13). They made you overlook (13bis) the remarkable (14) length of the nose that separated them. In many positions, that unfortunate nose made the doctor’s face resemble that of a watchful fox (15). What crowned (16) the resemblance, once you had had the misfortune to notice it, was a thick mop (17) of most uncompromisingly red hair which bristled out (18) around the doctor’s brow and temples. All in all, you couldn’t forget that head once you had seen it; in Paris, it would probably have horrified (19) ; in the provinces where boredom is rife anything that suggests a sensation is eagerly welcomed, and the doctor was all the rage.(20)

1: A cunning (sly/wily) fox/Wily as a fox
2: quite unwisely/thoughtlessly figured out/ quite rashly thought / imagined quite casually/lightly
3: j’ai bien aimé la transposition de l’adverbe en adjectif ; 'make a fool of' me plaisait bien mais ça m’ennuyait de laisser tomber ‘at the expense’ …et j’en avais besoin pour plus tard …/would easily enjoy himself
4: il s’agissait bien de ‘wit’ et pas de ‘spirit’
5: a professional boaster /braggart of his nature/boastful of his craft
6:‘country mores’
7:Certains ont proposé :his poor verses/little verse/trivial poetry. Le texte et la traduction donnée pensent que “ses petits vers” sont les petits vers faits en province …/epigrams. » La discussion avait été rude ! mais pour notre prof c’était un « contre-sens » = - 4points !
8: je n’ai pas aimé lorsque ‘mystifying’ était gardé (mon prof non plus)/ far from fooling/hoaxing/gulling
9: had to be on guard not to fall/ he struggled not to/'not to find himself caught up' m’a semblé trop moderne/autre variante du prof = 'he was within an ace of making a fool of himself' /'all the trouble in the world avoiding slipping'(special tribute to our friend gerondif!)
10: Distinguer les 3 sens du français “guérir” selon qu’il s'agit du remède (cure), de la blessure (healed) ou du malade (recover).
11: /at the sight. Attention ! “ennui” désigne le mal des romantiques.
12:was 50 or thereabouts/ might have been fifty / in his early fifties (mais n’est-ce pas trop moderne?)
13bis: atoned for/made amends for
13: blazing/ darting/ shooting out flames
14: amazing length/incredible length
15: a fox on the prowl/a nimble fox/on the alert/ a cunning fox (si on choisit de ne pas l’utiliser dans le titre)
16: completed the likeness/clinched the resemblance/put the finishing touch to
17: forest like hair/ a boldly blond forest of hair/thick mane of red hair
18: bristled out/ bristled/bristling/ bristling around/growing lustily
19: would probably have been regarded as horrible/would have inspired people with horror/could have been considered horrendous/ would have been pronounced horrible
20 : in vogue/ fashionable/
Attention aux temps = présent de généralité à la fin

Pffff ... Sigh of relief ... It's finished ... (for now!). I hope you didn't suffer too much !

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Modifié par lucile83 le 13-03-2014 21:53
Les deux messages ont été réunis en un seul pour une lecture plus facile pour tous

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Modifié par here4u le 14-03-2014 11:39

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Réponse: Un fin renard /Thème de here4u, postée le 13-03-2014 à 20:15:03 (S | E)
That change of pages is really hard luck !

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Modifié par lucile83 le 13-03-2014 21:56
The messages just needed to be merged

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Réponse: Un fin renard /Thème de mamou3, postée le 13-03-2014 à 20:42:14 (S | E)
Hello here4u,
Thanks a lot for your translation, your personal correction and your explanations, it was very interesting!
Even if, I would never have thought of using : "most uncompromisingly red hair" !! What a beautiful word ! To read it, it's already difficult !
Thank you very much for this not so easy exercise !

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Réponse: Un fin renard /Thème de here4u, postée le 13-03-2014 à 22:33:54 (S | E)
Hello Lucile ! As you had written you wouldn't try, I was going to ... but you had already done it !
Thin Sister is an angel ! Thank you !

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Réponse: Un fin renard /Thème de here4u, postée le 13-03-2014 à 22:38:54 (S | E)
Hello mamou ! I must admit it wasn't an easy text ... But everyone has done very well ! Congrats to all of you !

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Réponse: Un fin renard /Thème de here4u, postée le 14-03-2014 à 11:38:17 (S | E)
Hello gerondif !

Thanks a lot for this excellent objection ... I know you love gerunds ... that's clear enough to me and to everybody
How can I help you swallow that infinitive???(, which, I agree looks like an infinitive of purpose) Shall we cut it into smaller pieces for you to swallow more easily ? I could say that he 'DID NOT WANT TO AND DID NOT slip into a ridiculous position'.(of course the verb 'avoid' isn't helping me here ...)
So, I turned to extra help:
Lien internet
May I trouble you to shut the door?
and : wordreference.com : which is my favourite one.
- go to a lot of trouble to do [sth] v expr (make a special effort to do [sth]) se donner beaucoup de mal pour faire qch loc v
I went to a lot of trouble to prepare a special dinner.

Therefore, and because I can't turn to my teacher who must be retired or dead , I'll 'make the best of a bad job'and 'split the difference' or 'meet you halfway', and 'make a goodwill gesture' because I understand your discomfort at that stupid infinitive ! I'll suggest it as an alternative ! Will you be satisfied ? I hope you won't keep a grudge at me forever ...
Have a good day !

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Réponse: Un fin renard /Thème de lakata, postée le 14-03-2014 à 19:22:06 (S | E)
Thank you so much, dear here4u , for your perfectly clear correction and comments, along with your instructive personal corrections, not to mention your punctuality!
As a teacher, I think being in a position to really appreciate what your work is worth. Well done!
So, in my opinion, you deserve many brownie points as a reward!

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Réponse: Un fin renard /Thème de here4u, postée le 14-03-2014 à 22:40:14 (S | E)
Brownies ! brownies !    I don't care about Brownie-points, but I do care about brownies, lakata ! Thank you ever so much for your very generous appreciation ... It's not deserved really ! But I'd deserve a Brownie !
Thank you too, bibi, for your 'thank you message' and appreciation ... but you didn't suggest cookies, did you ? Of course, we'll work together again soon !
As for you, ungrateful, gerondif-ing , I hope you're kidding when you're speaking repeatedly about writing with a cast, and hope this wasn't a memory from your vacation, oops ... (sorry,) holidays ! Aren't you used to hearing badly spoken English in class ?  Stop racking your brain, and 'ripping your guts' for state verbs or action verbs ... Flexibility is one of the major Anglo-Saxon virtues, isn't it ?  ... I stopped being a 'purist' when I heard : 'the house whose roof has been totally blown away ...', years ago in Kent ! Go and read my Saint Peter story !
It must have been a premonition ...
May you all have a wonderful weekend ! hi hi !

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