Mai napi Szókincstár

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If you like it, learn it, say it aloud and forward it to others.

Ha tetszik, tanuld meg, mondd el és küldd tovább:
 
   www.concord.hu/mainapiszokincstar.php

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Issue 668           8 September 2010

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Quotes
======

We are an impossibility in an impossible universe.
  - Ray Bradbury

There are worse things in life than death.
Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?
  - Woody Allen

Last words are for fools[0] who haven't said enough.
  - Karl Marx

It is too difficult to think nobly[1] when one thinks only of earning
a living[2].
  - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

We all are worms[3], but I do believe I am a glow-worm[4].
  - Winston Churchill

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True Story
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Colena was telling me about her buddy[5] and *his* girlfriend.
They were working on a vehicle[6] and using gasoline[7] to clean the
parts with.  It was a warm day and the gas was sitting in a
coffee can in the sun and eventually evaporated[8]. Judi
demanded to know what happened to it. When they told her
what happened, she asked what evaporation was. So they told
her it got hot in the sun & made it go away.... Judi's reply...
"If you put it in the shade[9], will it come back?"

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Vocabulary
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[0] stupid people
[1] in a noble way, generously, in a way that shows high moral
    character
[2] to earn a living: to earn enough to support oneself and, if
    there's one, one's family, also: make a living
[3] small animals with elongated rounded or flattened body
[4] a glow-worm is an insect larva or lavalike insect that gives off
    light which can be seen in the dark
[5] friend
[6] car, motorcycle or truck
[7] petrol
[8] to turn into vapour, a liquid turns into gaseous substance
[9] a place where direct sunlight cannot reach it

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Translation
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Lehetetlenség vagyunk egy lehetetlen világegyetemben.
  - Ray Bradbury

Van rosszabb az életben, mint a halál.
Töltöttél el már egy estét biztosítási ügynök társaságában?
  - Woody Allen

Az utolsó szavak az olyan hülyéknek való, akik nem mondtak még
eleget.
  - Karl Marx

Nagyon nehéz nemesen gondolkodni, amikor valaki csak arra tud
gondolni, hogy megkeresse a betevőt.
  - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Mindannyian férgek vagyunk, de magamról úgy hiszem, hogy
szentjánosbogár vagyok.
  - Winston Churchill

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Igaz történet
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Colena mesélt nekem egy haverjáról és annak barátnőjéről.
Egy járművön dolgoztak és benzint használtak, hogy megtisztítsák az
alkatrészeket vele. Meleg nap volt és a benzin egy kávés fémdobozban
volt a tűző napon, így végül elpárolgott. Judi tudni akarta, hogy mi
történt. Miután elmagyarázták neki mi történt, megkérdezte mi a
párolgás. Így hát elmagyarázták neki, hogy felmelegedett a napon és
elillant... (Megjegyzés: "get hot" úgy is fordítható/(félre)érthető,
hogy melege lett.) Judi válasza: "Ha a dobozt árnyékba tesszük, akkor
visszajön?"

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Vocabulary Extra
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noble adj. (no•bler, no•blest)
 1. Possessing hereditary rank in a political system or social
    class derived from a feudalistic stage of a country's
    development.
 2.
   a. Having or showing qualities of high moral character, such
      as courage, generosity, or honor: a noble spirit.
   b. Proceeding from or indicative of such a character;
      showing magnanimity: "What poor an instrument/May do a
      noble deed!" (Shakespeare).
 3. Grand and stately in appearance; majestic: "a mighty
    Spanish chestnut, bare now of leaves, but in summer a noble
    tree" (Richard Jeffries).
 4. (Chemistry) Inactive or inert.
noble n.
 1. A member of the nobility.
 2. A gold coin formerly used in England, worth half of a mark.

nobly adv.
nobleness n.

--------------------------
Quotations from Literature
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It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the
unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly
advanced.
  - The Gettysburg Address by Lincoln, Abraham

Oh! time was, when as the sunrise nobly spurred me, so the sunset
soothed.
  - Moby Dick I-LXVII by Melville, Herman

Yes, Bwikov has acted nobly, and you have no choice but to accept him.
  - Poor Folk by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor

LENNOX. 
My former speeches have but hit your thoughts,
Which can interpret farther; only I say
Thing's have been strangely borne. The gracious Duncan
Was pitied of Macbeth; marry, he was dead.
And the right valiant Banquo walk'd too late,
Whom, you may say, if't please you, Fleance kill'd,
For Fleance fled. Men must not walk too late.
Who cannot want the thought, how monstrous
It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain
To kill their gracious father? Damned fact!
How it did grieve Macbeth! Did he not straight,
In pious rage, the two delinquents tear
That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep?
Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too,
For 'twould have anger'd any heart alive
To hear the men deny't. So that, I say,
He has borne all things well; and I do think
That, had he Duncan's sons under his key-
As, an't please heaven, he shall not -they should find
What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance.
But, peace! For from broad words, and 'cause he fail'd
His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear,
Macduff lives in disgrace. Sir, can you tell
Where he bestows himself?
  - Macbeth by Shakespeare, William

Such histories as these do, in reality, very much resemble a
newspaper, which consists of just the same number of words, whether
there be any news in it or not. They may likewise be compared to a
stage coach, which performs constantly the same course, empty as well
as full. The writer, indeed, seems to think himself obliged to keep
even pace with time, whose amanuensis he is; and, like his master,
travels as slowly through centuries of monkish dulness, when the world
seems to have been asleep, as through that bright and busy age so
nobly distinguished by the excellent Latin poet--

Ad confligendum venientibus undique poenis,
Omnia cum belli trepido concussa tumultu
Horrida contremuere sub altis aetheris auris;
In dubioque fuit sub utrorum regna cadendum
Omnibus humanis esset, terraque marique.

Of which we wish we could give our readers a more adequate translation
than that by Mr Creech--

When dreadful Carthage frighted Rome with arms,
And all the world was shook with fierce alarms;
Whilst undecided yet, which part should fall,
Which nation rise the glorious lord of all.

  - The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Fielding, Henry

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Etymology
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noble
 early 13c., "illustrious, distinguished, worthy of honor or
 respect," from O.Fr. noble, from L. nobilis "well-known,
 famous, renowned, of superior birth," earlier gnobilis,
 lit. "knowable," from gnoscere "to come to know," from PIE
 base *gno- (see know). The prominent Roman families, which
 were "well known," provided most of the Republic's public
 officials. Meaning "distinguished by rank, title, or birth" is
 first recorded late 13c. Sense of "having lofty character,
 having high moral qualities" is from c.1600. A noble gas
 (1902) is so called for its inactivity or interness; a use of
 the word that had been applied in M.E. to precious stones,
 metals, etc., of similar quality (late 14c.), from the sense
 of "having admirable properties" (c.1300).

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