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27-Jul-2004, 16:20
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| |  eternity??
The sentences:
I fly to my book as the opium-smoker to his pipe. I would sooner read the catalogue of the Army and Navy Stores than nothing at all. At one time I never went out without a secondhand bookseller's list in my pocket. I know no reading more fruity. Of course to read in this way is as reprehensive as doping, and I never cease to wonder at the impertience of great readers who, becouse they are such, look down on the illiterate. From the standpoint of what eternity is it better to have read a thousand books than to have ploughed a million furrows?
What does "eternity" mean there? IMO, it means "the eternal truth", but my English-Japanese dictionary says when "eternity" means "the eternal truth", it has to be plural. |
27-Jul-2004, 21:58
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Weird dictionary! I'm not sure the last sentence makes much sense grammatically. Try 'what eternity is, is it...'.  |
28-Jul-2004, 02:48
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Quote: |
Originally Posted by tdol Weird dictionary! I'm not sure the last sentence makes much sense grammatically. Try 'what eternity is, is it...'. | Almost the same as "The truth is, is it.."? |
28-Jul-2004, 16:08
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| | Re: eternity??
Quote: |
Originally Posted by Taka The sentences:
I fly to my book as the opium-smoker to his pipe. I would sooner read the catalogue of the Army and Navy Stores than nothing at all. At one time I never went out a secondhand bookseller's list in my pocket. I know no reading more fruity. Of course to read in this way is as reprehensive as doping, and I never cease to wonder at the impertience of great readers who, becouse they are such, look down on the illiterate. From the standpoint of what eternity is it better to have read a thousand books than to have ploughed a million furrows?
What does "eternity" mean there? IMO, it means "the eternal truth", but my English-Japanese dictionary says when "eternity" means "the eternal truth", it has to be plural. | At one time I never went out a secondhand bookseller's list in my pocket. - This seems out of context to me. |
28-Jul-2004, 16:47
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| | Re: eternity??
Quote: |
Originally Posted by twostep At one time I never went out a secondhand bookseller's list in my pocket. - This seems out of context to me. | Why? He is a book-addict, you know. He is always thinking about books. :wink: |
28-Jul-2004, 16:53
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| | Re: eternity??
Quote: |
Originally Posted by Taka Quote: |
Originally Posted by twostep At one time I never went out a secondhand bookseller's list in my pocket. - This seems out of context to me. | Why? He is a book-addict, you know. He is always thinking about books. :wink: | I understand what you want to say but "never went out .." is missing something. "never went out without ...", "never went without ..." ... |
28-Jul-2004, 17:03
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| | Re: eternity??
Quote: |
Originally Posted by twostep I understand what you want to say but "never went out .." is missing something. "never went out without ...", "never went without ..." ... |  Oops!!
Originally, as you pointed out, it's "I never went out without...".
I thought I typed it right, but during the process of editing or something, I think, I deleted "without" by mistake.
Sorry about the confusion, twostep. |
29-Jul-2004, 16:43
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| | Re: eternity??
tdol, I need your confirmation of this one: Quote: |
Originally Posted by Taka Quote: |
Originally Posted by tdol Weird dictionary! I'm not sure the last sentence makes much sense grammatically. Try 'what eternity is, is it...'. | Almost the same as "The truth is, is it.."? | |
29-Jul-2004, 19:34
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I'm not quite sure of the context for your 'the truth is,is it' phrase, but the original 'eternity'statement doesn't make sense unless there are a number of eternities. |
29-Jul-2004, 20:32
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Quote: |
Originally Posted by tdol I'm not quite sure of the context for your 'the truth is,is it' phrase, but the original 'eternity'statement doesn't make sense unless there are a number of eternities. | Are we getting into some philisophical post WWII text? | | Thread Tools | | | | Display Modes |  Linear Mode | 
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