[General] examining of one sentence only

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to examine the following sentence?

Dreams of a reasonable activity fell asleep under the official's vice-uniform, doesn't refuse to honest income.

or

Dreams of a reasonable activity fell asleep under the official's vice-uniform, refuses to honest income.

honest income = take bribes

Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

 

[Barb_D]

I'm sorry, but I can't understand this sentence at all!

What does it mean?

 

[vil]

Hi Barb-D,

Here is an excerpt from the Phraseological dictionary Russian literary language.

Honest income. Obsolete. Irony. Any decision taken by officials bribes. Dreams of a reasonable activity fell asleep under the vice-uniform, official, refuses to honest income (Pisarev. stagnant water).

I assumed that there a mistake has slipped in here, namely a logical gross blunder. In my humble opinion, the corrupt white-collar workers never refuse to take given bribes. On the contrary, they accepts bribes willingly. This was the cause to make a modification of the original sentence.

Regards,

V.

 

[Barb_D]

But what about this part of the sentence?
Dreams of a reasonable activity fell asleep under the official's vice-uniform

Dreams fell asleep?
A vice uniform?
Whose dreams?
What reasonable activity?

 

[vil]

Hi Barb-D,

Thank you for your kindness. As you see I had good reason to make clear my position.

fall asleep = go to sleep; also, cease paying attention as in: His lectures are so dull that I fall asleep.

asleep at the wheel = inattentive, not doing one's job

Here are a few words concerning my speculation of the ambiguous for you expressions:

Dreams fell asleep? the official in question don’t do his job, he think for money only
A vice uniform? a full-dress of a great officer (official) of state
Whose dreams? official’s dream
What reasonable activity? normal (ordinary) activity of a scrupulous, honorable official

Regards,

V.

 

[Jack8rkin]

Despite my being Russian, I can't understand the sentence you presented here. Do you have a Russian version of it? I could translate it for you.
I understand the dicitonary is in Russian, right?

 

[vil]

Hi Jack8rkim,

Thank you for your kindness.

БЕЗГРЕШНЫЕ ДОХОДЫ. Устар. Ирон. О принимаемых чиновниками взятках. Мечты о разумной деятельности уснули под виц-мундиром чиновника, не отказывающегося от безгрешных доходов (Писарев. Стоячая вода).

Honest income. Obsolete. Irony. Any decision taken by officials bribes. Dreams of a reasonable activity fell asleep under the vice-uniform, official, refuses to honest income (Pisarev. stagnant water).

In my humble opinion, the only inadequacy in the quoted sentences are the expressions in bold.

Here is my miserable interpretation of the sentence in question.

Dreams of a reasonable activity fell asleep under the official's vice-uniform(who) [FONT=&quot]doesn't refuse[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT]to honest income.

It is most likely that the humorous language of D.I.Pisarev is not addressed for everyone ear.

Regards,

V.

 

[Jack8rkin]

*** NOT A TEACHER ***
Here is the original sentence in Russian:
Мечты о взаимной любви сменились нелепою женитьбою; мечты о разумной деятельности уснули под вицмундиром чиновника, не отказывающегося от безгрешных доходов.
I translated it like this:
His dreams of mutual love were replaced by an absurd marriage; his aspiration for reasonable activity subsided being covered by his uniform of the official who wouldn’t refuse being on an unsinful income.
be on unsinful income = take bribes (well, if it is acceptable)
Quite a complicated sentence to translate from Russian! I hope I got the sense across.
Anyway, in simple words, the sentence describes a guy who became a civil servant, an offical (and a Russian official is a kind of special). When he was younger, he dreamed of mutual love, hard working (which is the “reasonable activity” aimed to serve his homeland), but as soon as he got in office, he became a classic Russian official (or “chinovnik” as we call them) who lived by “unsinful income” that is by bribes.

вицмундир = uniform of a sivil servant (just "uniform", not "vice-uniform")
безгрешный доход = unsinful income (just "bribe")
не отказывающегося = which does not refuse (taking bribes)

 

[vil]

Hi Jack8rkim,

Thank you for your wonderful interpretation of the sentence in question as well as for the additional, thorough elucidation.

Regards,

V.