Le Petit Chose Part 26

2. sans quoi tu ne t'en tireras jamais, 'or else you will never get over your troubles.'

7. j'ai pa.s.se par la, 'I have been through it all.' Cf.- _il faut bien que j'en pa.s.se par la_, 'I must put up with it.'

9. monsieur l'abbe: simply 'sir.'

19. le plus souvent, 'more often than not.'

23. pattes de mouche, 'scrawl.'

30. seulement, 'even,' 'so much as.' A quite common and cla.s.sical use of this word.

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5. il etait temps; je n'y pouvais plus tenir, 'it was high time, I could stand it no longer.'

10. au fond, 'at the far end.' Cf. note, p. 7 l. 28.

20. en serre-file, 'bringing up the rear.'

21. le professeur de seconde, 'the second-form master. He would correspond to a fifth-form master in an English school.

Cf. note, p. 21 l. 23.

30. la tete: note (1) the number, (2) the use of the definite article.

31. foulards ponceau, 'flame-coloured silk handkerchiefs.'

Nouns serving as adjectives of colour are generally invariable.

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6. ne les laissait pas chomer, 'did not allow them any rest': _chomer_='to be out of work,' _chomage_, 'want of work.'

'Unemployment' would be the best word were it English.

10. tohu-bohu: an onomatopoeia.

14. par ici! 'this way!' 'along here!' Cf. _par la! par ou?_

16. faisaient froufrou, 'rustled.'

22. au pa.s.sage, 'as they went along.'

23. a l'annee prochaine! 'good-bye till next year!' Cf. _a demain!

a ce soir! a bientot! au revoir!_

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1. clic! clac! another onomatopoeia.

8. riant a belles dents, 'laughing merrily'; lit. 'showing their pretty teeth as they laughed.'

12. cha.s.ser a la pipee, 'to go bird-catching with a bird-call.'

(chapter vii. full=viii)

19. au fond d'un grand fauteuil, 'comfortably seated in a big arm-chair.'

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26. paillettes, 'spangles.'

30. en, 'on account of them.'

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1. confidences: see note, p. 40 l. 24.

13. ou bien encore, 'or else.'

16. ce n'est que cela? 'is that all?'

22. de guerre la.s.se, 'in utter despair.'

27. quelle est la lettre dont il s'agit, 'what the letter in question is all about.'

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25. non plus: see note, p. 14 l. 27.

31. pour comble de malheur, 'to crown his misfortunes.'

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1. la rentree, 'the first day of term.'

10. n'a qu'a bien se tenir, 'must put himself on his best behaviour.'

14. berlines: a 'berline' is a large closed carriage of the chariot type, so called from Berlin, where it was first made.

15. manquent a: cf. note, p. 44 l. 16.

(chapter viii. full=ix)

22. en train: sc. _de travailler_.

23. grands mois, 'full months'; cf. _au grand soleil_.

24. son va-et-vient habituel, 'its ordinary routine.'

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