A Tale of Two Cities — Page 3
So the guard of the Dover mail thought to himself, that Friday night in November, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, lumbering up Shooter's Hill, as he stood on his own particular perch behind the mail, beating his feet, and keeping an eye and a hand on the arm-chest before him, where a loaded blunderbuss lay at the top of six or eight loaded horse-pistols, deposited on a substratum of cutlass.
So dachte der Wächter der Doverpost bei sich selbst, an jenem Freitagabend im November des Jahres eintausendsiebenhundertfünfundsiebzig, während die Post schwerfällig den Shooter's Hill hinaufzog und er auf seinem eigenen besonderen Sitz hinter dem Postwagen stand, die Füße stampfte und Auge und Hand auf den Waffenkasten vor ihm gerichtet hielt, in dem obenauf ein geladener Donnerbüchse lag, über sechs oder acht geladenen Reisterpistolen, die auf einer Unterlage von Entermessern ruhten.
The Dover mail was in its usual genial position that the guard suspected the passengers, the passengers suspected one another and the guard, they all suspected everybody else, and the coachman was sure of nothing but the horses; as to which cattle he could with a clear conscience have taken his oath on the two Testaments that they were not fit for the journey.
Die Doverpost befand sich in ihrer gewohnten freundlichen Lage, dass der Wächter die Passagiere verdächtigte, die Passagiere einander und den Wächter verdächtigten, sie alle jeden anderen verdächtigten und der Kutscher von nichts sicher war außer den Pferden; auf welches Vieh er mit gutem Gewissen bei beiden Testamenten hätte schwören können, dass es für die Reise nicht tauglich war.
Vocabulary
- dachte
- Thought; past tense of 'denken'
- Wächter
- Guard, watchman; person who keeps watch
- jenem
- That; demonstrative pronoun, dative masculine
- Freitagabend
- Friday evening; compound noun for Friday night
- während
- While, during; conjunction or preposition indicating time
- Post
- Mail, post; postal service or mail coach
- schwerfällig
- Ponderous, sluggish; moving slowly and heavily
- hinaufzog
- Climbed up, pulled up; past tense of 'hinaufziehen'
- besonderen
- Particular, special; adjective in inflected form
- Sitz
- Seat; a place to sit, as on a coach
- Postwagen
- Mail coach; horse-drawn vehicle carrying post
- Füße
- Feet; plural of 'Fuß', lower extremities of body
- stampfte
- Stamped; past tense of 'stampfen', to stomp
- Auge
- Eye; the organ of sight
- Waffenkasten
- Weapons box; chest or case for storing arms
- gerichtet
- Directed, aimed; past participle of 'richten'
- hielt
- Held; past tense of 'halten'
- obenauf
- On top; adverb indicating position at the surface
- geladener
- Loaded; adjective describing a weapon ready to fire
- Donnerbüchse
- Blunderbuss; short wide-mouthed firearm for close range
- lag
- Lay, was located; past tense of 'liegen'
- geladenen
- Loaded; inflected adjective describing loaded pistols
- Unterlage
- Underlayer, base; something placed underneath as support
- ruhten
- Rested, lay; past tense plural of 'ruhen'
- befand
- Was located, found itself; past tense of 'befinden'
- gewohnten
- Usual, accustomed; adjective from 'gewohnt'
- freundlichen
- Friendly, pleasant; adjective in inflected form
- Lage
- Situation, position; the state of affairs
- Passagiere
- Passengers; people traveling on a vehicle
- verdächtigte
- Suspected; past tense of 'verdächtigen'
- einander
- Each other, one another; reciprocal pronoun
- verdächtigten
- Suspected; past tense plural of 'verdächtigen'
- Kutscher
- Coachman; driver of a horse-drawn carriage
- sicher
- Safe, certain; adjective indicating security or certainty
- außer
- Except, besides; preposition indicating exclusion
- Pferden
- Horses; dative plural of 'Pferd'
- Vieh
- Cattle, livestock; farm animals collectively
- Gewissen
- Conscience; inner moral sense of right and wrong
- beiden
- Both; adjective or pronoun referring to two things
- Testamenten
- Testaments; the Old and New Testaments of the Bible
- hätte
- Would have; subjunctive past of 'haben'
- schwören
- To swear; to take a solemn oath
- Reise
- Journey, trip; travel from one place to another
- tauglich
- Fit, suitable; adjective meaning capable or adequate
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