The Great Gatsby — Page 2
Most of the confidences were unsought—frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity when I realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon; for the intimate revelations of young men, or at least the terms in which they express them, are usually plagiaristic and marred by obvious suppressions.
La plupart de ces confidences n'avaient pas été sollicitées — il m'est souvent arrivé de feindre le sommeil, la préoccupation, ou une légèreté hostile lorsque je réalisais, à quelque signe indubitable, qu'une révélation intime frémissait à l'horizon ; car les révélations intimes des jeunes gens, ou du moins les termes dans lesquels ils les expriment, sont généralement plagiatrices et entachées d'omissions manifestes.
Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope.
Se réserver le jugement est une question d'espoir infini.
I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that, as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.
J'ai encore un peu peur de passer à côté de quelque chose si j'oublie que, comme mon père le suggérait avec snobisme, et comme je le répète avec snobisme, le sens des bienséances fondamentales est inégalement réparti à la naissance.
And, after boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the admission that it has a limit.
Et, après m'être ainsi vanté de ma tolérance, j'en viens à admettre qu'elle a une limite.
Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes, but after a certain point I don't care what it's founded on.
La conduite peut être fondée sur le roc solide ou les marais humides, mais après un certain point, je me fiche de ce sur quoi elle est fondée.
When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart.
Quand je suis revenu de l'Est l'automne dernier, j'avais l'impression de vouloir que le monde soit en uniforme et dans une sorte d'attention morale pour toujours ; je ne voulais plus d'excursions tumultueuses offrant des aperçus privilégiés du cœur humain.
Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.
Seul Gatsby, l'homme qui donne son nom à ce livre, était exempt de ma réaction — Gatsby, qui représentait tout ce pour quoi j'éprouve un mépris sincère.
If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.
Si la personnalité est une série ininterrompue de gestes réussis, alors il y avait en lui quelque chose de magnifique, une sensibilité accrue aux promesses de la vie, comme s'il était apparenté à l'une de ces machines complexes qui enregistrent les tremblements de terre à des milliers de kilomètres.
Vocabulary
- plupart
- ploo-par — Most, the majority of something
- confidences
- kon-fee-dahns — Personal secrets or intimate revelations shared privately
- sollicitées
- so-lee-see-tay — Requested, sought out, or solicited from someone
- feindre
- fan-druh — To pretend or feign a feeling or state
- sommeil
- so-may — Sleep; the state of being asleep
- préoccupation
- pray-o-koo-pa-syon — A worry or concern occupying one's mind
- légèreté
- lay-zhair-tay — Lightness, frivolity, or lack of seriousness
- hostile
- os-teel — Unfriendly, antagonistic, or opposed to something
- lorsque
- lor-skuh — Conjunction meaning 'when' at a specific moment
- quelque
- kel-kuh — Adjective meaning 'some' or 'a certain'
- signe
- seen-yuh — A sign or indication of something
- indubitable
- an-doo-bee-tah-bluh — Undeniable, certain, impossible to doubt
- révélation
- ray-vay-la-syon — A disclosure or revealing of hidden information
- intime
- an-teem — Intimate, personal, or deeply private
- frémissait
- fray-mee-say — Was trembling or quivering on the verge
- horizon
- o-ree-zon — The horizon; the boundary of one's view
- car
- kar — Conjunction meaning 'because' or 'for'
- révélations
- ray-vay-la-syon — Plural of révélation; disclosures of private information
- intimes
- an-teem — Plural adjective meaning intimate or deeply personal
- termes
- tairm — Terms, words, or expressions used in speech
- lesquels
- lay-kel — Relative pronoun meaning 'in which' or 'by which'
- généralement
- zhay-nay-ral-mahn — Generally, usually, in most cases
- plagiatrices
- pla-zhya-trees — Plagiaristic; copying others' ideas without credit
- entachées
- ahn-ta-shay — Tainted or blemished by something negative
- omissions
- o-mee-syon — Things left out or deliberately not mentioned
- manifestes
- ma-nee-fest — Obvious, evident, clearly apparent to all
- réserver
- ray-zair-vay — To reserve or hold back something for later
- jugement
- zhoozh-mahn — Judgment; the ability to form an opinion
- espoir
- es-pwar — Hope; a feeling that something desired may happen
- infini
- an-fee-nee — Infinite, endless, without limits or boundaries
- encore
- ahn-kor — Still, yet, or again; expressing continuation
- peur
- pur — Fear, fright; feeling of being afraid
- côté
- ko-tay — Side; passing beside or missing something entirely
- oublie
- oob-lee — Forget; first person present of 'oublier'
- suggérait
- soo-zhay-ray — Was suggesting; imperfect of 'suggérer'
- snobisme
- snob-eez-muh — Snobbery; attitude of social superiority
- répète
- ray-pet — Repeat; first person present of 'répéter'
- sens
- sahn — Sense, meaning, or direction
- bienséances
- byan-say-ahns — Proprieties; rules of polite social behavior
- fondamentales
- fon-da-mahn-tal — Fundamental, basic, essential principles or values
- inégalement
- ee-nay-gal-mahn — Unequally, unevenly distributed among people
- réparti
- ray-par-tee — Distributed or shared out among people
- naissance
- nay-sahns — Birth; the moment of being born
- ainsi
- an-see — Thus, in this way, so
- vanté
- vahn-tay — Boasted, bragged about one's own qualities
- tolérance
- to-lay-rahns — Tolerance; acceptance of different views or behaviors
- admettre
- ad-met-ruh — To admit, to acknowledge something as true
- limite
- lee-meet — A limit, boundary, or restriction
- conduite
- kon-dweet — Conduct, behavior, manner of acting
- fondée
- fon-day — Founded, based, or grounded on something
- roc
- rok — Rock; solid stone as a foundation metaphor
- solide
- so-leed — Solid, firm, strong, or sturdy
- marais
- ma-ray — Swamp or marsh; unstable, wet ground
- humides
- oo-meed — Humid, damp, or moist in character
- fiche
- feesh — To give, to not care; colloquial expression
- revenu
- ruh-vuh-noo — Returned; past participle of 'revenir'
- Est
- est — East; one of the four cardinal directions
- automne
- o-ton — Autumn, fall; the season after summer
- dernier
- dair-nyay — Last, most recent; referring to previous occurrence
- impression
- an-pray-syon — Impression or feeling about something
- soit
- swah — Subjunctive of 'être'; meaning 'be' or 'whether'
- uniforme
- oo-nee-form — Uniform, consistent, the same throughout
- sorte
- sort — Sort, kind; 'une sorte de' means a kind of
- attention
- ah-tahn-syon — Attention, care, or vigilance toward something
- morale
- mo-ral — Moral; relating to ethics or right behavior
- toujours
- too-zhoor — Always, still, or forever
- excursions
- eks-koor-syon — Excursions, outings, or side trips into something
- tumultueuses
- too-mool-too-uz — Tumultuous, chaotic, and emotionally turbulent
- offrant
- o-frahn — Offering; present participle of 'offrir'
- aperçus
- ah-pair-soo — Glimpses or brief insights into something
- privilégiés
- pree-vee-lay-zhyay — Privileged, special, exclusive views or access
- cœur
- kur — Heart; the organ or emotional center
- humain
- oo-man — Human; relating to people or humanity
- Seul
- sul — Only, alone; sole or solitary
- nom
- nohn — Name; a person's or thing's designation
- livre
- lee-vruh — Book; a written and published work
- exempt
- eg-zahn — Exempt, free from or not subject to something
- réaction
- ray-ak-syon — Reaction; a response to something experienced
- représentait
- ruh-pray-zahn-tay — Represented; imperfect of 'représenter'
- éprouve
- ay-proov — Experience, feel; first person present of 'éprouver'
- mépris
- may-pree — Contempt, scorn, disdain for someone
- sincère
- san-sair — Sincere, genuine, honest in feeling
- personnalité
- pair-so-na-lee-tay — Personality; the character of an individual
- série
- say-ree — Series or sequence of repeated things
- ininterrompue
- ee-nan-tay-rohm-poo — Uninterrupted, continuous without any break
- gestes
- zhest — Gestures or actions expressing something
- réussis
- ray-oo-see — Successful, accomplished; past participle of 'réussir'
- alors
- ah-lor — Then, so, therefore; temporal or logical connector
- magnifique
- man-yee-feek — Magnificent, splendid, impressive
- sensibilité
- sahn-see-bee-lee-tay — Sensitivity or responsiveness to feelings and impressions
- accrue
- ah-kroo — Heightened, increased; intensified beyond normal level
- promesses
- pro-mes — Promises; indications of future potential or hope
- apparenté
- ah-pa-rahn-tay — Related to, akin to something else
- complexes
- kom-pleks — Complex, intricate, involving many parts
- enregistrent
- ahn-ruh-zhee-struh — Record or register data; third person plural present
- tremblements
- trahm-bluh-mahn — Tremors, vibrations, or shakings of the earth
- terre
- tair — Earth, ground, land, or soil
- milliers
- mee-lyay — Thousands; a large number of something
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