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`But the trouble of which I speak was
caused by an English newspaper.'
He continued to stare at me. I don't think
he was aware that the story of the midnight arrest had been ferreted
out by an English journalist and given to the world. When I explained
this to him he muttered contemptuously, `It may have been altogether a
lie.'
`I should think you are the best judge of
that,' I retorted, a little disconcerted. `I must confess that to me
it looks to be true in the main.'
How can you tell truth from lies?' he
queried in his new, immovable manner.
Clue
Answer
I like relativity and quantum theories
because I don't understand them
and they make me feel as if space shifted about like a swan
that can't settle,
refusing to sit still and be measured;
and as if the atom were an impulsive thing
always changing its mind.
Clue
Answer
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Er war, wie gesagt, Professor der Naturkunde, er erklärte, wie es
regnet, donnert, blitzt, warum die Sonne scheint bei Tage und der Mond
des Nachts, wie und warum das Gras wächst etc., so daß jedes
kind es begreifen mußte. Er hatte die ganze Natur in ein kleines
niedliches Kompendium zusammengefaßt, so daß er sie bequem nach
Gefallen handhaben und daraus für jede Frage die Antwort wie aus
einem Schubkasten herausziehen konnte. Seinen Ruf begründete er
zuerst dardurch, als er nach vielen physikalischen Versuchen
glücklich herausgebracht hatte, daß die Finsternis
hauptsächlich von Mangel an Licht herrühre.
[He was, as I said, a Professor of Physics. He explained how it
rained, how it thundered, how there was lightning, why the sun shines
by day and the moon at night, how and why grass grows, etc. He had
collected all of Nature into a small tidy handbook, so that he could
refer to it easily when needed and pull the answer to any question out
of it, as if out of a drawer. He first gained his reputation by
showing, after many physical experiments, that the chief cause of
darkness was lack of light.]
Clue
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`I wish I could find my calculator,' she said. `Dennis figures
everything up, has to add it three times, loses his place. I can't add
at all any more, seems like. They say if you do sums ten times a day
you'll never get senile. But that argues that bankers should be
geniuses, so that's not right. Thickest heads in the world.'
Clue
Answer
à travers la mince cloison
ce jour où un enfant
prodigue à sa façon
rentra dans sa famille
j'entends la voix
elle est émue elle commente
la coupe du monde de football
[Through the thin partition, the day a prodigal - in his way - son
returned to his family, I hear the voice: an excited voice, giving a
commentary on the football World Cup.]
Clue
Answer
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We have nothing against the Celtic race as such. We are assured
that the Celts have a long and obscure history, and have made their
contribution to science and the arts, such as it is.
Clue
Answer
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Then a king of the west said, `Good!-
I bring thee gifts of the time;
Red, for the patriot's blood,
Green, for the martyr's crown,
White, for the dew and the rime,
When the morning of God comes down.'
Clue
Answer
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Occorse in quel tempo che un certo Gianiacomo piffero da Cesena,
che stava col papa, molto mirabil sonatore, mi fece intendere per
Lorenzo trombone lucchese, il quale è oggi al servizio di nostra duca,
se io volevo aiutar loro per il Ferragosto del papa sonar di sobrano
col mio cornetto quel giorno parecchi mottetti, che loro bellissimi
scelti avevano.
[Around that time a flautist called Gianiacomo, from Cesena, a
wonderful player who worked for the Pope, sent me a message by
Lorenzo, the trombonist from Lucca, who now works for the duke
here. They wanted me to help them at the papal celebrations of
Ferragosto by playing the horn part in some carefully chosen motets.]
Clue
Answer
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Sunday rail travel in England is never enjoyable for the trains
are crowded, are subject to delays and diversions due to repairs and
maintenance on the line, and, to add to one's tedium, the restaurant
cars are conspicuous by their absence for travellers are not expected
to eat on the Sabbath.
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I have told you that I was surprized to see your husband grown so
fat. I should have added that I thought he looked very well. He will
tell you that I am much thinner than when I last saw you. I first lost
my flesh in Dorsetshire having a violent cold attended with a swelled
face, violent toothach and many symptoms of fever. I was never fat
afterwards though less thin than I am at present, and I am afraid I
shall never regain the stone and a quarter of flesh which I have lost.
Clue
Answer