problem with an english article 6

[bluelake]

hi,buddies, i'v happened to read below article in an english learning forum,i can not catch its exactly meaning, actually, i wonder whether it is native english. so i relay it here to consult you guys for help,can you explain the exact meaning for me? any help will be appreciated.

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"From no creature,like children trembling in the dark, we sit and all are afraid. And all our fears are empty like things children imagine in the dark.

"From Harries, the ice melts. And spring comes followed by summer soon to die. For after her comes autumn and then back to winter when nothing moves.

"From specters,if a wish for thing and a thing passed hoping for should come to a man. Will he not welcome it the more. Therefore it is more welcomed to meat and gold. At less beer brings back my desire of old."

"All of these means that we like the insects must die. Death must come to all living creatures. If they were conferred anywhere, it is in the truth, ending the act of these words."


There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't

 

[LesleyW]

Hello bluelake, I am a native English speaker and it is not an easy piece to understand.

It looks like very highly stylised, old-fashioned English, but in places it looks like a typo or 2 has been introduced.

by "Highly stylised" I mean very formal, overly-wordy English - I'm not an expert on historical English but this looks like something written about late 1800's.

As to it's meaning, it is a very philosophical piece about meaningless fears, seasonal cycles, death and life. The third section is totally meaningless to me.

Why don't you share your concerns on the learning English forum? While it's interesting to see this, I am not sure that it belongs on this forum. I don't think that not understanding that passage would be an "obstacle to getting my work done", unless you are an English teacher. Which you're not

 

[CajunCenturion]

It's poetry. (Not qualitative judgement, just an observation)

Like LesleyW, the third verse is not very clear to me, but for what it's worth, this is what it says to me:

We fear and worry about problems that don't really exist. The problem are usually just in our imagination. And yet, Life goes on. The seasons continue through their cycles as it is supposed to be. ?? We long for the good old days, wishing we could go back to the way it was, and the more sober we are, the more we feel that way. ?? Or perhaps this could be wishing to remain young with hopes of immortality ?? But Life goes forward, not back, and death is the final step of life, and it's coming, and there is nothing you can about it.

LesleyW is also completly correct in her last paragraph.

Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[lionelhill]

Someone is having someone one. Are we sure this isn't computer-generated verbage of no specific meaning, perhaps from the vote-for-your-favourite-poem site whose web address I cannot remember? Or possibly from someone wanting to pass Turing's test of humanity?

 

[KenCunningham]

My own first thought was that it's probably some translation engine's attempt at some cod philosophy in a language other than English. Go placidly amongst the noise and haste......and so on.

 

[bluelake]

well, thank you gals/guys for your explanation, though this might not the right place i should put the post on, however, your illustration makes me knowing this is something about old fashion english or a poetry with some typo. thanks
hmmm, and as far as 'obstacle' is concerned, i think it is an obstacle to get my work done, especially for a non-english speaker, english is a important tool to learning IT, because a lot of documents are wroten in english and the most advanced technology are held by those who speak english. most important of all, those america or europe companies in my country pay much more than our state-owned companies and america or europe companies usually pay much more attention to employee's welfare. though both state owned and foreign capital enterprises have their own advantages and disadvantages, but in the IT area, the overall condition of foreign capital enterprise, especiall those top 500, are much better.

though you may think my point of view is philistine or whatever else, but i do think the language is most serious obstacle in my career development. my oral english and listening skill is too bad, actaully, i can seldom get the opportunity to practise them.

so, i find surfing on an english IT forum is a nice way, cause then i can learning english at the same time when i am discussing technology question with so many good fellows.

language is an interesting thing, there is still a lot of fun while learning it... well, i am too verbose on this topic, i just stop at here.

maybe i do need to go to some english learning forum to dip into this topic, but when i really get to a english learning forum, i may wanna talk about IT, then...


There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't

 

[LesleyW]

Hey Bluelake, I agree that not having English as a first language can be an obstacle if working in an English speaking country.

What I was trying to point out was that the English article you posted here is not the level I would expect anyone I work with to understand. Notice I said that "I don't think that not understanding **that passage** would be an obstacle " (I have just added the italics for emphasis.) I was trying to reassure you not criticise you, though I admit I was a little flippant towards the end of my post.

If your "oral english and listening skill is too bad" then you know you need to practice that rather than worrying about old-fashioned stilted "poetry". Trust yourself a little from this experience - if the English you are reading makes no sense whatsoever maybe it's not worth your while trying to figure it out. Listen to english speakers on the radio, join a debating society, listen to English books on tape - whatever you like to do best but you need to make the effort and try to learn actively and this is hard. I'm trying to learn Spanish at the moment and at the very early stages it's hard - you are **way** ahead of me in your English skill v my Spanish.

 

[KenCunningham]

Bluelake, a star for you. Your English is certainly good enough to get your point across, so there's no problem. In fact we 'native' English speakers do tend to get a little blase about understanding and I for one sometimes regret not having done more to polish up my French/German/Spanish skills when I had the chance at school. Perhaps I should do so now. Keep at it and don't be discouraged if you can't fully understand arcane passages such as that you posted above. Good luck.

 

[jrbarnett]

Bluelake,

If you want to listen to spoken English from native speakers, there are two easy ways:
1) The BBC World service is broadcast in English. If you have a long wave radio set you can listen to it and see how well you understand the native English speakers there.

2) The BBC also broadcast many of their shows via the Internet. If you have Realplayer installed and a broadband internet connection (it doesn't work well with 56K dial up) you can listen to other stations from around the UK.

More info on both:

http://www.bbc.co.uk

John

 

[lionelhill]

bluelake, I'd say your english is pretty good. When I lived abroad (as a single young man), the advice I was given about learning the language was "get a girlfriend, or failing that, a television". I got the television, and it was definitely a good idea.
Good luck. And if that was poetry, it wasn't even particularly lucid poetry. There are many poets who manage to write beautifully without making their meaning hard to see.

 

[bluelake]

happy to see your generous replies which encourage me to go on learning english.

it is never late to learning something, where there is a will, there is way,
also, there are friends, there is way, great appreciate your advices.





There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't

 

[bluelake]

is today's evening your western's christmas eve? well, wish all you gals/guys a merry christmas and can get double salary next year

There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't

 

[SQLSister]

Bluelake, I like the way you think! May you also double your salary next year and work half the hours.

 

[DarenNM]

From specters,if a wish for thing and a thing passed hoping for should come to a man. Will he not welcome it the more. Therefore it is more welcomed to meat and gold. At less beer brings back my desire of old."

A change in punctuation and some extra letters might help here:
"From specters,if a wished for thing, and a thing passed hoping-for should come to a man, Will he not welcome it the more? Therefore it (i.e. the thing) is more welcomed than meat or gold. At less beer brings back my desire of old."

I think this means
If a person wished for an object "X" to appear, and the person got to the point where they thought they would never get object "X" (i.e. it passed beyond hoping), then the sudden unexpected appearance of object "X", would be an event more welcomed than meat or gold.

Let P be the person
Let W be a wish
Let X be the object
Let A be the appearance of something
Let p- be the point where hope passes
Let L be the likelihood that an event will occur
Let U() be the an "Unexpected" modifier
Let M be an essential requirement (e.g. meat)
Let G be a very "nice-to-have" (e.g. gold)

Essentially if A=P(W(X)), and L(A) > p- then
U(A) > A
A = M + G

Wouldn't it be easier if everyone spoke in Mathematic notation...... lol

PS Not sure about the beer thing. Maybe it's easier to remember old dreams/wishes when you've had a few



Must think of a witty signature