Thread: reading nuances

the very begging of the extract from the novel in my textbook in reading section:

самое начало отрывка из какой-то книги в моем английском учебнике:

1
I put on my costume - dark jeans, black T-shirt, a pair of Adidas trainers. From a drawer in my mother's dressing table I took a pair of think black leather goves. They were a tight fit and smelled faintly of perfume. I had THE two canvas bags, one folded inside the other, along with a torch and some old NEWSPAPERS.


...wrapped them in sheets of NEWSPAPER....

the question is why do they use THE before these bags if they are mentioned for the first time only???

and then they don't use 'the' before 'sheets of newspaper' though we know which sheets exactly



2
....and when at last I did reach the window I'd TARGETED, I found that the stone sill was much higher....

...the torch CREATED the half of a dining table...

I feel that 'targeted' and 'created' is used for some special effect and probably the word is used metaphorically. am i right?



3
...I had to balance the canvas bag on it and hoist myself up....


why do they use up if hoist itself means lift and raise (i suppose you cant raise sth or lift down)???


what do these mean?

1 open area (not sure what OPEN area is)
2 leading to the rooms BEYOND (where is it???)
3 tasseled shade (have no idea....)
4 carriage clock (do u know the word for this one in russian?)


I found it all confusing though i do understand the general idea, just would like to understand in detail!


Все тут очень запутано, хотя в целом, конечно, понятно, ну просто меня интересуют детали!

1.
the two canvas bags - it seems that the author has already mentioned them. Another guess is that in the context of the situation of preparing to set up you already know that having bags are normal for that and there's no need to introduce them in the sentence.

some old newspapers - you have 'some' which fills in for any article.

sheets of newspaper - here 'newspaper' is not a thing-noun, it's a mass noun.

2.
the window I'd targeted - окно, к которому я стремился.
the torch created the half of a dining table - факел выловил [из темноты] часть обеденного стола.

3.

'up' often can be used as intensifier of action

open area - the place having much space, not surrounded by sth.
rooms beyond - the rooms on the other side maybe
tassled shade - just a lampshade having tassles with its cover
carriage clock - I don't know what it is.

Rtyom said the Truth!

May I add a tiny idea?
Then:

1 open area - открытое пространсво
2 leading to the rooms BEYOND - ведущий в дальние комнаты, комнаты, расположенные на некотором расстоянии (не непосредственно позади) за чем угодно, что находится перед смотрящим.
4 carriage clock - дорожные часы, такие возили в каретах.

Я так на это всё смотрю

А, скажите, если не секрет, книжка какая?

книжка cpe


раз дело пошло, я еще хочу спросить кое-чего!!!
since u dont mind my questions id like to ask more!


1
an open area, with width on either side ( width like length and height??
it doesnt make sense to my mind!)

2
is a floor lamp American English or neutral?

3
i took down the carriage clock, the ornaments, and wrapped them in the sheets of newspaper.

what does take down here mean???

4
a mirrow bounced back light

its absolutely confusing!!
is the phrase to bounce back or back light and what does it mean?


5

swinging myself around on the banister at the landing

not sure what the action looks like!..

6

there was a confusion of smells.... of perfume, of sleep

what does sleep smell like??

7

what is GRAINY vase?

8

i felt the empty house with my nerve ends
(nerve ends...)


9

id lost all track of time
is it a collocation or a metaphor?


10

i was a hero stumbling on a dragon's hoard

(no comments, i cant get it!)

я не понимаююююю!!!

Originally Posted by olgaa

an open area, with width on either side

It doesn't make sense to me, either. An "open area" means that it has width (it couldn't be called "open" if it didn't), so to me, saying "with width on either side" is unnecessary.

Originally Posted by olgaa

is a floor lamp American English or neutral?

Neutral, I think

Originally Posted by olgaa

i took down the carriage clock, the ornaments, and wrapped them in the sheets of newspaper.

Here, "take down" means to remove from somewhere up high

Originally Posted by olgaa

a mirrow bounced back light

The phrase is "to bounce back" - it means "to reflect".

Originally Posted by olgaa

swinging myself around on the banister at the landing

Say you're hurrying down some stairs - when you get to the bottom, you might hold onto the banister and swing yourself around it, if you're moving fast enough.

Originally Posted by olgaa

there was a confusion of smells.... of perfume, of sleep

No idea. I don't know what the author's trying to say.

Originally Posted by olgaa

i felt the empty house with my nerve ends

Maybe he's just trying to say that he was very alert. The phrase really makes no sense to me.

Originally Posted by olgaa

id lost all track of time

"To lose all track of time" means to become so busy or so engrossed in some activity that you have no idea what time it is.

What book is this? It doesn't sound very well-written.

about smells


most of all there was a confusion of smells: of make-up and perfume, of musty colthes, of sleep.


btw
still anticipating opinions about first part of questions

и кстати, я еще ожидаю получить ответы на вопросы 1-ой части!

CPE Gold course book

Originally Posted by Moryachka

Originally Posted by olgaa

an open area, with width on either side

It doesn't make sense to me, either. An "open area" means that it has width (it couldn't be called "open" if it didn't), so to me, saying "with width on either side" is unnecessary.

Yeah, that's a very awkward turn of phrase.

Originally Posted by Moryachka

Originally Posted by olgaa

is a floor lamp American English or neutral?

Neutral, I think

I'm English, and I'd say it's American.

Originally Posted by Moryachka

Originally Posted by olgaa

i felt the empty house with my nerve ends

Maybe he's just trying to say that he was very alert. The phrase really makes no sense to me.

Yeah, that's what it's saying. It's poetic .

Originally Posted by olgaa

i was a hero stumbling on a dragon's hoard

A hoard, or a stash, is a secret-ish collection of things of value. You must have stories of dragons guarding immense riches in Russian? Protecting gold and stuff? Well, there's always a hero who comes and steals all the gold and stuff from the dragon, isn't there? I hope that makes some sense to you.

there was a confusion of smells: of make-up and perfume, of musty colthes, of sleep.

Someone needs to clean their house, at least change their sheets.

I've GOT to see this book Olga-M... Perhaps it makes sense in Scotland.

Originally Posted by Moryachka

Originally Posted by olgaa

an open area, with width on either side

It doesn't make sense to me, either. An "open area" means that it has width (it couldn't be called "open" if it didn't), so to me, saying "with width on either side" is unnecessary.

A field is considered an 'open area'. It has no definite width or length. Perhaps 'an open area' is of this sense and '...with width on either side' is restricting it on two sides. e.g. an endless hallway. You have to force it a bit for it to work this way. But...

I agree with Moryachka that it is poorly written. It seems as though the author is trying to be too poetic.

Grainy vase...
grainy being the texture of the vase. i.e. the feeling of sand.

Originally Posted by capecoddah

Perhaps it makes sense in Scotland.

You'd probably have to be drunk off of Scotch too.

Originally Posted by olgaa

1
I put on my costume - dark jeans, black T-shirt, a pair of Adidas trainers. From a drawer in my mother's dressing table I took a pair of think black leather goves. They were a tight fit and smelled faintly of perfume. I had THE two canvas bags, one folded inside the other, along with a torch and some old NEWSPAPERS.


...wrapped them in sheets of NEWSPAPER....

the question is why do they use THE before these bags if they are mentioned for the first time only???

and then they don't use 'the' before 'sheets of newspaper' though we know which sheets exactly

If the canvas bags have not been mentioned before in the text, I would read this as "inner monologue" of the character. The character herself already knows she will need bags for whatever she is doing that night. So - the first part of the paragraph is reporting to the reader "I did this, I did that" and the second part - "I had THE two bags . . . a torch and some old newspapers" becomes a part of her thoughts. She is looking at the pile of things she has collected, and she is confirming in her mind that she has the items SHE knew she needed before the beginning of the story.

Is that at all clear? I think this is subjective, though. It's a subtle point.

As for "sheets of newspaper" - it is not important to the narrator HOW MANY or WHICH sheets of newspaper she used. The important information is that the item has been wrapped in newspaper.

Example:

My mom sees me packing a glass in a box. She says to me: "It won't break if its wrapped in sheets of newspaper. Here are some."

Ten minutes later, she comes back and says to me, "HEY! Shari! Why didn't you wrap the glass in the sheets of newspaper I gave you?"

In the first sentence, the wrapping is more important than the newspaper. In the second, the specific sheets of newspaper she gave me are the important part.