kindred - apparentés, tribu
IT WAS quite by accident I discovered this incredible invasion of Earth by lifeforms from another planet. as yet, I haven't done anything about it; I can't think of anything to do. I wrote to the government, and they sent back a pamphlet on the repair and maintenance of frame houses. Anyhow, the whole thing is known; I'm not the first to discover it. Maybe it's even under control.
by accident - par accident
discovered - découvert, découvrir
invasion - invasion
earth - terre, terrier, relier a la terre, tmettre a la terre, enterrer
lifeforms - formes de vie
planet - planete, planete
as yet - a ce jour
government - le gouvernement
sent back - renvoyé
pamphlet - brochure, pamphlet
repair - réparation, dépannage, réparent, rhabiller, dépanner, réparer
maintenance - entretien, maintenance
frame - encadrer, cadre, armature, ossature, image, manche, frame, trame
anyhow - d'une maniere ou d'une autre, de toute maniere
control - contrôler, maîtrise, contrôle, commandes
I was sitting in my easy-chair, idly turning the pages of a paperbacked book someone had left on the bus, when I came across the reference that first put me on the trail. For a moment I didn't respond. It took some time for the full import to sink in. After I'd comprehended, it seemed odd I hadn't noticed it right away.
paperbacked - broché, livre broché
reference - référence, recommandation, faire référence a, référencer
trail - pister, suivre, traîner, piste, traces, sentier, chasse
respond - répondre
import - l'importation, implanter, importons, importent, importez
sink - couler, s'enfoncer, évier, lavabo
comprehended - compris, comprendre
seemed - semblait, sembler, paraître, avoir l'air
odd - rench: t-needed r, bizarre, étrange, impair, a peu pres
noticed - remarqué, remarquer, notification, préavis
The reference was clearly to a nonhuman species of incredible properties, not indigenous to Earth. A species, I hasten to point out, customarily masquerading as ordinary human beings. Their disguise, however, became transparent in the face of the following observations by the author. It was at once obvious the author knew everything. Knew everything‰"‰and was taking it in his stride.
Clearly - en clair, clairement
nonhuman - non humain
properties - propriétés, propriété
indigenous - indigene
hasten to - se hâter
customarily - habituellement
masquerading - la mascarade, bal masqué, mascarade, déguiser
ordinary - piece, ordinaire, quelconque
beings - etres, etre, créature, existence
disguise - déguisement, déguiser
observations - observations, observation, remarque
author - auteur, auteure, autrice, écrire, créer
obvious - évidentes, évident
stride - foulée, marcher a grands pas
The line (and I tremble remembering it even now) read:
tremble - trembler, vibrer, tremblement, vibration
... his eyes slowly roved about the room.
slowly - lentement
roved about - Errer
Vague chills assailed me. I tried to picture the eyes. Did they roll like dimes? The passage indicated not; they seemed to move through the air, not over the surface. Rather rapidly, apparently. No one in the story was surprised. That's what tipped me off. No sign of amazement at such an outrageous thing. Later the matter was amplified.
vague - vague
chills - des frissons, froid
assailed - assailli, assaillir
roll - rouler, petit pain, enroulez, roulons, enroulent, roulez
dimes - dix cents, (piece de) dix cents
passage - passage, corridoir, couloir
indicated - indiqué, indiquer, signaler
surface - surface, faire surface
rapidly - rapidement
apparently - apparemment, évidemment, en apparence
surprised - surpris, surprise, surprendre, étonner
tipped - basculé, bout, pointe
sign - signe, signent, signez, placard, caractériser
amazement - l'étonnement, stupéfaction, stupeur
such - tel, tellement, ainsi
matter - matiere, matiere, affaire, question, cause, substance
amplified - amplifié, amplifier
... his eyes moved from person to person.
There it was in a nutshell. The eyes had clearly come apart from the rest of him and were on their own. My heart pounded and my breath choked in my windpipe. I had stumbled on an accidental mention of a totally unfamiliar race. Obviously non-Terrestrial. Yet, to the characters in the book, it was perfectly natural‰"‰which suggested they belonged to the same species.
nutshell - en quelques mots, coque, coquille
come apart - se disloquer
heart - cour
breath - respiration, souffle, haleine
choked - étouffé, suffoquer, étouffer
windpipe - trachée
stumbled - en état de choc, chute, faux pas, bourde, trébucher
accidental - accidentelle, accidentel, altération
mention - mentionner
totally - totalement
unfamiliar - peu familier
race - course, race
Obviously - clairement, évidemment
non - non
terrestrial - terrestre
characters - des personnages, personnage, caractere
perfectly - parfaitement
suggested - suggéré, proposer, suggérer
belonged - a appartenu, appartenir a
And the author? A slow suspicion burned in my mind. The author was taking it rather too easily in his stride. Evidently, he felt this was quite a usual thing. He made absolutely no attempt to conceal this knowledge. The story continued:
suspicion - suspicion, soupçon
burned - brulé, bruler
mind - l'esprit, esprit, raison, intelligence, mémoire
easily - facilement
evidently - évidemment, de toute évidence, manifestement
usual - habituel/habituelle
absolutely - absolument
attempt - tenter, essayer, tentative, attentat
conceal - dissimuler, cacher
knowledge - connaissance, science, connaissances, savoir
continued - suite, continuer
... presently his eyes fastened on Julia.
fastened - fixé, attacher, fixer
Julia, being a lady, had at least the breeding to feel indignant. She is described as blushing and knitting her brows angrily. At this, I sighed with relief. They weren't all non-Terrestrials. The narrative continues:
lady - dame, madame, lady
breeding - l'élevage, (breed), se reproduire, engendrer, élever, race
indignant - indigné
blushing - rougir, (blush) rougir
knitting - tricotage, tricot, (knit), tricoter, souder, unir, se souder
brows - les sourcils, (brow), andouiller d'oil, maître andouiller
sighed - soupiré, soupirer
relief - secours, allégement, relief, soulagement
weren - n'était
Terrestrials - les terriens, terrestre
narrative - narratif, récit
continues - continue, continuer
... slowly, calmly, his eyes examined every inch of her.
calmly - calmement, paisiblement
examined - examinés, examiner
inch - pouce
Great Scott! But here the girl turned and stomped off and the matter ended. I lay back in my chair gasping with horror. My wife and family regarded me in wonder.
stomped - piétiné, fouler, piétiner
lay - laique, pondre, pose
gasping - haletant, (gasp), retenir son souffle, haleter, ahaner
horror - l'horreur, horreur, effroi, dégout, aversion
regarded - considérée, considérer
wonder - merveille, se demander, conjecturer
śWhat's wrong, dear?ť my wife asked.
I couldn't tell her. Knowledge like this was too much for the ordinary run-of-the-mill person. I had to keep it to myself. śNothing,ť I gasped. I leaped up, snatched the book, and hurried out of the room.
Mill - moulin, bahut, moulons, mouds, moulez, moulent
myself - moi-meme, me, m'
gasped - haletant, retenir son souffle, haleter, ahaner, haletement
leaped - a sauté, sauter, bondir
snatched - arraché, empoigner, happer, saisir, arracher, enlever
hurried - pressé, précipitation, hâte, dépecher
IN THE garage, I continued reading. There was more. Trembling, I read the next revealing passage:
garage - garage
... he put his arm around Julia. Presently she asked him if he would remove his arm. He immediately did so, with a smile.
remove - supprimer, enlever
immediately - immédiatement, tout de suite, aussitôt
smile - sourire
It's not said what was done with the arm after the fellow had removed it. Maybe it was left standing upright in the corner. Maybe it was thrown away. I don't care. In any case, the full meaning was there, staring me right in the face.
fellow - un camarade, ensemble, mâle
removed - supprimée, enlever
left standing - qui reste debout
upright - debout, integre, montant
corner - coin, rencogner, piéger, acculer, négocier un prix de gros
thrown away - jeté
care - soins, s'occuper, soin, souci
case - cas, affaire, fouille, étui, chose
Here was a race of creatures capable of removing portions of their anatomy at will. Eyes, arms‰"‰and maybe more. Without batting an eyelash. my knowledge of biology came in handy, at this point. Obviously they were simple beings, uni-cellular, some sort of primitive single-celled things. Beings no more developed than starfish. Starfish can do the same thing, you know.
creatures - créatures, créature, etre
capable - capable
removing - l'enlevement, enlever
portions - portions, part, portion
anatomy - l'anatomie, anatomie
at will - a volonté
batting - la frappe, (bat) la frappe
eyelash - cils, cil
my knowledge - mes connaissances
biology - biologie
came in handy - etre utile
simple - simple
uni - l'uni
cellular - cellulaire
sort - tri, assortir, esrece, assortis, sorte
primitive - primitif, primitive
single - seul, célibataire f, célibataire, simple
celled - cellulaire, cellule
developed - développé, se développer, développer
starfish - étoile de mer
I read on. And came to this incredible revelation, tossed off coolly by the author without the faintest tremor:
read on - lire la suite
revelation - révélation
tossed - ballotté, jet, au pile ou face, tirage au sort, pile ou face
coolly - froidement
faintest - le plus faible, faible, léger
tremor - tremblement, trépidation, trémulation, tremblement de terre
... outside the movie theater we split up. Part of us went inside, part over to the cafe for dinner.
movie theater - le cinéma
split - divisé, fissure, division, fragment, morceau, grand écart
inside - a l'intérieur, intérieur, dedans, au-dedans, la-dedans
Binary fission, obviously. Splitting in half and forming two entities. Probably each lower half went to the cafe, it being farther, and the upper halves to the movies. I read on, hands shaking. I had really stumbled onto something here. My mind reeled as I made out this passage:
binary - binaire, binarité, exécutable
fission - fission, scissiparité, fissionner
splitting - le fractionnement, fendant, (split), divisé, fissure, division
entities - entités, entité
lower - plus bas, abaisser, en privé, rabattre, baissent
shaking - tremblant, (shake), secouer, agiter, se serrer la main, secousse
onto - sur
reeled - enroulé, reel, bobine, enrouleur, embobiner, enrouler, tituber
... I'm afraid there's no doubt about it. Poor Bibney has lost his head again.
I'm afraid - J'ai peur
there's no doubt about it - il n'y a aucun doute la-dessus
Which was followed by:
... and Bob says he has utterly no guts.
Bob - bob, monter et descendre (sur place)
utterly - tout a fait
guts - les tripes, entrailles, tripes, cran
Yet Bibney got around as well as the next person. The next person, however, was just as strange. He was soon described as:
got around - faire le tour
strange - étrange, anormal, inconnu, étranger
... totally lacking in brains.
lacking - manquant, manquer de qqch
brains - cerveau, qualifierejorative or when used as food
THERE was no doubt of the thing in the next passage. Julia, whom I had thought to be the one normal person, reveals herself as also being an alien life form, similar to the rest:
doubt - des doutes, douter, doute
whom - que, qui
normal - normal, ordinaire, normale
reveals - révele, révéler, laisser voir
alien - étranger, étrangere, extraterrestre, alien
rest - se reposer, reposent, reposez, reposons, se, reposer, débris
... quite deliberately, Julia had given her heart to the young man.
deliberately - délibérément
It didn't relate what the final disposition of the organ was, but I didn't really care. It was evident Julia had gone right on living in her usual manner, like all the others in the book. Without heart, arms, eyes, brains, viscera, dividing up in two when the occasion demanded. Without a qualm.
relate - se rapporter, concerner
disposition - disposition, tempérament
organ - organe, orgue
evident - évidentes, évident
manner - maniere, maniere, façon, mode
dividing - diviser, divisant, répartissant, (divide), fendre
Occasion - occasion
demanded - demandée, demande, exigence, exiger
qualm - qualm, scrupule
... thereupon she gave him her hand.
thereupon - a ce sujet, sur ce, la-dessus
I sickened. The rascal now had her hand, as well as her heart. I shudder to think what he's done with them, by this time.
sickened - malade, rendre malade
rascal - racaille, canaille, coquin, crapule, filou
shudder - frémir, tremblement, frisson, frissonner, trembler
... he took her arm.
Not content to wait, he had to start dismantling her on his own. Flushing crimson, I slammed the book shut and leaped to my feet. But not in time to escape one last reference to those carefree bits of anatomy whose travels had originally thrown me on the track:
content - contenu, satisfait, contentement
dismantling - démantelement, démonter, démanteler
flushing - la chasse d'eau, (flush) la chasse d'eau
crimson - cramoisi, carmin, pourpre
slammed - claquée, claquer
shut - fermé, fermer
escape - échapper, s'échapper, éviter, échapper (a quelqu'un), évasion
Last - derniere, dernier, durer, dernierere, durez, passé, durent
those - ceux-ci, ces, celles-la, ceux-la
carefree - insouciant
bits - bits, (petit) morceau
whose - a qui, de qui, dont, duquel (de + lequel), duquel
originally - a l'origine
thrown - jeté, jeter, lancer
track - piste, trace, marque, sillon, empreinte, sentier, chemin
... her eyes followed him all the way down the road and across the meadow.
meadow - prairie, pré
I rushed from the garage and back inside the warm house, as if the accursed things were following me. My wife and children were playing Monopoly in the kitchen. I joined them and played with frantic fervor, brow feverish, teeth chattering.
rushed - précipité, se précipiter, emmener d'urgence
monopoly - monopole
frantic - éperdu, paniqué, frénétique
fervor - ferveur, ferveur (f), checkémoi (m)
brow - sourcils, andouiller d'oil, maître andouiller
feverish - fébrile, fiévreux
chattering - bavardage, (chatter) bavardage
I had had enough of the thing. I want to hear no more about it. Let them come on. Let them invade Earth. I don't want to get mixed up in it.
invade - envahir
get mixed up - se mélanger
I have absolutely no stomach for it.
stomach - l'estomac, estomac, ventre, bedon (pot belly), digérer
