Part 19

‘of books’, here +der Lektüre+.

A. The verbs ‘=to be fond of=’ and ‘=to like=’ are often rendered by the auxiliary verb of mood ‘+=mögen=+’, either with or without the adverb ‘+gerne+’ or ‘+gern+’ (willingly), which is used to intensify its signification; as—

I am very fond of the German language.

+Ich ~mag~ die deutsche Sprache sehr ~gern~.+

Are you fond of walking?

+~Mögen Sie gerne~ spazieren gehen?+

I don’t like this child.

+~Ich mag~ dies Kind ~nicht~.+

B. But the adverb +=~gerne~=+ or +=~gern~=+ in itself denotes liking and fondness, and is therefore the general translation of the verbs ‘to be fond of’ or ‘to like’ when used with the infinitive of other verbs; as—

I like to dance.

+Ich tanze ~gern~.+

We are fond of confining ourselves to a few old books.

+Wir beschränken uns ~gern~ auf einige wenige alte Bücher.+

Construe the above clause accord. to the last example given.

acquaintances = friends; I am desirous of becoming = I wish to become (App. § 19). The insertion of the adverb ‘+noch+’ before the comparative will greatly improve the rendering of this clause.

to suspect = to believe.

‘nine times out of ten’ may be briefly rendered by the adverbial expression +meistenteils+, which place immediately after the subject of the subordinate clause.

profitable, +nützlich+; ‘if — agreeable’, say ‘if not even (+gar+) more agreeable’; ‘over again’, here +noch einmal+.

‘than — time’, say ‘than to occupy oneself (+sich beschäftigen+) with a new one’. This periphrase is necessary to avoid a monotonous repetition in German.

Section 21.

AN APPARENTLY INSIGNIFICANT FACT OFTEN LEADS TO GREAT RESULTS.

When Galvani discovered that a frog’s leg twitched when placed in contact with different metals, it could scarcely have been imagined that so apparently insignificant a fact would ever lead (App. § 17) to important results. Yet therein lay the germ of the Electric Telegraph, which binds the intelligence of continents together, and probably before many years elapse will “put a girdle round the globe.”—S. SMILES.

+Thatsache+, f.

See S. 5, N. 2, and place the adverb after the verb; ‘result’, +Resultat+, n.

+Luigi Galvani, italienischer Anatom, entdeckte 1780 den Galvanismus.+ ‘When — discovered’, say ‘When Galvani made the discovery’.

‘leg’, here +Schenkel+, m.; to twitch, +in Zuckungen geraten+; when placed = when (S. 18, N. 6) the same was (S. 2, N. 1) brought.

it — imagined, +hätte man sich kaum vorstellen können+; ‘that so apparently ... a’, +daß eine scheinbar so+.

+zum.+