Translate into Romanian; commenti on the underlined items from a lexicologist’s point of view:
IN THE LAST YEARS of the Seventeenth USE THIS COLUMN TO TRANSLATE THE TEXT
Century there was to be found among the fops and
fools of the· London coffeehouses one rangy,
gangling flitch (1) called Ebenezer Cooke, more
ambitious than talented, and yet more talented than
prudent, who, like his friends-in-folly, all of whom
were supposed to be educating at Oxford or
Cambridge, had found the sound of Mother English
more fun to game with than her sense to labor (2)
over, and so rather than applying himself to the
pains of scholarship, had learned the knack of
versifying, and ground out quires of couplets after
the fashion of the day, afroth with Joves and
Jupiters, aclang (3) with jarring rhymes, and string-
taut with similes stretched to the snapping-point.
As poet, this Ebenezer was not better nor
worse than his fellows, none of whom left behind
him anything nobler than his own posterity; but
four things marked him off from them. The first
was his appearance: pale-haired and pale-eyed,
raw-boned and gaunt-cheeked, he stood - nay,
angled (4) - nineteen hands high. His clothes were
good stuff, well-tailored, but they hung on his
frame like luffed sails on long spars. Heron of a
man, lean-limbed and long-billed, he walked and
sat with loose-jointed (5) poise; his every stance
was angular surprise, his each gesture half flail.
Moreover there was a discomposure about his face,
as though his features got on ill together: heron's
beak, wolf-hound's forehead, pointed chin, lantern
jaw, wash-blue eyes, and bony blond brows had
minds of their own, went their own ways, and took
up odd postures, which often as not had no relation
to what one took as his mood of the moment. And
these configurations were short-lived, for like
restless mallards the features of his face no sooner
were settled than ha! they'd be flushed, and hi! how
they'd flutter, and no man could say what lay
behind them.
The second was his age: whereas most of
his accomplices were scarce turned twenty,
Ebenezer at the time of this chapter was more
nearly thirty, yet not a whit (6) more wise than
they, and with six or seven years' less excuse.
The third was his origin: Ebenezer was
born American, though he'd not seen his birthplace
since earliest childhood. His father, Andrew Cooke
2nd, of the Parish of St. Giles in the Fields, County
of Middlesex - a red-faced, white-chopped, stout-
În ultimii ani ai secolului al XVII-lea se găsea
printre prăpăstiții și neghiobii cafenelelor din
Londra unul dintr-o bucată, sprinten și agitat (1),
numit Ebenezer Cooke, mai ambițios decât talentat,
dar mai talentat decât prudent, ai cărui prieteni, toți
care trebuiau să fie educați la Oxford sau
Cambridge, au găsit sunetul mamei engleze mai
distractiv de manipulat decât să munceascp din
greu cu sensul ei (2), și așa, mai degrabă decât să
treacă prin chinurile unei burse, a învățat trucul
versificației, și umplea testele de hârtie cu distihuri
după cum era moda vremii, încântat de Zeus și
Jupiter, antrenat de rime vibrante și încordat cu
comparații întinse până când aproape plesneau.
Ca poet, acest Ebenezer nu era mai bun și nici mai
rău față de semenii săi, dintre care nici unul nu a
lăsat în urma lui ceva mai prețios decât proprii
urmași; dar patru lucruri îl deosebeau de ei. Primul
lucru era înfățișarea lui: cu părul blond și cu ochi
goi, costeliv și cu obraji scofâlciți, stătea în
picioare, înclinat (4) - înalt de nouăzeci de palme.
Hainele lui erau din acelea bune, bine croite, dar
atârnau pe el ca niște pânze lungi fluturând în
vantul oceanului, atârnate de catarg. Un om ca un
cocostârc, cu membre subțiri și cioc lung, avea o
postură mladioasă când mergea sau se aseza;
fiecare poziție de-a lui era o surpriză stângace,
fiecare gest era pe jumătate un zbucium. Mai mult
decât atât, se citea disconfort pe chipul lui, ca și
când trăsăturile sale nu se potriveau una cu alta:
ciocul de cocostârc, fruntea ca de lup, bărbia
ascuțită, falca lăsată, ochii de un albastru spălăcit și
sprâncenele blonde și osoase aveau gânduri de-ale
lor, și au preluat poziții ciudate, care adesea nu
aveau nici o legătură cu ceea ce simțea la
momentul respectiv. Și aceste configurații erau de
scurtă durată, căci, ca niște rațe sălbatice neobosite,
nici nu i se așezau bine trăsăturile feței că ha! și
dispăreau și hi! își luau zborul și nimeni nu putea să
spună ce rămânea în urmă.
Al doilea factor era vârsta lui: pe când marea
majoritate a complicilor săi abia făcuseră și ei 20
de ani, Ebenezer la acea vreme din capitolul său era
mai spre 30 de ani, și totuși, nu cu mult mai înțelept
decât ei, cu tot cu scuza diferenței de 6-7 ani.
Al treilea era originea lui: Ebenezer se născuse
american, deși nu-și văzuse locul nașterii din cele
mai timpurii vremuri ale copilăriei sale. Tatăl lui,
winded (7) old lecher (8) with flinty eye and
withered arm - had spent his youth in Maryland as
agent for an English manufacturer, as had his father
before him, and having a sharp eye for goods (9)
and a sharper for men, had added to the Cooke
estate by the time he was thirty some one thousand
acres of good wood and arable land on the
Choptank River. The point on which this land lay
he called Cooke's Point, and the small manor-house
he built there, Malden. He married late in life and
conceived twin children, Ebenezer and his sister
Anna, whose mother (as if such an inordinate
casting had cracked the mold) died bearing them.
When the twins were but four Andrew returned to
England, leaving Malden in the hands of an
overseer, and thenceforth employed himself as a
merchant, sending his own factors (10) to the
plantations. His affairs prospered, and the children
were well provided for.
The fourth thing that distinguished
Ebenezer from his coffee-house associates was his
manner: though not one of them was blessed (11)
with more talent than he needed, all of Ebenezer's
friends put on great airs when together, declaiming
their verses, denigrating (12) all the well-known
poets of their time (and any members of their own
circle who happened to be not on hand), boasting of
their amorous conquests and their prospects for
imminent success, and otherwise behaving in a
manner such that, had not every other table in the
coffee-house sported a like ring of coxcombs (13),
they'd have made great nuisances of themselves.
But Ebenezer himself, though his appearance
rendered inconspicuousness out of the question,
was bent to taciturnity. He was even chilly. Except
for infrequent bursts of garrulity (14) he rarely
joined in the talk, but seemed content for the most
part simply to watch the other birds preen their
feathers. Some took this withdrawal as a sign of his
contempt, and so were either intimidated or
angered by it, according to the degree of their own
self-confidence. Others took it for modesty; others
for shyness; others for artistic or philosophical
detachment. Had it been in fact symptom of any
one of these, there would be no tale (15) to tell; in
truth, however, this manner of our poet's grew out
of something much more complicated, which
warrants recounting his childhood, his adventures,
and his ultimate demise. (John Barth - The Sot-
Weed Factor)
Andrew Cooke al 2lea, al parohiei Sfântului Giles
in the Fields, comitatul Middlesex - un libidinos
bătrân, cu fața roșie, ochi pătrunzători și mâini
bătute de vreme – și-a petrecut o mare parte din
tinerețe în Maryland pe post de intermediar pentru
un meșter englez, la fel ca și tatăl lui, și având un
ochi antrenat pentru bunuri și unul mai ascuțit
pentru bărbați, a adăugat terenului Cooke până a
făcut 30 de ani în jur de 1000 de hectare de lemn
bun și pământ arabil pe râul Choptank. Punctul în
care se afla terenul ăsta l-a numit Punctul Cooke,
iar micul conac pe care l-a construit acolo, Malden.
Mai încolo în viață s-a măritat și a conceput 2
copii, Ebenezer și sora lui, Anna, a căror mamă (de
parcă o asemenea lovitură exagerată stricase
tiparul) murise la naștere. Când gemenii aveau 4
ani Andrew s-a întors în Anglia, lăsând Malden pe
mâinile unui supraveghetor, și așadar a devenit
negustor, trimițându-și proprii mijlocitori pe
plantații. Afacerile lui au avut succes și copiii lui au
fost îngrijiți cum trebuie.
Al patrulea factor care îl deosebea pe Ebenzer de
asociații lui din cafenele era felul lui de a fi: deși
niciunul dintre ei nu fusese binecuvântat cu mai
mult talent decât avea nevoie, toți prietenii lui
Ebenezer își dădeau mari aere când erau înpreună,
își recitau versurile, denigrând toți marii poeți ai
acelor vremuri (și orice alt membru din propriul
cerc dacă se întampla să nu fie de față), se lăudau
cu cuceririle lor amoroase și perspectivele
succesului lor inevitabil, și, de altfel, se comportau
în așa fel încât ar fi fost foarte enervanți dacă nu ar
fi fost la fiecare masă din cafenea câte un grup de
prăpăstiți ca ei. Dar, deși înfățișarea lui Ebenezer
făcea imposibil să treacă neobservat, el era mai
taciturn. Era chiar oarecum rece. Pe lângă rarele
momente în care avea chef de vorbă și se alătura
discuției, părea mulțumit să se uite pur și simplu la
păsări cum își ciuculeau penele. Pentru unii această
retragere era un semn de disperț, și fie îi intimida,
fie îi enerva, în funcție de cât de mare era
încrederea în sine. Alții o considerau modestie; alții
timiditate; alții drept detașare artistică sau
filozofică. Însă n-ar mai fi existat vreun semn al
celor de mai sus. Totuși, felul acesta de a fi al
poetului rezulta din ceva mult mai complicat, care
justifică relatările despre copilăria lui, despre
aventurile lui, și în final, despre decesul lui.
i
The commentary should be written in English.

Please, read your lectures first, do not try to replace necessary work by copying entries you may find in any
dictionary (on or off the internet); apart from what the word/phrase means, there is a wealth of information that you
can come up with/infer/derive if you apply your newly acquired knowledge. This is what should transpire from your
commentary.

Don’t borrow from your colleagues’ work, I can easily spot any such transgression and reward it accordingly (:

Example of commentary:

White-chopped – compound lexeme; [Adjective][Noun]+ed; convert (from Participle into Adjective); homonymous
with the noun chop from a chop of meat (originating from the verb to chop ‘to cut’), but in fact a variant of chap
‘jaw’, a noun of unknown origin (no relation with the verb to chap ‘to split, crack’, like in chapped lips); used
mainly in reference to beasts (like in the grizzled chops of the big bad wolf); which means that it is used
metaphorically when employed in reference to men (as is the case here, in this text), to imply that Ebenezer’s father
was vulgar and coarse; has produced the compound chap-fallen ‘dispirited, dejected’, used metaphorically
(‘somebody whose jaw has dropped with dismay’, ‘long-faced’).

1. Flitch- simple lexeme; Noun; homonymous with side of bacon; in the text, it is used metaphorically to
imply that Ebenezer is just a piece of meat, with nothing special about him, at least at the first sight

2. Labor – simple lexeme; Verb; convert (from the Noun labor) ; homonymous with work; in the text it is
used as phrasal verb: labor over, with the meaning to work hard on someone or something.

3. Aclang- compound lexeme;Adjective; a + clang; used with the sense of clanging, coming from the verb to
clang which means to make or cause to make a loud resounding noise, as metal when struck,

4. Angled – simple lexeme; Adjective converted from Participle; with the meaning to aim, turn, or position
something in a direction that is not horizontal or vertical; in the text, used with the meaning bent , implying
that even when he didn’t stay straight, Ebenezer was still very tall

5. Loose-jointed- compound lexeme; Adjective formed of Adjective+Adjective converted from Participle

(ed); in the text , it is used with the meaning limber, to describe Ebenezer’s posture, comparing it to a
heron’s one

6. Not a whit – idiom, complex lexeme; made up of not+a+whit; Whit- simple lexeme, Noun; the idiom’s
meaning is not at least a bit;

7. Stout-winded – compound lexeme; Adjective formed of Adjective+Adjective+ed

8. Lecher – simple lexeme; Noun; synonym with progligate, meaning a men a person who has a large or
disgusting interest in sexual activity

9. Goods – simple lexeme; Noun; plural from good; in the texts used with the meaning merchandise

10. Factors – simple lexeme; Noun; plural from factor;homonymous with factor (a circumstance, fact, or
influence that contributes to a result or outcome); in the text, used with the meaning agent, a person who
acts or transacts business for another

11. Blessed – simple lexem; Adjective converted from the Participle of the Verb bless; in this case, is means
 favored

12. Denigating – simple lexeme; Present Participle of the Verb to denigrate; its meaning is to defame

13. Coxcombs –compound lexeme; Noun; plural from coxcomb; in the text it is used in reference to the men in
the coffeehouses, describing them as vain, conceited people; dandy

14. Garrulity – simple lexeme; Noun; synonym with talkativeness, loquaciousness;

15. Tale - simple lexeme; Noun; its meaning is story, meaning the narrative of real or imaginary events