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Dipsik Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary
Could anyone paraphrase this for me?
Hello,
when translating a text, I got stuck on part of the below sentence. I am a bit unclear about what follows the colon; could anyone paraphrase it, please?
Many thanks
L.
Another day north, the country began to roll, and the earth turned brown as coffee, with cream-coloured stone rising out of the soil here and there: once-irregular croppings rationalized to squared-off block-heaps by the efforts of quarrymen.
when translating a text, I got stuck on part of the below sentence. I am a bit unclear about what follows the colon; could anyone paraphrase it, please?
Many thanks
L.
Another day north, the country began to roll, and the earth turned brown as coffee, with cream-coloured stone rising out of the soil here and there: once-irregular croppings rationalized to squared-off block-heaps by the efforts of quarrymen.
Top answer
A "cropping" is a stone that sticks out of the ground naturally, as they tend to do. In nature these stones would have irregular shapes. A quarry is where stone is mined, and the quarry workers chisel the stones out in large blocks - a more "rational' shape and one better suited for future use as a building material.
- A "cropping" is a stone that sticks out of the ground naturally, as they tend to do.
- In nature these stones would have irregular shapes.
- A quarry is where stone is mined, and the quarry workers chisel the stones out in large blocks - a more "rational' shape and one better suited for future use as a building material.
- What I am wondering here is: are the "squared-off block-heaps" actually little houses, or the ruins of little houses?
- Is the writer comparing the houses which dot the countryside to stone outcroppings?
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1 Answers
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A "cropping" is a stone that sticks out of the ground naturally, as they tend to do. In nature these stones would have irregular shapes. A quarry is where stone is mined, and the quarry workers chisel the stones out in large blocks - a more "rational' shape and one better suited for future use as a building material.
What I am wondering here is: are the "squared-off block-heaps" actual
What I am wondering here is: are the "squared-off block-heaps" actual
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