First Famous Coarse Thread, or, Famous First Lines Quiz / Test | Literature

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What novel starts with this line, which has here been translated English --> Italian --> English? 'Is one universal recognized truth, that one that a single man in possession of good fortune must be within wishes of one moglie.'

Answer: Pride and Prejudice

Not too hard if you know the book, but I'd LOVE to know where the 'moglie' comes in. Austen's original line, dripping with ironic presumption, is: 'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.' Other bizarre translations included: 'It is a recognized truth universal, of which that a single man in the possession of a good fortune must be inside it wishes of a wife' (Spanish) and 'It is one confirmed truth, those, the one individual man in the possession of a luck inside to be must wish of a woman' (German).

2. What novel starts with this line, which has here been translated English --> Chinese --> English? 'This is the best time, it is the worst time; this is a wisdom, its age is the stupid age...'

Answer: A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens, of course, wrote 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...' A couple of other strange results were: 'It was best periods, it was worst of the periods; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of the stupidity' (French); 'It was of times, it was that worst of times the best; it was the age of intelligence, it was the age of the stupidity' (German) and 'That the time was best, that time it was worst; that was age of the foolishness which is intelligence and that age' (Japanese).

3. What novel starts with this line, which has here been translated English --> Chinese --> English? 'Temperature has hit the day which 90 she arrives'

Answer: Valley of the Dolls

'The temperature hit ninety degrees the day she arrived', wrote Jacqueline Susann in the novel that made her a household name. Hey - I never said they were all *great* novels...

4. What novel starts with this line, which has here been translated English --> Japanese --> English? 'Was not the possibility of taking interest for a single day line there.'

Answer: Jane Eyre

The Charlotte Bronte original runs: 'There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.' The Portugeuse, however, have it thus: 'They were not no possibility there to make walked examination of one that day.'

5. What novel starts with this line, which has here been translated English --> Italian --> English? 'My name to align is therefore very famous in annotations, or records to Newgate and in the Old Bailey and there are some things of such consequence still that it depends here, than is not previewed that I would have to establish my name, or the customer of my family to this job...'

Answer: Moll Flanders

'My true name is so well known in the records, or registers at Newgate, and in the Old Bailey, and there are some things of such consequence still depending there, that it is not expected I should set down my name, or the account of my family to this work...', wrote Daniel Defoe in his fictional autobiography of a notorious lady of ill repute.

Another interesting variation was: 'My true name is so well-known in the discs, or is recorded at Newgate, and in the Bailey old man, and there are some things of such a consequence depending always there, that it is not provided it that I should establish my name, or counts it of my family to this work...' (French)

6. What novel starts with this line, which has here been translated English --> Chinese --> English? 'Dashwood family has been stabilized for a long time in Su Kesai Si'

Answer: Sense and Sensibility

Another Austen. The original first line is: 'The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex.' I also came up with 'The family of Dashwood had been arranged a long time in Sussex' (French) and 'The family had been agreed upon by Dashwood long in Sussex' (German).

7. What novel starts with this line, which has here been translated English --> Chinese --> English? 'My father's surname is Pirrip, with mine Christian first name Philip, my baby tongue can make naming any not to be long or explicitly to compare the micronucleus.'

Answer: Great Expectations

Dickens again. He wrote: 'My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.' He could also have written, 'The name of family of my father who was Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infantile tongue-piece could do of does not name long or more explicit nothing else than pipe' (Spanish), but it wasn't likely, n'est ce pas?

8. What novel starts with this line, which has here been translated English --> Chinese --> English? 'Arab League Li Si starts to obtain extremely tiredly sits facing each other by hers sisters and to has any in the bank not to do: She 12 time peeped entered the book which she the sisters read, but it did not have the picture or the conversation in it, "and what was to the book use," idea Arab League Li Si, "does not have the picture or conversation?"'

Answer: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known to the world as Lewis Carroll, began 'Alice' thus: 'Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?"'

9. What novel starts with this line, which has here been translated English --> Chinese --> English? 'Ding-dong front century in its several years old, with in sunshiny morning in June, there drove by Pinkerton Academy had decided young lady the giant steel gate was young lady, in the Chiswick shopping center, a big family trained, with two obese horses in burning harness, drove by an obese horse cart driver in a three-cornered hat and the vacation sends, by four miles each hour rate.'

Answer: Vanity Fair

One of my favourites: W.M. (William Makepeace) Thackeray's 'Vanity Fair', featuring the intrepid and irrepressible Becky Sharp. The first line is, in fact, 'While the present century was in its teens, and on one sunshiny morning in June, there drove up to the great iron gate of Miss Pinkerton's Academy for young ladies, on Chiswick Mall, a large family coach, with two fat horses in blazing harness, driven by a fat coachman in a three-cornered hat and wig, at the rate of four miles an hour.' The Spanish version was pretty priceless too, and translated back as: 'whereas the present century was in its adolescences, and a morning sunshiny in June, it lead until the great door of the iron of Academy de Srta. Pinkerton for the young ladies, in the tree-lined avenue of Chiswick, a car of the great family, with two fat horses in the ardent harness, lead by coachman fat in a three-put in a corner hat and a wig, in the index of four miles per hour.'

10. What novel starts with this line, which has here been translated English --> Spanish --> English? "The villagers of little Hangleton still called 'the house of crib�", although it had been many years since the family had lived on the sieve there.'

Answer: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I think you'd have to remember Little Hangleton to get this one - could anyone acquainted with the Spanish language hazard an explanation as to why 'Riddle' would have become 'sieve' in just two steps, since the sentence is in fact 'The villagers of Little Hangleton still called it "the Riddle House", even though it had been many years since the Riddle family had lived there'? J.K. Rowling's fourth opening line is rendered via Chinese as 'little Hangleton villagers still called it "riddle legislative body", even if this were many years since riddle family there housing.' If you enjoyed this quiz, go to http://prague.tv/toys/retrans/index.php and make your own - hours of fun to be had.

Source: Author alkmene

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor MotherGoose before going online.
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First Famous Coarse Thread, or, Famous First Lines Quiz

First lines from famous novels have been translated electronically into other languages and then back into English, with some surprising results! See if you can identify the novel from the odd-sounding intro.

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