*Desiderata of the =sat= standard*
_D1._ The standard is designed to have the property that
when two persons independently convert some paper book
into a digital =sat= file (`digitize' it), the two resulting
files should be as close as possible (this is the
requirement of _monotony.)_ Moreover, differences should
be localized to a few lines, such that comparing two such
files will be feasible using a utility such as Unix's `diff'.
_D2._ A =sat= file should be as readable and widely usable as
possible. In particular no disturbing `tags' or `codes'
should be present in the file to distract a person who just
wants to read the text and who is not interested in the
fact that it is a =sat= file. Also, a =sat= file should be
readable on as many platforms as possible in as many
environments (editors, pagers, etc.) as possible. This
means that it should only use the kernel =ascii= character
set and should consist of relatively short lines.
_D3._ A =sat= file visually should as much as possible
resemble the book it was derived from. This implies that
the file should be useful for correcting the errors in a
scanned file when read next to its paper source. This has
as an automatic consequence the fact that a =sat= file is
easily readable on screen, because it follows the
customary conventions of how to present a text visually.
_D4._ A =sat= file should not be a representation of the _form_
of the book, but of its _content._ More in particular, only
the elements common to different editions of the same
text should occur in the file. On the other hand _all_ of that
kind of content should be represented in a =sat= file (this is
the requirement of _saturation,_ the word giving =sat= its
name). This means that it has to be much richer than
what's commonly in a straight =ascii= file (for instance it
represents accents on letters, the occurrence of italics,
footnotes, etc.)
_D5._ A =sat= file should be easily processable with `simple'
commands in an editor that supports regular expressions
(like Unix's `vi' or the Mac's `MPW Shell'.) This property is
closely related to the requirement that a number of
structural checks on consistency (for instance whether
opening and closing quotes match) should be feasible with
a rather simple computer program.
_D6._ The =sat= standard should be _closed._ That is, it should
stay rather simple. In particular the number of `special
symbols' that can be represented is finite and fixed. In
practice this means that on occasion something won't be
exactly representable. In that case the only thing that
should be allowed is to improvise and do something that
comes close, visually or semantically, to what's really
there. It should not be an option to go outside the scope of
the standard.
Note that this means that the =sat= standard is relatively
poor: lots of things can't be represented accurately. This
is intentional: one of the reasons for this is that it makes
the standard support the requirement of monotonicity
better: if there are less things one can do, the chance that
one has a choice between different options becomes
smaller. However, poor though the =sat= standard may be, it
still has been used to code tens of books satisfactorily,
without giving the impression that too much content was
lost.
_D7._ A =sat= file should have the possibility to contain
_verbatim_ =ascii= text. Such text should be present in the
file in its raw form: it should be possible to extract it
from the =sat= file by cut and paste without further
processing. In particular there should be no `escaping' of
special characters. The encoding of a single character
should be as simple as possible and it should be easy to
skip verbatim text without having to interpret it.
(This desideratum exists primarily to make it much
easier to encode the =sat= standard in =sat=.)
*How various kinds of information are encoded*
_Paragraphs._ A paragraph is represented by a number of
non-empty lines of which the first starts with at least
one space and the others don't start with a space.
_Paragraph shapes._ The alignment of a paragraph is
encoded by the number of spaces at the start of the first
line of the paragraph. Most often there will be two space
characters there, but there are a number of other
possibilities:
2 normal
5 normal, but with narrower margins, like a quotation
4 a line of a song or poetry
6 a line of a song or poetry, but indented (often poetry
has lines that are indented alternatingly)
8 centered
10 right aligned
There is no way to indicate whether text is justified or
not.
_The global structure of the text._ The possibilities in =sat=
to indicate things like chapter structure and the like are
relatively poor. Paragraphs can be separated on four
levels: the lowest level of separation, which is also the
most common, is to put them next to each other. The
second higher level of separation is to put an empty line
between them. The third level is to put _three_ lines
between them, the first and third empty, and the middle
one containing: eight spaces, a double quote, an asterisk
and another double quote. Finally, the fourth level consists
of _two_ empty lines. It's important to note that a =sat= file
should _not_ end with any empty lines (although the last
line _should_ end with a line terminator: that is, with a
carriage return, a newline or a return-newline pair.)
When encoding a text, the following rule of thumb should
be used: when an empty line occurs in the text stream of
the original book, it should be represented by a second
level separation. If a page break occurs it should be a
fourth level separation. _Any_ separation that's made by
putting some small graphic or some number of asterisks in
the flow of the text should be a third level separation.
(However, note that in some American books an asterisk
might indicate that there is a _second_ level break there,
which accidentally happened to fall between pages: of
course in that case a second level break should be used.)
Generally the fourth level breaks divide the text in
`major' units like chapters. If the chapters are grouped
into parts, this cannot be indicated: in particular more
than two subsequent empty lines should _not_ be used.
_What to include._ The =sat= file should contain those things
that would be present in all editions of the same text. This
means that generally the main information on the title
page and if present a dedication should be included, but
_not_ more detailed information on the bottom of the title
page, the copyright notice, if present a table of contents
(unless there's information there that's not
reconstructable from the rest of the text), advertisements
at the back, etc.
(The main exception to this rule is how a paragraph has
been broken into lines: of course this is highly edition-
dependent. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable. A simple
`fmt' like utility might be used to `normalize' the division
of paragraphs into lines, in order to facilitate comparison
of =sat=-files from different editions of the same text.)
_Style changes: italics, small capitals._ =sat= knows four
styles (`fonts') of text. Those are normal roman text,
italics, small capitals and a fourth `extra' style, which for
instance might be used to indicate bold text or sans serif
text. Style changes are indicated by enclosing the relevant
text between style change characters. The style change
character for italics is the underscore, for small caps the
equal sign and for the `fourth' style the asterisk. So it is:
normal text
{_}italics{_}
{=}small capitals{=}
{*}`extra' style (e.g.~ bold or sans serif){*}
The use of these characters should be minimized: if a style
change is followed by whitespace and then the same style
change occurs again (like: {_}word{_} {_}word{_}) both style
changes should be unified (it should be: {_}word word{_}). This
rule even holds if the intermediate whitespace spans
multiple lines. Furthermore, it is preferred that style
changes should be adjacent to whitespace on the outside of
the styled run: which implies that full stops after an
italic word should also be taken to be italic (an italic full
stop of course is indistinguishable from a normal one).
Also, it's preferred that style change characters `nest'
properly, so a word in bold italic should be written as
{*_}word{_*} or {_*}word{*_} but not as {*_}word{*_} or {_*}word{_*}.
Finally, if there are more styles in a document than can be
represented using italics, small caps and one extra style,
the =sat= encoder has to find some approximation of the
text that represents the semantics of the text best, but
one that only uses the four =sat= styles. (If necessary as a
stopgap measure text can be put in capitals giving the
encoder one extra `style' dimension.)
When a word in a text is underlined in the original, it
most often really should have been in italics but the
typographical quality of that text just didn't allow real
italics: in that case it should be coded as italics. This
generalizes to the situation of (typographical
unsophisticated) texts in which boldface or maybe even
capitals are used where really italics should have been
used: in that case that style should be coded as italics as
well.
_Accents._ An accent is encoded by putting the character
that carries the accent and a character representing the
accent between angular brackets (`less than' and `greater
than' signs). Here are the codes for accents that can be
represented:
double quote dieresis
single quote acute accent
backquote grave accent
`hat character' circumflex
comma cedilla
slash a slash through the character
letter o ring accent for scandinavian languages
If an accent occurs on its own in the text the first
character between the bracket is a space. If two accented
characters are adjacent the closing and opening angular
brackets that are next to each other should be omitted.
_Infrequent characters._ Infrequent characters, as well as
the characters that have a special meaning in =sat=, are
encoded by putting something that looks like it between
double quotes. There is a long, but finite list that lists all
possibilities for such a code. If a `special character' does
not occur in this list an approximation to the text is
unavoidable. A specific instance of these infrequent
character codes are the `superior numerals' that occur in
footnote references, which are represented by the
corresponding digit between double quotes.
Note that the encoding of a special character resembles
the way the character looks, and does _not_ consist of the
name of the character. For instance, if there was a
representation for lambda (there isn't) it would be
something like {"l"} or {"\"} but would _not_ be {"lambda"} (so the
identity function from the lambda calculus would be {"l"x.x}
or {"\"x.x} but _not_ {"lambda"x.x}), because a lambda is one
character and the word lambda consists of six.
_Computer code._ A `verbatim' string of =ascii= characters is
encoded using braces. An encoding of a verbatim string
starts with a left brace, ends with a right brace, contains
the same number of left and right braces, and no proper
prefix of it has this property (there should be enough
braces around the encoding that the `brace count' will
never drop to zero inside the encoding.) A =sat= encoding is
decoded by removing from the front (whichever is longest):
(i) a left brace, or (ii) two or more left braces followed by
a left square bracket, or (iii) a left brace followed by a
line break, or (iv) two or more left braces followed by a
left square bracket followed by a line break; and by
removing from the back (again whichever is longest; the
front and back of the encoding don't need to match in
category): (i) a right brace, or (ii) a right square bracket
followed by two or more right braces.
The shortest encoding should be used, apart from a
possible added line break at the end of the left delimiter,
and apart from making the delimiters match in having
square brackets (this is preferred if the encoding doesn't
contain a line break.)
The encoding of the string {{{[[}}{{{[]}}}} is {{[{{{[[}}{{{[]}}}}]}} (read:
`{{[{{{[]}}}}} "+" {{{[[}}{{{[]}}}} "+" {{{{{{[]}}}}]}}'.) The encodings of the braces are {{[{{[{]}}}]}}
and {{[{{{[}]}}]}} (read: `{{[{{[]}}}} "+" {{[{]}}} "+" {{{{{[]}}}]}}' and `{{[{{[]}}}} "+" {{{[}]}} "+" {{{{{[]}}}]}}'.) The
encodings of the square brackets are simply {{[{[}]}} and {{[{]}]}}. An
encoding string itself can always in its turn be encoded by
putting it between {{[{{[]}}}} and {{{{[]}}]}} `verbatim' quotes.
A verbatim =ascii= string behaves in a =sat= text like it is
just one (very big) character.
Verbatim =ascii= text should only be used for something
that's directly related to computers, like code fragments
from computer programs, e-mail addresses, =www url=s,
etc. It should not be used to simulate other kinds of text.
In particular, it should not be used to represent the layout
of poetry by putting the whole poem in verbatim =ascii=.
Also, it should not be used to put an =ascii= rendering of a
picture inside a =sat= file.
_Footnotes._ Actually a =sat= text consists of two streams
of text: the main text and the footnotes. If the cross
references inside a text have a more complicated
structure than the ordinary text-with-footnotes pattern,
that structure still should be approximated by the
footnote model: for instance when there are text blocks in
the margin of the text, those should be represented as
`notes' with some plausible location in the main text
(maybe at some relevant word) as the reference. The
footnotes themselves are =sat= text that doesn't contain
any empty lines, with for each footnote an empty line in
front and an empty line after. To indicate that it is a
footnote, a vertical bar and a space character should be
put in front of each of these lines (that is: in front of the
`pre' empty line, of each line of the footnote itself and of
the `post' empty line.) Such a footnote block needn't be
near the place in the main text where it's referenced (of
course it's most natural to put them directly after the line
where the reference occurs or at the place in the text
where they occur in the paper source or at the end of the
file -- but this isn't necessary, any other place is allowed.
However, the lines of the footnote should be together and
should not be `mixed' with lines encoding the main text.)
The links between the main text and the footnotes are
encoded by choosing in both streams the most appropriate
characters that act as the `footnote marker' (a raised
number or an asterisk are most common) and then
enclosing those strings by `hat characters.'
_Sentence structure._ A paragraph is thought to consist of
`sentences'. These sentences are separated by double
spaces (at the end of a line that's only one space: the line
terminator counts as the other one). Large pieces of white
space (for instance `tabs' between the columns of a table)
also are represented by two spaces. These are the only
places where two spaces inside the encoding of a
paragraph should occur. Moreover, more than two
subsequent `spaces' (spaces and line terminators) should
never be present in the encoding of a paragraph.
_Quoted text._ All quotation marks (whatever they look like
in the source text) are represented by a backquote to open
a quotation and a single quote to close it. However, the
single quote character that's _not_ used to delimit quoted
text -- the `apostroph' -- also is represented by a single
quote. The solution for this is that if a single quote is not
followed by a letter or digit it's a quoted text closer; else
it's not. If however this rule of thumb fails the single
quote should be followed by a tilde to indicate that the
other kind of quote should be read.
Also, when a quoted text spans multiple paragraphs, at
the start of each next paragraph a `repeating open quote'
should be put which consists of a backquote and a tilde. An
exception to this rule are paragraphs that are actually
lines of a song or poetry: in that case a repeating open
quote is only put at the first paragraph of such a block of
lines. Actually it's a bit more subtle: a number of these
repeating open quotes should be inserted equal to the level
of nested quotes that are still open.
_Periods._ A period occurs in three guises in a =sat= text:
either it's the full stop at the end of a sentence, or it's an
abbreviaton marker, or it occurs inside a ellipsis. The
first occurrence is represented by just a period. The
second a period with a tilde after it, except when it's
directly followed by a letter or digit (so the abbreviation
U.S.A.~ will be coded as {U.S.A.~}). The third, an ellipsis, is
always a series of exactly three periods, whatever might
be in the original paper text. Furthermore such an ellipsis
should be followed by whitespace (a space or line ending),
but not be preceded by it: this means that it behaves like
other punctuation like a comma or colon. If a period is both
an abbreviation marker which happen to fall at the end of a
sentence there should not be a tilde. (The use of these
tildes makes it possible to roughly check whether the
sentence structure of a =sat= file corresponds to the use of
the punctuation of the text.)
_Dashes._ Dashes in the text should be represented by a
double hyphen between whitespace, whatever they looked
like in the original text. More accurately, they should
behave like `words': which means that they should be put
adjacent to punctuation like commas, quotes, etc.~ without
intervening whitespace.
_Hyphenation._ The lines of a =sat= file should be in one-to-
one correspondence to the lines of the original text. This
means that hyphens should be left present at the end of
the lines of a =sat= file. However, a hyphen at the end of a
line can mean three things: either it's a hyphen that
wouldn't be present if the line had not be hyphenated. Or
it's a hyphen that would have been present, in the middle
of a word. Or it's a hyphen that would have been present
followed by whitespace. Those three cases are represented
by putting zero, one or two spaces after the hyphen.
(There's no such convention for slashes at the end of a
line.)
*Characters and what they're used for*
A =sat= file consists of lines, each line being (i) a (possibly
empty) string over the alphabet consisting of the =ascii=
characters with code from 32 (space) until 126 (tilde),
followed by (ii) a line terminator. All line terminators in a
=sat= file should be the same and should either be an =ascii=
character with code 10 (newline), a character with code
13 (return), or two characters: a return followed by a
newline. In particular the last line of a =sat= file should end
with a line terminator. The first and last lines of a =sat=
file should be non-empty (apart from the line terminator),
and so a =sat= file cannot be an empty file.
The characters between space and tilde which occur in a
=sat= file can have various rles. Below we list the various
uses each of those =ascii= character has in a =sat= file.
Every of these characters except character 34 (double
quote) has the additional use that it can occur inside a
code for a special character, that is between double
quotes: mention of this use is not repeated for each
character. (The way something looking like a double quote
is represented in a code is by putting two single quotes
next to each other.)
_Space._ The space character has four uses: (1) it's used to
represent a space, (2) when doubled it's used to separate
sentences, (3) in front of the first line of a paragraph the
number of spaces indicate the shape of the paragraph and
(4) after a hyphen at the end of a line, it indicates the
status of that hyphenation.
_The letters from a to z and A to Z and the digits._ These
characters have one use: representing themselves.
_The common punctuation marks: exclamation mark,
ampersand, round brackets, comma, slash, colon,
semicolon and question mark._ These characters also have
one use: representing themselves.
_The strange marks: hash, dollar, percent, plus, at sign and
backslash._ These characters have zero uses: they should
only occur in escape codes for special characters (and the
escape code for themselves is obtained by putting them
between double quotes).
_Double quote._ The double quote has one use: it delimits
escape codes for uncommon characters.
_Backquote._ The backquote has two uses: (1) it can denote
the opening of a piece of quoted text and (2) it can denote
the fact that such a quoted text is still open at the start
of a paragraph.
_Single quote._ The single quote has two uses: (1) it may
represent itself as a apostroph and (2) it can denote the
closing of a piece of quoted text.
_Asterisk._ An asterisk has one use: switching the `special'
style on or off.
_Hyphen._ A hyphen has two uses: (1) it may represent itself
and (2) if repeated twice it represents a dash.
_Period._ A period has three uses: (1) it may represent
itself as a sentence terminator, (2) it may represent
itself as an abbreviation mark and (3) if repeated thrice it
represents an ellipsis.
_Angular brackets._ Angular brackets have one use: to
represent accented characters.
_Equal sign._ An equal sign has one use: switching the small
capital style on or off.
_Hat sign._ A hat sign has two uses: (1) indicating the place
in the main text where the reference to a footnote occurs
and (2) indicating the place in the footnote where the
reference from the main text has been repeated.
_Underscore._ An underscore has one use: switching the
italics style on or off.
_Braces and square brackets._ Braces and square brackets
have one use: to encode verbatim =ascii= computer code.
_Vertical bar._ A vertical bar has one use: indicating which
lines of the =sat= file are part of a footnote.
_Tilde._ A tilde has two uses: (1) indicating which of the
first two uses of the single quote is intended and (2)
indicating which of the two uses of the period is intended.
*Variations on a theme: things that might be different.*
In an early version of the =sat= standard a =sat= file
contained some more lines, to make it look even more like
the original text that it was derived from. Those lines
where preceded by a tab character (the =ascii= character
with code 11). Thus, the lines with a tab in front behaved a
bit like a `comment' (although of course from desiderata
D2 and D3 it follows that using `tabbed' lines to put
comments inside a =sat= file is entirely against the spirit
of the =sat= standard.)
In that version of the =sat= standard the creation of a
=sat= file was thought procedural. It went like this. Take a
page of the original text. Identify the lines of text on that
page and put them in the most natural order. Next, decide
which lines together are a `text block' (for instance, a
column on the page) and separate the lines of these text
blocks by single blank lines. Repeat this for each page and
separate the lines of different pages by _two_ blank lines.
Next, decide which lines together form a paragraph and put
an appropriate number of spaces in front of the first line
of each such a paragraph. Finally, `take out' meaningless
page transitions and things like page headers and page
numbers by putting tab characters in front of some lines,
such that a =sat= file in the style described before is left
when those tabbed lines are taken out. (And, put vertical
line/space pairs in front of the lines of footnotes, adding
and removing some blank lines if necessary.) In the case
that there's a choice where to put tabs the tabbed lines
should be to the back: so if a page break happens to
coincide with a division between two paragraphs that
consists of only one empty line, the tab should be in front
of the second blank line denoting the page break.
Another thing that has been in the =sat= standard once, was
a way to indicate where illustrations were present in the
original text. This was coded by putting the positive
natural numbers between square brackets on a line of their
own. The number purportedly would be useful to refer to a
file containing a scanned version of the illustration.
Also, a need has been felt for a way to `protect' a =sat= file
from mailers (who like to put a {>} sign in front of the word
`{From}' when it occurs at the front of a line) and to make
=sat= text stand out from surrounding non-=sat= text. The
customary solution for this has been to put two spaces in
front of _each_ line of the =sat= file, including the empty
lines.
Finally, there has been someone who didn't like the fact
that putting periods or hyphens next to each other was
only allowed in certain numbers (three periods, two
hyphens). A way to circumvent this was found by `abusing'
the asterisk mark and include `empty text' in the `extra
style' between characters like this to separate them: that
is, by putting a double asterisk in between. Note that this
doesn't solve a similar problem with quotes.
There are a few things in the standard I'm not sure of. The
most important is whether it should be allowed to have
_four_-dot ellipses. In a number of texts one finds three-
and four-dot ellipses, and this distinction is lost if one
transcribes everything the same way. Similarly, maybe
there should really be a three-hyphen dash coding a long
dash? And then, there's the question of the slash at the end
of the line: maybe it should be analogous to the hyphen.
Finally, there are the superior letters and numerals: at the
moment it's coded as `special characters' but maybe it
should be a `fifth' style.
*Examples*
{
De Aleph
_O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a
King of infinite space._
=hamlet, ii, 2=
_But they will teach us that Eternity is the Standing still
of the Present Time, a_ Nunc-stans _(as the Schools call it);
which neither they, nor any else understand, no more than
they would a_ Hic-stans _for an Infinite greatness of Place._
=leviathan, iv, 46=
}
"*"
{
`J'ai souvent entendu plaindre les femmes de pote, et sans doute,
pour tenir dignement dans la vie ce difficile emploi, aucune qualit
n'est de trop. Le plus rare ensemble de mrites n'est que le strict
ncessaire, et ne suffit mme pas toujours au commun bonheur. Voir
sans cesse la muse en tiers dans vos plus familiers entretiens, --
recueiller dans ses bras et soigner ce pote qui est votre mari, quand il
vous revient meurtri par les dceptions de sa tche; -- ou bien le voir
s'envoler la poursuite de sa chimere... voil l'ordinaire de l'existen-
ce pour une femme de pote. Oui, mais aussi il y a le chaptre des
compensations, l'heure des lauriers qu'il a gagns la sueur de son
gnie, et qu'il dpose pieusement aux pieds de la femme lgitime-
ment aime, aux genoux de l'Antigone qui sert de guide en ce monde
cet `aveugle errant'; --
`~Car, ne vous-y-trompez pas: presque tous les pitit-fils d'Homre
sont plus ou moins aveugles leur faon; -- ils voient ce que nous ne
voyons pas; leurs regards pntrent plus haut et plus au fond que les
ntres; mais ils ne savent pas voir droit devant eux leur petit bon-
homme de chemin, et ils seraient capables de trbucher et de se casser
le nez sur le moindre caillou, s'il leur fallait cheminer sans soutien,
dans ces valles de prose ou demeure la vie.'
}
"*"
{
Imagine the perplexity of a man outside time and space, who has
lost his watch, his measuring rod and his tuning fork.
Alfred Jarry, _Exploits and Opinions of
Doctor Faustrall Pataphysician_
}
"*"
{
`In dat geval moest ik u een uitnodiging geven,'
zei het vogeltje, een briefje uit zijn veren halend,
`want wij houden van keurig. Hier is het.'
_Geachte broodkruimelaar!_
`Wat is dat: een broodkruimelaar?' vroeg Simon.
`Dat is iemand die broodkruimels strooit,' legde
het koolmeesje uit, `dat hebt u de hele winter ge-
daan, en zo wordt u door ons allemaal genoemd.
Hoe heet u _eigenlijk?'_
`Simon.'
`Aangenaam,' zei het diertje, `ik heet Willem.
Mijn vrouw heet Clara. Zij heeft de brief geschre-
ven. Een keurige hand, niet? Maar leest u door.'
}
"*"
{
`I'll tell thee everything I can:
There's little to relate.
I saw an aged aged man,
A-sitting on a gate.
`Who are you, aged man?' I said.
`And how is it you live?'
And his answer trickled through my
head,
Like water through a sieve.
`~He said `I look for butterflies
That sleep among the wheat:
I make them into mutton-pies,
And sell them in the street.
I sell them unto men,' he said,
`Who sail on stormy seas;
And that's the way I get my bread --
A trifle, if you please.'
`~But I was thinking of a plan
To dye one's whiskers green,
And always use so large a fan
That they could not be seen.
So, having no reply to give
To what the old man said,
I cried `Come, tell me how you live!'
And thumped him on the head.
`~His accents mild took up the tale:
He said `I go my ways,
And when I find a mountain-rill,
I set it in a blaze;
And thence they make a stuff they call
Rowlands'~ Macassar-Oil --
Yet twopence-halfpenny is all
They give me for my toil.'
`~But I was thinking of a way
To feed oneself on batter,
And so go on from day to day
Getting a little fatter.
I shook him well from side to side,
Until his face was blue:
`Come, tell me how you live,' I cried,
`And what it is you do!'
`~He said `I hunt for haddocks'~ eyes
Among the heather bright,
And work them into waistcoat-
buttons
In the silent night.
And these I do not sell for gold
Or coin of silvery shine,
But for a copper halfpenny,
And that will purchase nine.
`~`~I sometimes dig for buttered rolls,
Or set limed twigs for crabs:
I sometimes search the grassy knolls
For wheels of Hansom-cabs.
And that's the way' (he gave a wink)
`By which I get my wealth --
And very gladly will I drink
Your Honour's noble health.'
`~I heard him then, for I had just
Completed my design
To keep the Menai bridge from
rust
By boiling it in wine.
I thanked much for telling me
The way he got his wealth,
But chiefly for his wish that he
Might drink my noble health.
`~And now, if e'er by chance I put
My fingers into glue
Or madly squeeze a right-hand foot
Into a left-hand shoe,
Or if I drop upon my toe
A very heavy weight,
I weep, for it reminds me so,
Of that old man I used to know --
Whose look was mild, whose speech
was slow,
Whose hair was whiter than the snow,
Whose face was very like a crow,
With eyes, like cinders, all aglow,
Who seemed distracted with his woe,
Who rocked his body to and fro,
And muttered mumblingly and low,
As if his mouth were full of dough,
Who snorted like a buffalo --
That summer evening long ago,
A-sitting on a gate.'
}
"*"
{
Ze liepen verder, op weg naar de volgende Robowaker. Als ze die be-
reikt hadden, zouden ze de stroom verlaten, hellingen afdalen en hun tocht
voortzetten over vlakten met gras, totdat ze wr een Robowaker zouden
ontmoeten. Daar zouden robots klaarstaan met grondmobielen, zodat ze
verder konden rijden, van het westen naar het zuiden, langs het gebied van
meren en moerassen -- de enige plaats waar een bijna echte weg liep, bo-
venop de dijk die er was opgeworpen. En van het zuiden zouden ze naar
het oosten gaan, waar de grens door witgeverfde stenen nog eens extra
werd gemarkeerd: Ga hier niet voorbij, gevaarlijk, in die richting bevindt
zich bos... Van het oosten terug naar het noorden, en dan was de cirkel
gesloten -- de cirkel die ze niet mochten verbreken. Een straal van n
mijl^ "1")^, n uur gaans van de Koepel -- verder konden ze zich niet begeven.
|
| ^1)^ n mijl "=" (hier) 1 uur lopen "=" "+-" 5.5 kilometer
|
De volgende Robowaker doemde op uit de mist. De roerloze machine
werd een dreigende wachter, die tot hem scheen te spreken:
`Planeetonderzoeker Elf, ik ben hier neergezet om u eraan te herinne-
ren dat hier de grens is. U mag mij niet passeren. Aan de andere kant is een
wijde, uitgestrekte planeet... =Verboden Toegang.'=
}
"*"
{
The driver exclaimed: `Oh! What an appalling tragedy!'
But my host cuffed him sharply and snapped:
`Lafleur, do I have to warn you again against softness of heart?
Do as I do; salute nature when she offers us another _coup de thtre!'_
}
"*"
{
*Chup* (pronounce the `u' like the `oo' in `good') means
`quiet'; *`Chupwala'* means something like `quiet fellow'.
*The Dull Lake,* which doesn't exist, gets its name from
the Dal Lake in Kashmir, which does.
*Goopy* and *Bagha* don't mean anything special, but they
are also the names of the two goofy heroes of a movie by
Satyajit Ray. The movie characters are not fishes, but they
are pretty fishy.
*Gup* (pronounce the `u' as in `cup') means `gossip'. It can
also mean `nonsense' or `fib'.
*Haroun* and *Rashid* are both named after the legendary
Caliph of Baghdad, Haroun al-Rashid, who features in
many Arabian Nights tales. Their surname, *Khalifa,* actually
means `Caliph'.
}
"*"
{
*`Tjeempie, de hoofdstad* "{"v.~ (m.~) (...steden),
(voornaamste stad van een land of gewest waar
de algemene, resp.~ provinciale regering zetelt;
-- (oneig.~) voornaam centrum: _de hoofdsteden der
beschaving;"}"_ *waar zoveel* "{"(het accent wisselt), I.
onbep.~ hoofdtelwoord, 1. gebruikt wanneer het
nauwkeurige getal of aantal er niet toe doet of
niet bekend is: _hij krijgt zoveel;_ ook met herhaling
van het eerste lid: _zo- en zoveel;_ vooral ter aandui-
ding van een aantal eenheden van lagere rang:
_eenendertig gulden zveel; honderd en zveel gulden; in
het jaar 1800 en zoveel;_ -- (gemeenz.~) _idem zoveel,_
een (groot) bedrag aan geld: _dat kost je weer idem
zoveel; -- voor (nog) zveel niet,_ al kreeg ik er ook
nog zoveel voor, ik doe het volstrekt niet; -- 2.
oneig.~ ter omschrijving van een kwaliteit: _hij is
zoveel als stuurman;_ -- in pronominaal gebruik: _zo-
veel is zeker,_ dat ten minste is zeker; -- II. bw.~ van
vergel.~ of graad: _zoveel te meer,_ des te meer; -- _voor
zoveel ik weet,_ zover ik weet."}" *moderne* "{"("<" Fr.),
bn.~ (-er, -st), 1. tot de nieuwere tijd behorend
(tgov.~ antiek of klassiek): _de moderne talen,_ inz.~
Frans, Duits en Engels; -- 2. hedendaags, nieu-
werwets: _moderne begrippen; het huis, de fabriek is
zeer modern ingericht; de moderne dichters;_ -- (van
pers.~) geneigd tot of vatbaar voor de nieuwste
opvattingen op allerlei gebied: _zij zijn zeer mo-
dern; moderne huisvrouwen, ouders;_ -- 3. kritische
vrijheid in geloofszaken voorstaande; (zeer)
vrijzinnig: _de moderne leer; de moderne theologie;_ --
(zelfst.~) _de modernen;_ -- 4. (gesch.~) _de moderne devo-
tie,_ beweging tot verdieping en verinniging van
het geloofsleven uitgaande van Geert Groote en
de Broeders des Gemenen Levens (14de-15de
e.); -- 5. _modern antiquariaat,_ zie _Antiquariaat."}"_
*schrijvers* "{"m.~ (-s), 1. persoon die schrijft; -- per-
soon voor zover hij schrijft of kan schrijven: _een
vlug, een snel schrijver; er zijn beste schrijvers in die
schoolklasse;_ -- 2. persoon die iets geschreven
heeft in zijn verhouding tot dat stuk: _de schrijver
van een brief, van een verhaal, een boek,_ samensteller,
vervaardiger ervan; 3. iem.~ die schrijfwerk ver-
richt als taak; klerk, kantoorbediende; -- (vero.~)
secretaris; -- (zeew.~) beambte aan boord die
met het houden der registers enz.~ belast is; _schrij-
ver eerste, tweede, derde klasse bij het leger_ hebben de
rang van adj.~ onderofficier, sergeant-majoor en
sergeant; -- 4. iem.~ die er zijn werk van maakt of
de gave heeft boeken te schrijven, auteur: _een
veelgelezen schrijver; de klassieke schrijvers; Neder-
landse schrijvers en schrijfsters; -- de schrijvers over de
geschiedenis van het zeewezen,_ degenen die daar
boeken over geschreven hebben; -- 5. het werk
van een auteur: _een schrijver lezen, bestuderen, ver-
klaren, annoteren; hij bezit veel Franse schrijvers;_ -- 6.
(Zuidn.~) geelgors _(Emberiza citrinella);_ -- 7. (na-
tuurk.~ en techn.~) registreerapparaat voor perio-
dische verschijnselen; _directe schrijver,_ apparaat
dat de registreerlijnen direct door een bewegend
inktspuitertje of door een bewegende stift op pa-
pier brengt; _fotografische schrijver,_ die een licht-
straaltje over fotografisch papier beweegt, dat
pas na ontwikkelen een zichtbaar beeld geeft."}"
*wonen* "{"(woonde, heeft gewoond), (onoverg.~) 1.
zijn woning hebben, verblijf houden, gehuisvest
zijn: _in een stad, op een dorp wonen; in een eigen huis, op
kamers wonen;_ (van dieren) _de dassen en vossen wonen
in holen;_ -- (van vogels) nestelen; -- _bij iem.~ wonen,_
bij hem gehuisvest zijn of kamers hebben, (ook)
bij hem dienen; -- met betr.~ tot de omstandighe-
den, ligging enz.~ van de woning: _eenzaam, afgele-
gen wonen; wij wonen hier zeer naar onze zin,_ de wo-
ning bevalt ons best; _groot, klein wonen,_ in een
groot, een klein huis: -- 2. (fig.~) gevestigd, steeds
aanwezig zijn: _in iemands hart wonen; waar liefde
woont, gebiedt de Heer Zijn zegen_ (Psalmber.
133)."}"', *dacht Liesje.*
}
"*"
{
Alice couldn't see who was sitting be-
yond the Beetle, but a hoarse voice spoke
next. `Change engines --' it said, and
there it choked and was obliged to leave
off.
`It sounds like a horse,' Alice thought
to herself. And an extremely small voice,
close to her ear, said *`You might make a joke on
that -- something about `horse' and `hoarse,' you know.'*
Then a very gentle voice in the distance
said, `She must be labelled `Lass, with
care,' you know --'
And after that other voices went on
(`What a number of people there are in
the carriage!' thought Alice), saying `she
must go by post, as she's got a head on her
--' `She must be sent as a message by
the telegraph --' `She must draw the
train herself the rest of the way --,' and
so on.
But the gentleman dressed in white
paper leaned forwards and whispered in
her ear, `Never mind what they all say,
my dear, but take a return-ticket every
time the train stops.'
`Indeed I shan't!' Alice said rather
impatiently. `I don't belong to this rail-
way journey at all -- I was in a wood just
now -- and I wish I could get back there.'
*`You might make a joke on _that,'_* said the little
voice close to her ear: *`something about `you _would_
if you could,' you know.'*
}
"*"
{
_White Pawn (Alice) to play, and win in eleven moves._
1. Alice meets R.~ Q.
1. R.~ Q.~ to K.~ R's 4th
2. Alice through Q's
3d _(by railway)_
to Q's 4th _(Tweedle-
dum and Tweedledee)_
2. W.~ Q.~ to Q.~ B's 4th
_(after shawl)_
3. Alice meets W.~ Q.~
_(with shawl)_
3. W.~ Q.~ to Q.~ B's 5th
_(becomes sheep)_
4. Alice to Q's 5th
_(shop, river, shop)_
4. W.~ Q.~ to K.~ B's 8th
_(leaves egg on shelf)_
5. Alice to Q's 6th
_(Humpty Dumpty)_
5. W.~ Q.~ to Q.~ B's 8th
_(flying from R.~ Kt.)_
6. Alice to Q's 7th
_(forest)_
6. R.~ Kt.~ to K's 2nd (ch.)
7. W.~ Kt.~ takes R.~ Kt.
7. W.~ Kt.~ to K.~ B's 5th
8. Alice to Q's 8th
_(coronation)_
8. R.~ Q.~ to K's Sq.~
_(examination)_
9. Alice becomes Queen
9. Queens castle
10. Alice castles
_(feast)_
10. W.~ Q.~ to Q.~ R's 6th
_(soup)_
11. Alice takes R.~ Q.~
and wins
}
"*"
{
Onnodig. Een heer met vlinderdasje en wit golvend haar komt
te voorschijn uit een laboratoriumruimte waar machines klok-
kende geluiden maken en lacht tegen mij. Ik spreek hem aan met
een blik van verstandhouding -- wie kan hij anders zijn dan Hval-
biff zelf?
-- Ik zou graag direktr Hvalbiff spreken.
Of ik van niets wist.
Ik weet inderdaad van niets.
-- Direktr Hvalbiff? Die is vandaag niet aanwezig. Ik ben
direktr Oftedahl, van Statens Rhstofflaboratorium.
-- Is de Geologische Dienst hier dan niet?
-- Nog niet helemaal. Maar misschien kan ik u helpen. Komt u
mee?
}
"*"
{
On the long rise where the Basnasska winter-camp stood the
wind had thinned the snowcover, but as they went on, unable to
pick their course ahead, the compass West their one guideline in
the confusion of the snowstorm that mixed air and ground into
one whirling mess, they got on to lower land. There were four-
and five-foot drifts through which Estrel struggled gasping like
a spent swimmer in high seas. Falk pulled out the rawhide draw-
string of his hood and tied it around his arm, giving her the end
to hold, and then went ahead, making her a path. Once she fell
and the tug on the line nearly pulled him down; he turned and
had to seek for a moment with the light before he saw her
crouching in his tracks, almost at his feet. He knelt, and in the
wan, snow-streaked sphere of light saw her face for the first
time clearly. She was whispering, `This is more than I bargained
for...'
}