From RAIN to THE YELLOW STREAK

COLLECTED SHORT STORIES VOLUME 1 by W. Somerset Maugham

It has thirty stories. The first story is RAIN and the last one is THE YELLOW STREAK. I cannot remember when I started reading the first story. Around midnight, about nine hours ago, I finished reading the last story of the book and found that the number of the last page was 536.

I noticed that Maugham used some expressions often that I had not been familiar with until I started reading his novels last year. For example, he often used ā€œpresentlyā€ to convey the meaning of ā€œafter a whileā€; ā€œa trifleā€, ā€œa littleā€.

(Edited)
ā€œ,ā€ ā†’ ā€œ;ā€
ā€œtoā€ ā†’ ā€œwithā€

ā€˜Presentlyā€™ used to convey ā€œafter a whileā€ is normal, as well as ā€œat the momentā€ and ā€œfor the time beingā€. But I canā€™t recall 'it used for ā€˜a trifleā€™ or ā€˜a littleā€™ - got any examples?

ā€œPerfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of lifeā€™s ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved. ā€
ā€• W. Somerset Maugham

Ah, I thought you saw the word "presentlyā€™ used somewhere to mean ā€˜trifleā€™ or ā€˜a littleā€™ - and I was asking if you had an example of that usage.

As for ā€œa trifle dullā€ - yes, that means a little boring, though I donā€™t commonly use it in writing or speech. Iā€™m very familiar with such phrases from a lifetime of reading, same as everyone else who grew up with British English,

Maugham is right about perfection being a trifle dull ! :slight_smile:

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Happily enough, I have read through only the first volume and am now reading the first story of the second volume. The title of the story is THE VESSEL OF WRATH.

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Seriously Yutaka, many of us Iā€™m certain envy the level youā€™ve reached in a foreign language. I think I can only dream of reaching your equivalent level in my Japanese and Chinese - but I wonā€™t give up! Of course, thatā€™s not to say that Iā€™m interested in dull perfection ( Ķ”Ā° ĶœŹ– Ķ”Ā°)

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