meaning of "people who met life on its own terms."

[cometrue 0]

I thought of Hemingway’s characters, people who met life on its own terms.

what does this sentence mean? thank you in advance!

[nnt 3]

"people who met life on its own terms"= People who faced life as it was, who were not afraid of facing reality.

Terms = conditions

[cometrue 0]

thank you for your kind help! nnt!

(how about TNT?,hehe,just kidding:))

cometrue

[cometrue 0]

BTW, could i instead of "its" to be:

people who met life on life's own terms

or people who met life on their own terms

which one is close to the original or correct? could the its instead of her, his or their?

[cometrue 0]

help~~

[tokyo_girl 5]

Life's own terms.

It is not used as a pronoun for people

[cometrue 0]

it's so kind of you, tokyo_girl, thank you!

[nnt 3]

The expression is:

To meet or to face or to accept, etc... "life on its own terms". You could change the verb, not the rest.

[smithsgj 3]

BTW' date=' could i instead of "its" to be:

people who met life on life's own terms

or people who met life on their own terms

which one is close to the original or correct? could the its instead of her, his or their?[/quote']

I don't see why not "their"... but the meaning would change, I'm sure that's what the intervening posters were implying.

[cometrue 0]

i see! thank you nnt and smith! and i have another tough one! 请不吝赐教！先谢了！

In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely; as the pursuits of the simpler nations are still the sports of the more artificial. It is not necessary that a man should earn his living by the sweat of his brow, unless he sweats easier than I do.

what does the sentence in red mean? 红色部分的句子是什么意思？ BTW, if this paragraph written in ancient english?

[cometrue 0]

hello!

[nnt 3]

yep! im sure the country you are living in is famous for their.....sex.

I think you're just a lazy boy more interested by "yellow topics" than doing some research on the net.

You would have found it's an extract from Thoreau(梭羅 or 梭罗)'s Walden (瓦爾登湖 or 瓦尔登湖 or 湖濱散記)

and the tranlation can be found on the net:

简单一句活，我已经确信，根据信仰和经验，一个人要在世间谋生，如果生活得比较单纯而且聪明，那并不是苦事，而且还是一种消遣；那些比较单纯的国家，人们从事的工作不过是一些更其人工化的国家的体育运动。流汗劳动来养活自己，并不是必要的，除非他比我还要容易流汗

The sentence in red is for you...

Besides for English oriented questions, you should have a look here:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=742

[cometrue 0]

yep! im sure the country you are living in is famous for their.....sex.

I think you're just a lazy boy more interested by "yellow topics" than doing some research on the net.

You would have found it's an extract from Thoreau(梭羅 or 梭罗)'s Walden (瓦爾登湖 or 瓦尔登湖 or 湖濱散記)

and the tranlation can be found on the net:

简单一句活，我已经确信，根据信仰和经验，一个人要在世间谋生，如果生活得比较单纯而且聪明，那并不是苦事，而且还是一种消遣；那些比较单纯的国家，人们从事的工作不过是一些更其人工化的国家的体育运动。流汗劳动来养活自己，并不是必要的，除非他比我还要容易流汗

The sentence in red is for you...

Besides for English oriented questions' date=' you should have a look here:

[url']http://www.chinese-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=742[/url]

you really got me wrong, buddy, we have a debating about this translation in another forum, sure, i knew this version translated by 徐迟, and sadly his version had lots of mistakes, so we are seeking for a better version, but we were not sure the "as the pursuits of the simpler nations are still the sports of the more artificial." exactly means.

here is my version: help to get your kind polishing!

In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely; as the pursuits of the simpler nations are still the sports of the more artificial. It is not necessary that a man should earn his living by the sweat of his brow, unless he sweats easier than I do.

简而言之,不管是信仰还是经验都使我深信, 只要推崇简单而超脱, 一个人在世间生存就并非难事,而是一种享受; 从对那些始终没有摆脱大量手工作业的国家的研究来看, 除非一个人天生爱流汗,否则靠汗流浃背来维持生计并不是必需的.

or maybe

简而言之,不管是信仰还是经验都使我深信, 只要推崇简单而超脱, 一个人在世间生存就并非难事,而是一种享受; 然而那些简单国家的追求却遭到更发达点国家的诟病(or嘲笑)。除非一个人天生爱流汗,否则靠汗流浃背来维持生计并不是必需的.

简而言之,不管是信仰还是经验都使我深信, 只要推崇简单而超脱, 一个人在世间生存就并非难事,而是一种享受; 一些简单国家的工作其实是相对发达国家的消遣。除非一个人天生爱流汗,否则靠汗流浃背来维持生计并不是必需的.

and the yellow topic's just my avocation!

[cometrue 0]

徐迟's version made native speakers hard to understand it, and his chinese is really horrible! obviously he needs a basic chinese literature training!

could you give me an explaining about it? thank you!

[cometrue 0]

anybody help me! would you mind giving me an explanation in english?

[nnt 3]

Is it so urgent ?

I propose something like:

简而言之,不管是信仰还是经验都使我深信, 只要过着平凡知足的生活就并非难事,而是一种消遣; 因为简朴的国家的追求还是相对高技术的国家的消遣。一个人" 汗流滿面才得糊(餬)口"并不必要的，除非他流汗比我流汗要容易得多。

汗流滿面才得糊(餬)口 : "earn his living by the sweat of his brow" is a biblical expression

As = because

are still = remain

pursuit = 追求

sport = 消遣

My translation may not be the best, but I hope that will help you get the meaning.

In a nutshell, Thoreau says it's very easy to live happily enough in more developped countries (although such an expression did not exist in his time).

[cometrue 0]

Is it so urgent ?

yeah! a little bit! and the bottom line is, 我迫不及待想知道答案。

your version and comments 令我 茅塞顿开！especially the bible part, i think that's the main difficulty for me and the most of non-english speaking country's students. also the pursuit and sport, two tough words, thank you for your great job!

[cometrue 0]

(although such an expression did not exist in his time).

so the more artificial=more developed countries, right?

[nnt 3]

so the more artificial=more developed countries' date=' right? [/quote']

In fact it's just an interpretation.

Artificial = far from Nature I think ( Thoreau was an ecologist precursor!)

[cometrue 0]

so the more artificial=more developed countries' date=' right? [/quote']

In fact it's just an interpretation.

Artificial = far from Nature I think ( Thoreau was an ecologist precursor!)

got it! thx~