what does he mean?
In thus employing myself I shall yield to the inclination so natural to old men of talking of themselves and their own actions, and I shall indulge it, without being tiresome to those who, from respect to my age, might conceive
themselves obliged to listen to me, since they will be always free to read me or not.
what does he mean? thanksI am sorry, actually I have read Chinese version of this book the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, but the translation of this part is not clear, so i want to ask the question, i was trying to describe what i don't understand in English, but I couldn't make it clear, so I just ask what does he mean, now I know this question is not clear, when people see this question, they don't know exactly what I want to know.
我的问题是：富兰克林说他现在年纪大了，就不可避免说话啰嗦，他会尽量避免，后面的’without being tiresome to those who, from respect to my age, might conceive
themselves obliged to listen to me‘在整个句子中做什么成分，我感觉不make sense to me。如果他想不让写的内容啰嗦，他为什么不说I shall indulge it ,but also i will try not to be tiresome to those people, 这让我困惑他到底说的是什么意思。

Question

what does he mean?
In thus employing myself I shall yield to the inclination so natural to old men of talking of themselves and their own actions, and I shall indulge it, without being tiresome to those who, from respect to my age, might conceive 
themselves obliged to listen to me, since they will be always free to read me or not. 
what does he mean? thanksI am sorry, actually I have read Chinese version of this book the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, but the translation of this part is not clear, so i want to ask the question, i was trying to describe what i don't understand in English, but I couldn't make it clear, so I just ask what does he mean, now I know this question is not clear, when people see this question, they don't know exactly what I want to know.
我的问题是：富兰克林说他现在年纪大了，就不可避免说话啰嗦，他会尽量避免，后面的’without being tiresome to those who, from respect to my age, might conceive 
themselves obliged to listen to me‘在整个句子中做什么成分，我感觉不make sense to me。如果他想不让写的内容啰嗦，他为什么不说I shall indulge it ,but also i will try not to be tiresome to those people, 这让我困惑他到底说的是什么意思。

Answer

I saw your further attempt and so I am willing to give you some help as follows.

1.  This book was first published in 1791.  So the English is very old.  It is not very useful to learn this kind of English.

2.  他的语气是客套自谦的。

3.  It does not matter what your Chinese version says.  The original is in English.

4.  Note:  he never said old men were prone to longwindedness.  He said that old man had the inclination of "talking of themselves and their own actions".  That is all.

5.  The bit that "does not make sense to you" consists of three points:

a.  I shall try not to be tiresome.  我尽量不要写得闷。

b.  It is good of you to be willing to listen to what I have to say out of respect for my age.  承蒙错爱。

c.  Readers can stop reading any time.  "…free  to read me or not".  如果我写得很闷，这本书你们也不会看下去，因为你们根本没必要没责任要看的。你们愿意看就是给我面子，看在我的年纪份上。(这是自谦，人家尊敬他，是为了他的功勋，不是光看他是老人， 他不是随随便便任何一个老人。)

其实就是客套。

Is it now clear to you?

Answer

I think Dean has raised a good question in that everyone has learned a few things from this exercise.  It is a very old book which is interesting for students of political science who are already very good at English, like a 青年胡适.  For other learners, there is certainly a lot of other more suitable material for efficient learning available in the market.

Answer

其实真有心学英语，倒不如老实说:， "我明白这部分，[把相关文字抄出来]，但不明白那部分，[把相关文字抄出来]，我认为可能是这个意思，[把意思写出来]，请你们看看我的理解对不对。"

这样起码把自己努力的成果和大家分享，肯定要比"你告诉我吧!"的态度好。

Answer

Did you mean to post this in Answers->English?

It's from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
He says he going to write down some of his past experiences; he compares his action of writing to all old men who tell stories of days past; he will make an effort to keep his writing as concise as possible so as not to bore people who want to read it (people who respect him and want to read what he writes).
Do you want it in Mandarin?

Answers · 8

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