please help me to understand some sentence

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it will be long.
1
Set to go off, my good looks and intelligence, yet exceptional still, take away my mouthful of silver spoon and lapful of luxury. Something my own, not passed on or handed down, something seized, wrested?-my good character, hopefully, my taste perhaps. What's mine, what's mine? Say taste?-the soul's harmless appetite.
here,the narrator say he got many fortunes from his parents,but he has own character.
the problem is what means by saying 'what's mine, what's mine?'
2
Grandfather on Mother's side was a Newpert.
Grandmother on Father's side was a Salts,
Mother was an Oh.
And Father was Noel Ashenden,
here Newpert, Salts,Oh is family name or a place name?
3
There are people who gather in the spas and watering places of this world who pooh-pooh our fortune. Après ski, cozy in their wools, handsome before their open hearths, they scandalize amongst themselves in whispers.?'Imagine', they say,?'saved from ruin because of some cornball sentiment available in every bar and grill and truck stop in the country. It's not, not...'
Not what? Snobs! Phooey on the First Families. On railroad, steel mill, automotive, public utility, banking and shipping fortunes, on all hermetic legacy, morganatic and blockbuster blood-lines that change the maps and landscapes and alter the mobility patterns, your jungle wheeling and downtown dealing a stone's throw from warfare. I come of good stock?-real estate, mineral water, oxygen, matchbooks: earth, water, air and fire, the old elementals of the material universe, a bellybutton economics, a linchpin one.
this two paragragh is the most difficulty.
Imagine', they say,?'saved from ruin because of some cornball sentiment available in every bar and grill and truck stop in the country. It's not, not...'
why they say that,what that mean? what the narrator what to express?phooey on the first families???
4
That bridge-trick nexus that brought Newpert to Oh, Salts to Ashenden and Ashenden to Oh, love's lucky longshots which, paying off, permitted me as they permit every human life!
what permit mean here?
5 what 'broken code' mean to you ?
6a brownstone in the Seventies?
the author write this passage in 1972,so what this mean?
7
Put the Cardinal in the back bedroom where the sun gilds the bay at afternoon tea and give us the courage to stand up to secret police at the door, to top all threats with threats of our own, the nicknames of mayors and ministers, the fast comeback at the front stairs, authority on us like the funny squiggle the counterfeiters miss.
why the narrator should put the Cardinal in the bedroom,why should they face the secret police. what does 'authority on us like the funny squiggle the counterfeiters miss' mean?

thank you for all.All these question are from book 'The Making of Ashenden' written by Stanley Elkin in 1972.
i need to translate it into chinese by my teacher order.i f i can't work it out ,i will be fail in the fanal exam.
so please.
my e-mail [email protected]

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sorry i mistaken my email
my email [email protected]

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Quote:

1
Set to go off, my good looks and intelligence, yet exceptional still, take away my mouthful of silver spoon and lapful of luxury. Something my own, not passed on or handed down, something seized, wrested?-my good character, hopefully, my taste perhaps. What's mine, what's mine? Say taste?-the soul's harmless appetite.
here,the narrator say he got many fortunes from his parents,but he has own character.
the problem is what means by saying 'what's mine, what's mine?'

When he asks, "What's mine, what's mine" he's asking what of his character can be said to be totally unique to him and him alone-what part of him has nothing to do with genetics or inheritence, and belongs to him through his own unique make-up or independent struggle.

Quote:

Grandfather on Mother's side was a Newpert.
Grandmother on Father's side was a Salts,
Mother was an Oh.
And Father was Noel Ashenden,
here Newpert, Salts,Oh is family name or a place name?

"Oh" is a family name.

Quote:

3
There are people who gather in the spas and watering places of this world who pooh-pooh our fortune. Après ski, cozy in their wools, handsome before their open hearths, they scandalize amongst themselves in whispers.?'Imagine', they say,?'saved from ruin because of some cornball sentiment available in every bar and grill and truck stop in the country. It's not, not...'
Not what? Snobs! Phooey on the First Families. On railroad, steel mill, automotive, public utility, banking and shipping fortunes, on all hermetic legacy, morganatic and blockbuster blood-lines that change the maps and landscapes and alter the mobility patterns, your jungle wheeling and downtown dealing a stone's throw from warfare. I come of good stock?-real estate, mineral water, oxygen, matchbooks: earth, water, air and fire, the old elementals of the material universe, a bellybutton economics, a linchpin one.
this two paragragh is the most difficulty.
Imagine', they say,?'saved from ruin because of some cornball sentiment available in every bar and grill and truck stop in the country. It's not, not...'
why they say that,what that mean? what the narrator what to express?phooey on the first families???

I love this passage- love the writing. You're inspiring me to read this book.
When they say, "It's not...it's not.." they're trying to express that the way these people made their money (through trade/advertising) is not as socially acceptable as the way some of the people who came from old money (the first families) made their money.
They will not be accepted into the inner sanctum of society's first families because they are seen to be common people who happen to have made money, but in a crass or socially unacceptable way.

Quote:

4
That bridge-trick nexus that brought Newpert to Oh, Salts to Ashenden and Ashenden to Oh, love's lucky longshots which, paying off, permitted me as they permit every human life!
what permit mean here?
5 what 'broken code' mean to you ?
6a brownstone in the Seventies?
the author write this passage in 1972,so what this mean?

Another great passage- "love's lucky longshots"- what a great phrase. He's saying that through a series of connections, which for some reason he sees as being pure and lucky coincidence, providence or fate- this series of relationships permitted (made way for, or allowed to happen) his existence.

what context is "broken code" used in? I didn't see that phrase in use here. Can you put it in context.

Brownstone in the seventies- might be referring to the fact that he bought a particularly sought after building in the seventies in NY when it was cheap- and now it's value has increased.

Quote:

7
Put the Cardinal in the back bedroom where the sun gilds the bay at afternoon tea and give us the courage to stand up to secret police at the door, to top all threats with threats of our own, the nicknames of mayors and ministers, the fast comeback at the front stairs, authority on us like the funny squiggle the counterfeiters miss.
why the narrator should put the Cardinal in the bedroom,why should they face the secret police. what does 'authority on us like the funny squiggle the counterfeiters miss' mean?

This is from the same book? I don't know for sure on this one, but I'd say this is some reference to hiding the fact of some aspect of his life (religion/perhaps Catholocism)- or maybe he's just making the decision to keep it private, for his own edification without opening it up to the derision of others.
It sounds to me like whatever this characteristic that he's keeping hidden because it is a source of strength that he treasures is (it could be religion) it gives him courage to stand up to others, not allowing them to intrude on his life.
He also finds it helpful to hint or to intimate that he has powerful friends, to stop any intimidation.

The funny squiggle that counterfeiters miss- means to me the mark of the genuiness of something. People who would fake or counterfeit often do not recognize or see or appreciate what makes something true and genuine. I'm not really sure about this though.

Quote:

thank you for all.All these question are from book 'The Making of Ashenden' written by Stanley Elkin in 1972.
i need to translate it into chinese by my teacher order.i f i can't work it out ,i will be fail in the fanal exam.
so please.

Good luck. This guy sounds interesting. I like the way he writes.

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aidan thank you
thank you aidan . you really help me lot.
i will give a new post to further my question.

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please help me to understand some sentence

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