Guignol
French Listening Comprehension
Study Guide
Take a look at the following for help with any vocabulary and grammar that you might not
have understood in Guignol, then take
the test.
| Vocabulary | |
| attirer | to attract |
| bouché | cloudy, blocked |
| brocarder | to mock, taunt |
| broder | to elaborate, develop |
| le chaland | customer |
| faire le camelot | to be a peddler |
| un farfelu | eccentric |
| un forain | stallholder at a fair or carnival |
| un gazier | gauze worker |
| une nature | character (in the sense of "He's a real character!") |
| relever | to be a matter of |
| Grammar - Click the links for detailed lessons | |
| Future tense - In journalism and other factual narration, the future is often used even though the events are in the past. | |
| Verbs with prepositions | |
| People, Places, Events | |
| un canut | Silk worker in Lyons. Although Louis XI imported silkworms to France in 1466, the French silk industry didn't really take off until the 16th century. Lyons became the center of the industry, and mulberry bushes, on which the worms feed, were cultivated on a large scale. The French Revolution brought the industry to a halt. It was revived under Napoleon's empire and peaked in about 1850. Shortly thereafter, a silkworm plague decimated the French breeding centers. Lyons's Musée des Tissus boasts examples of early Lyonnais silk, a large collection of silk from the 17th century onward, and many other ancient and modern fabrics. (See ) |
| Gaules | The Roman Empire's tripartite Gallic territory. The "Three Gauls" were Aquitaine, Belgium, and the Lyonnais. Lyons was a Celtic settlement when Julius Caesar chose it as a base camp for his conquest of Gaul. It was officially founded in 43 B.C. as Lugdunum, which meant "the hill" either "of Lug" (god of the sun, light, and the arts and trades) or "of lug" (crow, in reference to a legendary flock of crows that supposedly swooped down on the hill). It was Augustus who elevated it to the status of capital. |
| Guignol | Popular character in French puppet theater. According to some sources, Guignol originated in Italy as a glove puppet and was brought to Lyons in 1795 by Laurent Mourguet, a silk worker turned fairground entertainer. In 1998, Lyons celebrated Guignol's 190th birthday, crediting Mourguet with sculpting Guignol out of linden wood in 1808. Guignol and his friend Gnafron embody the rebellious spirit of the common man. Lyons's Musée de la Marionnette features Guignol and his bad-tempered wife, Madelon, as well as shadow, glove, and rod-and-string puppets from around the world. |
| Lyon | France's third-largest city but considered the country's second city because of the size and economic importance of the overall metropolitan area. Capital of the Rhône department and the Rhône-Alpes region, it is situated at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône rivers. |
| Résistance | Civil and military underground organization that engaged in sabotage and other secret operations against the German occupation forces and French collaborators during World War II. It had fewer members than popular myth claims. Furthermore, even at the Liberation, bitter rivalries existed among the Gaullist, Communist, and other factions, despite their formal federation as the clandestine Conseil national de la Résistance. |
| Guignol French Listening Comprehension Exercise |
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| Listen | Study | Test | ||
| Transcript Translation | ||||
| Sound files,
transcript, and notes for "People, Places, Events" were originally published in Champs-Élysées audiomagazine (read my review) and are used with the permission of Champs-Élysées, Inc. |
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| Listening Index | ||||
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