(引用自:
http://wordcraft.infopop.cc/Archives/2003-6-Jun.htm)
More Phrases from French (Week of June 9, 2003)
Ah, the French. Let's revisit a topic from nine months ago, and look at some further phrases from French.
billet-doux (plural billets-doux) - a love letter 情書
(literally, sweet letter)
Those who don't speak french will be close enough to the correct pronunciation with bil-ay DOO.
'Twas then Belinda, if Report say true,
Thy Eyes first open'd on a Billet-doux.Wounds, Charms, and Ardors, were no sooner read,
But all the Vision vanish'd from thy Head.
– Alexander Pope's classic Rape of the Lock
Young lovers in Victorian England, forbidden to express their affection in public and fearful that strict parents would intercept their billets-doux, sent coded messages through the personal columns in newspapers.
– Susan Adams, I've got a Secret, Forbes, September 20, 1999 (with thankful acknowledgement to dictionary.com)
amour propre (or "amour-propre"; literally, love of oneself) –
self-esteem; typically with sense of excessive pride; vanity 自尊、自傲、自負
At 24, in 1951, the critic was engaged by Guinness as Player King in his second Hamlet. Guinness invested much amour propre in this production. Its failure turned out to be a major factor in Guinness's move away from the classics and Shakespeare and into films, ultimately television, and new plays.
– Tom Sutcliffe, in The Guardian, August 7, 2000, on the death of Sir Alec Guinness