Today’s listening comprehension is from Alphonse Daudet’s autobiographical book “Le Petit Chose” (1868).
I recommend listening first, and trying to guess the meaning, or even just catch the words that you know. You can then read the text below for additional help. I am reading the text twice, first time fast and second time slower.
« C’est une vérité, je fus la mauvaise étoile de mes parents. Du jour de ma naissance, d’incroyables malheurs les assaillirent par vingt endroits. »
Alphonse Daudet
Le Petit Chose (1868)
Comment:
As it is a novel, you may notice the use of the literary tense “passé simple” (=simple past tense) underlined above. It is a tense equivalent to the passé composé and we use it for written language only, therefore it may feel unfamiliar. “Fus” is the verb “être” (= to be) and “assaillirent” is the verb “assaillir” (=to attack, assail).