word choices 11:12 Dec 11, 2016
I rather like "spells of rain". I agree that it doesn't mean showers.
Bénéfique does mean beneficial, of course, but I find that word awkward and unnatural in English here. It seems to me that rain is being used metaphorically. To the pessimist, it's always raining; life is unrelieved gloom. To the optimist, life is mostly sunny, and even when it rains (when life is not so cheerful), it's a good thing. As Longfellow put it, "into each life some rain must fall". It's pleasant, provided it doesn't go on too long, because it relieves the monotony, and beneficial, because some adversity strengthens you and makes you appreciate the sunshine more when it returns (for example). So "welcome", which potentially combines these two ideas, seems to me a viable option. I wonder whether "salutary" might be a possibility: "salutary spells/periods of rain", or something like that. |