Level B2 · Chapter 84.5

Review 15: lessons 80 to 84

The vocabulary from lessons 80 to 84 that does not come back, the grammar of the block in one table, and two exercises. From the government to the sea.

What you will learn

The story in easy Spanish

Sancho llevaba medio día gobernando Barataria y todavía no había comido nada.

Sancho had been governing Barataria for half a day and had still eaten nothing.

Un paje le puso un babador, y el maestresala se colocó a su lado con una varilla de ballena.

A page put a bib on him, and the head server stood at his side with a thin whalebone rod.

Cada manjar desaparecía de la mesa, primero la fruta y luego el guisado.

Each dish vanished from the table, first the fruit and then the stew.

La perdiz, dijo el médico, era dañosa, y citó en latín un aforismo entero.

The partridge, said the doctor, was harmful, and he quoted a whole maxim in Latin.

Aquel hombre estaba asalariado por la ínsula y lo tenía a dieta desde el mediodía.

That man was on the island’s payroll and had kept him fasting since midday.

Le ofrecía en su lugar unas conservas y unas tajadas finas de membrillo.

He offered him instead some preserves and a few thin slices of quince paste.

Si hubiera probado una cucharada de la olla podrida, según él, habría estado enfermo una semana.

If he had tried one spoonful of the hotpot, according to him, he would have been ill for a week.

La séptima noche le liaron dos paveses al cuerpo y quedó emparedado entre las tablas.

On the seventh night they lashed two body shields onto him and he ended up walled in between the boards.

Quedó derecho como un huso, sin poder doblar las rodillas ni dar un paso.

He stood straight as a spindle, unable to bend his knees or take a single step.

Se cayó al suelo dentro de su caparazón y allí se quedó, como un galápago entre sus conchas.

He fell to the ground inside his shell and stayed there, like a tortoise between its plates.

Al amanecer fue derecho a la caballeriza, abrazó al rucio y le besó la frente.

At dawn he went straight to the stable, hugged the donkey and kissed its forehead.

Le dijo que ojalá no hubiera dejado nunca los caminos, cuando solo tenía que remendarle los aparejos.

He told it he wished he had never left the roads, when all he had to do was mend its harness.

Le hablaba como si aquella semana entera no hubiera pasado.

He spoke to it as if that whole week had never happened.

Desde que subió a las torres de la ambición y de la soberbia, se le habían metido mil miserias dentro.

Ever since he climbed the towers of ambition and pride, a thousand miseries had got inside him.

Dijo que se le daba mejor la hoz que el cetro y que prefería hartarse de gazpachos.

He said he was better with a sickle than with a sceptre and would rather fill himself with gazpacho.

El mayordomo le recordó que todo gobernador tiene que dar residencia antes de marcharse.

The steward reminded him that every governor has to submit to an audit before leaving.

Salió tan desnudo como había entrado, aunque si hubiera querido robar, nadie lo habría notado.

He left as bare as he had come in, although if he had wanted to steal, nobody would have noticed.

Por el camino se encontró con Ricote, el morisco que había tenido tienda en su pueblo.

On the road he met Ricote, the Muslim convert who had kept a shop in his village.

Un pregón del rey había mandado expulsar a los moriscos, y aquel decreto los desterraba a todos.

A royal proclamation had ordered the converts expelled, and that decree banished every one of them.

Ricote volvía del destierro vestido de peregrino alemán y con la barba crecida.

Ricote was coming back from exile dressed as a German pilgrim and with his beard grown out.

Soltaron los bordones y las esclavinas y bebieron de seis botas sentados en la hierba.

They dropped their staffs and short capes and drank from six wineskins sitting on the grass.

Dondequiera que estaban lloraban por su patria, porque en ninguna parte hallaban el acogimiento que buscaban.

Wherever they were they wept for their homeland, because nowhere did they find the welcome they were looking for.

Le habló de su hija Ana Félix y de un cuñado suyo que había pasado a Berbería.

He told him about his daughter Ana Félix and about a brother-in-law of his who had crossed to Barbary.

Le ofreció doscientos escudos de un tesoro que tenía enterrado fuera del pueblo.

He offered him two hundred crowns from a treasure he had buried outside the village.

Sancho contestó que no quería ser codicioso ni hacer traición a su rey.

Sancho answered that he did not want to be greedy or commit treason against his king.

En el castillo, doña Rodríguez le pidió a don Quijote que amparase a su hija contra un burlador.

At the castle, doña Rodríguez asked Don Quixote to protect her daughter against a deceiver.

El padre del muchacho le salía fiador de sus deudas al duque, que fue alargando el plazo.

The boy’s father stood guarantor for the duke’s debts, and the duke kept stretching the deadline.

Se levantó una estacada en la plaza, y en lugar del culpable salió armado un lacayo llamado Tosilos.

Fenced ground was set up in the square, and instead of the guilty man out came an armed footman called Tosilos.

Antes de arremeter miró a la muchacha, se dio por vencido y dijo que prefería rendirse y casarse.

Before charging he looked at the girl, declared himself beaten and said he would rather surrender and marry her.

La víspera de San Juan llegaron a la playa de Barcelona y esperaron allí la aurora.

On the eve of Saint John they reached the beach of Barcelona and waited there for the dawn.

Vieron el mar por primera vez y les pareció mucho mayor que las lagunas de Ruidera.

They saw the sea for the first time and it seemed to them far bigger than the lagoons of Ruidera.

Las galeras quitaron los toldos y dispararon su artillería, y respondió la de las murallas.

The galleys took off their awnings and fired their artillery, and the city walls answered back.

Don Antonio Moreno lo paseó por las calles con un cartel a la espalda, como a un mono amaestrado.

Don Antonio Moreno paraded him through the streets with a placard on his back, like a trained ape.

En una sala apartada hay una mesa de jaspe con una cabeza de bronce que responde al oído.

In a room apart there is a jasper table with a bronze head on it that answers into your ear.

El pie de la mesa es hueco, y un tubo de hojalata lo une con la sala de abajo.

The foot of the table is hollow, and a tin pipe joins it to the room below.

Abajo está un sobrino del dueño, con la boca pegada al tubo y la respuesta preparada.

Down below is the owner’s nephew, with his mouth against the pipe and the answer ready.

Vocabulary

The governor’s hunger (lesson 80)

la varilla de ballena
the thin whalebone rod
el maestresala
the head server
el manjar
the dish, the delicacy
la perdiz
the partridge
el guisado
the stew
dañoso
harmful
asalariado
on a salary
la dieta
the diet, going without
el babador
the bib
la conserva
the preserve
el membrillo
quince paste
el aforismo
the medical maxim

Sancho leaves the government (lesson 81)

el pavés
the large body shield
emparedado
walled in
el huso
the spindle
liar
to lash, to tie up
el caparazón
the shell
el galápago
the tortoise
la caballeriza
the stable
remendar
to patch, to mend
la ambición
ambition
la soberbia
pride
la hoz
the sickle
el cetro
the sceptre
el gazpacho
gazpacho
la residencia
the audit of an officer’s term

Ricote, the banished neighbour (lesson 82)

el morisco
a Muslim convert to Christianity
desterrar
to banish
el destierro
exile
el pregón
the public proclamation
expulsar
to expel
la patria
the homeland
el acogimiento
welcome, reception
el bordón
the pilgrim’s staff
la esclavina
the pilgrim’s short cape
codicioso
greedy
el decreto
the decree
la bota
the wineskin
el cuñado
the brother-in-law
la traición
treason

Doña Rodríguez’s challenge (lesson 83)

el burlador
the deceiver
el fiador
the guarantor
amparar
to protect, to shelter
el plazo
the set term, the deadline
la estacada
the lists, the fenced ground
el lacayo
the footman
rendirse
to surrender

Arriving in Barcelona (lesson 84)

la víspera
the eve, the day before
la aurora
the dawn
la laguna
the lagoon, the inland lake
el toldo
the awning
la muralla
the city wall
la artillería
the artillery
el cartel
the placard, the sign
amaestrado
trained
el jaspe
jasper
el bronce
bronze
hueco
hollow
la hojalata
tin plate
el tubo
the pipe, the tube

Lessons 80 to 84 in one table

Start with the vocabulary above. Cover the English column and mark every word you cannot turn into English in about three seconds.

pointrulefrom the summary above
si hubiera plus habríawhat did not happen, and what therefore did not happen eitherSi hubiera probado una cucharada, habría estado enfermo.
the three si sentencessi tengo, si tuviera, si hubiera tenidosi hubiera querido robar, nadie lo habría notado
ojalá plus hubieraa past you would undo if you couldojalá no hubiera dejado nunca los caminos
como si plus hubieracomparing with something that did not happencomo si aquella semana entera no hubiera pasado
what opens a subjunctivepedir, querer, dondequiera, and anything that does not assertle pidió que amparase a su hija
darse por plus participledeclare yourself something and close the matterse dio por vencido
haysomething mentioned for the first timeEn una sala apartada hay una mesa de jaspe.
estáwhere something already named is to be foundAbajo está un sobrino del dueño.
eswhat the thing is like, not where it isEl pie de la mesa es hueco.

The full conjugations are in the verb tables at the back of the book.