Iris Acevedo A. - Spanish Reader Intermediate & Advanced

Spanish Reader for Intermediate and Advanced Students

Spanish Short Stories

Spanish to English Translation

A unique collection of short stories in Spanish

By

CostaRica SpanishOnline Language School

Iris Acevedo A

author

http://costaricaspanishonline.com

San José, Costa Rica 2017

Copyright©2017 by CostaRica SpanishOnline. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is merely coincidental.

INTRODUCTION

Spanish Language Reader for Intermediate and Advanced Students , translated from Spanish to English, is intended for Spanish language learners who wish to review various aspects of Spanish Grammar that often require additional work, such as The Preterit and Imperfect Tenses, extensive usage of Reflexive Verbs, and The Present Subjunctive Mood.

Spanish Reader for Intermediate and Advanced Students is the fourth book of the series, Spanish Readers for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Students : a unique collection of short stories in Spanish-Latin America- written with Grammar in mind, as well as entertaining stories with an unusual twist.

The translation provided in this book serves the sole purpose of assisting the reader in their effort to follow the story and learn new vocabulary. I have made the attempt to keep the original meaning conveyed by each sentence and phrase; although, it may very much differ from the writing style in English.

This collection of short stories is a unique creation of CostaRica SpanishOnline, the first online Spanish school in Costa Rica to provide immersion Spanish courses via Skype.

Each volume: Beginner I to Advanced III, provides short stories that keep the reader guessing until you reach the end, which provides an unexpected turn of events.

You will find a unique blend of social and cultural aspects of Latin America - focused on my beloved Costa Rica -, modern and traditional lifestyles, transitional phrases, Grammar adequate for each particular level, as well as entertainment and extensive practice of grammatical structures required in order to achieve full understanding of structure, new vocabulary and fluency.

I hope you find this Spanish Reader useful and entertaining as well.

Iris Acevedo A.

Author/Founder

Contents

E l Brujo - The Seer

-The Past Tense Forms:

-Pretérito e Imperfecto

La Reina De La Noche - Angel Trumpet

-The Perfect Tenses:

-The Present Perfect

-The Past Perfect

-The Vos form: Central and South America.

Hace Más de Dos Días - More Than Two Days Now

-The Preterit

-The Future Tense

Doña Serena - Ms. Serene

-Various Verb Tenses.

La Nochebuena – Christmas Eve

-The Subjunctive Mood

El Terremoto – Major Earthquake

-The Preterit and the Imperfect

La Granadilla - The Passionfruit Plant

-Various Tenses

Por Una Taza de Café – For a Cup of Coffee

-The Past Perfect,

-The Present Perfect

-The Conditional

El Brujo ˜ The Seer

U no tenía que bajar las empinadas cuestas casi de rodillas, sosteniéndose de las entrelazadas raíces que colgaban de los lados del camino. Las raíces intentaban, de esta forma, sostener los árboles, sujetándose en el barro de color naranja y rojo que se movía debajo de cada pisada que uno daba.

One had to climb down the steep slopes -almost on one’s knees-, holding on to the intertwined roots that would hang from the sides of the road. The roots intended, in this way, holding the trees while their roots would grip the orange and red clay that would move underneath each step that one would take.

Una pendiente severa, escondida entre de la espesa neblina que había amanecido decidida a acompañar al caminante. Los rayos del sol se dejaban ver entre las ramas de los árboles, que uniendo sus ramas entre sí, doblaban esfuerzos para intentar proteger al bosque de los nuevos visitantes.

A severe gradient, hidden amidst the thick fog that had risen with the sun, insisted on accompanying the people who were walking. The rays of the sun allowed themselves to be seen amid the branches of the trees, which by joining their branches together, doubled their effort to try to protect the forest from new visitors.

De rodillas, con mudas plegarias y con suaves gemidos de dolor, íbamos todos bajando hasta la vuelta, desde donde se podía oír el leve rugir del agua cristalina que provenía desde lo más alto de la montaña.

On our knees, with muted prayers and soft sighing of pain, we were all on our way; walking down the path all the way to the curve from where one was able to hear the slight roaring of the crystal-clear

water that originated from the highest spot of the mountain.

El camino se abría hacia la derecha, para dejar entrever las pequeñas flores en forma de campanitas rojas que se asomaban entre las espesas hojas de los helechos; compañeros fieles de don Florindo.

The road would open itself to the right, in order to allow one to see the tiny, red bell shaped flowers that would take a peek within the thick leaves of the ferns; loyal companions of don Florindo.

Un silencio, casi total, sino por la caída del agua, le devolvía la paz a todo aquel que hacía la caminata hasta la casa de aquel hombre quien por años mantenía su reputación como el hombre más sabio que existía.

Sheer silence, almost entire -except for the falling water flow- gave back the peace to each person that made the walk, all the way to the house of that man, who for many years had kept his reputation as the wisest man that existed.

Uno tenía que llegar hasta la Quebrada del Colibrí; de hecho, ya no sentía mis manos. Éstas, cansadas de sujetarse de las raíces, de forma inevitable, se habían entregado al sueño.

One had to arrive all the way to Hummingbird Creek. In fact, I no longer was able to feel my hands. These, tired from holding on to the roots, inevitably had surrendered themselves to deep sleep.

Había una inmensa alegría dentro de mí; como sólo puede sentirse cuando uno ha encontrado la respuesta a un dilema que nos ha robado la tranquilidad, día tras día y noche tras noche.