Alice's Adventures in Wonderland — Page 6
" shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder, and people began running about in all directions, tumbling up against each other; however, they got settled down in a minute or two, and the game began.
" gritó la Reina con voz de trueno, y la gente comenzó a correr en todas direcciones, tropezando unos contra otros; sin embargo, se acomodaron en un minuto o dos, y el juego comenzó.
Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls were live hedgehogs, the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and to stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches.
Alicia pensó que nunca había visto un campo de croquet tan curioso en su vida; era todo crestas y surcos; las bolas eran erizos vivos, los mazos flamencos vivos, y los soldados tenían que doblarse y pararse sobre sus manos y pies, para hacer los arcos.
The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it _would_ twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was generally a ridge or furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed.
La principal dificultad que Alicia encontró al principio fue en manejar su flamenco: logró meter su cuerpo, cómodamente, bajo su brazo, con sus patas colgando, pero generalmente, justo cuando había enderezado bien su cuello, e iba a darle un golpe al erizo con su cabeza, éste se retorcía y la miraba a la cara, con una expresión tan desconcertada que no podía evitar echarse a reír: y cuando había bajado su cabeza, e iba a comenzar de nuevo, era muy irritante descubrir que el erizo se había desenrollado, y estaba en el acto de alejarse arrastrándose: además de todo esto, generalmente había una cresta o surco en el camino adondequiera que quisiera enviar al erizo, y, como los soldados doblados siempre se levantaban y se iban caminando a otras partes del campo, Alicia pronto llegó a la conclusión de que era un juego muy difícil en verdad.
Vocabulary
- gritó
- shouted, yelled, cried out
- la
- the (feminine singular definite article)
- Reina
- Queen
- con
- with
- voz
- voice
- de
- of, from
- trueno
- thunder
- y
- and
- gente
- people
- comenzó
- began, started
- a
- to, at
- correr
- to run
- en
- in, on, at
- todas
- all (feminine plural)
- direcciones
- directions
- tropezando
- stumbling, tripping
- unos
- some, a few (masculine plural)
- contra
- against
- otros
- others (masculine plural)
- sin
- without
- embargo
- however (used in phrase sin embargo)
- se
- reflexive pronoun, themselves, himself, herself
- acomodaron
- settled, arranged themselves
- un
- a, an, one (masculine singular)
- minuto
- minute
- o
- or
- dos
- two
- el
- the (masculine singular definite article)
- juego
- game, play
- pensó
- thought
- que
- that, which, who
- nunca
- never
- había
- had, there was/were
- visto
- seen (past participle of ver)
- campo
- field, countryside
- tan
- so, such, as
- curioso
- curious, strange, odd
- su
- his, her, their, your (possessive)
- vida
- life
- era
- was, used to be
- todo
- all, everything, whole
- crestas
- ridges, crests
- surcos
- furrows, grooves
- las
- the (feminine plural definite article)
- bolas
- balls
- eran
- were, used to be
- erizos
- hedgehogs
- vivos
- alive, living, lively
- los
- the (masculine plural definite article)
- mazos
- mallets, hammers
- flamencos
- flamingos
- soldados
- soldiers
- tenían
- had, they had
- doblarse
- to bend, to double over
- pararse
- to stand, to stop
- sobre
- on, over, about
- sus
- his, her, their, your (possessive plural)
- manos
- hands
- pies
- feet
- para
- for, in order to
- hacer
- to do, to make
- arcos
- arches, hoops, bows
- La
- the (feminine singular definite article)
- principal
- main, principal, primary
- dificultad
- difficulty
- encontró
- found, encountered
- al
- to the, at the (contraction of a+el)
- principio
- beginning, start, principle
- fue
- was, went
- manejar
- to handle, to manage, to drive
- flamenco
- flamingo
- logró
- managed, achieved, succeeded
- meter
- to put in, to insert, to place
- cuerpo
- body
- cómodamente
- comfortably
- bajo
- under, below, low
- brazo
- arm
- patas
- legs, paws (of animals)
- colgando
- hanging, dangling
- pero
- but
- generalmente
- generally, usually
- justo
- just, fair, exact
- cuando
- when
- enderezado
- straightened, made straight
- bien
- well, good, very
- cuello
- neck
- e
- and (used before words starting with i- or hi-)
- iba
- was going, used to go
- darle
- to give him/her/it, to hit him/her/it
- golpe
- blow, hit, strike
- erizo
- hedgehog
- cabeza
- head
- éste
- this one, the latter (masculine)
- retorcía
- twisted, writhed
- miraba
- looked at, was looking at
- cara
- face
- una
- a, an, one (feminine singular)
- expresión
- expression
- desconcertada
- puzzled, bewildered, disconcerted
- no
- no, not
- podía
- could, was able to
- evitar
- to avoid, to prevent
- echarse
- to throw oneself, to lie down, to burst out
- reír
- to laugh
- bajado
- lowered, gone down
- comenzar
- to begin, to start
- nuevo
- new, again (in de nuevo)
- muy
- very, quite
- irritante
- irritating, annoying
- descubrir
- to discover, to find out, to uncover
- desenrollado
- unrolled, uncoiled
- estaba
- was, was being
- acto
- act, action, instant (in en el acto)
- alejarse
- to move away, to go away, to distance oneself
- arrastrándose
- crawling, dragging itself
- además
- besides, furthermore, in addition
- esto
- this
- cresta
- crest, ridge
- surco
- furrow, groove
- camino
- road, path, way
- adondequiera
- wherever, anywhere
- quisiera
- wanted, wished (subjunctive form)
- enviar
- to send
- como
- like, as, how
- doblados
- bent, doubled, folded
- siempre
- always
- levantaban
- lifted, raised, got up
- iban
- were going, used to go
- caminando
- walking
- otras
- other, another (feminine plural)
- partes
- parts, places
- del
- of the, from the (contraction of de+el)
- pronto
- soon, quickly
- llegó
- arrived, reached
- conclusión
- conclusion
- difícil
- difficult, hard
- verdad
- truth, true
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