Middlemarch — Page 1
Since I can do no good because a woman,
Poiché non posso fare alcun bene in quanto donna,
Reach constantly at something that is near it.
Tendo costantemente verso qualcosa che le è vicino.
—_The Maid's Tragedy:_ BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
—_La tragedia della fanciulla:_ BEAUMONT E FLETCHER.
Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.
Miss Brooke possedeva quel tipo di bellezza che sembra risaltare grazie a un abbigliamento modesto.
Her hand and wrist were so finely formed that she could wear sleeves not less bare of style than those in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to Italian painters; and her profile as well as her stature and bearing seemed to gain the more dignity from her plain garments, which by the side of provincial fashion gave her the impressiveness of a fine quotation from the Bible,—or from one of our elder poets,—in a paragraph of to-day's newspaper.
La sua mano e il suo polso erano così finemente modellati che avrebbe potuto indossare maniche non meno prive di ornamenti di quelle in cui la Beata Vergine appariva ai pittori italiani; e il suo profilo, come la sua statura e il suo portamento, sembravano acquistare maggiore dignità dai suoi abiti semplici, che accanto alla moda provinciale le conferivano la solennità di una bella citazione dalla Bibbia, — o da uno dei nostri poeti antichi, — in un paragrafo del giornale di oggi.
She was usually spoken of as being remarkably clever, but with the addition that her sister Celia had more common-sense.
Di lei si soleva dire che fosse straordinariamente intelligente, ma con l'aggiunta che sua sorella Celia aveva più senso pratico.
Nevertheless, Celia wore scarcely more trimmings; and it was only to close observers that her dress differed from her sister's, and had a shade of coquetry in its arrangements; for Miss Brooke's plain dressing was due to mixed conditions, in most of which her sister shared.
Eppure Celia portava a malapena più ornamenti; e solo agli osservatori attenti il suo abbigliamento appariva diverso da quello della sorella, e mostrava una sfumatura di civetteria nella sua disposizione; poiché il vestire semplice di Miss Brooke era dovuto a condizioni miste, nella maggior parte delle quali la sorella era partecipe.
Vocabulary
- Poiché
- poi-ché — Conjunction meaning 'since' or 'because'
- non
- non — Negation word meaning 'not'
- posso
- pos-so — First person singular of 'potere', meaning 'I can'
- fare
- fa-re — Infinitive verb meaning 'to do' or 'to make'
- alcun
- al-cun — Adjective meaning 'any' or 'no' before nouns
- bene
- be-ne — Noun or adverb meaning 'good' or 'well'
- in
- in — Preposition meaning 'in' or 'into'
- quanto
- quan-to — Meaning 'as' or 'how much' in comparisons
- donna
- don-na — Noun meaning 'woman' or 'lady'
- Tendo
- ten-do — First person singular of 'tendere', meaning 'I tend'
- costantemente
- cos-tan-te-men-te — Adverb meaning 'constantly' or 'continuously'
- verso
- ver-so — Preposition meaning 'toward' or 'towards'
- qualcosa
- qual-co-sa — Pronoun meaning 'something'
- che
- che — Conjunction or pronoun meaning 'that' or 'which'
- le
- le — Indirect pronoun meaning 'to her' or 'for her'
- è
- è — Third person singular of 'essere', meaning 'is'
- vicino
- vi-ci-no — Adjective or adverb meaning 'near' or 'close'
- La
- la — Definite article meaning 'the' for feminine nouns
- tragedia
- tra-ge-di-a — Noun meaning 'tragedy', a dramatic or sorrowful event
- della
- del-la — Contraction of 'di' and 'la', meaning 'of the'
- fanciulla
- fan-ciul-la — Noun meaning 'young girl' or 'maiden'
- possedeva
- pos-se-de-va — Imperfect tense of 'possedere', meaning 'she possessed'
- quel
- quel — Demonstrative adjective meaning 'that' before masculine nouns
- tipo
- ti-po — Noun meaning 'type', 'kind', or 'sort'
- bellezza
- bel-lez-za — Noun meaning 'beauty' or 'loveliness'
- sembra
- sem-bra — Third person singular of 'sembrare', meaning 'it seems'
- risaltare
- ri-sal-ta-re — Infinitive meaning 'to stand out' or 'to be highlighted'
- grazie
- gra-zie — Preposition phrase 'grazie a' meaning 'thanks to'
- abbigliamento
- ab-bi-glia-men-to — Noun meaning 'clothing' or 'attire'
- modesto
- mo-des-to — Adjective meaning 'modest' or 'simple'
- sua
- su-a — Possessive adjective meaning 'her' or 'his'
- mano
- ma-no — Noun meaning 'hand'
- polso
- pol-so — Noun meaning 'wrist' or 'pulse'
- così
- co-sì — Adverb meaning 'so' or 'thus'
- finemente
- fi-ne-men-te — Adverb meaning 'finely' or 'delicately'
- modellati
- mo-del-la-ti — Past participle of 'modellare', meaning 'shaped' or 'molded'
- avrebbe
- a-vreb-be — Conditional of 'avere', meaning 'she would have'
- potuto
- po-tu-to — Past participle of 'potere', meaning 'been able to'
- indossare
- in-dos-sa-re — Infinitive meaning 'to wear' or 'to put on clothing'
- maniche
- ma-ni-che — Noun meaning 'sleeves' of a garment
- meno
- me-no — Adverb meaning 'less' or 'fewer'
- prive
- pri-ve — Adjective meaning 'lacking' or 'devoid of'
- ornamenti
- or-na-men-ti — Noun meaning 'ornaments' or 'decorations'
- quelle
- quel-le — Demonstrative pronoun meaning 'those' for feminine nouns
- cui
- cu-i — Relative pronoun meaning 'which' or 'whom'
- Beata
- be-a-ta — Adjective meaning 'blessed', often used in religious context
- Vergine
- ver-gi-ne — Noun meaning 'Virgin', typically referring to Virgin Mary
- appariva
- ap-pa-ri-va — Imperfect of 'apparire', meaning 'she appeared' or 'seemed'
- pittori
- pit-to-ri — Noun meaning 'painters' or 'artists'
- italiani
- i-ta-lia-ni — Adjective meaning 'Italian' for masculine plural nouns
- profilo
- pro-fi-lo — Noun meaning 'profile' or 'side view of a face'
- statura
- sta-tu-ra — Noun meaning 'stature', 'height', or 'build'
- portamento
- por-ta-men-to — Noun meaning 'bearing', 'posture', or 'carriage'
- sembravano
- sem-bra-va-no — Imperfect of 'sembrare', meaning 'they seemed'
- acquistare
- ac-quis-ta-re — Infinitive meaning 'to acquire' or 'to gain'
- maggiore
- mag-gio-re — Adjective meaning 'greater' or 'major'
- dignità
- dig-ni-tà — Noun meaning 'dignity' or 'nobility'
- dai
- dai — Contraction of 'da' and 'i', meaning 'from the'
- abiti
- a-bi-ti — Noun meaning 'clothes', 'dresses', or 'garments'
- semplici
- sem-pli-ci — Adjective meaning 'simple' or 'plain'
- accanto
- ac-can-to — Preposition meaning 'next to' or 'beside'
- moda
- mo-da — Noun meaning 'fashion' or 'style'
- provinciale
- pro-vin-cia-le — Adjective meaning 'provincial' or 'rural'
- conferivano
- con-fe-ri-va-no — Imperfect of 'conferire', meaning 'they conferred' or 'gave'
- solennità
- so-len-ni-tà — Noun meaning 'solemnity' or 'gravity'
- citazione
- ci-ta-zio-ne — Noun meaning 'quotation' or 'citation'
- Bibbia
- Bib-bia — Noun meaning 'Bible', the Christian holy scripture
- poeti
- po-e-ti — Noun meaning 'poets', literary authors of verse
- antichi
- an-ti-chi — Adjective meaning 'ancient' or 'old'
- paragrafo
- pa-ra-gra-fo — Noun meaning 'paragraph', a section of text
- giornale
- gior-na-le — Noun meaning 'newspaper' or 'journal'
- oggi
- og-gi — Adverb meaning 'today'
- soleva
- so-le-va — Imperfect of 'solere', meaning 'used to' or 'was accustomed'
- dire
- di-re — Infinitive meaning 'to say' or 'to tell'
- fosse
- fos-se — Subjunctive imperfect of 'essere', meaning 'were' or 'was'
- straordinariamente
- stra-or-di-na-ria-men-te — Adverb meaning 'extraordinarily' or 'remarkably'
- intelligente
- in-tel-li-gen-te — Adjective meaning 'intelligent' or 'clever'
- aggiunta
- ag-giun-ta — Noun meaning 'addition' or 'added remark'
- sorella
- so-rel-la — Noun meaning 'sister'
- senso
- sen-so — Noun meaning 'sense' or 'meaning'
- pratico
- pra-ti-co — Adjective meaning 'practical' or 'pragmatic'
- Eppure
- ep-pu-re — Conjunction meaning 'and yet' or 'nevertheless'
- portava
- por-ta-va — Imperfect of 'portare', meaning 'she wore' or 'carried'
- malapena
- ma-la-pe-na — Adverb phrase meaning 'barely' or 'hardly'
- osservatori
- os-ser-va-to-ri — Noun meaning 'observers' or 'onlookers'
- attenti
- at-ten-ti — Adjective meaning 'attentive' or 'careful'
- diverso
- di-ver-so — Adjective meaning 'different' or 'diverse'
- mostrava
- mos-tra-va — Imperfect of 'mostrare', meaning 'she showed' or 'displayed'
- sfumatura
- sfu-ma-tu-ra — Noun meaning 'nuance', 'shade', or 'subtle hint'
- civetteria
- ci-vet-te-ri-a — Noun meaning 'coquetry' or 'flirtatious behavior'
- disposizione
- dis-po-si-zio-ne — Noun meaning 'arrangement', 'disposition', or 'tendency'
- vestire
- ves-ti-re — Infinitive meaning 'to dress' or 'to clothe'
- semplice
- sem-pli-ce — Adjective meaning 'simple' or 'plain'
- dovuto
- do-vu-to — Past participle of 'dovere', meaning 'due to' or 'owed'
- condizioni
- con-di-zio-ni — Noun meaning 'conditions' or 'circumstances'
- miste
- mis-te — Adjective meaning 'mixed' or 'combined'
- maggior
- mag-gior — Adjective meaning 'greater' or 'most', short form
- parte
- par-te — Noun meaning 'part' or 'portion'
- partecipe
- par-te-ci-pe — Adjective meaning 'participating' or 'sharing in'
Unlock audio playback, vocabulary games, and reading progress tracking.
Create free account →