Piccolissima — Page 7
Leaving the sugar to slip down by her side, she remained lost in melancholy reflections from which she was drawn by a light murmur, such as one hears sometimes in the silence of the night when persons are speaking in a low voice in a distant part of the house.
Den Zucker neben sich gleiten lassend, blieb sie in melancholische Gedanken versunken, aus denen sie ein leises Murmeln aufschreckte, wie man es bisweilen in der Stille der Nacht hört, wenn Personen in einem entfernten Teil des Hauses mit leiser Stimme sprechen.
Piccolissima listened with deep attention for some time.
Piccolissima lauschte eine Weile mit tiefer Aufmerksamkeit.
Usually she disliked the sound of conversation; it struck harshly on her organs, and seemed a sort of mimic thunder; but these sounds had nothing discordant, nothing disagreeable in them, to her ear.
Gewöhnlich mochte sie den Klang von Gesprächen nicht; er traf ihre Sinnesorgane hart und schien ihr eine Art nachgeahmter Donner zu sein; aber diese Laute hatten für ihr Ohr nichts Missklängendes, nichts Unangenehmes.
As Piccolissima had been forced to observe rather than to act, her faculties took a new direction, and a development of which she was unconscious herself took place, and her joy and her surprise were great when she found that, in what had at first appeared to her a confused murmur, she distinguished, as she listened attentively, intelligible words.
Da Piccolissima gezwungen gewesen war, eher zu beobachten als zu handeln, nahmen ihre Fähigkeiten eine neue Richtung, und eine Entwicklung, deren sie sich selbst nicht bewusst war, vollzog sich, und ihre Freude und ihr Erstaunen waren groß, als sie feststellte, dass sie in dem, was ihr zunächst als ein verworrenes Murmeln erschienen war, beim aufmerksamen Lauschen verständliche Worte unterscheiden konnte.
I have come into the world where all is dead around me.
Ich bin in die Welt gekommen, wo alles um mich herum tot ist.
Vocabulary
- Den
- The (accusative singular masculine article).
- Zucker
- Sugar; a sweet crystalline substance.
- neben
- Beside; next to; alongside something.
- sich
- Oneself; reflexive pronoun for all persons.
- gleiten
- To glide; to slide smoothly across surface.
- blieb
- Remained; stayed; past tense of bleiben.
- sie
- She; they; formal you; feminine pronoun.
- in
- In; inside; within; preposition of location.
- melancholische
- Melancholic; sad; gloomy; adjective form.
- Gedanken
- Thoughts; ideas; plural of Gedanke.
- versunken
- Immersed; absorbed; lost in thought.
- aus
- Out of; from; preposition indicating origin.
- denen
- Those; them; relative pronoun dative plural.
- ein
- A; an; one; indefinite article.
- leises
- Quiet; soft; gentle; adjective nominative neuter.
- Murmeln
- Murmur; soft indistinct sound of voices.
- aufschreckte
- Startled; alarmed; past tense of aufschrecken.
- wie
- How; as; in what manner.
- man
- One; you; indefinite pronoun meaning people.
- es
- It; third person neuter singular pronoun.
- bisweilen
- Sometimes; occasionally; at times; adverb.
- der
- The; definite article dative or genitive.
- Stille
- Silence; quietness; stillness; peaceful calm.
- Nacht
- Night; darkness; the time after sunset.
- hört
- Hears; listens; third person singular present.
- wenn
- When; if; conjunction of time condition.
- Personen
- Persons; people; individuals; plural of Person.
- einem
- A; an; one; indefinite article dative.
- entfernten
- Remote; distant; far away; adjective.
- Teil
- Part; portion; piece; section of whole.
- des
- Of the; genitive singular masculine article.
- Hauses
- House; genitive singular form of Haus.
- mit
- With; together with; accompaniment preposition.
- leiser
- Quiet; soft; low volume; adjective form.
- Stimme
- Voice; sound produced by vocal cords.
- sprechen
- To speak; to talk; to converse.
- lauschte
- Listened; hearkened; past tense of lauschen.
- eine
- A; an; one; indefinite feminine article.
- Weile
- While; a period of time; duration.
- tiefer
- Deep; profound; intense; adjective comparative form.
- Aufmerksamkeit
- Attention; focus; mindfulness; regard for something.
- Gewöhnlich
- Usually; ordinarily; customarily; generally adverb.
- mochte
- Liked; wished; past tense of mögen.
- Klang
- Sound; tone; noise; acoustic phenomenon.
- von
- Of; from; by; preposition expressing origin.
- Gesprächen
- Conversations; talks; discussions; plural of Gespräch.
- nicht
- Not; negation; negative particle in German.
- er
- He; masculine third person singular pronoun.
- traf
- Hit; struck; affected; past tense treffen.
- ihre
- Her; their; possessive pronoun feminine plural.
- Sinnesorgane
- Sense organs; organs of sensation perception.
- hart
- Hard; harsh; tough; severe adjective.
- und
- And; conjunction joining words or clauses.
- schien
- Seemed; appeared; past tense of scheinen.
- ihr
- Her; to her; dative feminine pronoun.
- Art
- Type; kind; manner; species of things.
- Donner
- Thunder; loud sound during electrical storm.
- zu
- To; at; in the direction towards.
- sein
- To be; copula verb infinitive form.
- aber
- But; however; yet; contrasting conjunction.
- diese
- These; this; demonstrative adjective plural.
- Laute
- Sounds; tones; noises; plural of Laut.
- hatten
- Had; past tense of haben auxiliary.
- für
- For; intended for; preposition of purpose.
- Ohr
- Ear; organ of hearing and balance.
- nichts
- Nothing; not anything; negation of something.
- Unangenehmes
- Unpleasant; disagreeable; displeasing adjective neuter.
- Da
- There; then; that; adverb of location.
- gezwungen
- Forced; compelled; obliged; past participle.
- gewesen
- Been; past participle of sein auxiliary.
- eher
- Rather; sooner; preferably; comparative adverb.
- beobachten
- To observe; to watch; to notice.
- handeln
- To act; to deal; to transact.
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