Piccolissima — Page 9
One of the flies--it was the elder--having fixed upon the little prodigy one of the thousand faces of his brown, sparkling eyes, surrounded with golden eyelashes, he then placed, one by one, his little black feet upon the stick of sugar candy, stretched forth his trunk, and began to suck with eagerness.
Uma das moscas -- era a mais velha -- tendo fixado sobre o pequeno prodígio uma das mil facetas de seus olhos castanhos e cintilantes, cercados de cílios dourados, ela então colocou, um a um, seus pequenos pés negros sobre o palito de açúcar cande, estendeu sua tromba e começou a sugar com avidez.
Piccolissima had now time enough to contemplate a being whose organs she thought were like her own in their weakness.
Piccolissima tinha agora tempo suficiente para contemplar um ser cujos órgãos ela julgava semelhantes aos seus na sua fragilidade.
She found pleasure in examining the extraordinary form of its almost cylindrical body, divided into three parts, and a head wider than it was long, an irregular globe surmounted by two horns, or antennae, as they are called.
Ela encontrou prazer em examinar a forma extraordinária de seu corpo quase cilíndrico, dividido em três partes, e uma cabeça mais larga do que comprida, um globo irregular encimado por dois chifres, ou antenas, como são chamados.
The eyes most excited her curiosity.
Os olhos eram o que mais excitava sua curiosidade.
She attempted to count their numerous little faces, so regular, so finely cut into hexagons, more polished, more brilliant than diamonds.
Ela tentou contar suas numerosas facetinhas, tão regulares, tão finamente cortadas em hexágonos, mais polidas, mais brilhantes do que diamantes.
When Piccolissima had counted one hundred, she drew from a very small box, which was a family treasure, some minikin pins, and stuck one of them into the cushion on which she was seated, intending thus to mark every hundred that she counted; but she had not counted thus half a thousand, before she found that breath and knowledge failed her; in truth, she did not know enough of arithmetic to count the eyes of a fly.
Quando Piccolissima havia contado cem, ela tirou de uma caixinha muito pequena, que era um tesouro de família, alguns alfinetes miúdos, e fincou um deles na almofada sobre a qual estava sentada, pretendendo assim marcar cada centena que contasse; mas ela ainda não havia contado assim a metade de mil, quando descobriu que o fôlego e o conhecimento lhe faltavam; na verdade, ela não sabia aritmética suficiente para contar os olhos de uma mosca.
In the very first group which she undertook to count, that on the right side of the fly, she had not counted a sixteenth part.
No próprio primeiro grupo que ela se propôs a contar, o do lado direito da mosca, ela não havia contado nem a décima sexta parte.
Vocabulary
- uma
- Indefinite article; one (feminine)
- das
- Contraction of 'de' and 'as'; of the (feminine plural)
- moscas
- Flies; plural of mosca
- era
- Was; past tense of ser
- mais
- More; comparative adjective or adverb
- velha
- Old; aged (feminine adjective)
- tendo
- Having; present participle of ter
- fixado
- Fixed; set; past participle of fixar
- sobre
- On; about; over
- pequeno
- Small; little (masculine adjective)
- prodígio
- Prodigy; wonder; marvel
- mil
- Thousand; number 1000
- facetas
- Facets; aspects; plural of faceta
- de
- Of; from; preposition
- seus
- His; her; your; possessive pronoun
- olhos
- Eyes; plural of olho
- castanhos
- Brown; chestnut-colored (masculine plural)
- cercados
- Surrounded; enclosed (masculine plural)
- dourados
- Golden; gilded (masculine plural)
- ela
- She; her; feminine pronoun
- então
- Then; at that time; therefore
- colocou
- Placed; put; past tense of colocar
- um
- One; a; indefinite article (masculine)
- pequenos
- Small; little (masculine plural)
- pés
- Feet; plural of pé
- negros
- Black; dark (masculine plural)
- palito
- Stick; small stick; toothpick
- açúcar
- Sugar; sweet substance
- estendeu
- Extended; stretched out; past of estender
- sua
- His; her; your; possessive (feminine)
- começou
- Began; started; past of começar
- sugar
- To suck; to draw in by sucking
- com
- With; together with; preposition
- tinha
- Had; past tense of ter
- agora
- Now; at the present time
- tempo
- Time; weather; duration
- suficiente
- Sufficient; enough; adequate
- para
- For; in order to; towards
- contemplar
- To contemplate; to observe; to behold
- ser
- Being; to be; existence
- cujos
- Whose; of which (masculine plural)
- órgãos
- Organs; parts; plural of órgão
- julgava
- Judged; considered; past of julgar
- semelhantes
- Similar; alike; resembling
- aos
- To the; contraction of 'a' and 'os'
- na
- In the; contraction of 'em' and 'a'
- encontrou
- Found; met; past of encontrar
- prazer
- Pleasure; delight; satisfaction
- em
- In; on; at; preposition
- examinar
- To examine; to inspect; to study
- forma
- Form; shape; manner
- extraordinária
- Extraordinary; unusual; remarkable (feminine)
- corpo
- Body; physical form; corpus
- quase
- Almost; nearly; practically
- dividido
- Divided; split; separated
- três
- Three; number 3
- partes
- Parts; pieces; portions; plural of parte
- cabeça
- Head; principal; chief
- larga
- Wide; broad; large (feminine)
- que
- That; which; what; relative pronoun
- comprida
- Long; lengthy (feminine adjective)
- globo
- Globe; ball; spherical shape
- irregular
- Irregular; uneven; asymmetrical
- por
- By; for; through; preposition
- dois
- Two; number 2 (masculine)
- chifres
- Horns; plural of chifre
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