The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Page 75
He told me "yes" by a constrained gesture; and when I had bidden him enter, he did not obey me without a searching backward glance into the darkness of the square.
Me dijo "sí" con un gesto forzado; y cuando le pedí que entrara, no me obedeció sin lanzar una mirada inquisitiva hacia atrás, hacia la oscuridad de la plaza.
There was a policeman not far off, advancing with his bull's eye open; and at the sight, I thought my visitor started and made greater haste.
Había un policía no muy lejos, avanzando con su linterna sorda abierta; y al verlo, pensé que mi visitante se sobresaltó y se apresuró más.
These particulars struck me, I confess, disagreeably; and as I followed him into the bright light of the consulting room, I kept my hand ready on my weapon.
Estos detalles me impresionaron, lo confieso, desagradablemente; y mientras lo seguía hacia la luz brillante del consultorio, mantuve mi mano lista sobre mi arma.
Here, at last, I had a chance of clearly seeing him.
Aquí, por fin, tuve la oportunidad de verlo claramente.
I had never set eyes on him before, so much was certain.
Nunca lo había visto antes, eso era seguro.
He was small, as I have said; I was struck besides with the shocking expression of his face, with his remarkable combination of great muscular activity and great apparent debility of constitution, and—last but not least—with the odd, subjective disturbance caused by his neighbourhood.
Era pequeño, como he dicho; además me impresionó la expresión impactante de su rostro, con su notable combinación de gran actividad muscular y gran debilidad aparente de constitución, y—no menos importante—con la extraña perturbación subjetiva causada por su proximidad.
This bore some resemblance to incipient rigour, and was accompanied by a marked sinking of the pulse.
Esto guardaba cierta semejanza con un rigor incipiente, y estaba acompañado por un marcado descenso del pulso.
At the time, I set it down to some idiosyncratic, personal distaste, and merely wondered at the acuteness of the symptoms; but I have since had reason to believe the cause to lie much deeper in the nature of man, and to turn on some nobler hinge than the principle of hatred.
En ese momento, lo atribuí a alguna aversión personal e idiosincrásica, y simplemente me pregunté por la agudeza de los síntomas; pero desde entonces he tenido razones para creer que la causa yace mucho más profunda en la naturaleza del hombre, y que gira sobre un eje más noble que el principio del odio.
Vocabulary
- Me
- Me, to me (first person object pronoun)
- dijo
- He/she said, told (preterite of decir)
- sí
- Yes (affirmative response)
- con
- With (preposition indicating accompaniment or instrument)
- un
- A, an (masculine singular indefinite article)
- gesto
- Gesture, facial expression or movement
- forzado
- Forced, strained, not natural
- y
- And (conjunction connecting words or phrases)
- cuando
- When (temporal conjunction or adverb)
- le
- Him, her, you (indirect object pronoun)
- pedí
- I asked for, requested (preterite of pedir)
- que
- That, which (relative pronoun or conjunction)
- entrara
- Enter, come in (imperfect subjunctive of entrar)
- no
- No, not (negation adverb)
- me
- Me, to me (object pronoun)
- obedeció
- He/she obeyed (preterite of obedecer)
- sin
- Without (preposition indicating absence or lack)
- lanzar
- To throw, launch, cast
- una
- A, an (feminine singular indefinite article)
- mirada
- Look, glance, gaze
- inquisitiva
- Inquisitive, questioning, inquiring
- hacia
- Toward, towards (preposition indicating direction)
- atrás
- Behind, back, backward
- la
- The (feminine singular definite article)
- oscuridad
- Darkness, obscurity
- de
- Of, from (preposition showing possession or origin)
- plaza
- Square, plaza, public space
- Había
- There was, there were (imperfect of haber)
- policía
- Police, policeman, police officer
- muy
- Very, quite (adverb intensifying adjectives)
- lejos
- Far, far away, distant
- avanzando
- Advancing, moving forward (gerund of avanzar)
- su
- His, her, your, their (possessive adjective)
- linterna
- Flashlight, lantern, torch
- sorda
- Deaf, muted, muffled
- abierta
- Open, opened (feminine adjective)
- al
- To the, at the (contraction of a+el)
- verlo
- To see him/it (infinitive ver + pronoun lo)
- pensé
- I thought (preterite of pensar)
- mi
- My (possessive adjective, first person)
- visitante
- Visitor, guest
- se
- Himself, herself, themselves (reflexive pronoun)
- sobresaltó
- He/she was startled, jumped (preterite of sobresaltar)
- apresuró
- He/she hurried, rushed (preterite of apresurar)
- más
- More, most (comparative adverb)
- Estos
- These (masculine plural demonstrative adjective/pronoun)
- detalles
- Details, particulars, specifics
- impresionaron
- They impressed, made an impression (preterite of impresionar)
- lo
- Him, it, the (masculine object pronoun/article)
- confieso
- I confess, admit (present tense of confesar)
- desagradablemente
- Unpleasantly, disagreeably
- mientras
- While, meanwhile, whereas
- seguía
- He/she followed, continued (imperfect of seguir)
- luz
- Light, illumination
- brillante
- Bright, brilliant, shiny
- del
- Of the, from the (contraction of de+el)
- consultorio
- Office, consulting room, doctor's office
- mantuve
- I kept, maintained (preterite of mantener)
- mano
- Hand
- lista
- Ready, prepared; list
- sobre
- On, over, about (preposition)
- arma
- Weapon, arm, gun
- Aquí
- Here, in this place
- por
- For, by, through (preposition with multiple uses)
- fin
- End, finish, purpose
- tuve
- I had (preterite of tener)
- oportunidad
- Opportunity, chance, occasion
- claramente
- Clearly, plainly, obviously
- Nunca
- Never, not ever
- había
- There was/were; had (imperfect of haber)
- visto
- Seen (past participle of ver)
- antes
- Before, previously, earlier
- eso
- That (neuter demonstrative pronoun)
- era
- Was, it was (imperfect of ser)
- seguro
- Sure, certain, safe, secure
- Era
- Was, he/she/it was (imperfect of ser)
- pequeño
- Small, little, tiny
- como
- Like, as, how (comparison or manner)
- he
- I have (present perfect auxiliary verb)
- dicho
- Said, told (past participle of decir)
- además
- Besides, moreover, furthermore, also
- impresionó
- He/she impressed, struck (preterite of impresionar)
- expresión
- Expression, look, phrase
- impactante
- Striking, shocking, impressive, impactful
- rostro
- Face, countenance
- notable
- Notable, remarkable, noteworthy
- combinación
- Combination, blend, mixture
- gran
- Great, big, large (apocopated form of grande)
- actividad
- Activity, action, liveliness
- muscular
- Muscular, relating to muscles
- debilidad
- Weakness, feebleness, frailty
- aparente
- Apparent, seeming, evident
- constitución
- Constitution, physical makeup, structure
- menos
- Less, fewer, minus
- importante
- Important, significant
- extraña
- Strange, odd, foreign (feminine adjective)
- perturbación
- Disturbance, disruption, perturbation
- subjetiva
- Subjective, personal, individual
- causada
- Caused, produced (feminine past participle of causar)
- proximidad
- Proximity, closeness, nearness
- Esto
- This (neuter demonstrative pronoun)
- guardaba
- It kept, held, guarded (imperfect of guardar)
- cierta
- Certain, some, a certain (feminine adjective)
- semejanza
- Resemblance, similarity, likeness
- rigor
- Rigor, severity, harshness, stiffness
- incipiente
- Incipient, beginning, emerging
- estaba
- Was, he/she/it was (imperfect of estar)
- acompañado
- Accompanied, joined (past participle of acompañar)
- marcado
- Marked, pronounced, noticeable
- descenso
- Descent, drop, decline, decrease
- pulso
- Pulse, heartbeat, steady hand
- En
- In, on, at (preposition of place/time)
- ese
- That (masculine demonstrative adjective)
- momento
- Moment, instant, time
- atribuí
- I attributed, assigned (preterite of atribuir)
- a
- To, at (preposition indicating direction or indirect object)
- alguna
- Some, any (feminine singular adjective)
- aversión
- Aversion, dislike, repugnance
- personal
- Personal, individual, private
- e
- And (used before words starting with i/hi)
- idiosincrásica
- Idiosyncratic, peculiar, distinctive
- simplemente
- Simply, just, merely
- pregunté
- I asked, questioned (preterite of preguntar)
- agudeza
- Sharpness, acuteness, keenness, wit
- los
- The (masculine plural definite article)
- síntomas
- Symptoms, signs of illness
- pero
- But, however (adversative conjunction)
- desde
- Since, from (preposition indicating starting point)
- entonces
- Then, at that time, since then
- tenido
- Had (past participle of tener)
- razones
- Reasons, motives, grounds
- para
- For, to, in order to (preposition of purpose)
- creer
- To believe, think
- causa
- Cause, reason, origin
- yace
- Lies, rests, is located (present of yacer)
- mucho
- Much, a lot, very (adverb or adjective)
- profunda
- Deep, profound (feminine adjective)
- en
- In, on, at (preposition)
- naturaleza
- Nature, natural world, character
- hombre
- Man, human being, mankind
- gira
- Turns, revolves, rotates (present of girar)
- eje
- Axis, axle, shaft, core
- noble
- Noble, honorable, aristocratic
- el
- The (masculine singular definite article)
- principio
- Beginning, principle, start, fundamental rule
- odio
- Hatred, hate, loathing
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