Day 20: Rehearsing Rounds on Metro Line 3
On Metro Line 3 heading for Centro Médico station in Mexico City, Gregorio (A), a retired surgeon, overhears Citlali (B), a first-year surgical resident at the Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI hospital, muttering her case presentation for morning rounds.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a Spanish word to see what it means.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Spanish, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning
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A
Perdone, doctora, pero lleva tres estaciones con “masculino de sesenta y dos años” y de ahà no sale.
Excuse me, Doctor, but you've been on “sixty-two-year-old male” for three stations and you never get any further.
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B
¡Qué pena! A las siete es el pase de visita, y mi jefe no perdona ni una pausa.
How embarrassing! Rounds are at seven, and my boss won't forgive a single pause.
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A
Fui jefe de cirugĂa treinta años: haga de cuenta que ya empezĂł el pase.
I was head of surgery for thirty years: pretend rounds have already started.
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B
Masculino de sesenta y dos años, dolor en fosa ilĂaca derecha de dos dĂas de evoluciĂłn. Programado para apendicectomĂa.
Sixty-two-year-old male, two-day history of right iliac fossa pain. Scheduled for an appendectomy.
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A
ÂżA esa edad, tan segura? Yo no lo operarĂa a menos que una tomografĂa descartara un tumor.
At that age, and so sure? I wouldn't operate on him unless a CT scan ruled out a tumor.
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B
Se la hicieron en la guardia: apendicitis, sin tumor. Y ya firmó lo de “en caso de que hubiere complicaciones”.
They did one on the night shift: appendicitis, no tumor. And he's already signed the “should any complications arise” bit.
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A
Bien, ¿y cómo se llama? Porque “masculino” es un adjetivo, y los adjetivos no firman consentimientos.
Good, and what's his name? Because “male” is an adjective, and adjectives don't sign consent forms.
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B
Don Anselmo, creo. Me sé de memoria su hemoglobina, pero su nombre lo leà en la pulsera.
Don Anselmo, I think. I know his hemoglobin by heart, but I read his name off his wristband.
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A
Primero el nombre, luego la hemoglobina. Se lo digo porque el jueves el de la vesĂcula en Siglo XXI soy yo.
Name first, hemoglobin second. I'm telling you because on Thursday the gallbladder at Siglo XXI is me.
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B
Entonces el jueves paso a verlo, y no será “masculino de setenta y tantos”: ¿cómo se llama, doctor?
Then I'll come and see you on Thursday, and you won't be “seventy-something male”: what's your name, Doctor?
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