Day 147: Why Warm Sand Makes Girl Turtles
At the elementary school in Mazunte, a seaside village in Oaxaca, Salomé (A), a student, asks her teacher, Ms. Verónica Cruz (B), about a news story; the Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga is the village's turtle research center.
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
Maestra, en las noticias dicen que en nuestra playa casi todas las tortuguitas nacen hembras. ¿Ya no nacen machos?
Ms. Cruz, they're saying on the news that almost all the baby turtles on our beach hatch female. Aren't any males born anymore?
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B
Me llegó el boletín del Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga: “Cabe señalar que el sexo de las crías depende de la temperatura de la arena”.
I got the bulletin from the Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga: “It should be noted that the sex of the hatchlings depends on the temperature of the sand.”
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A
¿O sea que no lo decide la mamá? ¿Y cómo sabe la arena si es niño o niña?
So it isn't the mom who decides? And how does the sand know if it's a boy or a girl?
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B
No sabe nada: lo decide el calor. Arriba de 31 grados nacen casi puras hembras; los científicos llevan años comprobándolo.
It doesn't know anything: the heat decides. Above 31 degrees Celsius almost all of them hatch female; scientists have been confirming it for years.
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A
¿Y por qué está más caliente la arena? ¿Por el calentamiento global que vimos en Ciencias?
And why is the sand hotter? Because of the global warming we learned about in science?
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B
Así es. Y el boletín sigue: “Asimismo, han disminuido las crías macho; por consiguiente, se colocarán techos de palma sobre los nidos”.
That's right. And the bulletin goes on: “Furthermore, the number of male hatchlings has fallen; consequently, palm-leaf roofs will be placed over the nests.”
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A
¿Y qué tiene de malo que nazcan puras niñas? En mi salón somos más niñas y nos va bien.
And what's wrong with only girls being born? In my class there are more girls and we're doing fine.
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B
En el salón, sí, pero sin machos no habrá nidos. El viernes vamos al vivero a poner techitos, y tú explicas por qué.
In the classroom, yes, but without males there'll be no nests. On Friday we're going to the hatchery to put up the little roofs, and you can explain why.
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