Day 158: Why Cars Can't Enter Our Street
At home in Oaxaca City, Aylin (A), a young girl, asks her mother Adilene (B) about the big flowerpots that have appeared at the corner of their street, a few blocks from the center; the Andador is the city's best-known pedestrian street.
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
Mamá, ¿por qué pusieron esas macetotas en la esquina? El taxi de mi abuelita ya no pudo entrar a la calle.
Mom, why have they put those huge flowerpots on the corner? Grandma's taxi couldn't get into the street anymore.
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B
Porque desde el lunes nuestra calle es peatonal, como el Andador: el municipio la cerró a los carros para embellecer el centro.
Because since Monday our street has been pedestrian-only, like the Andador: the city has closed it to cars to make the center look nicer.
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A
¿Y por qué la nuestra, si aquí nomás pasaban los que buscaban dónde estacionarse?
But why ours, when the only people who came down here were looking for somewhere to park?
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B
Justo por eso: daban vueltas y vueltas buscando lugar, lo cual llenaba todo de humo, y en estas banquetas tan angostas los turistas no cabían.
That's exactly why: they drove around and around looking for a space, which filled everything with fumes, and the tourists didn't fit on these narrow sidewalks.
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A
¿Y los de las tiendas qué dicen? El señor de la papelería estaba enojadísimo.
And what do the store owners say? The man at the stationery store was furious.
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B
Algunos siguen reacios, pero el café cuya dueña juntó firmas en contra ahora saca mesas a la calle y dice que vende el doble.
Some are still unconvinced, but the café whose owner collected signatures against it now puts tables out in the street and says it's selling twice as much.
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A
Entonces, ¿ya puedo andar en bici por la calle yo sola, como los niños del Andador?
So can I ride my bike in the street on my own now, like the kids on the Andador?
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B
Sí, siempre y cuando vayas despacio y no te acerques a los turistas, que andan despistados viendo las fachadas. Y sin manos, ni lo pienses.
Yes, as long as you go slowly and don't get close to the tourists, who wander around gazing at the buildings. And no hands, don't even think about it.
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