Day 160: Grandpa and the 2024 Eclipse
At home in Tonantzintla, Puebla, Valentina (A), a young girl, looks through the photos of her grandfather Casimiro (B), a retired astronomer who worked at the town's observatory.
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
Abuelo, ¿esta foto es de noche? Se ven estrellas, pero aquí dice que la tomaste a las once de la mañana.
Grandpa, was this photo taken at night? You can see stars, but it says here you took it at eleven in the morning.
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B
Es de día, mija: es el eclipse total que fui a ver a Mazatlán. De repente se oscureció todo, como si alguien apagara el sol.
It's daytime, sweetheart: it's the total eclipse I went to see in Mazatlán. Suddenly everything went dark, as if someone had turned off the sun.
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A
¿Y la gente no se asustó? Yo me hubiera echado a llorar ahí mismo.
And weren't people scared? I'd have burst into tears right there.
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B
Al contrario: cuando estaba a punto de oscurecer, todo el malecón se puso a aplaudir, y hasta las gaviotas se callaron.
Quite the opposite: when it was about to go dark, the whole boardwalk started clapping, and even the seagulls went quiet.
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A
¿Pero cómo se hace de noche en plena mañana? ¿Se apagó el sol, o qué?
But how can it turn into night in the middle of the morning? Did the sun go out, or what?
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B
El sol sigue igualito; es la luna la que se le pone enfrente. Te enseño: pásame esa naranja y la lámpara del cajón.
The sun stays just the same; it's the moon that gets in front of it. Let me show you: pass me that orange and the flashlight from the drawer.
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A
Aquí están, abuelo, aunque no entiendo qué tiene que ver una naranja con el sol.
Here you are, Grandpa, although I don't see what an orange has to do with the sun.
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B
La lámpara es el sol y la naranja, la luna. Si la pongo en medio, tu cara queda en la sombra, pero tu hombro no.
The flashlight is the sun and the orange is the moon. If I put it in between, your face is in the shadow, but your shoulder isn't.
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A
¡Es cierto, nomás se me oscureció la cara! Por eso te fuiste hasta Mazatlán con todo y telescopio: aquí ni nos tocó la sombra.
It's true, only my face went dark! So that's why you went all the way to Mazatlán, telescope and all: here the shadow didn't even touch us.
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