Day 69: Why Mexico City Is Sinking
After a geography class at a middle school in Mexico City, Alejandro (A), a student, asks his teacher, Mr. Ernesto Villalobos (B), about the Metropolitan Cathedral and the sidewalk on his 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
Profe, ¿por qué la Catedral se ve chueca? Y en mi calle la banqueta lleva años cuarteándose.
Mr. Villalobos, why does the Cathedral look crooked? And on my street the sidewalk's been cracking for years.
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B
Por lo mismo: la Catedral fue construida sobre el antiguo lago, y ese suelo se hunde disparejo.
Same reason: the Cathedral was built on the old lake, and that ground sinks unevenly.
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A
¿Y por qué se sigue hundiendo, si ya no hay lago?
But why does it keep sinking, if there's no lake anymore?
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B
Porque la mayor parte del agua que usamos se bombea del subsuelo, y la arcilla, al secarse, se compacta.
Because most of the water we use is pumped from underground, and as the clay dries out, it compacts.
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A
¿Pero tanto como para que se note? Yo creía que eran milímetros.
But enough to notice? I thought it was a matter of millimeters.
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B
La ciudad lleva más de un siglo hundiéndose: al Ángel le han agregado catorce escalones desde 1910.
The city has been sinking for more than a century: they've added fourteen steps to the Angel of Independence since 1910.
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A
¡No me diga! Ahora entiendo por qué la casa de mi abuela quedó más abajo que la calle.
Really? Now I understand why my grandma's house ended up lower than the street.
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B
Pues ya tienes tema para tu exposición: averigua en qué año fue construida esa casa y cuánto se ha hundido.
Well, now you've got a topic for your presentation: find out what year that house was built and how far it's sunk.
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