Day 75: The Cablebús Over My Neighborhood
In a Cablebús cable car gliding over Iztapalapa, in Mexico City, Leonel (A), who grew up there, rides with his friend Lucas (B); doña is a respectful title.
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
Antes me hacía una hora en micro hasta el Metro; ahora, veinte minutos, lo cual me cambió la vida.
It used to take me an hour on a minibus to get to the Metro; now it's twenty minutes, which has changed my life.
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B
Oye, ¿y esas azoteas pintadas? Desde aquí arriba parece una galería.
Hey, what about those painted rooftops? From up here it looks like a gallery.
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A
Es mi colonia: la del colibrí es de doña Minerva, cuya azotea era puro tinaco y ropa tendida.
That's my neighborhood: the one with the hummingbird is Doña Minerva's, whose roof used to be nothing but water tanks and laundry on the line.
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B
Qué bonito, pero ¿y los vecinos qué ganaron? El mural lo disfrutamos los de arriba.
Nice, but what did the neighbors actually get out of it? It's us up here who enjoy the mural.
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A
Alumbrado y plusvalía, lo cual no es poca cosa. El agua, en cambio, sigue llegando por tandeo.
Street lighting and higher property values, which is no small thing. The water, on the other hand, still only comes on certain days.
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B
O sea, puro maquillaje: les pintaron el techo, pero siguen esperando la pipa.
So it's just window dressing: they painted their roofs, but they're still waiting for the water truck.
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A
No tanto: de hecho, ahora doña Minerva vende tamales en la estación, y jura que el colibrí le trae clientes.
Not quite: in fact, Doña Minerva sells tamales at the station now, and she swears the hummingbird brings her customers.
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