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Lección Noventa y cuarto (94)

  
  La langosta The lobster.
     
1 Rafael. — Simone ¿está muy cara la langosta?
Simone. — Carísima, Rafael (1). Es un pescado inabordable.		 Raphael. — Simone, is lobster very dear?
— Simone. — Very dear, Raphael. It is a prohibitive fish.
2 Raf. — La langosta no es un pescado,
Simone. Porque tú, al decir pescado has querido decir en francés poisson, en castellano pez (2).		 Raph. — Lobster is not a fish,
Sim. For, in saying " pescado ", you wanted to say " poisson " in French, in Castilian "pez".
3 Sim. —- La langosta es un crustáceo; lo sé perfectamente.
Pero para mí, en la mesa, es pescado todo lo que sale del mar.		 Sim. — Lobster is a crustacean, I know it perfectly.
But, for me, on the table, all that comes out of the sea is fish,
4 Raf. — Tienes razón, Simone.
Pero aunque cueste tan cara como tú dices (3), pon alguna vez langosta (4).
Estoy cansado de la merluza, del besugo, y del bonito.
Créeme.		 You are right, S.
But although it costs as dear as you say, give [put] me sometimes lobster.
I am tired of hake, red mullet, and tunny.
Believe me.
5 Sim. — Bueno. Tendrás langosta y yo
misma haré la mayonesa; pero hay una cosa que no me explico.
Raf.—¿Cual? (5).		 S. — Good, you will have lobster and I myself shall make the mayonnaise. But there's one thing that I can [do] not explain to myself.
— R. — Which?
6 Sim. — Que cueste tan cara en España la langosta.
Raf — Mujer, lo mismo ocurre en Francia;
la langosta es la reina de los mares.
No me digas que en París pagas la langosta al precio del besugo.		 S. — That lobster is [costs] so dear in Spain.
— R. — Dear friend [wife] the same thing happens in France, the lobster is the queen of the seas.
Don't tell me that in Paris you pay lobster at the (same) price as [of] red mullet.
7 Sim. — No en París, no. Lo reconozco.
Pero en España no me explico que cueste tanto. La debían de dar de balde (6).		 S. — No, not in Paris. I acknowledge that.
But in Spain I cannot explain that it should cost so much. They should give it for nothing.
8 Raf. — Tiene gracia (7). ¿Por qué? R. — Joking aside... [it's funny] and why ?
9 Sim. — Porque a cada rato leo en vuestros
periódicos :
« La plaga de la langosta, la plaga de la langosta... » (8).		 Because I read at every moment in your papers : "
The plague of the ' langosta' "...
  (This dialogue is an extract from Mademoiselle Simone in Madrid, a novel by Alberto Insúa.)
  ( Mademoiselle Simone in Madrid, by Alberto Insúa.)
  EJERCICIOS EXERCISE :
  Platos de Pescado. Fish dishes.
1 ¿Qué pescado nos ponen hoy, María? What fish do they give [put] us today, Mary?
2 Pues como es día de vigilia, tenemos variedad y podrá usted escoger:
hay bacalao a la vizcaína, lenguado frito, anguilas a la marinera, bonito en escabeche y langosta a la vinagreta. 		Well, to-day, as it is a fast-day, we have variety, and you can choose :
there is Biscayan cod, fried sole, eel stew, soused tunny and lobster with vinegar sauce.
3 ¿No hay truchas u otro pescado de río? Are there no trout or (any) other river fish?
4 Truchas, me parece que no, pero creo que el menú trae sollo;
mírelo usted por si acaso estoy equivocada.		 Trout, I don't think so, but I believe that the menu h0as [bears] pike;
look at it, in case I should be mistaken.
5 Efectivamente lo hay, pero preferiría otro pescado, por ejemplo salmón.
— El salmón sólo lo tenemos en lata. 		In fact, there is some, but I should prefer another fish, for instance, salmon.
— Salmon we we have only tinned [in tin].
6 No, no nada de latas; ya que no lo hay fresco, tomaré otra cosa :
¿a ver que tal resulta ese bacalao a la vizcaína? nunca lo probé.		 No, no not[hing of] tins; since there is no fresh one. I shall take something else.
Let us see [to see] how it is [results] this Biscayan cod; I have never tasted it.
7 Excelente idea, señor; al parecer está riquísimo. Excellent idea, sir, it is, it seems, succulent.
8 Y cuando haya salmón fresco me avisará, ¿verdad? And when there is (subj.) fresh salmon, you'll let me know, won't you?
    Riquísimo, superlative of rico, rich,
for dishes or drinks, delicioas.
  NOTES.
1 Carísima = muy cara.
The formation of the superlative by the ending ísima is very current and popular.
Don't forget to mark the stress on the first í.
Note the spelling : largo, long; larguísimo, very long;
feliz, happy; felicísimo, very happy.
2 Let us remember that : pez means the living fish, in the water;
mudo como un pez, dumb as a fish;
no me gusta el pescado, I don't like fish (as a dish);
pescado is the fish when caught.
3 Notice, cueste tan cara, with the adjective in the feminine cara (dear), as if there was the verb estar :
que esté tan cara, that it should be so dear.
4 Pon, literally : put; the irregular sing. imperative of poner.
The regular form would be : pone.
We know that with usted, we say : ponga usted, put.
To express the idea of serving something at table, one often uses poner instead of servir;
nos ponen merluzas todos los días : they serve us hake every day.
— Poner la mesa, to lay the table;
quitar la mesa, to clear the table.
5 ¿Cual?, plur. ¿cuales?, which? (See revision lesson n° 98).
6 Debían = deberían, should, ought to (less. 78, n. 5).
7 Tiene gracia, read again note 1 of less. 80, about "gracia".
8 Simone, who is, in fact, a Parisian, is excusable for not knowing that the Spanish word "langosta" means, as well lobster, a crustacean like the African locust, an insect that is a veritable plague (plaga) in the fields of Southern Spain.