swt108

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336	Español	Spanish
	Lección Ciento ocho (108)
	Un buen contable	A good accountant.

1	Resolvieron agregarme a la Dirección de Aduanas. La oficina (1) era tan sucia que cuando caía un legajo en el suelo se levantaba tal polvareda, que podíamos marcharnos sin que nos viese el oficial primero.	They decided to attach me to the Direction of the Customs, The office was so dirty that when a file fell to the floor, there rose such a cloud of dust that we could go away without the first clerk seeing us.
2	Apenas comparecí, el jefe del negociado me encargó de comprobar las cuentas de la Aduana de Corcubión. El ingreso era de veinte mil pesetas.	Hardly was I admitted when the head clerk instructed me to check the accounts of the Customs of Corcubion. The receipts were 20.000 pesetas,
3	Yo objeté caballerosamente : — Me parece que no debiéramos desconfiar de unos compañeros. Cuando ellos dicen que esto es lo recaudado (2)...	I remarked chivalrously : it seems to me that we should not mistrust our colleagues. Since they say that the receipts [what has been received] is so much [this]
4	El jefe me miró con extrañeza : — Sí, sí, pero es preciso comprobar. ¿Para qué estamos aquí (3) ? Yo no sabía ciertamente para qué estábamos allí. Pregunté : — Y cómo se hace esto?	The head clerk looked at me with a strange air [strangeness] : — Yes, yes, but they must be checked. — What are we here for? — I did not know in a very exact manner what we were here for. I asked : And how is this done?
5	¡Diablo! creo que es bien fácil. Hay que sumar y multiplicar. Entonces hice un gesto como dando a entender que si todo se reducía a sumar y multiplicar, aquello era lo más sencillo del mundo.	By Jove, I think this is quite easy. You must add and multiply. I then made a gesture as leaving to understand that if it all came to adding and multiplying, it was the simplest thing in the world.
6	Sin embargo, debo decir sinceramente que la multiplicación se me resiste... Sufrí bastante. Al fin, me acerqué al jefe con el rostro ceñudo (4). — Veo que tenía Vd. razón en desconfiar. Según mis cálculos, no son 20.000 (veinte mil) pesetas. Son 2.000.000 (dos millones) de pesetas.	However I must say sincerely that multiplication is not my strong part [resists me]. I rather suffered. At last I drew near the head clerk, with a frowning face : — I see that you were right in being distrustful. According to my calculations, it is not 20.000 pesetas. It is 2 million pesetas...
7	El jefe afirmó que nunca se había podido recaudar tal suma en aquella Aduana y mandó que rehiciese la operación.	The head clerk affirmed that they had never collected such a sum in that Custom and asked me to do [that I should do] this sum again.
	(Sigue.)	(To be continued.)

	EJERCICIOS	EXERCISE :
	Mirando fotos.	Looking at photos.
1	¿Esas fotos?... pues todos son recuerdos de mi veraneo en Ribadesella, ya sabes, esa playa de Asturias donde fui a pasar un mes...	These photos ?... Well, they all are memories of my summer stay in R., you know, that beach in the Asturias where I went to spend a month.
2	Un rinconcito precioso y la vida muy barata. Mira : ahí tienes una vista del puerto, con los vaporcitos de pesca a lo largo del muelle...	A charming nook and living is very cheap. Look : here is a view of the harbour with the little fishing-boats along the quay.
3	Ese yate todo blanco y tan lujoso era de un rico veraneante....	That yacht, all white and majestic, belonged to a rich summer visitor.
4	Con aquel balandro que era de un amigo mío, más de una vez salí al mar; parecía que volaba, igual que una gaviota...	With that cutter, which belonged to one of my friends more than once I went out to sea; one would have said that the flew exactly like [all same as] a sea-gull.
5	Ahí tienes la ría con pleamar, que parece un lago interior, y reflejándose en las aguas la sierra majestuosa de Santianes...	Here you have the river at high tide, which looks (like) an inland lake, and, reflecting itself in the waters, the stately mountain of Santianes.
6	Esta es una vista de la playa, con las casetas de los bañistas, y detrás, una fila de chalets...	Here is a view of the beach with the bathers' cabins, and, behind, a row of villas.
7	Este es otro punto de la costa, con unos acantilados que meten miedo, dominados por el faro...	Here is another spot on the coast, with frightening cliffs [cl. that give fear], overlooked by the lighthouse.
8	Desde ese peñasco me tiraba yo al agua todos los días y me iba nadando hasta aquel arrecife.	From that rock I would dive every day and I would go swimming up to that reef.
		The word veraneante, derived from veraneo, a summer stay in the country, and from verano, summer, cannot be translated exactly into English.
		Tirarse al agua, to throw oneself into the water, dive, when speaking of a person. For a submarine (submarino), we shall say : se sumergía, if was submerging (or would submerge) (sumergirse).

	NOTES.
1	La oficina, the office (open to the public) of an administration; una oficina de correos, a post-office ; un despacho, a private office, study, where one works at home; un escritorio, a writing-table; el negociado, a department (in a ministery, or large administration).
2	Lo recaudado, what has been collected; we find, a few lines later, lo más sencillo del mundo : the simplest thing, what is simplest in the world. (See Revis. lesson 98, about the neuter article lo.)
3	¿Para qué estamos aquí? What are we here for? Para qué implies a purpose, whereas por qué implies a cause.
4	Ceñudo, frowning, is said as a rule of the eyebrows (las cejas), but in a wider sense, one also says : un rostro ceñudo, una cara ceñuda, a frowning face (severe).