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Source text - English The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out files. The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went on to Madrid.
“What should we drink? The girl asked. She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.
“It’s pretty hot,” the man said.
“Let’s drink beer.”
“Dos cervezas,” the man said into the curtain.
“Big ones?” a woman asked from the doorway.
“Yes. Two big ones.”
The woman brought two glasses of beer and two felt pads. She put the felt pads and the beer glasses on the table and looked at the man and the girl. The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.
“They look like white elephants,” she said.
“I’ve never seen one,” the man drank his beer.
“No, you wouldn’t have.”
“I might have,” the man said. “Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything.”
The girl looked at the bead curtain. “They’ve painted something on it,” she said. “What does it say?”
“Anis del Toro. It’s a drink.”
“Could we try it?”
The man called “Listen” through the curtain. The woman came out from the bar.
“Four reales.”
“We want two Anis del Toro.”
“With water?”
“Do you want it with water?”
“I don’t know,” the girl said. “Is it good with water?”
“It’s all right.”
“You want them with water?” asked the woman.
“Yes, with water.”
“I tastes like licorice,” the girl said and put the glass down.
“That’s the way with everything.”
“Yes,” said the girl. “Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe.”
“Oh, cut it out.”
“You started it,” the girl said. “I was being amused. I was having a fine time.”
“Well, let’s try and have a fine time.”
“All right. I was trying. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn’t that bright?”
“That was bright.”
“I wanted to try this new drink. That’s all we do, isn’t it, look at things and try new drinks?”
“I guess so.”
The girl looked across at the hills.
“They’re lovely hills,” she said. “They don’t really look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees.”
“Should we have another drink?”
“All right.”
The warm wind blew the bead curtain against the table.
“The beer’s nice and cool,” the man said.
“It’s lovely”, the girl said.
“It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig,” the man said. “It’s not really an operation at all.”
The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on.
Translation - Spanish Las colinas del otro lado del valle del Ebro eran alargadas y blancas. A este lado no había sombra ni árboles y la estación estaba entre dos vías de raíles, al sol. Contra el lateral de la estación daba la sombra caliente del edificio, y de la puerta abierta del bar colgaba una cortina hecha de tiras de cuentas de bambú, para que no entraran las moscas. El Americano la muchacha que iba con él estaban sentados a la sombra, fuera del edificio. Hacía mucho calor y el expreso de Barcelona llegaría en cuarenta minutos. Paraba un par de minutos en este empalme y continuaba hacia Madrid.
-¿Qué tomamos?- preguntó la muchacha. Se había quitado el sombrero y lo había puesto sobre la mesa.
-Hace bastante calor- respondió el hombre.
-Tomemos cerveza.
-Dos cervezas- dijo el hombre a través de la cortina.
-¿Grandes? – preguntó una mujer desde la puerta.
-Sí. Dos grandes.
La mujer trajo dos vasos de cerveza y dos trozos de fieltro. Colocó los trozos de fieltro y los vasos de cerveza en la mesa y miró al hombre y a la muchacha. La muchacha tenía la mirada perdida en la línea de colinas. Estaban blancas por el sol y la tierra estaba marrón y seca.
-Parecen elefantes blancos – dijo ella.
-Nunca he visto ninguno – el hombre bebió su cerveza.
-No, no lo habrías visto.
-Podría – respondió el hombre- Sólo porque tú digas que no lo habría visto no prueba nada.
La muchacha miró la cortina de bambú. –Le han pintado algo-dijo-¿Qué pone?
-Anís del Toro. Es una bebida.
-¿Podríamos probarlo?
El hombre llamó “Oiga” a través de las cortinas. La mujer salió del bar.
-Cuatro reales.
-Queremos dos Anís del Toro.
-¿Con agua?
-¿Lo quieres con agua?
-No lo sé-contestó la muchacha-. ¿Está bueno con agua?
-Está bien.
-¿Los quieren con agua? – preguntó la mujer.
-Si, con agua.
-Sabe a regaliz – dijo la muchacha y dejó el vaso
-Pasa con todo
-Sí-añadió la muchacha – Todo sabe a regaliz. Sobre todo las cosas por las que has estado esperando mucho, como la absenta.
-Oh, déjalo
-Has empezado tú –dijo la muchacha –.Yo me estaba divirtiendo. Lo estaba pasando bien.
-Bien, intentemos pasarlo bien.
-De acuerdo. Lo estaba intentando. Dije que las montañas parecían elefantes blancos. ¿No era brillante?
-Era brillante
-Quería probar esta nueva bebida. Eso es todo lo que hacemos, ¿no?, ¿mirar las cosas y probar bebidas nuevas?
-Supongo-
La muchacha miró las colinas.
-Son unas colinas preciosas -dijo ella. –En realidad no parecen elefantes blancos. Sólo me refería al color de su piel a través de los árboles.
-¿Tomamos algo más?
-Vale
El viento caliente empujó la cortina de bambú contra la mesa.
-La cerveza está buena y fresca - dijo el hombre.
-Es estupendo-dijo la muchacha
-De verdad que es una operación muy simple, Jig – dijo el hombre -. No es una operación realmente.
La muchacha miró al suelo sobre el que se apoyaban las patas de la mesa.
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Experience
Years of experience: 20. Registered at ProZ.com: Nov 2008.
Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, CatsCradle, Powerpoint, Wordfast
CV/Resume
I am a freelance Spanish translator with a BA in English language and literature from the University of A Coruña (Spain) and a post-graduate Diploma in Translation from the Open University
Bio
I am a freelance Spanish translator with a BA in English Language and Literature and a post-graduate Diploma in Translation from English into Spanish.
I am specialized in technical documents, particularly those related to IT.
Expertise