C H A L L E N G E Comprensión y Vocabulario A N S W E R E D

Question

Read the paragraph below to practice your comprehension. Then using the context add the English equivalents to the given vocabulary list.

Don't be shy, have a go, you may be pleasantly surprised how much you can understand just from the context

Abuelita es muy vieja, tiene muchas arrugas y el pelo completamente blanco, pero sus ojos son como dos estrellas, y muestran una expresión dulce y bondadosa cuando te miran que te hace mucho bien. Lleva un vestido de flores grandes, de una seda tan tupida que cruje cuando anda. Y además ella puede contar las historias más maravillosas. Abuelita sabe muchas, muchísimas cosas, pues vivía ya mucho antes que papá y mamá, esto nadie lo duda.

Vocabulario:

vieja

arrugas

estrellas

dulce

bondadosa

te hace mucho bien

lleva

tupida

vivía

Oh and you get double points if you recognize the author

Great idea, MC! - 005faa61, May 25, 2011

Gracias JC :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 26, 2011

Nice, I will post answers later....I hope!! :) I like the game Marie. - Jason7R, May 26, 2011

sweet I is this a portion of a book - Tasear, May 26, 2011

nice game, keep 'em coming! - amykay, May 26, 2011

It is "Comprensión", not "comprehensión" :D This is a great idea, Kiwi ! - Vicente1, May 27, 2011

ah darn it, lol I had that then got a PM and not thinking just went ahead and changed it, dopey me - thanx :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 27, 2011

Answer 1

vieja = old

arrugas = wrinkles

estrellas = stars

dulce = sweet

bondadosa = kind

te hace mucho bien = that makes you feel good

lleva = she wears

tupida = shiny

vivía = lived

well done Sandy - I think this one was a bit too easy! :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 26, 2011

Really, I was giving my best guess. Thanks Kiwi! - sanlee, May 26, 2011

Answer 2

vieja= old ( feminine)

arrugas= wrinkles

estrellas=stars

dulce=sweet

bondadosa=kind or kindly

te hace mucho bien=does good things (for you) This is the most sensible translation for this it seems, being constantly complimentary could be considered

lleva= she wears

tupida= thick or heavy, the fabric "rustles" as she walks.

vivía= has lived

I did this rather quickly ,lets see how I did

well done :) I'll be back with corrections tomorrow, if any are needed that is :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 26, 2011

clue: can you think of a more normal way to put - te hace mucho bien? - Kiwi-Girl, May 26, 2011

KiwiGirl see my notation in the post - pacofinkler, May 26, 2011

you definitely have the meaining Paco but would you speak like that in English? - Kiwi-Girl, May 26, 2011

No but I just cant seem to do a literal on it for some reason - pacofinkler, May 26, 2011

I'm looking forward to your next one Kiwigirl - pacofinkler, May 27, 2011

Answer 3

vieja = old

arrugas = wrinkles

estrellas = stars

dulce = sweet

bondadosa = kind (?), good (?)

te hace mucho bien = it makes you feel good (?)

lleva = wears

tupida = soft (?)

vivía = has lived (?)

I found this context more difficult than the previous ones, but your challenges are my favourite!

aw thanx :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 26, 2011

Answer 4

My attempt:

vieja – old female

arrugas - wrinkles ?

estrellas - stars

dulce - sweet

bondadosa - ?

te hace mucho bien - ?

lleva – she wears

tupida - ?

vivía - ? tense form of vivir - to live

No, I do not recognize the author.

Sorry, I didn't do so well

vivia imperfect tense of vivir - Tasear, May 26, 2011

good job - Tasear, May 26, 2011

Gracias, Torielisa - bandit51jd, May 26, 2011

the ones you did are looking pretty good :) practice makes perfect, gr8 to have you join in :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 27, 2011

Answer 5

vieja = old

arrugas = wrinkles

estrellas = stars

dulce = sweet

bondadosa = infinitely (?)

te hace mucho bien = is doing you good

lleva = wears

tupida = stiff

vivía = lived

Nice exercise, Kiwi, thanks! - Ingeteacher, May 26, 2011

You're welcome, great try, answers coming soon :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 27, 2011

Answer 6

vieja...old (fem.)

arrugas...wrinkles (total guess from the context)

estrellas...stars

dulce...sweet

bondadosa...nice, kind-hearted

te hace mucho bien...??? I don't know this one!

lleva...wears

tupida...smooth? (guess from the context)

vivía...has lived?

you did well Amy, watch for the answers soon :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 27, 2011

Answer 7

vieja=old

arrugas=wrinkles

estrellas=stars

dulce=soft

bondadosa=?

te hace mucho bien= makes you good?

lleva=wears

tupida=thick

vivía=lived

great try Wilbur :) keep up the good work! - Kiwi-Girl, May 27, 2011

Answer 8

vieja - old female

arrugas - wrinkles

estrellas - stars

dulce - sweet

bondadosa - ?

te hace mucho bien - you become very well

lleva - she wears

tupida - ?

vivía - she lived

This is a interesting game.

well done, watch out for the answers :) - Kiwi-Girl, May 27, 2011

Answer 9

I picked out bondadosa from the context but I've no idea what "te hace mucho bien" means other than she does a lot of good.

My guess for author is Borgés.

well thanks for taking a look anyway - sorry about the author but no, it's not Borgés :( - Kiwi-Girl, May 27, 2011

Answer 10

vieja - old (female)

arrugas - my guess is wrinkles solely based on context

estrellas - stars

dulce - sweet

bondadosa - kind or caring

te hace mucho bien - ???

lleva - She wears (or she is wearing)

tupida - smooth?

vivía - She used to live (imperfect tense)

Answer 11

vieja = old

arrugas = wrinkles

estrellas = stars

dulce = sweet

bondadosa

te hace mucho bien = does a lot of good

lleva = wears

tupida

vivía = lived

Answer 12

Being a story rather than a factual document I think this translation is a little more loose than the one we did from a travel brochure so well done to everyone who took part and even if you haven't given the exact answer as shown below you could well still be right - I hope you enjoyed the exercise and I'm sure I'll be back with more

Grandmother is very old, her face is wrinkled, and her hair is quite white; but her eyes are like two stars, and they have a mild, gentle expression in them when they look at you, which does you good. She wears a dress of heavy, rich silk, with large flowers worked on it; and it rustles when she moves. And then she can tell the most wonderful stories. Grandmother knows a great deal, for she was alive before father and mother—that’s quite certain.

Abuelita es muy vieja, tiene muchas arrugas y el pelo completamente blanco, pero sus ojos son como dos estrellas, y muestran una expresión dulce y bondadosa cuando te miran que te hace mucho bien. Lleva un vestido de flores grandes, de una seda tan tupida que cruje cuando anda. Y además ella puede contar las historias más maravillosas. Abuelita sabe muchas, muchísimas cosas, pues vivía ya mucho antes que papá y mamá, esto nadie lo duda.

Vocab:

vieja = old

arrugas = wrinkles

estrellas = stars

The next two words gave me a bit of trouble - normally I would translate dulce as sweet and bondadosa as kind.

Word Ref does have mild under dulce but RAE has peaceful and docile under dulce so I'm not sure if there was a bit of poetic license going on here or if they were translated in opposite order? Regardless 'sweet' and 'kind' would also work

te hace mucho bien = does you good

lleva = wears

tupida = technically close woven but dense or heavy works well here

vivía = lived or was living, translated here as 'was alive'

And the author was 'Hans Christian Anderson'