The Cask of Amontillado (Part 1)

Hoy estrenamos categoría - Stories. En este tipo de entradas vas a poder leer y escuchar al mismo tiempo un texto. Frecuentemente, como es el caso de hoy, será una historia corta que leeremos a lo largo de varias entradas. De ese modo, puedes leer dos o tres párrafos mientras escuchas a Geli y, poco a poco, terminar una historia completa.

Un aviso - esta entrada también estrena la categoría Advanced. Si tu nivel es muy bajo vas a entender muy poco. Aún puede serte útil para coger oído y aprender cosas, pero puede que te sientas frustrado. Si no te importa leer la historia sin tener ideas preconcebidas de qué es lo que vas a aprender, desde luego que puedes hacerlo, pero no esperes maravillas. Aviso porque este texto no va a estar traducido.

Por otro lado, aunque tengas buen nivel de inglés es casi seguro que no entenderás todo el texto. Si tienes dudas concretas con palabras o expresiones, no dudes en preguntar en los comentarios y Geli o yo responderemos tus dudas. Sin embargo, recuerda lo siguiente: es un texto literario y no debes preocuparte por entender exactamente todas las palabras. Mi consejo personal es que, si entiendes lo que está pasando, no te preocupes de palabras concretas. Si hay algo que no entiendes y te impide seguir la historia, desde luego, escribe un comentario y te lo aclararemos.

La historia que empezamos hoy y leeremos completa en unas cuantas entradas (intercaladas con otras “normales”, por supuesto) es The Cask of Amontillado (El Barril de Amontillado), del escritor estadounidense Edgar Allan Poe…una verdadera maravilla.

Esperamos que disfrutéis de la historia.

The Cask of Amontillado Edgar Allan Poe The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely settled - but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong. It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation. He had a weak point - this Fortunato - although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity - to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack - but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially: I was skillful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.

Audio:

Continuaremos la historia en unos pocos días.

Creative Commons License
El texto y audio de The Cask of Amontillado (Part 1) , por Pedro Gómez-Esteban, salvo donde se mencione explícitamente, está publicado bajo Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Spain License.

4 Responses to “The Cask of Amontillado (Part 1)”

  1. otanion Says:
    May 29th, 2007 at 12:50

    ufff, creo que mejor dejare este post para, cuando tenga mas nivel (si eso ocurre jeje)

  2. Miguel Nadal Says:
    May 29th, 2007 at 02:32

    ¡Pobre Poe! Tanto que odiaba el Allan y ahora se le conoce así. Tengo entendido que era el apellido de su padrastro y lo tuvo que adoptar a la fuerza, pero no lo utilizaba, siempre firmaba “Edgar A. Poe”, y sólo después de su muerte fue conocido como “Edgar Allan Poe” cosa que, supongo, no le haría ninguna gracia. ;)

  3. Puck Says:
    January 22nd, 2008 at 10:15

    I teach English as a Foreign Language in Secondary School and I would love to have the chance to use these recordings to prepare listening comprehension exercises and other types of listening exercises for my students. Is it possible for you to let us download these recordings? They are definitely a very valuable material that we could use in class. So that’s my plea: the possibility to download your audio (obviously under the Creative Commons License you publish with). Thanks for the blog. It really is interesting.

  4. Pedro Says:
    January 22nd, 2008 at 06:56

    Puck,

    No problem whatsoever — that is exactly why we publish the audio under a Creative Commons License. As long as you don’t modify the files or try to charge for them (not the case, from what you say), enjoy!

    We’d like to ask something in return, though: talk about us ;) Maybe not to students (definitely not if they’re young), but to your fellow teachers. Spread the word :)

    Oh, and another request: please let us know how it goes through comments or e-mail, we’d love to hear about it!

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