The Portrait of a Lady

El mayor de los caballeros, sentado junto a un collie, ya había bebido su té. Cerca de él caminaban otros dos hombres. El primero, de aproximadamente treinta y cinco años, tenía un rostro firme. El segundo era alto y su cara más bien enfermiza. La casa en la que estaban se extendía sobre la colina cerca del Támesis. El hombre mayor decidió no repetir su té. Párrafos de El retrato de una dama, de Henry James, en inglés…

En vocabulario aparece la palabra wicker

 

. . . The shadows on the perfect lawn were straight and angular; they were the shadows of an old man sitting in a deep wicker-chair near the low table on which the tea had been served, and of two younger men strolling to and fro, in desultory talk, in front of him…

His companions had either finished their tea or were indifferent to their privilege; they smoked cigarettes as they continued to stroll… The house that rose beyond the lawn was a structure to repay such consideration and was the most characteristic object in the peculiarly English picture I have attempted to sketch. It stood upon a low hill, above the river...

The Portrait of a Lady cover

The old gentleman at the tea-table, who had come from America thirty years before, had brought with him, at the top of his baggage, his American physiognomy; and he had not only brought it with him, but he had kept it in the best order, so that, if necessary, he might have taken it back to his own country with perfect confidence. . A beautiful collie dog lay upon the grass near his chair... and a little bristling, bustling terrier bestowed a desultory attendance upon the other gentlemen.

One of these was a remarkably well-made man of five-and-thirty, with a face as English as that of the old gentleman I have just sketched was something else; a noticeably handsome face, fresh-coloured, fair and frank, with firm, straight features, a lively grey eye and the rich adornment of a chestnut beard. . . He was booted and spurred, as if he had dismounted from a long ride; he wore a white hat, which looked too large for him; he held his two hands behind him, and in one of them—a large, white, well-shaped fist—was crumpled a pair of soiled dog-skin gloves.

His companion, measuring the length of the lawn beside him, was a person of quite a different pattern, who, although he might have excited grave curiosity, would not, like the other, have provoked you to wish yourself, almost blindly, in his place. Tall, lean, loosely and feebly put together, he had an ugly, sickly, witty, charming face, furnished, but by no means decorated, with a straggling moustache and whisker. He looked clever and ill—a combination by no means felicitous; and he wore a brown velvet jacket...

The father caught his son's eye at last and gave him a mild, responsive smile.

"I'm getting on very well," he said.

"Have you drunk your tea?" asked the son.

"Yes, and enjoyed it."

"Shall I give you some more?"

The old man considered, placidly. "Well, I guess I'll wait and see." He had, in speaking, the American tone... (Excerpts from The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James)

Vocabulario

Wicker is a technique for making products woven from any one of a variety of pliable plant materials, a generic name for the materials used in such manufacture, and a term for the items so produced. The word wicker is believed to be of Scandinavian origin: vika, which means to bend in Swedish, and vikker meaning willow. Wicker is traditionally made of material of plant origin, such as willow, rattan, reed, and bamboo, but synthetic fibers are now also used. Wicker is light yet sturdy, making it suitable for items that will be moved often like porch and patio furniture.

Wicker = mimbre

El libro

El retrato de una dama es una de las novelas largas de Henry James y una de las más populares. Es considerada por los críticos como una de las mejores.

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