My Name´s Drouet

Con sus ropas finas y dinero, el joven Drouet impresiona a Carrie en el tren. Párrafos de Sister Carrie, de Theodore Dreiser, en ingles.

…He reached down in his hip pocket and took out a fat purse. It was filled with slips of paper, some mileage books, a roll of greenbacks. It impressed her deeply. Such a purse had never been carried by any one attentive to her. Indeed, an experienced traveller, a brisk man of the world, had never come within such close range before. The purse, the shiny tan shoes, the smart new suit, and the air with which he did things, built up for her a diffuse world of fortune, of which he was the centre…

He took out a neat business card, on which was engraved Bartlett, Caryoe & Company, and down in the left-hand corner, Chas. H. Drouet.

"That's me," he said, putting the card in her hand and touching his name. "It's pronounced Drew-eh. Our family was French, on my father's side."

She looked at it while he put up his purse. Then he got out a letter from a bunch in his coat pocket. "This is the house I travel for," he went on, pointing to a picture on it, "corner of State and Lake." There was pride in his voice. He felt that it was something to be connected with such a place, and he made her feel that way.

"What is your address?" he began again, fixing his pencil to write.

She looked at his hand.                                                                

"Carrie Meeber," she said slowly. "Three hundred and fifty-four West Van Buren Street, care S. C. Hanson."

He wrote it carefully down and got out the purse again. "You'll be at home if I come around Monday night?" he said.

"I think so," she answered…

They were nearing Chicago. Signs were everywhere numerous. Trains flashed by them. Across wide stretches of flat, open prairie they could see lines of telegraph poles following across the fields toward the great city. Far away were indications of suburban towns, some big smoke-stacks towering high in the air.

Frequently there were two-story frame houses standing out in the open fields, without fence or trees, lone outposts of the approaching army of homes…

Sister Carrie gazed out of the window. Her companion, affected by her wonder, so contagious are all things, felt anew some interest in the city and pointed out its marvels.

"This is Northwest Chicago," said Drouet. "This is the Chicago River," and he pointed to a little muddy creek, crowded with the huge masted wanderers from far-off waters nosing the black-posted banks. With a puff, a clang, and a clatter of rails it was gone. "Chicago is getting to be a great town," he went on. "It's a wonder. You'll find lots to see here."… (Sister Carrie, by Thomas Dreiser, chapter 1)

Replaced vocabulary

dim  stalking 

Vocabulary

Mileage book: libro con cupones para cambiar por un cierto número de millas de transporte.

Greenbacks: dinero.

El Chicago River es un sistema de ríos y canales que atraviesan a la ciudad de Chicago. El río es una de las razones que convirtieron a Chicago en importante, uniendo Great Lakes, Mississippi Valley y Gulf of México.

Resources

Sister Carrie, audiobook de Librivox

Related posts

La hermana Carrie, párrafos de la novela de Theodore Dreiser en español.

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