I’ve been busy on my latest project, and am having lots of fun at it, of course.

Lo que sigue es un extracto del capítulo uno del cuento El mejor café! de mi nuevo libro Cuentos Breves en Ingés. El texto en el libro será centrado en la página para que los estudiantes de inglés puedan seguir el texto un poco más fácil. Al final de cada breve capítulo, habrá una lista de vocabulario inglés y español de las palabras seleccionadas y frases utilizadas en el texto.

The following is an excerpt from chapter one of the short story The Best Coffee!  from the Cuentos Breves en Ingés. The text in the book will be centered so that English learners can follow the text a little easier. At the end of each short chapter, there will be an English-Spanish vocabulary list of select words and phrases used in the text.

It was just another day in the town of Misty Forge.

Phil Griggs threw on his brown golf cap and slammed the door behind him.

He hurried out the door to grab the wet newspaper on the lawn.

The metal ribs of his umbrella swooshed open and he trotted up the street towards his little café.

The air smelled really sweet today.

The clean, crisp smell of the autumn rain filled Mr. Griggs’ nose.

The crash of thunder to the east behind him reminded him of the day he opened the East Coast Brewing Company.

This was the same kind of day.

He had always thought that the loud sound of the rain plinking on the the asphalt around him was comforting.

Mr. Griggs wiped his leather boots on the the welcome mat before going into the coffee shoppe.

Jack Snide was already there.

His head whipped around when he heard the tinkle-tinkle of the bell above the door as Mr. Griggs stumbled in.

“Jack! You’re already here!

That’s what I like about you, young man.

You’re always ready to go get ‘em.”

Jack managed a quiet laugh.

“Is there any other way to do it, Mr. Griggs?”

He had only worked at the East Coast since August, but was proving to be a great barista.

According to Jack, preparing and serving different types of coffee was in his blood.

He had worked at his Uncle Matt’s “The Roasted Bean” further up the street for several years until their fallout over his new girlfriend Susan.

That was to be expected, of course, seeing that Susan constantly expressed her opinion that Mr. Matt Snide was a grumpy old miser, only thinking about how he could benefit himself and his bank account.

VOCABULARY

Golf cap	Gorra de golfista
To slam	Cerrar de un golpe
To grab	Agarrar
The metal ribs	Las costillas metálicas
His umbrella	Su paraguas
To swoosh open	Abrirse con un zumbido
To trot	Caminar en trote, trotar
The crisp smell	El fresco aroma
The crash of thunder	El sonido fuerte de los truenos
To remind	Recordar
To plink	El sonido de la lluvia pegando la tierra
The asphalt	El asfalto
To be comforting	Ser reconfortante, reconfortar
To wipe	Limpiar
The welcome mat	El tapete de bienvenida
To whip around	Voltear la cabeza rápidamente
Tinkle-tinkle	El sonido de una campana
To stumble in	Tropezar al entrar
To be ready to go get ‘em	Estar listo para trabajar
To manage a quiet laugh	Lograr reírse en silencio
To prove to be	Resultar
To be in one’s blood	Ser una característica heredada
The fallout	El problema entre dos personas, el asunto
That was to be expected	Se esperaba que pasara eso
Seeing that	Ya que
A grumpy old miser	Un viejo avaro
To benefit oneself	Beneficiarse a sí mismo