INGLS I, 1 Vocabulary: Readings

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Vctor Barbosa Losada. 2013
1. FRANZEN, Jonathan: Farther away
English Spanish Example
To fondle Acariciar I wanted to keep fondling my new Bold and experiencing the marvelous clarity of its
screen.
Beguiling Encantador The beguiling elegance of its graphics.
Infatuated Locamente enamorado I was, in short, infatuated with my new device.
Outgrow Dejar atrs Id finally had to admit to myself that Id outgrown the relationship.
Waning Menguante Absent some wild projection in which my old BlackBerry felt sad about the waning of
my love for it.
One-sided Unilateral Our relationship was entirely one-sided.
Ubiquitously Ubicuamente Let me further point out how ubiquitously the word sexy is used to describe late-
model gadgets.
Toss out Lanzar Let me toss out the idea that [] our technology has become extremely adept at
creating products that correspond to our fantasy ideal of an erotic relationship [].
Hardship Adversidad [] a world of hurricanes and hardships, a world of resistance []
Assertion Afirmacin [] the ongoing transformation [] of the verb to like [] from a feeling to an
assertion of consumer choice.
Striking Llamativo The striking thing about all consumer products [] is that they are designed to be
immensely likeable.
Jet engine Motor a reaccin Im thinking here of jet engines, laboratory equipment, serious art and literature.
Tarnishing Deslustrado A person who cant tolerate the tarnishing of his or her self-image that not being
liked represents []
Withdraw Retirarse [] and who either withdraws from human contact or goes to extreme, integrity-
sacrificing lengths to be likable.
Despaired Desesperado [] it suggests that youve despaired of being loved for who you really are.
Contempt
Shtick
Desprecio
Truco
[] it will be hard not to feel [] contempt for those people, because theyve fallen
for your shtick.
Eagerness Entusiasmo Alongside their built-in eagerness to be liked is a built-in eagerness to reflect well on
us.
Mastery Maestra We click the mouse and a machine confirms our sense of mastery.
Loop Crculo Its all one big endless loop.
Flattering Halagador To friend a person is merely to include the person in our private hall of flattering
mirrors.
Overstate Exagerar I may be overstating the case, a little bit.
Sick to death Hasta las narices Very probably, youre sick to death of hearing social media dissed by cranky fifty-
one-year-olds.
Dissed
Cranky
Criticado

Very probably, youre sick to death of hearing social media dissed by cranky fifty-
one-year-olds.
Get down in
the pit
Tirarse a la piscina My friend Alice Sebold likes to talk about getting down in the pit and loving
somebody.
Dirt
Splatter
Mierda
Salpicar
She has in mind the dirt that love inevitably splatters on the mirror of of our self-
regard.

Hideous Horrible Sooner or later [] youre going to find yourself in a hideous, screaming fight.
INGLS I, 1 Vocabulary: Readings
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Shatter Destrozar [] Things that shatter your self-image as a kind [] person.
Heartening Esperanzador One of the heartening things about the plague of cell phones [] is that [] I
sometimes get to walk alongside with somebody whos having a [] fight with a
person they love.
Yakker Cotorro Among all [] the party-planning yakkers on the sidewalks, I sometimes get to walk
alongside with somebody whos having a [] fight with a person they love.
Plead Suplicar Shouting, accusing, pleading, abusing.
Endeavor
Worthy
Esfuerzo
Valioso
Trying to love all humanity will be a worthy endeavor.
Crave
Commitment
Ansiar
Compromiso.
My mother, who had spent twenty years making me into a person who craved full-
commitment love []
Jettison Tirar por la borda The first thing we jettisoned was theory.
Slick
Bolster
Profesional
Reforzar
[] a page of prose doesnt have those slick graphics to help bolster your self-
image.
Take the
plunge
Corer el riesgo [] caused each other so much pain that we each had reason to regret ever having
taken the plunge.
Bond Unirse We bonded and we changed.
Abetted Inducido [] an anesthetized dream of self-sufficiency, abetted by technology []
Compel Forzar [] about how engagement with something you love compels you to face up who
you really are []
Fired up Excitado And since Id been fired up by critical theory []
Gravitate Ser atrado [] I naturally gravitated to environmentalism []
Betray Traicionar [] because anything that betrays real passion is, by definition, uncool.
Inordinate Desorbitado [] I went to inordinate lengths to see new species.
Overflow Desbordarse [] I could feel my heart overflow with love.
Anger Indignacin My anger and pain and despair about the planet were only increased by my concern
for wild birds []
Drift Dejarse llevar Instead of continuing to drift forward through my life as a global citizen []
Withhold Retener [] liking and disliking and withholding my commitment for some later date []
Straight-up
Flat-out
Directamente
De plano
I was forced to confront a self that I had to straight-up accept or flat-out reject.

Avian Aviar But after my avian conversion experience had taught me to run toward my pain, my
anger and despair []
Havoc
Wreak
Estragos
Causar
[] I was being kept awake at night by my anger about the havoc the Chinese are
wreaking on the environment.
Poacher
Slaughter
Songbird
Cazador furtivo
Mascrando
Ave cantor
I went to the Mediterranean to interview the hunters and poachers who were
slaughtering migratory songbirds.
Outright Completamente []I found people whom I really liked in some cases outright loved.
Hilarious
Staffer
Divertidsimo
Personal de agencia
gubernamental
Hilarious, generous, brilliant gay Republican staffers.
Blanket Total [..] the blanket antipathy that had come so easily to me wasnt so easy anymore.
Sneer
Shrug
Daunting
Burlarse
Encoger los hombres
sobrecogedor
When you stay in your room and rage or sneer or shrug your shoulders [] the
world and its problems are impossibly daunting.

INGLS I, 1 Vocabulary: Readings
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2. LOPATE, Philip: Manageable Discontents
English Spanish Example
Stake Apuesta Jonathan Franzen is a serious writer who plays for the highest literary stakes.
Memoir Autobiografa [] he has also published three nonfiction books [] (a short memoir) []
Shed light Adorar [] shedding light on their mentality and fictional practice []
Pale Palidecer [] but his actual essays pale by comparison []
Stir Despertar [] but few of his nonfiction pieces stir the blood the way his short stories or novels can.
Dyed-in-the-
wool
Excel
Declarado
Sobresalir
Most dyed-in-the-wool novelists, however, do not excel at the essay, for good reason []
Insightful Perspicaz [] as might be expected from so insightful and resourceful a writer.
Brooding
Fellow
Messiness
Entail
Melancola
Compaero
Desorden
Conllevar
Get past your adolescent brooding []; engage with the natural world [] and your fellow
human beings; [] and embrace the messiness that love entails.
Preach Sermonear The author is not shy about preaching simple morality.
Stem Originarse That crisis [] stemmed from the failure of his youthful marriage []
Anguish Angustia His overcoming the anguish successfully is reproduced here []
Venue Lugar [] the very same venue where David Foster Wallace had given his famous commencement
address several years previously.
Haunted Posedo These pages are haunted by Wallace []
Recoup
Grueling
Grief
Recuperar
Agotador
Pena
[] to recoup his sense of identity after a grueling, boring book tour and to allow himself to
feel, by imposed isolation, the fullness of grief that he had been keeping at bay.

Widow Viudo/a Wallaces widow, Karen []
Somber
Flawed
Sprinke
Murky
Beneath
Sombro
Con fallos
Esparcir
Turbio
Debajo
[] this is essentially a solemn, somber essay, and a flawed one [] (he cries and sprinkles
the ashes), too truncated to process all the murky emotions that lie beneath the surface.
Long-billed
curlew
Buitre hind [] Id stopped to give him a telescope view of a long-billed curlew []
Boredom Hasto He looked through the scope for two seconds before turning away with patent boredom.
Hollow Vaco [] he said with his particular tone of hollow politeness []
Hummingbird Colibr [] I couldnt keep my eyes off the hummingbirds around his house []
Gloating Presumido One can read this passage as both compassionate and gloating.
Manfully Violentamente Franzen manfully admits to competing with Wallace []
Finitude Finitud It was time to accept finitude and incompleteness and leave certain birds forever unseen []
Clunky Torpe There is also the occasional clunky, ex-graduate student diction.
Soil
Seed
Sprout
Tierra
Semilla
germinar
If boredom is the soil in which seeds of addiction sprout []
Cogent Convincente While his prose is always cogent []
Wit Humor [] calling for more aphoristic compression and wit.
INGLS I, 1 Vocabulary: Readings
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Vivid Brillante The I-character in his essays is not [] as vivid.
Convey
Baldly
Expresar
Sin rodeos
He is better able to convey moral irony by dramatizing a fictional conflict than by baldly stating
his views.
Grasp Comprender [] he may simply be a literary monotheist who has never fully grasped the []possibilities of
nonfiction []
Grumpy
Rant
Intrude
Touching
Casacarrabias
Bronca
Entrometer
Emocionante
[] which begins as an amusingly grumpy rant against cellphone users, who intrude their
private I loveyous onto his public space, and transforms into a touching portrait of his
parents.
Deft Hbil There are also several deft journalistic pieces of eco-travel reportage []
Quirky
Neglected
Estrafalario
descuidado
[] to some quirky and unjustly neglected writers []
Pull
Solipsism
Glimpsed
Llamada
Solipsism
Entrevisto
[] against the pulls of solipsism and narcissism, can be glimpsed in every page of these
essays []
3. Healthcare on the right track
English Spanish Example
Soothe Tranquilizar Music might soothe patients ()
Guise Aspecto A study of nearly 15 years of medical research into whether art in all its various guises has
a positive effect on health ()
Arousal Excitacin () Mars, from the same suite, causes arousal.
Epileptic fits Ataques
epilpticos
The study cites the Mozart effect of the K448 sonata for two pianos, which can reduce
epileptic fits.
Elicit Obtener () and can cut the use of drugs and elicit a better immune response ()
Care-home
worker
Belt out
Trabajador social

Cantar gritando
() enthusiastic care-home workers will be belting out sing-along versions of Anarchy in
the UK.
4. ROBINSON, Ken: The Element
English Spanish Example
Relentless Implacable Public education puts relentless pressure on its students to conform.
Batch Lote Students are educated in batches ()
Subtlety Sutileza I realize this isnt an exact analogy and that it ignores many of the subtleties of the
system ()
Dropout Abandono escolar But dropout rates () are extraordinarily high ()
Creaking
Strain
Chirriante
Presin
() the structure and character of industrial education are creaking under the strain of
21
st
century.
Symptom Sntoma A powerful symptom of the problem is the declining value of a college degree.
Preposterous Absurdo () the idea that a person with a college degree would be out of work was
preposterous.
Scramble
Frantic
Desbandada
Frentico
() meaning that the scramble for good jobs is becoming more frantic ()
INGLS I, 1 Vocabulary: Readings
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Boast Presumir China, which boasts the worlds fastest-growing economy ()
Blue-collar work Trabajo de mono
azul
() most people did manual and blue-collar work, ()
Vaunted
First tier
Cacareado

() many universitieseven those beyond the vaunted first tier()
Cramming Saturado This pressure is driving a new profession of commercial coaches and college
preparatory cramming programs.
Cram school Centro preparatorio This is especially true in Japan, where cram schools exist all over the country.
Drill Ejercicio () small children perform drills in literature ()
Recess Descanso So much for recess and arts and crafts.
Kindergarten
school
Jardn de infancia () there is fierce competition for places in particular kindergarten schools.
Earnest
Thumb trough
Toddler
Serio
Hojear
Beb mayor
I assume that the earnest selection panels are thumbing through the rsums of these
toddlers, assessing their achievements to date ()
Gurgling Balbuceando You seem to have spent the first six months doing nothing but lying around and
gurgling.
SAT Selectividad () as do SAT prep courses in the United States.
Policymaker Legislador The mistake that many policymakers make is to believe that in education the best way
to face the future is by improving what they did in the past.
Reinforce Reforzar () they tend to reinforce the old hierarchy of subjects ()
Thrive Desarrollarse () the very things that make schools and students thrive.
Bitterly Amargadamente () the teacher complained bitterly that she gets to spend much less time on a
reading program she loves because the school administration forces her to prep her
students for the district-wide test that come up every marking period.
Closure Clausura () face the termination of teachers and principals, school closures, ()
Fearfully
Eschewing
Tmidamente
Evitando
() fearfully eschewing nearly all efforts at creativity or adaptation to the specific
needs and talents of the students.
Mandate Ordenado () to implement the test mandated by No Child Left Behind.
Reams Montones But there are plenty of poor schools with shelves of curriculum standards and reams
of standardized tests.
Core Centro The key is to embrace the core principles of the Element.
Invigorating Estimulante Some of the most invigorating and successful innovations in education around the
world illustrate the real power of this approach.
Nonetheless No obstante Nonetheless, the school was achieving remarkable results.
Struck Anonadado We were struck by the vividness of the story ()
Rotting Podrido They discovered that he premature baby sisters body was rotting under her bed.
Trial Juicio () and then we constructed trials, held executions, and even spoke some French.
Bawdy Obsceno And he told us that Chaucer was a really popular writer in his time and quite bawdy.
Poke
Bum
Beard
Empujar
Culo
Barba
The bit when she pokes her bum out of the window and he talks about kissing a
beard
Thus As And thus they tell the child that the hundred is not there.
Flagging Decadente So when the school board hired him to turn around the fagging school ()
Profit Beneficio Math means more when put in the context of running a cash register and estimating
profits.
Literacy Lectoescritura Literacy and writing skills gain additional meaning when employed in the service of an
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original film screenplay.
Onwards Ms adelante They are learning because they can see how it moves their community of Grangeton
onwards ()
Proficiency Dominio () 91 percent of them exhibited proficiency in English ()
Lackluster Apagado Where pupils were de-motivated and lackluster ()
Ethos Etos That ethos has fed dramatically into the classroom ()
Tackle Abordar () tackling these with eagerness ()
Groundbreaking Revolucionario In the state of Oklahoma there is a groundbreaking program called A+ Schools that
builds on a tremendously successful program that began in North Carolina.
Salient Destacado Students might write rap songs to help them understand the salient themes in works of
literature.
Mapping
Thematic
webbing
Esquematizacin
Aprendizaje
interdisciplinar
A+ Schools encourage teachers to use learning tools such as mapping, thematic
webbing (establishing connections between various subject areas) ()
Grasp Comprensin They use enriched assessment tools to help students maintain an ongoing grasp of
how are they doing.
Foster Fomentar And they foster a climate where students and teachers can feel excited about the work
they are doing.
Outset Principio As I said at the outset ()
Fire up Poner en marcha () the real challenges for education will be only met by empowering passionate and
creative teachers and by firing up the imaginations and motivations of the students.
Outmoded Obsoleto Elevating some disciplines over others only reinforces outmoded assumptions of
industrialism and offends the principle of diversity.