Spanish Pronto Reading Practice

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Groucho, Part 2

The Spanish Pronto Reading Practice is designed to help you learn Spanish and improve your Spanish vocabulary quickly! It provides you with a full glossary for the words in a portion of a real Spanish article, so you will be able to understand the article even if you a beginner who knows almost no Spanish at all. And you advanced students (and teachers!) will still increase your Spanish knowledge and vocabulary. Best of all, no grammar, no exercises; just a convenient key to understanding interesting, current, varied articles that will help you improve your Spanish.

INSTRUCTIONS: Either open the article link in a another window and refer back to the glossary on this page, or else print out the glossary and refer to the printed glossary as you read the article.

Today is part two, of four, of an article about Groucho Marx, on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of his death.

Here is another YouTube clip, from Groucho's long-running T.V. show "You Bet Your Life": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ9J4M5xN3k.

Below is a link to the full article, and a glossary for the second and third paragraphs of the article.

This Spanish reading practice is brought to you by: Camping

Sure, some people say "Why should we go pretend we don't have a house?" Well, for one, if you do have a house, you really appreciate it after you have spent some time camping. On the flip side, by camping you realize what things you really do need, and what things you can do without—for a few days, anyway.

The best part of camping, though, is spending some time being closer to nature: the trees, the stars, the sunrises and sunsets, the bugs, the animals, the dirt, the rivers, the lakes. As long as you have the clothing and equipment to always be fairly warm and mostly dry (and never sunburned), it's usually a lot of fun.

It's like anything else, though, if you have never done it before, start by keeping it simple, maybe even start by just camping in the backyard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camping

Also brought to you by these Spanish books available for purchase (click to open in a separate tab or window):

ABC para un mundo nuevo
("ABC for a new world")

Trabalengüero
("Tongue-twister anthology")

ARTICLE:

Hoy se cumplen 35 años sin uno de los cómicos más representativos del siglo XX y que llenó de ingenio el cine

Today marks 35 years without one of the most representative comedians of the 20th century, who filled the cinema with ingenuity

(See full article at: http://www.huelvainformacion.es/article/ocio/1333310/humor/surrealismo.html)

GLOSSARY (for second and third paragraphs)

15	"quince" [KEEN-say]
20	"veinte"; los 20 = the 1920s
29	"veintinueve" (1929)
87	"ochenta y siete"
1921	"mil novecientos veintiuno"
a	"personal 'a'"
a	to, at
abuelos	grandparents
actuaciones	performances
al	into the, to the
al	"personal 'a'" + el = the
alemanes	German
Alemania	Germany
almacenar	to store
ambulante	traveling
años	years, years of age
antes	before
apodo	nickname
aunque	even though
baño	bathroom
barrio	neighborhood
bolsa	bag
Broadway	Broadway
cantante	singer
carácter	character
caracterizó	(it) characterized
carrera	career
combinaron	(they) combined
comedia	comedy
cómico	comic
como	as
compañía	company
con	with
convirtiéndose en	turning themselves into, becoming
crack	(error for "Crash")
cuando	when
cuartetos	quartets
cuarto	fourth
cuidado	care
de	of
década	decade
del	of the, from the
descarado	impudent
desde	since
destacó	(he) stood out
devorar	to devour
dinero	money
dirigían	(they) used to lead
donde	where
dramático	dramatic
el	the
él	it
en	in

encerraba	se encerraba = (he) shut himself in
espectáculo	el espectáculo = show business
espectáculos	shows
esta	this
estadounidense	U.S. (adj.)
formado	made up
fue	(she) was
funciones	performances
genio	genius
gracia	amusement
gran	great
Gran Depresión	Great Depression
groucho bag	"grouch bag" = "neck wallet"
grupo	group
guardaba	(he) kept
haría	(it) would cause
hasta	until
hecho	fact
hecho	fact
hermanos	brothers (and sisters)
hijo	child
hijos	children
hizo	(it) made
humilde	humble
humor	humor
Humor Risk	silent Marx Brothers movie
humorísticas	humorous
identificado	identified
identificó	(it) identified
impulsora	driving force
incipiente	incipient, budding
influido	influenced
infructuosa	fruitless, unsuccessful
inicios	beginnings
inmigrante	immigrant
intelectual	intellectual
irreverente	irreverent
judíos	Jews
junto a	together with
junto al	together with the
justo	just
la	the
lado	side; por otro lado = on the other hand
lanzar	launching
le	him, for him
les	them
libros	books
llegada	arrival
llegaría	(it) would arrive
llevaría	(it) would take
llevó	(it) took, (it) led
los	the
Marx	Marx

más	most
maternos	maternal
matrimonio	married couple
muda	silent
mundo	world
musicales	musical (adj.)
nacía	(he) was being born
niño	child(hood)
no	not
Nueva York	New York
otro	other
para	to
parte	part
pasado	past
película	film
perder	losing
poca	little
por	of, by, because of, along, for
principal	main
procedente	procedente de = arising from
protagonizar	starring
pueblo	people
que	that
quienes	who
reír	to laugh
resto	rest
resultó	(it) turned out to be
salvavidas	lifesaving
seguirían	(they) would follow
seguramente	surely
ser	to be
solista	soloist
su	his
subgénero	subgenre
subsanó	(it) was made up for
sus	her, his
tacaño	stingy
teatro	theater
término	term
tiempo	time
todo	all
todos	all
tras	after
trató	se trató de = it came to
tríos	trios
última	latter
un	an, a
una	a
verborrea	verbosity
vodevil	Vaudeville
XIX	"diecinueve"; siglo XIX = 19th century
y	and
ya	already

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