Ethan Frome — Chapter 1 in Spanish
By Edith Wharton
Tenía la historia, poco a poco, de varias personas, y, como generalmente sucede en tales casos, cada vez era una historia diferente. I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story.
Si conoces Starkfield, Massachusetts, conoces la oficina de correos. If you know Starkfield, Massachusetts, you know the post-office. Si conoces la oficina de correos, debes haber visto a Ethan Frome acercarse a ella, soltar las riendas sobre su caballo de lomo hundido y arrastrarse por el pavimento de ladrillo hasta la columnata blanca; y debes haber preguntado quién era. If you know the post-office you must have seen Ethan Frome drive up to it, drop the reins on his hollow-backed bay and drag himself across the brick pavement to the white colonnade; and you must have asked who he was.
Fue allí donde, hace varios años, lo vi por primera vez; y la vista me detuvo en seco. It was there that, several years ago, I saw him for the first time; and the sight pulled me up sharp. Incluso entonces era la figura más llamativa en Starkfield, aunque era solo la ruina de un hombre. Even then he was the most striking figure in Starkfield, though he was but the ruin of a man. No era tanto su gran altura lo que lo marcaba, pues los "nativos" se distinguían fácilmente por su estructura delgada y alargada de los extranjeros más robustos: era la mirada poderosa y despreocupada que tenía, a pesar de una cojera que frenaba cada paso como el tirón de una cadena. It was not so much his great height that marked him, for the “natives” were easily singled out by their lank longitude from the stockier foreign breed: it was the careless powerful look he had, in spite of a lameness checking each step like the jerk of a chain. Había algo árido e inaccesible en su cara, y estaba tan rígido y canoso que lo tomé por un hombre viejo y me sorprendió saber que no tenía más de cincuenta y dos años. There was something bleak and unapproachable in his face, and he was so stiffened and grizzled that I took him for an old man and was surprised to hear that he was not more than fifty-two. Supe esto de Harmon Gow, quien había conducido la diligencia de Bettsbridge a Starkfield en los días previos al tranvía y conocía la crónica de todas las familias en su ruta. I had this from Harmon Gow, who had driven the stage from Bettsbridge to Starkfield in pre-trolley days and knew the chronicle of all the families on his line.
"Ha tenido ese aspecto desde que tuvo su accidente; y eso fue hace veinticuatro años el próximo febrero," lanzó Harmon entre pausas reminiscentes. “He’s looked that way ever since he had his smash-up; and that’s twenty-four years ago come next February,” Harmon threw out between reminiscent pauses.