Traduzione di un articolo all'italiano, parte prima Il ragazzo che guadagna fino ad un milione e mezzo creando mondi virtuali Dopo aver seguito dei corsi d’arte, capì che non era destinato a diventare un’artista. Vedeva il talento di suo fratello nella pittura come una sfida da superare. E finalmente trovò il mezzo giusto per riuscirci: il computer. Come messicano di origine giapponese, Marco Gaviño sentiva pressioni sociali per essere un geek del computer. (Articolo originale in spagnolo, il primo paragrafo è ciò che tradussi: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/nacion/2016/10/19/el-chico-que-gana-hasta-millon-y-medio-creando-mundos-virtuales)

Continuación de una historia (3), con traducción del inglés Bruno me empujó hacia adelante. “Cuando tu tratamiento acabe, quiero que me devuelvas mi libro de crucigramas”, susurró en mi oreja. Empezaba a irse cuando giró y añadió: “Y mi colirio también”. Nunca le devolví ni el libro de crucigramas, ni el colirio; Nina terminó todos los crucigramas y vació toda la botella de colirio antes que regresé. “Tenía que evitar que mis ojos se secaran mientras no estabas”, dijo. “Estaba tan aburrida. La única cosa que mantuvo mi mente activa fue hacer los crucigramas. De lo contrario mi cerebro se hubiera convertido en un montón de papilla gris.” “Me alegro de saber que me extrañaste, Nina”. “Sí, me alegro tanto de que volvieras. No podía hacer los crucigramas por siempre.” --- Bruno pushed me forward. "When your treatment is over, I want you to give me back my crossword puzzle book," he whispered in my ear. He was starting to leave when he turned and added: "And my eyedrops, too." I never returned either of them. Nina finished all the crossword puzzles and emptied the bottle of eyedrops before I returned. "I needed to keep my eyes from drying out while you were gone," she said. "It was that bored. The only thing that kept my mind active was doing the crossword puzzles. Otherwise my brain would have turned into a pile of gray mush." "I'm glad to know you missed me, Nina." "Yes, I'm really happy that you're back. I couldn't keep doing crossword puzzles forever."

Seguito di una storia [Klaus si prepara a rapire un bambino.] Il ragazzo colse un filo di erba e lo avvicinò alla bocca. Klaus celebrò silenziosamente dentro di se. “Ce l’ho,” si disse. La musica dal fischietto d’erba avrebbe potuto essere come una sinfonia di Mozart per Klaus. Il primo passo del suo piano fu completo. Si schiarì la gola. Il ragazzo non lo notò. Lo fece di nuovo, stavolta più forte. Il ragazzo continuava a suonare il filo di erba senza sentirlo. “Ehi, Lentiggini!” gridò. Questa volta il ragazzo si girò nella direzione di Klaus. C’erano delle fiamme nei suoi occhi. “Chi mi ha appellato Lentiggini?” Il filo di erba cadde dalle mani, che si trasformarono in pugni. La faccia diventò così rossa che le sue lentiggini no erano più visibili. Klaus indietreggiò ancora. ----- The boy picked a blade of grass and brought it up to his mouth. Klaus quietly celebrated in his head. "I've got him," he whispered. The music of the grass whistle could have been a Mozart symphony to Klaus. The first step of his plan was now complete. He cleared his throat. The boy did not notice him. He did it again, louder this time. The boy continued to blow into the blade of grass without hearing him. "Hey, Freckles!" he shouted. This time the boy turned in Klaus's direction. There were flames in his eyes. "Who called me Freckles?" The blade of grass fell from his hands, which hardened into fists. His face became so red that his freckles were no longer visible. Klaus scooted farther back.

Continuación de una historia Como ya mencioné, yo no era buena negociando. Ni siquiera tenía capacidad de argumentar contra las tonterías. “¿Qué debo hacer para calmar sus nervios?” “Ya has visto cuan gordo es. Le encantan los pasteles. ¿Por qué no hacerle una tarta?” “¿Quieres que le haga una tarta entera para el primer día del liceo?” “Sería un gran favor.” “¿Y si no lo hago?” “Ya estoy escribiendo una lista de todas las torturas que te podría hacer sufrir si no lo haces.” No era en broma. Ya había conocido Nina por doce años; sabía cuándo era en broma o no. No tenía ni idea de por qué se preocupaba tanto por su hermano menor, pero no quería preguntar. Solo quería cumplir sus exigencias tan pronto sea posible. “Bueno," dije. "¿Qué sabor de tarta le gusta?” ----- As I already mentioned, I was not good at negotiating. I wasn't even able to argue against Nina when she was clearly being foolishness. "What should I do to calm his nerves?" "You've already seen how fat he is. He loves pastries. Why not bake him a cake?" "You want me to bake him a whole cake for the first day of high school?" "It would be a big favor." "And if I don't?" "I'm already writing a list of all the tortures I could put you through if you don't do it." It wasn't a joke. I had known Nina for 12 years; I knew when she was joking. I had no idea why she was so worried about her younger brother, but I didn't want to ask. I just wanted to fulfill her demands as soon as possible. "Well then," I said. "What flavor does he like?"

Mon père, le businessman Une fois mon père est venu à la porte de ma chambre en criant, « ÂLLO ? ÂLLO ? Est-ce que Danielle est là ? ». J’ai ouvré la porte, et je l’ai vu avec deux avocats dans les mains : l’un servait d’un récepteur, et l’autre d’un haut-parleur. « ÂLLO ? ». Je le regardais. « Tu es vraiment bizarre, papa », j'ai lui dit. Mais juste un peu après, je suis venue au bureau à domicile pour le demander s’il puisse envoyer une lettre que j’ai écrite pour un ami. Il venait de finir un appel avec Amazon. « Vous les gens êtes dans un sale état. Vous êtes le pire. Le pire ! Désormais je vais utiliser seulement eBay. Merci pour votre aide. Passe une bonne journée. Ciaooo. » « Papa, peux-tu envoyer cette lettre ? » « Bien sûr, chérie. » Il m’a baisée sur le front. J’étais stupéfiée. Dans une seule seconde, cette bouche a subi une grande transformation de la bouche de vendeur à la bouche de père. En le regarder, on n’aurait pas pensé que ses capabilités pour la métamorphose soient tellement extraordinaires !

Une habitude de l'enfance Quand j’étais enfant, j’avais la curieuse habitude de manger une chose à la fois. D’abord je mangeais de la purée de pommes de terre ; puis, je mangeais les petits pois ; finalement, je prenais ma fourchette et commençais à tailler dans le porc. J’étais tellement concentrée dans la pensée de ce qu’allait être la prochaine victime, les petits pois ou le bifteck de porc, ou bien en pensant au plus récent drame à l’école, que la conversation de mes parents passait mes oreilles sans être entendue. C’était comme si j’aurais eu un bouclier invisible autour de moi, qui bloquait tout le bruit en dehors de mes pensées. ----- When I was a child, I had the strange habit of eating only one thing at a time. First I would eat my mashed potatoes ; next, I would eat my green peas ; and last, I would dig into the pork. I was so concentrated in the thought of who my next victim would be, the green peas or the pork steak, or in thinking about the most recent drama at school, that the dinner conversation of my parents would simply go past me. It was as if I had an invisible shield around me that blocked out all the noise outside of my own thoughts.

Hvordan jeg forestilte meg det uhyret under sengen Som barn hadde jeg en klar idé om hvordan så ut det berømte og hemmelige ”uhyret under sengen”. For det første var tomlene hans store, så stor at han brukte dem som lemmer når han krøp rundt boden. Under hver tommelnegl fantes det en familie av knuste men levende vepser som vrikket rundt og surret. Støyen var forferdelig, som om du kunne høre smerten deres. Rundt håndleddene sine hadde han armbånd trådte med luses, flåtters og loppers tørkete kroppene. Mesteparten av tiden ble øyene hans stengte, men når han åpnet øyelokkene flyte ut mygg og biller. En par biller som ikke kunne fly krøp ned til haken sin, og skjulte seg i sitt bart. (Du kan godt se at jeg var redd for insekter.) I rynker til albuene sine fantes det hundrevis av heksers magiske oppskrifter, graverte av humlers stikkebrodd, slik at bokstavene var utrolig fine og til et punkt uleselige. Rynkene i pannen ble graverte av endene til en manns ribbein, skuldrene ble skulpterte av hans lever og fregnene ble skårete ut fra hans tannkjøtt. Av og til ble jeg våken hele natten mens uhyrets bildet gikk rundt i hodet mitt... ----- How I imagined the monster under the bed As a child, I had a clear idea of how the famous and mysterious "monster under the bed" looked. First of all, his thumbs were huge, so big that he used them like limbs when he crawled around the floor. Under each thumbnail there was a family of crushed yet living wasps that wiggled around and buzzed. The noise was horrible, as if you could hear their agony. Around his wrists he had bracelets strung with the dried bodies of lice, ticks and fleas. Most of the time his eyes were closed, but when he opened his eyelids mosquitos and beetles flew out. A few beetles that couldn't fly crept down to his chin and hid his beard. (It's not hard to see that I was afraid of bugs.) In the wrinkles of his elbows, there were hundreds of witches' magical recipes, engraved with the stingers of bumblebees, so that the letters were fine to the point of being unreadable. The wrinkles in his face were engraved with the ends of a man's ribs, his shoulders were sculpted from the man's liver, and his freckles were cut out of his gums. Sometimes I stayed awake all night while the image of the monster went around in my head.

Seguito di una storia Klaus fece un pisolino, lavò i denti e si fece uova alla Benedict per la colazione (“No si può rapire i bambini a stomaco vuoto,” si disse). La corrente era tornata. Si mise una tuta da ginnastica e prese il suo monopattino dall’angolo del soggiorno. “Ciao, appartamento,” disse, montò sul monopattino e si allontanò verso il giorno luminoso. Quando arrivò al cancello dell’orfanotrofio, trascinò il piede sul pavimento per fermarsi. Si riparando gli occhi dalla luce, guardò la zona per scoprire il cespuglio adatto, dove nessuno l’avrebbe visto. Ne scorgesse uno a forma di Mickey Mouse, che era quasi delle dimensioni d’un motore a reazione. ---- Klaus took a nap, brushed his teeth and made himself eggs Benedict for breakfast ("You can't kidnap children on an empty stomach," he said). The electricity had come back on. He put on a sweatsuit and got his kick scooter from the corner of the living room. "Bye, apartment," he said, got on the scooter and rode off into the bright, sunny day. When he arrived at the gate of the orphanage, he dragged his foot on the ground to stop himself. Shielding his eyes from the light, he panned the area for the perfect bush, where nobody would able be to see him. He found one seemed to be shaped like Mickey Mouse, and which was about the size of an airplane jet.

Forsettelse av en historie Da jeg var et barn, levde jeg alene med bestemoren min, som strikket ullgenser og ullsokker hele dagen. Foreldrene mine reiste mesteparten av tiden, og det er hvorfor jeg sier, at bestemor og jeg levde ”alene.” Jeg drømte ofte om å fly fra kjedelig livet mitt i dette huset, og om å bli med foreldrene mine, uansett hvor de var i verden. Det var bare en annen dag, like som alle dagene før, da vi fikk en pappeske i posten. Jeg håpte at det var en gave fra foreldrene mine, kanskje en silkekjole fra India eller en maske fra Italia. Men det var ikke fra foreldrene mine; avsenderen var anonym. --- When I was a child, I lived alone with my grandmother, who knitted wool sweaters and socks all day. My parents were traveling most of the time, and that's why I say that Grandma and I lived "alone." I often dreamed about fleeing from my boring life in that house, and about joining my parents, wherever they were in the world. It was just another day, like all the days before, when we got a box in the mail. I hoped that it was a gift from my parents, maybe a silk dress from India or a mask from Italy. But it wasn't from my parents; the sender was anonymous.