English-Dutch Dialogues - T

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English	Literal breakdown	Learn
The bus stop (dialogue)	Bert walks up to a bus stop and sees another traveller standing there. Hello, madam, do you know when the bus is coming? Yes sir, which bus do you mean? Line twelve or line five? Oh, I don’t know. I need to go to Spijkenisse Which bus should I take then? Then it does not matter. Both of them stop there. Line twelve only comes in half an hour, but line five should be here in three minutes. Oh, good! Do you know how long the trip takes? I think a quarter of an hour. Not much longer. Oh, look, there comes the bus! Thanks very much. It was a pleasure and have a good trip!	Learn
The Little Match Girl (story)	The Little Match Girl It was very cold Shivering with cold and hunger, the poor little girl crept along as the picture of pitty and misery. The snowflakes covered her long blond hair A girl doesn't dare to go home for fear of punishment and cold. Her little hands were almost completely frozen from cold A second one was struck against the wall Now someone is dying She again struck a match on the wall, and again it became bright around her; in the brightness stood her old grandmother, clear and shining, yet loving in her appearance. “Grandmother!” shouted the little one. But in the corner	Learn
The meniscus is not a bone. It is a cartilage, a flexible, elastic tissue.	The meniscus is not a bone. It is a cartilage, a flexible, elastic tissue.	Learn
The Princess and the Pea	Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but it had to be a real princess. Now he traveled all over the world to find such a one, but all he saw lacked something. There were enough princesses; but he could not find out if they were real princesses. There was always something that was a bit not quite right. So he came home again and was sad, because he really wanted to have a real princess. One evening a strong thunderstorm came; there was thunder and lighting, the rain was pouring down, it was terrible weather! There was a knock at the city gate, and the old king went to open it. It was a princess who stood outside in front of the gate. But good heavens! What did she look like from the rain and the terrible weather! The water dripped from her hair and clothes; it went in at the toes of her shoes and went out again at the heels. And yet she said she was a true princess. “Now, we’ll find out!” thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went to the bedroom, lifted up all the bedding up, and laid down a pea on the bed base; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty more feather-down quilts on the mattresses. The princess now had to lie there all night. The next morning they asked her how she had slept. “Terribly bad!” said the princess. I haven’t slept almost all night! Heaven knows what there was in the bed! I have been lying on something hard, so that I look bruised all over my body! It is terrible! Now they realized that she was a real princess, because she had felt the pea through the twenty mattresses and twenty feather-down quilts. No one else could be so sensitive than a true princess. Now the prince took her to be his wife; because now he knew that he had a real princess, and the pea was placed in the cabinet of rarities, in which it can still be seen, if at least no one has stolen it. See, that is true history!	Learn
The snowflakes covered her long blond hair (paragraph)	The snowflakes covered her long blond hair, which flowed to her shoulders in beautiful locks; but she did not think of it. All the windows were brightly lit, and it smelled wonderfully of goose roast; because it was New Years Eve. Yes, that is what she was thinking about.	Learn
The ugly young duckling	It was wonderful outside on the land. It was summer, the corn was ripe, the hay stood on the green pastures and the stork was walking on its long, red legs and talking Egyptian; because he had learned this language from his mother. Around the cornfields and the pastures were vast forests, and in the middle of the forests deep lakes. Yes, it was really wonderful out there on the land! Lit up by the blazing sun, there stood an old castle, that was surrounded by a deep canal, and from the wall to the water thick brushwood was growing. In the middle of this there was a duck in her nest, who had to hatch her young; but it almost bored her, it took so long, before the ducklings hatched. She rarely got visitors, because the other ducks preferred to swim in the canal, than to come out of the water to talk to her. Finally one egg after the other opened. A chirp was heard, and all the animals of the eggs came alive and stuck their heads out of the egg shells. “Hurry, hurry!” she said. And now all the little ducks hurried, as much as they could, and they emerged from the eggs and looked everywhere under the green leaves; and the mother let them look, as much as they wanted; because green is good for the eyes. “The world is so big!” all the young ones said; because now they had much more space than in the egg. “Do you think that this is the whole world?” the mother said. “It stretches far beyond the other side of the trees, until the pastor’s garden; but I have never been there. You are all together, right?” she continued and stood up. “No I don’t have them all yet; the biggest egg is still there; how long will it take before it hatches? Now it is almost starting to bore me!” and she sat down on it again. “Well there, how are you?” an old duck asked, who came to visit her. “It is taking a long time with that egg,” said the duck, who was sitting on it again. “It does not want to open; but look at the others: aren’t those the sweetest ducks that you have ever seen in your life? They all look exactly like their father; but that rascal doesn’t even come to visit me.” “Let me see the egg that won't open!” said the old duck. Believe me, it is a turkey egg! “I have also been fooled like that and it caused me a lot of work with my young ones, because they were afraid of the water.” I couldn't get them in; no matter how much it quacked, it didn't help me! Let me see the egg! Yes, that is a turkey egg! Leave that behind and teach your other children to swim! “I will still sit on it for a bit longer,” answered the duck; “I’ve sat on it for so long already, so I can sit on it for a few more days!” “You have to decide that for yourself,” continued the old duck and left. Finally one egg after the other opened. “Piep, piep!” said the duckling and it crawled out. It was a big and ugly beast! The duck looked at it. “What a terribly big duckling that is,” she thought; “None of the others looks like this.” Could it perhaps be a turkey chick? Well, we will find out soon; it will have to go in the water, even if I have to push it in myself. The next day it was beautiful, wonderful weather; the sun shone on all the green leaves. The mother of the ducklings went to the canal with her entire family. Splash! there she jumped into the water. “Quack, Quack!” they said, and one duckling after the other plunged into the water; the water splashed around their heads, and they dived under briefly, but soon they came up again and swam excellently. Their legs went by themselves, and they were all in the water; even the ugly, greyish duckling swam along. “No, it’s not a turkey,” thought the old duck; “Look how strong he hits his legs and how straight he knows how to keep himself!” “Actually, he is not that ugly, if you look closely at him!” “Quack, quack! Come with me, then I will take you into the big world and introduce you in the duck cage: but keep close to me and watch out for the cat!“ And so they went to the duck cage. Inside there was a terrible noise; because there were two families disputing each other’s possession of an eel head, and finally the cat still got it. Look, that’s the way the world is now! And that is what they did; but the other ducks around looked at them and said to each other: “Look at that! Now we wil get additional ones, as if we are not enough already! And gosh! that one duckling looks so ugly! We don’t want that here! ” And immediately an old duck flew to the poor beast and bit it in the neck. “Can you stop doing that?” said the mother. It doesn’t hurt anyone after all! “It might be true, but it is too big and it looks to strange,“ said the other duck, “that is why it has to have a bite.“ “They are lovely children the mother has,” said the old duck with the rag around her leg. “They are all beautiful except that one; that has failed; I wish you could make it into something else.” “That’s not possible,“ said the duckling’s mother; “It is not beautiful, but it has a good heart and swims just as good as the others, yes, I must say, even better. “I think it will grow up well and get smaller over time.” “It has been in the egg for too long, and that is why it has become deformed!a little!” After saying this, she grabbed it and stroked its feathers smooth. “Besides, it is a drake,“ they said; “and that is why it doesn’t matter that much.“ I think it will be powerful; at least it knows how to defend himself already. “The other ducklings look very sweet,“ said the old duck; “make yourself at home, and if you find an eel head, you can bring it to me.“ And so they were as good as home. But the poor duckling that had hatched last and looked so ugly was bitten, bumped and fooled by both the ducks and the chickens. “It’s too big!” they all said, and the turkey that had come into the world with spurs and therefore thought he was emperor, blew himself up like a ship with full sails and came up to him; then he clucked and his head turned bright red. The poor duckling did not know what to do; it was sad because it looked ugly and was mocked by everyone else. It went like that the first day, and later it got worse and worse. The poor duckling was teased by all; even his sisters were angry with him and kept saying, “If only the cat grabbed you, you ugly creature!” And the mother said, “I wish you went away from here!” The ducks bit it, and the chickens pinched it, and the girl who fed the beasts kicked it. Now it ran away and flew over the fence. The birds in the trees flew up shocked. “That’s because I’m so ugly,” thought the duckling, closing the eyes for a moment and then walked on. That’s how it arrived at the great swamp, where the wild ducks lived. Here it lay all night; it was tired and sad. By the morning the wild ducks flew up and looked at their new companion. “What kind are you?” they asked, and the duckling turned in all directions and greeted them the best way he could. “You are terribly ugly!” the wild ducks said; “But we don’t care as long you don’t marry someone within our family!” The poor beast! It truly did not think to marry; if only it could get the permit to lie in the reeds and drink some swamp water. It lay there for two whole days; then two wild geese or, rather said, gannets came to him; it was not that long ago that they hatched from the egg, and that is why they were so overconfident. “Listen, companion!” they said; “You are so ugly that you fit well with us.” Would you like to join us and become a migratory bird? Near here in another swamp are some nice wild geese, all ladies, who, like you, can say “quack!”. You can make your fortune there, no matter how ugly you may be. Piff! Paff! “Thank God!” the duckling said with a sigh; “I’m so ugly that even the dog doesn’t want to bite me.” And so it stayed motionless, while the hail whirled through the reeds and one shot after another banged First later on the day it became quiet; but the poor duckling did not dare to get up yet; it waited several hours more, before it turned around, and then it rushed out of the swamp as fast as it could. It ran across fields and pastures; but there was such a violent storm that had trouble standing on its feet. Towards evening it reached a small, shabby farm hut; it was so dilapidated that it did not know to which side it would fall, and that is why it stayed up The storm roared around the duckling so bad that it had to sit down so it would not blow over. Now it noticed that the door had come out of one hinge and slanted so badly that it could sneak through the gap into the room, and that is what it did. Here an old woman lived with her cat and her chicken. And the tomcat, whom she called her son, could arch his back and purr; he even gave sparks, but then one had to stroke his hair the wrong direction. The hen had very short legs, so she was called “Miss Shortlegs.” She laid good eggs, and the woman loved her as if she had been her own child. In the morning, the strange visitor was discovered, and the tom cat began to purr, and the hen to cluck. What is there to do? said the woman, looking around but she had poor eyesight, and therefore she thought, that this duckling must be a fat duck, who had got lost “That’s a good catch!” she said. Now I can have some duck eggs. I hope it is not a drake! We will try that! and so the duckling was allowed to remain on trial for three weeks but no eggs came Now the tomcat was the master of the house, and the hen was mistress, and they always said, “We and the world,” for they believed themselves to be half the world, and the better half too. The duckling expressed as his opinion, that it could be different, but the chicken was not able to do that. “Can you lay eggs?” she asked. no Well, will you ever shut up? and the tomcat said Can you arch your back, or purr, or throw out sparks? no Then you have no right to express an opinion when sensible people are speaking. and the duckling sat in a corner, feeling very low spirited till the sunshine came into the room through the open door and then he began to feel such a great longing for a swim on the water, that he could not help telling the hen. “What an absurd idea,” said this one. You have nothing else to do, therefore you have foolish fancies. Lay eggs or purr, and if not get out of here! “But it is so delightful to swim about on the water,” said the duckling so delightful, to feel it splash over your head, and to dive down to the bottom. “Well, that is also a great pleasure!”, said the hen You are definitely out of your mind. Ask the tomcat about it. who is the cleverest creature I know whether he likes to swim in the water, or to dive under it I don’t want to speak about myself. Just ask our mistress yourself, the old woman. there is no one in the world cleverer than she is Do you think maybe she would like to swim, and to let the water splash over her head? “You don’t understand me,” said the duckling. We don’t understand you? Who would be able to understand you? Surely you don’t want to be wiser than the tomcat and the woman. I don’t want to speak for myself. Don’t imagine such nonsense, and be grateful for all the good you have received. Have you not come into a warm room and don’t you have a company from which you can learn something? But you are uncontrollable, and it is anything but enjoyable to spend time with you Rest assured you can trust me! I mean it only for your own good. I tell you the truth, although you might find it unpleasant, but that is a proof of my friendship Try your best to lay eggs, or to purr or let sparks come out of your body. “I believe I shall go out into the wide world!” said the duckling. Yes, do that! Added the chicken to this And so the duckling went away it swam in the water, dived under with his head, but was treated with contempt by all other animals, because of its ugly appearance. Now came the autumn the leaves in the forest turned to yellow and brown the wind tore them off, so they danced around, and up in the air it was ice cold the clouds were full of hail and snow and on the hedge sat a raven and made her complain The poor duckling had it very bad already. One evening, just as the sun set amid radiant clouds, there came a large flock of beautiful birds out of the forest They were bright white and had long, flexible necks: they were swans They uttered a strange noise, spread their beautiful, long wings and flew away from those cold regions to warmer countries As they climbed higher and higher in the air, the ugly little duckling felt wonderfully weary He whirled himself in the water like a wheel, stretched out his neck towards the swans, and uttered such a loud and strange scream that it frightened himself. Oh, it could not forget those beautiful, happy birds and as soon as they were out of his sight, he dived under the water until the bottom, and when he rose again he was almost beside himself with excitement The poor animal did not know what these birds were called nor where they were flying to but he felt something towards them as he had never felt for anything else It didn’t envy them at all. How could he ever think to wish to be this pretty himself? He already would have been happy if the ducks would have accepted him around them that poor, ugly animal Winter came. It was cold, freezing cold. The duckling had to swim around in the water, to prevend it from freezing completely but with every night, the space on which he swam became smaller and smaller It froze so hard that the ice in the water crackled the duckling had to paddle constantly with his legs, to keep the space from closing up At last he became exhausted, and lay still and helpless, frozen fast in the ice. Early in the morning, a farmer passed by. When he saw the duckling, he approached it, broke the ice in pieces with his clog, and took the animal home to his wife. There it revived. The children wanted to play with him but the duckling thought they would harm him; and in his fear he flew into the milk pail, so the milk was splashed all over the room The woman clapped her hands together, which made him fly first into the butter churn, and then into the meal-tub How it looked like now The woman screamed, and struck the poor animal with the tongs. the children tumbled over each other, in order to catch the duckling They laughed and screamed. It was happy that the door was open and that it could slip out among the bushes into the newly fallen snow. There it lay down quite exhausted But to tell all the distress and misery the duckling had to endure in that harsh winter would be too dire. It lay in the swamp among the reeds when the sun began to shine warmly again. The larks sang. Spring had arrived. Now the duckling was suddenly able to spread his wings. these clapped louder than before and carried him strongly from here and before he well knew how it had happened, he found himself in a large garden, in which fragrant elders bent their long green branches down to the water Oh, it was so beautiful here, so wonderful. And from the trees appeared suddenly three beautiful white swans. They clapped their wings, and swam proudly in the water. The duckling remembered the lovely birds, and felt more strangely unhappy than ever. I will fly towards them, towards those royal birds! But they will kill me, because I, who am so ugly, dare to approach them But that doesn’t matter! It’s better to be killed by them, than being bitten by the ducks, pecked by the chickens, kicked by the maiden who feeds the chickens, or starved with hunger in the winter. It rushed into the water, plunged in and swam towards the beautiful swans They saw him and rushed towards him with clapping wings. “Kill me!” Said the poor beast. bent his head over, and awaited nothing but the death. But what did it see now in the clear water? In it he saw his own image; no longer that of a cumbersome, grey, ugly bird, but of a swan. It doesn’t matter to be hatched by a duck, as long as you came out of a swan’s egg! He now felt so glad at all the suffering and hardships which he had undergone. Now it realised correctly for the first time his good luck and the magnificence that surrounded him. And the swans swam around him and stroked him with their beaks. Some children ran into the garden They threw bread and barley into the water. and the smallest shouted: “there is a new swan!” And the other children rejoiced with him Yes, there is a new one! He is so young and looks so beautiful! And the other swans bowed before him. Now it felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his wings. He didn’t know how to behave himself. it was overwhelmed with happiness, and yet not at all proud He thought about how he had been persecuted and despised, and now he heard them all say he was the most beautiful of all the birds. Even the elder tree bent down its bows into the water, and the sun shone warm and lovely! Now he clapped his wings, stretched his slender neck, and cried joyfully, from the depths of his heart. “I had never imagined such happiness, when I was still an ugly duckling!”	Learn
The Village (song by Wim Sonneveld)	Verse 1 (The Village) Chorus (The Village) Verse 2 (The Village) Chorus (The Village) Verse 3 (The Village) Final Chorus	Learn
This isn’t fun. This is boring.	This isn’t fun. This is boring.	Learn
Tom isn’t smoking a cigar. He’s smoking a pipe.	Tom isn’t smoking a cigar. He’s smoking a pipe.	Learn
“They are all beautiful except that one; that has failed; I wish you could make it into something else.”	they are all beautiful except that one that has failed I wish you could make it into something else	Learn