Prima di procedere con il passato, ecco le risposte al compito di ieri.
(La traduzione è più un’arte che una scienza, quindi non mi lamentate, per favore, se la mia versione non è identico alla vostre…)
Il misterio dei tempi verbali inglesi – 2
There wasn’t much traffic, so Daniels reached New Scotland Yard in a hurry. But by the time he got there, there wasn’t anyone.
He found a note:
“Gone to 10, Broad Lane. Near Seven Sisters tube station.”
He decided to leave the car and go by underground.
Like every morning, the tube was crowded and smelly. And he didn’t find a seat.
It was almost nine by the time he exited Seven Sisters underground station.
10 Broad Lane was just a few minutes on foot. A fast food restaurant with an extremely ugly flat above. Standing outside was his boss, Detective Superintendant Matthews. He had an electronic cigarette in his hand.
“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to call you for ages!”
“Sorry, Jo. My mobile was discharged. What’s going on?”
“The landlord, who runs the fast food restaurant, found the body when he arrived this morning. It’s his tenant. He lived in the flat upstairs. But this is serious stuff. He was killed with two shots to the head.”
“Who is he?”
“Nobody. Just an English teacher. He lived here. Worked in a language school in Oxford Street. But he was in Italy for a few years.”
“Motive? Mafia, maybe?”
“We don’t know yet. But the killer left a note. ‘You’ve ruined my life. I didn’t understand anything!'”
“Never heard of a hitman that left a note. You?”
“Never. Shall we take a look? Mind the blood.”
Oggi imparerai
- l’uso del Past Progressive
- l’uso del Past Perfect
(spero)
Avanti, leggi la terza parte della storia:
Il misterio dei tempi verbali inglesi – 3
Matthews opened the dead man’s lips with the point of his electronic cigarette.
Daniels, who was standing behind him, could see half-chewed food. Pizza, maybe. The yellow teeth hadn’t been cleaned for a while, either.
“He was eating.”
“That’s right. Someone rang the bell while he was enjoying a pizza. Down he came, opened the door, and BAM! Blood all over the carpet. The rest of the pizza is on the table upstairs, if you didn’t have time for breakfast.”
“Not this time, thanks. So, he was expecting someone. He wouldn’t have come downstairs, mid-pizza, just for the Jehova’s Witnesses.”
“You think he had a date with a hitman?”
“I’m suggesting he wasn’t surprised to have a visitor at dinner time. This had obviously happened before. He was a language teacher. Maybe he was giving private lessons in the evenings. Bit of extra cash, tax-free.”
Daniels stepped over the body, which was lying on the stairs near the entrance to the restaurant/flat. The door was undamaged, so he knew the victim had opened it before he was shot.
He started upstairs. Perhaps a slice of cold pizza would settle his stomach after last night’s whisky.
Compito (facile)
In un commento, entro domani, fai una lista dei formi verbali che ho sottolineato. Sono tutti o il Past Progressive o il Past Perfect, e tipicamente vanno usati insieme con altri verbi.
Ti riccordi che il Past Progressive indica un’azione “in progresso” a un certo punto. E il Past Perfect descrive un azione o stato “prima” di un punto passato.
“When you PHONED, I was having a shower”
“The teacher WAS angry because I hadn’t finished my homework.”
Il compito di oggi e di spiegare i verbi nella storia. come negli esempi:
- Daniels was standing behind Matthews WHEN HE OPENED the dead man’s mouth.
- The dead man’s teeth WERE yellow because they hadn’t been cleaned for some time.
Gradirei sentire le vostre teorie per quanto riguarda le differenze tra l’italiano e l’inglese, ma, alemno qui, devono essere pocchi!
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