Here's a new way to liven up your "Spanish Reading Experience".
And let's be honest, you often need it. The "livening-up" I mean.
AND .. I invented it ... but like many other of my "inventions" they usually turn out to be well known way back in the past.. often scratched on the giant pillars of Stonehenge, or painted on the lids of sarcophagi (?) deep inside those pyramid scheme thingys in the desert.
Here's what you do ... you're just starting the 46th chapter ( El pato ) of your current "read" and you're looking forward to more old guff about the one that roamed the streets of Cordoba back in 1614 ...so you really need to liven things up a bit ... give yourself a reason to live /sorry, carry on reading ... so here's what you do ..
You make yourself a list of special words you might expect to find in that chapter, a sort of bucket list... and then, when they turn up, and you have correctly predicted them, you score points. Seeing as this chapter is probably about the local park and its pond life, or maybe a mobster nicknamed "El Pato" for some unknown reason, you've got plenty of possible target words.
Here's the sort of list you might make ... from most likely to least likely ... we'll have ten of them.... your only clue really is the title .. El pato !!
[1] pico
[2] graznido
[3] asar
[4] pluma
[5] desplumar
[6] relleno
[7] mierda
[8] estanque
[9] anadear
[10] aletear
There ... that's a pretty realistic collection. It sticks firmly to ducks rather than gangsters ...
So ... you start reading the chapter and you soon spot "asar" ... you score 3, because it's the 3rd one on your list. A few lines later you get " estanque" and score 8, because it's the 8th one on your list ... it's as easy as that.
You could have more words on your list, or fewer.
You can keep a score, or not.
You could do it page by page, or over a chapter, or over the whole book.
Right then ... that's my bit of helpful advice, and now it's music time .. let's have one of Vetusta Morla's songs from La Deriva ... Golpe maestro ... complete with enthusiastic intro ..
La miel de las colmenas,
No nos dejaron ni banderas que agitar.
Cambiaron paz por deudas,
Ataron nudos, cuerdas
Y la patrulla nos detuvo por mirar.
Llevaron los finales
A tierra de neutrales,
No nos dejaron líneas ni para empezar.
Fue un atraco perfecto,
Fue un golpe maestro
Dejarnos sin ganas de vencer.
Fue un atraco perfecto,
Fue un golpe maestro
Quitarnos la sed.
Robaron las linternas,
La lumbre en las cavernas,
No nos dejaron mapas de la oscuridad.
Vendieron humo y calma,
Lingotes de hojalata,
Palacios de ceniza y cartas sin marcar.
Fue un atraco perfecto,
Fue un golpe maestro
Dejarnos sin ganas de vencer.
Fue un atraco perfecto,
Fue un golpe maestro
Quitarnos la sed.
Fundieron plomo y cobre,
Pusieron sal en sobres.
Alerta, hay un testigo.
Nos han dejado vivos.
Fue un atraco perfecto,
Excepto por esto:
Nos queda garganta, puño y pies.
No fue un golpe maestro,
Dejaron un rastro,
Ya pueden correr.
Ya vuelve la sed