Translation answer keys

Try to follow these important three steps:

1. Read the full excerpt;
2. Mark key words and expressions that might present some extra difficulty;
3. Do not automatically translate the text before understanding its meaning and how it would be written in English.

“Era decisivo. Simão Bacamarte curvou a cabeça, juntamente alegre e triste, e ainda mais alegre do que triste. 

“It was final/decided. Simão Bacamarte lowered/bowed his head, both happy and sad, and even more happy than sad.

Ato contínuo, recolheu-se à Casa Verde. Em vão a mulher e os amigos lhe disseram que ficasse, que estava perfeitamente são e equilibrado: nem rogos nem sugestões nem lágrimas o detiveram um só instante.

A continuous act, he retired to the Casa Verde/Green House. In vain, his wife and friends asked him/pleaded with him to stay, [telling him] that he was perfectly sound/fine and healthy: neither pleas (not “prayers”) nor suggestions nor tears deterred him for even an instant/a moment.

- A questão é científica, dizia ele; trata-se de uma doutrina nova, cujo primeiro exemplo sou eu. Reúno em mim a teoria e a prática.

- The question/matter/issue is scientific, he said, it is a new doctrine, whose first example is myself. I join/gather/combine within myself both the theory and the practice.

- Simão! Simão! Meu amor! Dizia-lhe a esposa com o rosto lavado em lágrimas.

- Simão! Simão! My love! Said/Cried his wife with her face full of/welled up in/covered in (not “washed”) tears.

Mas o ilustre médico, com os olhos acesos da convicção científica, trancou os ouvidos à saudade da mulher, e brandamente a repeliu. Fechada a porta da Casa Verde, entregou-se ao estudo e à cura de si mesmo. 

But the illustrious/renowned doctor, with his eyes lit up/alight by/with his scientific convictions, shut his ears to his wife’s longings/yearnings, and gently/softly pushed her away (not “repelled”). Once the Green House’s door was closed, he delved into his studies and into curing himself. 

Dizem os cronistas que ele morreu dali a dezessete meses, no mesmo estado em que entrou, sem ter podido alcançar nada. 

The chroniclers/columnists say that he died seventeen months later, in the same state that he entered, unable to achieve anything/without achieving anything.

Alguns chegaram ao ponto de conjeturar que nunca houve outro louco, além dele, em Itaguaí; mas esta opinião, fundada em um boato que correu desde que o alienista expirou, não tem outra prova, senão o boato; 

Some even reached the point of conjecturing/guessing/claiming that there had never been another mad/crazy/lunatic man, other than/besides him, in Itaguaí; but this opinion, founded/based on a rumor that went the rounds/had been circulating since the Psychiatrist died, has/had no grounds/evidence/proof other than/besides the rumor itself;

e boato duvidoso, pois é atribuído ao Padre Lopes, que com tanto fogo realçara as qualidades do grande homem. Seja como for, efetuou-se o enterro com muita pompa e rara solenidade.”

and a questionable/dubitable rumor, as it is/was attributed to Father Lopes, who with such fire and brimstone, had accentuated/highlighted/enhanced the qualities of the great man. In any event/case, his funeral was carried out/executed with much pomp and rare solemnity.”