Il fu Mattia Pascal – Capitolo 2 (simplified book + audio)

Just as these days we buy lottery tickets in the vain hope of changing our lives for the better, so in Mattia Pascal’s era it would have been off for a day at the ‘casinò’ in the hope of winning big.

Note the accented final letter of ‘casinò’ – that is to say ‘gaming house’.

Miss the accent, or stress the word on the second syllable rather than the third, and what you’ll get is ‘casino’ (which wordreference.com translates as ‘whorehouse, house of ill repute, brothel’).

Italians use the word for this latter, less respectable place of entertainment to mean ‘mess, trouble or grief’, or similarly, ‘row, racket, din or noise.’

So, I might chastise my kids:

“Che casino!” (What a mess! / What a row!)

Though not in front of their grandmother, who would object.

Talking of mothers-in-law, back to poor hen-pecked Mattia Pascal.

Read/listen to chapter two of this, our first simplified Italian reader, to find out how he gets on at Montecarlo…

(If you’re reading this in an e-mail and so don’t see the audio plug-in, click here to read this post on our website.)

Oh, and if you haven’t been following the story, you can find the introduction here and chapter 1 here.

Transcript

Capitolo 2 – Verso la vita numero due

Sono partito per Montecarlo, voglio vincere alla roulette.

Tac tac tac… Il rumore della pallina che si ferma… Ho vinto davvero!

Decido di contare, quando arrivo a casa, tutti i miei soldi davanti a mia suocera e mia moglie, per dispetto.

«Cinquecento, seicento, settecento… Sono un mostro ricchissimo!»

«Che novità è mai questa? Dove li hai presi? Li hai rubati quei soldi?»

«Ottocento, novecento, mille… Vi saluto streghe!»

Che ridere! Ci penso e non riesco a trattenere le risate in treno mentre torno a casa! Gli altri viaggiatori mi guardano…

Per sembrare più serio, comincio a sfogliare il giornale. Il mio occhio strano legge il nome del mio paese, la parola morto e Mattia Pascal…

Sono io?

Rileggo. Io sono vivo. Quell’uomo mi somiglia, ma io non sono morto!

Il treno, intanto, è arrivato a Roma.

Decido di cambiare vita. Chi sono io adesso? Il mio nuovo nome è Adriano Meis.

 

P.S.

Thanks to everyone who felt that supporting this project was worth €7.99.

We’ll be posting the remaining chapters free over the next few days.

But if you can’t wait, or would also like to contribute to our development of new materials and resources, download the simpified audio book from our shop.

P.P.S.

And while you’re at it, why not make this the day that you sign up for our Italian writing course?

It’s at 25% off, but only until Friday.

You get five written tasks to submit to your personal tutor by e-mail for correction.

There are no deadlines or time pressure. Do the course as quickly or slowly as you wish.

But if you finish the course, yet aren’t satisfied with your improvement, we’ll refund your payment.

Click here to get started on improving your Italian writing.