LingoflyThe night shift
A text in Spanish at level B1. The translation sits next to it for checking, not for support: at this level the text is read whole, and an unknown word is usually guessed from the sentence. I came to the factory at nineteen, as a fill-in, to cover the summer vacations in the assembly shop. On the first day…
Text
- Entré en la fábrica a los diecinueve años, de comodín, para cubrir las bajas del verano en la nave de montaje. El primer día la charla de seguridad duró media hora y me dieron ropa de trabajo dos tallas grande. Mi trabajo era sencillo: montar la pieza, comprobar que no tuviera ningún defecto y pasarla al siguiente puesto. Lo difícil no era el trabajo sino el horario: turno rotativo, dos semanas de noche y dos de mañana, y el cuerpo nunca se adaptaba del todo. Aprendí allí cosas que no enseñan en ningún curso: que un parón de la línea cuesta más que un error, y que el albarán manda sobre la palabra. La cuadrilla era buena gente, y el jefe de turno, un hombre meticuloso que alababa poco y avisaba mucho. Estuve tres años y me fui a estudiar, pero todavía hoy, cuando compro algo barato, pienso en quién lo montó de noche.I came to the factory at nineteen, as a fill-in, to cover the summer vacations in the assembly shop. On the first day the safety briefing lasted half an hour, and I was given work clothes two sizes too big. The work was simple: assemble the piece, check that it had no defect and pass it to the next post. What was hard was not the work but the schedule: two weeks of nights and two of mornings in rotation, and my body never quite adapted. I learned there what no course teaches: that a line stoppage costs more than a mistake, and that the delivery note matters more than the spoken word. The crew was good people, and the shift supervisor was a meticulous man who praised little and warned much. I worked there three years and left to study, but even today, when I buy something cheap, I think about who assembled it at night.
Comprehension questions
The questions are asked in Russian on purpose: we test your understanding of the text, not your ability to read the question.
- In what capacity did the narrator come to the factory?
- What was the hardest for him?
- What did he learn there?
- What does he think about today when buying something cheap?
Frequently asked
What level do you need to read this text in Spanish?
B1. That means: everyday topics are behind you, you know about three thousand words, and an unknown word is more often guessed from the sentence than looked up.
How to read a text in an unfamiliar language usefully?
First all the way through without peeking at the translation — just to catch the familiar words. Then with the translation. Then all the way through again: the second pass brings noticeably more, and that feeling matters more than any rule.