Day 43: The Kilogram of Salt Misprint
At a newspaper in Nizhny Novgorod, the editor, Viktor Semyonovich, and a young reporter, Gleb, are fielding readers' calls about the weekend recipe column.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title.
- Read the dialogue and its translation. The audio for this lesson is coming soon.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Russian audio, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio for this lesson is coming soon. For now, read the dialogue and its translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day
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A
Глеб, это одиннадцатый звонок за утро. Читательница из Сормова спрашивает, точно ли в пирог нужен килограмм соли, а то она уже замесила.
Gleb, that's the eleventh call this morning. A reader from Sormovo is asking whether the pie really needs a kilogram of salt, because she's already made the dough.
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B
Виктор Семёнович, я сверил с рукописью: у автора чайная ложка. При вёрстке она каким-то чудом превратилась в килограмм.
Viktor Semyonovich, I checked the manuscript: the author has a teaspoon. During layout it somehow turned into a kilogram.
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A
А корректор куда смотрел? Ах да, корректор в отпуске, а рубрику сдавали в пятницу вечером.
And where was the proofreader looking? Oh right, the proofreader's on holiday, and the column went to press on Friday evening.
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B
Надо давать опровержение, пока весь город не пересолил. Я набросал: «Редакция приносит извинения за опечатку, допущенную в субботнем рецепте».
We need to run a retraction before the whole city oversalts everything. I've drafted one: 'The editors apologise for the misprint in Saturday's recipe.'
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A
Не опровержение, а поправку: опровергать нам нечего, сами наврали. Текст годится, только сухой, как сухарь.
Not a retraction, a correction: we've nothing to refute, we got it wrong ourselves. The text will do, only it's as dry as dust.
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B
Можно заголовок пошутливее, например, «Мы пересолили». Хотя не будет ли хуже? Скажут, газета ещё и издевается.
We could have a more playful headline, say, 'We Overdid the Salt'. But won't that make things worse? People will say the paper is mocking them on top of everything.
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A
Над собой смеяться можно, над читателем нельзя. Ставь заголовок «Мы пересолили», а в конце одну человеческую фразу.
You can laugh at yourself, but never at the reader. Put 'We Overdid the Salt' as the headline, and one human sentence at the end.
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B
Какую? «Приятного аппетита» после такого, пожалуй, не напишешь.
Which one? You can hardly write 'Enjoy your meal' after this.
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A
Пиши: «С нашими читателями мы не один пуд соли съели, но этот килограмм был явно лишним».
Write: 'We've shared many a pood of salt with our readers over the years, but this kilogram was clearly one too many.'
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B
Красиво. Ой, опять звонят... Да, редакция. Что вы говорите, уже испекли?
Nice. Oh, it's ringing again... Yes, newspaper office. You don't say, you've already baked it?
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A
Дай-ка трубку. Здравствуйте, это главный редактор, примите наши извинения. Диктуйте адрес, нормальный пирог за счёт редакции мы вам сами привезём.
Give me the phone. Hello, this is the editor-in-chief, please accept our apologies. Give me your address, and we'll bring you a proper pie ourselves, at the paper's expense.
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