🔊 So I lived my life alone, without anyone that I could really talk to, until I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara, six years ago. Something was broken in my engine. And as I had with me neither a mechanic nor any passengers, I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone. It was a question of life or death for me: I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week.

Don haka na ci gaba da rayuwata ni kadai, ba tare da wanda zan iya yin magana da shi ba, har sai da na yi hatsari da jirgina a cikin Hamadar Sahara, shekaru shida da suka wuce. Wani abu ya karye a cikin injina. Kuma da yake ba ni da makaniki ko fasinjoji tare da ni, sai na yunƙura in yi gyaran da ke da wuya ni kadai. Wannan al'amari ne na rayuwa ko mutuwa a gare ni: da kyar ina da ruwan sha wanda zai iya wucewa mako guda.

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scarcely /ˈskersli/

adv. Da kyar, kadan, ba da yawa.

🔊 So the first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand, a thousand miles from any human habitation. I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Thus you can imagine my amazement, at sunrise, when I was awakened by an odd little voice. It said:

Don haka, a daren farko, sai na kwanta a kan yashi, nisan mil dubu daga kowane wurin zama na ɗan adam. Na fi keɓewa fiye da wani ma'aikacin jirgin ruwa da jirginsa ya nutse a tsakiyar teku. Don haka za ku iya tunanin mamakina, da fitowar rana, lokacin da wata ƙaramar murya ta taɓa ni. Ta ce:

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habitation /ˌhæbɪˈteɪʃn/

n. Mazauni, wurin zama.

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shipwrecked /ˈʃɪprekt/

adj. Wanda jirginsa ya karye a cikin teku.

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amazement /əˈmeɪzmənt/

n. Mamaki, al'ajabi.

🔊 "If you please—draw me a sheep!"

"Don Allah—ka zana mini tumaki!"

🔊 I jumped to my feet, completely thunderstruck. I blinked my eyes hard. I looked carefully all around me. And I saw a most extraordinary small person, who stood there examining me with great seriousness. Here you may see the best portrait that, later, I was able to make of him. But my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model.

Na tashi tsaye, na kama mamaki. Na lumshe idanuwana da ƙarfi. Na duba a ko'ina a kusa da ni. Kuma na ga wani ƙaramin mutum mai ban mamaki, wanda ya tsaya yana duba ni da gaske. A nan za ku iya ganin mafi kyawun hoton da, daga baya, na iya yinsa. Amma zanena tabbas ya fi ƙarancin fara'a fiye da abin koyi.

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thunderstruck /ˈθʌndərstrʌk/

adj. Mamaki sosai, kamar wanda aka buge da tsawa.

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extraordinary /ɪkˈstrɔːrdəneri/

adj. Na ban mamaki, na musamman.

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portrait /ˈpɔːrtrət/

n. Hoto na mutum, zane na fuska.

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charming /ˈtʃɑːrmɪŋ/

adj. Mai ban sha'awa, mai jan hankali.

🔊 That, however, is not my fault. The grown-ups discouraged me in my painter's career when I was six years old, and I never learned to draw anything, except boas from the outside and boas from the inside.

Wannan, duk da haka, ba laifina ba ne. Manya sun hana ni aikin zane-zane lokacin da nake ɗan shekara shida, kuma ban taɓa koyon zana wani abu ba, sai macizai daga waje da macizai daga ciki.

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discouraged /dɪsˈkɜːrɪdʒd/

v. Hana, hana kwarin gwiwa.

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boas /ˈboʊəz/

n. Mesan daji (jam'in boa).

🔊 Now I stared at this sudden apparition with my eyes fairly starting out of my head in astonishment. Remember, I had crashed in the desert a thousand miles from any inhabited region. And yet my little man seemed neither to be straying uncertainly among the sands, nor to be fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or fear. Nothing about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the desert, a thousand miles from any human habitation. When at last I was able to speak, I said to him:

Yanzu na zuba ido ga wannan bayyanar gaggawa, idanuwana suna fitowa daga kai cikin mamaki. Ka tuna, na yi hatsari a cikin hamada nisan mil dubu daga kowane yanki mai zama. Duk da haka, ƙaramin mutumina bai zama kamar yana ɓacewa a cikin yashi ba, ko kuma yana suma saboda gajiya ko yunwa ko ƙishirwa ko tsoro. Babu wani abu a kansa da ya nuna yaro da ya ɓace a tsakiyar hamada, nisan mil dubu daga kowane wurin zama na ɗan adam. Da zarar na iya magana, na ce masa:

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apparition /ˌæpəˈrɪʃn/

n. Fito fili, bayyanar da ba zata yi ba.

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astonishment /əˈstɑːnɪʃmənt/

n. Mamaki, gigice.

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crashed /kræʃt/

v. Faduwa ko karyewa cikin mummunan yanayi (jirgi).

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inhabited /ɪnˈhæbɪtɪd/

adj. Wanda mutane ke zaune a ciki.

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straying /ˈstreɪɪŋ/

v. Bata, ɓacewa daga hanya.

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fatigue /fəˈtiːɡ/

n. Gajiya, kasala.

🔊 "But—what are you doing here?"

"Amma—me kuke yi a nan?"

🔊 And in answer he repeated, very slowly, as if he were speaking of a matter of great consequence:

Kuma a matsayin amsa, ya maimaita, a hankali, kamar yana magana ne game da wani al'amari mai muhimmanci:

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consequence /ˈkɑːnsəkwens/

n. Sakamako, muhimmanci.

🔊 "If you please—draw me a sheep ..."

"Don Allah—ka zana mini tumaki..."

🔊 When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey. Absurd as it might seem to me, a thousand miles from any human habitation and in danger of death, I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper and my fountain-pen. But then I remembered how my studies had been concentrated on geography, history, arithmetic and grammar, and I told the little chap (a little crossly, too) that I did not know how to draw.

Lokacin da wani asiri ya fi ƙarfi, mutum ba zai ƙyarta ba. Ko da yake zai iya zama abin ban mamaki a gare ni, nisan mil dubu daga kowane wurin zama na ɗan adam kuma cikin haɗarin mutuwa, na ciro takarda da alƙalami daga aljihuna. Amma sai na tuna yadda karatuna ya ta'allaka ne akan ilimin ƙasa, tarihi, lissafi da nahawu, sai na gaya wa ɗan ƙaramin (cikin ɗan fushi kuma) cewa ban san yadda ake zana tumaki ba.

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overpowering /ˌoʊvərˈpaʊərɪŋ/

adj. Mai rinjaya, mai karfi sosai.

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disobey /ˌdɪsəˈbeɪ/

v. Sãɓã wa umurni, rashin biyayya.

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absurd /əbˈsɜːrd/

adj. Maras hankali, wauta.

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arithmetic /əˈrɪθmətɪk/

n. Lissafi, ƙididdiga.

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chap /tʃæp/

n. Mutum, saurayi (na sada zumunci).

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crossly /ˈkrɔːsli/

adv. Cikin bacin rai, cikin fushi.

🔊 "That doesn't matter. Draw me a sheep ..."

"Ba kome. Ka zana mini tumaki..."

🔊 But I had never drawn a sheep. So I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often. It was that of the boa constrictor from the outside.

Amma ban taɓa zana tumaki ba. Don haka na zana masa ɗaya daga cikin hotuna biyu da na taɓa yin su sau da yawa. Shi ne na maciji mai rufe daga waje.

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boa constrictor /ˈboʊə kənˌstrɪktər/

n. Wani nau'in mesan daji mai manne.

🔊 "No, no, no! I do not want an elephant inside a boa constrictor. A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature, and an elephant is very cumbersome. Where I live, everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep."

"A'a, a'a, a'a! Ba na son giwa a cikin maciji. Maciji mai rufe abu ne mai haɗari sosai, kuma giwa tana da wuyar motsi. A inda nake zaune, komai ƙanƙane ne. Abin da nake buƙata shine tumaki. Ka zana mini tumaki."

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cumbersome /ˈkʌmbərsəm/

adj. Mai nauyi, mai wahala a motsa shi.

🔊 So then I made a drawing.

Don haka sai na yi zane.