The Picture of Dorian Gray
Read The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde in Dutch and English, a parallel text graded reader with audio. Available in CEFR levels A2, B1, B2, and C2.
About this book
In a studio thick with rose scent and laburnum blossom, the distant hum of London sounding like an organ note, a painter named Basil Hallward finishes the finest portrait of his life. Its subject is Dorian Gray, a young man so beautiful that Basil has poured his own soul into the canvas. Into this hushed room drifts Lord Henry Wotton, languid and cynical, armed with a philosophy that treats youth as the only thing worth having. "Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!" he declares, and Dorian, listening, feels a new dread crash over the joy of first beholding his own beauty.
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De studio was vol met de rijke geur van rozen.
The studio was full of the rich smell of roses.
Toen de lichte zomerwind door de bomen in de tuin bewoog, kwam er een zware geur van seringen door de open deur.
When the light summer wind moved through the trees in the garden, a heavy scent of lilac came through the open door.
Soms kwam er ook een lichtere, fijnere geur van roze bloeiende meidoorn doorheen.
Sometimes a lighter, more delicate smell of pink-flowering thorn came through too.
Lord Henry Wotton lag op een bank bedekt met Perzische zadeltassen, in de hoek van de kamer.
Lord Henry Wotton was lying on a sofa covered with Persian saddlebags, in the corner of the room.
Zoals altijd rookte hij veel sigaretten.
As always, he was smoking many cigarettes.
Vanaf waar hij lag, kon hij net de goudgele bloemen van een gouden regen zien.
From where he lay, he could just see the golden-yellow flowers of a laburnum tree.
De takken schudden en leken te zwak voor zulke mooie bloemen.
The branches shook, looking too weak for such beautiful flowers.