Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Spanish term or phrase:
como una negra pizarra escasamente agujereada por el brillo
English translation:
like a black slate pierced here and there by the glimmer
Spanish term
United States
Laudable Lady Linguist
Native in: English 
Works in: Spanish to English, French to English, English to Spanish, and 3 more.
como una negra pizarra escasamente agujereada por el brillo
Lucas alzó el rostro para mirar al través de la ventanilla enrejada de la celda. La oscura noche cubría la apertura como una negra pizarra escasamente agujereada por el brillo de alguna que otra estrella.
Mil Gracias,
Barbara
Feb 9, 2021 12:09: Barbara Cochran, MFA Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
United Kingdom
I read the Alethiometer
Native in: Spanish
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English, French to Spanish, and 1 more.
Like a black slate occasionally pierced by the glimmer
Another option.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2021-02-04 17:15:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
You are welcome! Plenty of options to mix and match! :)
| Thanks. I like this option, but will replace "occasionally" with "here and there", which is something a couple of the other translators have suggested. |
like a black slate barely pierced by the brilliance of some or other star
| agree |
Marian Vieyra
: like black slate barely ... without the indefininte article sounds better to me.
43 mins
|
|
yeah, me too. Not sure what it's doing there, really.
|
like a black slate sparsely perforated by the light from a scattering of stars
| agree |
Julie Thurston
: I would be tempted to put 'pricked by the light', haha, but no one seems to like that word.
12 hrs
|
Argentina
Resourceful, creative, passionate
Native in: Spanish (Variant: Latin American) 
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English
like a blackboard pierced here and there by the shine from some random star
Like a dark slate transpersed by the light from an occasional star
Canada
Accuracy and A1 presentation
Native in: Hungarian , English (Variant: US)
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, Hungarian to English, and 13 more.
like a dark board sparsely pierced by the splendor of...
United Kingdom
English linguistics & Int. Communication
Native in: Spanish (Variant: Standard-Spain)
Works in: English to Spanish, Romanian to Spanish, Spanish to Romanian, and 6 more.
like a black slate sparingly pierced (here and there) by the brightness of some / a few stars
...like a black slate sparingly pierced here and there by the brightness of some / a few stars
The "here and there" part can be left out, as it is already implied by "sparingly"; or it could be placed at the end of the phrase, to emphasize the idea of a scarcity of (bright) stars suggested in alguna que otra, i.e.:
...like a black slate sparingly pierced by the brightness of a few stars here and there.
Something went wrong...