有声书 | 秘密花园 01

英语有声书

走近有声世界
共听英文原著

 

 今日书目 

书名： 

The Secret Garden

《秘密花园》

作者：

 Frances 

Hodgson Burnett

今日连载 | 秘密花园 01

The Secret Garden

Chapter One: A Spoiled Little Girl

Mary Lennox was spoiled, rude and had a bad temper①. Because she was often ill she was thin, with a sad face. She complained② a lot. No one liked her at all.

This was not really Mary's fault. She lived in India with her mother and father, but she did not see her parents very often. Mary's father was busy with his work and her mother was a very beautiful woman who loved parties and was not interested in her small daughter. She left Mary in the care of an Indian nanny③, called an ayah. Her ayah let Mary do what she wanted because she didn't want Mary to cry and irritate④ her mother. Mary soon became a spoiled and unpleasant young girl.

When Mary was nine years old she woke up one hot morning and felt that there was something wrong. She heard strange cries and shouts and the sound of feet outside her door, but no one came to see her. She went back to sleep.

Later, when Mary woke up, the house was silent.

She heard nothing. Mary was angry because no one came to bring her food or to dress her.

Suddenly her door opened and two Englishmen entered.

Mary looked at them angrily.

'Why has everyone forgotten me?' she asked. 'Where is my ayah? Why does no one come?

'Poor little kid⑤,' said one of the men. 'There is nobody here.'

That is how Mary discovered that her mother and father were dead and that the servants were dead too, because of a terrible disease⑥. That was why the house was so silent. Mary Lennox was completely alone.

There was no one in India to look after Mary, so she went to England to live with her uncle, Mr Craven, who lived in a big house in Yorkshire, called Misselthwaite Manor.

Mrs Medlock, her uncle's housekeeper⑦, met Mary in London. Mary disliked Mrs Medlock immediately. But this was nothing new, because Mary disliked everyone.

Mrs Medlock did not like Mary. She thought that the little girl was badtempered, rude and plain— and she was right.

During the long train journey to Yorkshire, Mrs Medlock told Mary about the house where she was going to live. It seemed very large and gloomy⑧, and it was near the edge of a moor⑨.

 'There's nothing for you to do there, and your uncle is not interested in you,' said Mrs Medlock. 'He's got a crooked⑩ back. He was a Sour⑪ young man until he married.'

Mary listened more carefully now. She did not know that her uncle was married.

 'His wife was very pretty, and he loved her very much. When she died he became even stranger,' Mrs Medlock said.

'Oh, did she die?' asked Mary.

'Yes, and now he likes nobody. He's away most of the time, so you must look after yourself.'

It was dark and raining when they got out of the train. They travelled to the house by horse and carriage⑫, but Mary could see nothing outside because of the rain and the darkness of the night.

'What is a moor?' Mary asked.

'It's miles and miles of land,' replied Mrs Med Jock. 'Very little grows on it, and nothing lives on it except: ponies and sheep.'

 The carriage stopped at last in a courtyard. A butler opened a heavy wooden door.

'Take her to her room,' he said to Mrs Medlock. 'The Master doesn't want to see her. He's going to London tomorrow.'

Mrs Medlock took Mary upstairs, along many corridors to a room with a fire burning in it and food on the table.

'Well, here you are,' said Mrs Medlock. 'This is where you'll live. This room and the next is where you must stay. You can't go into the other parts of the house. Don't forget that.

' Mary Lennox felt terribly alone.

旺

财

旺

福

Words

① had a bad temper：脾气暴躁。

② complained：抱怨。

③ anny：照顾小孩的女佣。

④ irritate：激怒。

⑤ kid：小孩。

⑥ disease：疟疾。

⑦ housekeeper：管家。

⑧ gloomy：阴沉。

⑨ moor：高沼地。

⑩ crooked：弯曲。

⑪ sour：坏脾气。

⑫ carriage：马车。

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