有声书 | 秘密花园 03

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

往期回听 | 秘密花园

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今日连载 | The Secret Garden 03

The Secret Garden

Chapter Three: A Cry in the Night

Mary spent most of her days outside in the grounds. The cold wind made her cheeks pink, and each evening she ate all of her food. After dinner she liked to sit near the fire and talk to Martha.

'Why does Mr Craven hate the locked garden?' Mary asked once.

'It was Mrs Craven's garden. She loved it. She and Mr Craven looked after the flowers together. No gardeners were allowed in.'

'But what happened?' Mary asked impatiently.

'Mrs Craven was sitting on a branch of a tree when it broke and she fell. She was injured① so badly she died. That's why Mr Craven hates the garden. He won't let anyone ever talk about it.'

Mary had never felt sorry for anyone before, but now she realised how unhappy her uncle must be.

The wind moaned② around the house, banging at the doors and windows. Martha said it was 'wutherin③'. Mary listened and through the noise she thought that she heard a child crying.

'Do you hear someone crying?' she asked Martha.

Martha suddenly looked confused.

'No,' she answered. 'It's only the wind or the scullery maid④. She's cried all day with toothache.'

Then Martha quickly left the room.

Next day, it rained. Mary was bored and complained to Martha that she had nothing to do.

'On a day like this at home, we all try to keep busy indoors,' Martha said. 'Except Dickson. He goes out on the moor in all types of weather. He brought home a fox cub⑤ that he found. He's got a crow⑥, too, called Soot.'

When Martha left her alone, Mary decided to explore the house. She went along corridors and up and down stairs. In the silence of the house she heard again the sound of a child crying. She stopped to listen at a door, but then another door opened and out came Mrs Medlock.

'What are you doing here?' she said, and she took Mary by the arm and pulled her away. 'Get back to your room at once!'

'I didn't know which way to go, and then I heard someone crying,' said Mary.

'You didn't hear anything,' said Mrs Medlock. 'Go back to your room, or I'll tell the master that you disobeyed⑦ him.'

Mary was angry. She wanted to know what the cry was.

Soon the storm passed.

'Wait until the sun shines and lights up the moor,' said Martha.

'I'd love to see your cottage on the moor and meet your mother,' said Mary.

'You would like my mother,' Martha said. 'She's kind and good tempered and works hard. When it's my day off⑧ and I can go home and see her, I jump for joy.'

'I'd like to see Dickson, too,' said Mary.

'Yes, you'd like him,' Martha said. 'Everyone likes Dickson.'

'No one likes me,' said Mary sadly.

'Maybe that's because you don't like yourself,' laughed Martha. 'I never thought of that,' said Mary.

Mary found Ben Weatherstaff working in the garden.

'Spring's coming,' he said. 'The plants are growing under the soil⑨. Soon you'll see crocuses and daffodils⑩.'

Mary saw that the robin was on a wall covered with ivy. He hopped down to the soil at her feet. The robin tried to find a worm in the garden. Suddenly, Mary saw an old, rusty key.

'Perhaps it's been buried for ten years,' she said to herself.

'Perhaps it's the key to the garden,' she thought, putting it into her pocket.

After supper, Martha told Mary all about her day at home.

'Mother has sent you a present,' she said. She brought out a skipping rope⑪ with striped⑫ handles, and showed Mary how to skip.

'Your mother is very kind,' Mary said. She wondered⑬ how Mary's mother could find the money to buy her the rope with all those hungry mouths to feed.

Mary skipped all the time, and the more she skipped, the stronger she grew. Her cheeks became red, and her plain⑭ face started to look almost pretty.

One day as Mary watched the robin in the garden, a wonderful thing happened. To Mary it was almost like magic. A small gust⑮ of wind blew aside some of the ivy on the wall, and beneath⑯ the leaves, she saw a door.

She remembered that she had the key in her pocket. She tried it in the lock, and although it was very stiff①, she turned it. The next moment, she stood inside the secret garden.

It was the loveliest and most mysterious looking place that Mary had seen. It was overgrown and untidy, but she could see plants starting to push their way up through the soil. She pulled weeds② away to make space for the spring flowers to grow.

'Now they look as if they can breathe③,' she thought. Then she whispered to herself, 'I am the first person who has spoken in here for ten years.'

Time passed quickly as Mary cleared the weeds and dead grass. Soon it was time to go back to the house for her supper.

Mary wanted to tell Martha her secret, but she knew that this was not a good idea. She might be forbidden④ to go into the secret garden again, so instead she said, 'I would like a little garden to grow things in.'

'Why, that's just⑤ what you need to keep you busy,' said Martha. 'I'll get Dickson to bring some garden tools⑥ and some seeds⑦ to plant.'

Mary worked with her hands each day in the secret garden. She was careful not to let Ben Weatherstaff see where she went.

But Ben noticed a change in her. One day he said, 'The fresh air is good for you. You're less thin, and your skin is less yellow.'

旺

财

旺

福

Words

① injured：受伤。

② moaned：发出萧萧声。

③ wutherin：风的呼啸声。

④ scullery maid：做家务的女佣。

⑤ fox cub：幼狐。

⑥ crow：乌鸦。

⑦ disobeyed：不服从。

⑧ day off：休息日。

⑨ soil：泥土。

⑩ crocuses and daffodils：番红花和水仙花。

⑪ skipping rope：跳绳用的绳子。

⑫ striped：有条文地。

⑬ wondered：自问。

⑭ plain：相貌平庸。

⑮ gust：一阵风。

⑯ beneath：下面。

⑰ stiff：坚硬地。

⑱ weeds：杂草。

⑲ breathe：呼吸。

⑳ forbidden：被禁止地。

21 just：正是。

22 tools：工具。

23 seeds：种子。

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