Таинственный сад / The Secret Garden. B1

Фрэнсис Элиза Ходжсон Бёрнетт

Таинственный сад / The Secret Garden. B1

© Грек А. А., адаптация, словарь, упражнения, 2023

© ООО «Издательство АСТ», 2023

Burnett’s Secret Garden

Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was a British-American writer. She started her writing career at the age of seventeen in order to support her family and turned it into the main source of her income. She wrote stories for both children and adults and worked as a playwright by turning them into theatre plays.

By the time Burnett publishedThe Secret Garden (1911), she had become a well-known author. Her bestselling books Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess had sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Still, the writer called The Secret Garden her favourite.

It is interesting to know that the little robin – one of the vital and most charming characters – was in fact inspired by a real English robin. The bird often joined Burnett while she was writing in the rose garden near Maytham Hall, Burnett’s house in England. The writer became friends with the bird and even tried to speak to it!

Before-Reading Questions

1. The novel’s working title wasMistress Mary. Later, the author changed it to The Secret Garden. What is the difference between the two titles? What plot would you expect from a children’s novel titled Mistress Mary?

2. What myths about gardens can you remember? Try to find at least one more in books or on the Internet.

3. Do you know what English moors look like? Find the pictures of them on the Internet and describe the landscape. What feelings does it awake in you?

Chapter 1

Little Miss Mary

Nobody seemed to care about Mary. She was born in India, where her father was a Britishofficial. He was busy with his work, and her mother, who was very beautiful, spent all her time going to parties. So an Indian woman, Kamala, was paid to take care of the little girl. Mary was not a pretty child. She had a thin angry face and thin yellow hair. She was always giving orders to Kamala. Mary never thought of other people, but only of herself. In fact, she was a very selfish, disagreeable