Burnett Frances Hodgson - The Secret Garden

Retold and with activities by Jane Bowie
Illustrated by Philip Giordano
Teen (Ell) Readers

Contents
6 Main Characters
8 Before you read
10 Chapter 1 The Forgotten Girl
18 Activities
20 Chapter 2 The Key
28 Activities
30 Chapter 3 New Friends
38 Activities
40 Chapter 4 Colin
48 Activities
50 Chapter 5 Spring Has Come
58 Activities
60 Chapter 6 I Will Live Forever!
68 Activities
70 Chapter 7 Magic
78 Activities
80 Chapter 8 In the Garden
86 Activities
88 Focus on... Frances Hodgson Burnett
90 Focus on... Childhood in l g i l
92 Focus on... Yorkshire Food
94 Test yourself
95 Syllabus
These icons indicate the parts of the story that are recorded start ► stop ■
Before you read
Vocabulary
1 Look at these words from The Secret Garden and
match each word with its definition as in the example.
^h o u se m a id e nursery h housekeeper
b clergyman f doctor i official
c corridor g kitchen j gardener
d entrance hall
1 D a person who treats sick people.

2 □ a person who works in public administration.
3 H I a girl or woman who works in a big house, cleaning it.
4 □ the head woman servant in a big house.
5 □ the em pty space you find on entering a house.
6 □ a long space w ith rooms that open o ff it.
7 □ the room in a house where food is prepared.
8 □ a person whose job is taking care of a garden.
9 □ a room in a big house where children are looked after.
10 □ a vicar of the Church of England; he can get married.
2 Now put the words in the table.

Jobs In a house
housemaid
Reading
3 Read the sentences and guess the endina. A. B or C.
Then check your answers in Chapter 1.
At the start of the book Mary lives in a country which is part
of the British Empire. The country is:
A D C a m b o d ia BIZI India C d G e rm a n y
1 Mary returns to England to live w ith a relative when
A □ her father loses his job B □ she grows up
C □ her parents die from cholera
2 Mary goes to live in
A □ a very big house B □ a small cottage
C □ a home for orphans
3 Her relative has gardens that include:
A D a river B D a locked garden C D a swimming pool
4 The only people Mary has to talk to are:
A D other children B D her uncle and his friends
C D the servants in the house
Listening
► 2 4 Listen to the first part of Chapter 1 and decide if these
sentences are true or false.
T F
Mary was born in India. 0 □
1 Mary is a very pretty little girl. □ □
2 Mary’s parents loved her very much. □ □
3 Mary’s parents die of hunger. □ □
4 Everyone forgets about Mary. □ □
5 Mary is discovered by a soldier. □ □
Speaking
5 Look at these sentences from the story. In small groups
discuss if the events happen while Mary is in India or
England. Say why.
1 Mary was curious about the locked garden, so she went
outside to explore.
2 A soldier opened the door and saw Mary.
3 When Mary woke up next morning, Martha, a young
housemaid, was lighting the fire.
4 Mary hid in her room and was forgotten by everyone.
Nobody thought of her, nobody wanted her.
9
Chapter 1
The Forgotten Girl
► 2 W hen Mary Lennox arrived at Misselthwaite

Manor to live w ith her uncle, everybody said she
was the ugliest child they knew She was very
thin and she had an angry expression. She was
born in India and her hair and face were yellow
because she was often ill. In India, Mary’s father
was a Government official. H er m other was very
beautiful and only liked going to parties. She
didn’t w ant Mary, who was cared for by an ayah*.
The ayah had to do everything that Mary wanted
so Mary became very selfish.
One very hot morning, when Mary was about
nine, her ayah was not there. That m orning was
mysterious. The servants were frightened. No
one would tell her anything.
Mary w ent into the garden and started to play
under a tree. She pretended to make a flowerbed*
and stuck flowers into little heaps of earth.
ayah the Indian name for a woman who takes care of a child or children for a
family §s a job
flowerbed an area of earth in a garden where flowers are planted, sometimes
in a pattern ,
10
Suddenly she saw her m other come out with a
young man.
‘Is it very bad?' asked Mary's mother.
‘Very bad. You should go away to the hills.'
At that m om ent there was a cry from the
servants' quarters.
‘Someone has died! You didn't say your servants
were ill!’
‘I did not know!’
Mary learned that there was cholera about.
H er ayah was dead, and before the next day three
other servants died. Mary hid in her room and
was forgotten by everyone. Nobody thought of
her, nobody wanted her. She cried and slept.
W hen she woke, the house was silent. She
wondered if someone would come to look for
her. But no one came.
She saw a little snake but she was not frightened.
Then she heard voices. A soldier opened the door
and saw Mary.
‘There is a child here!’ he cried. ‘W ho is she?'
‘I am Mary Lennox. Why does nobody come?’
asked Mary.
11
J5ta/n c& } H odgson,
‘She has been forgotten!’ said the soldier to his

companions. ‘Poor child. There is nobody left to
com e.’
That was how Mary discovered that her father
and m other were dead and she was alone in the
bungalow*. ■
► 3 For a while Mary stayed with a poor English

clergyman and his family, but not for long. One
day she was playing under a tree in the clergyman’s
garden when his son Basil came. Mary was making
a garden.
‘Go away!’ cried Mary. ‘I don’t like boys.’
The boy sang a song:
Mistress Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shelb,
And marigolds all in a row.
The other children laughed and after that they
called her “Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary”.
One day the clergyman’s wife told Mary she
was going to sail away to England to the hom e of
her uncle, Mr Archibald Craven.
bungalow a word originating from Bengali meaning a low house with one floor
12
I(?u
'He lives in a big, lonely house in the country

and no one goes near him ,’ said Basil. 'He’s a
hunchback and he’s horrid.’
Accompanied by an officer’s wife, Mary sailed
to England on a big ship. In London she met the
housekeeper from Misselthwaite Manor, Mrs
Medlock. Mrs Medlock was stout, with a red face and
black eyes. Mary did not like her, which was normal
for Mary, and Mrs Medlock did not like Mary.
‘She is very plain!’ said Mrs Medlock to the
officer’s wife.
Mary was very curious about her uncle. She
was starting to feel lonely. O ther children seemed
to belong to fathers and mothers, but she seemed
to belong to no one. Even when her parents were
alive she seemed to be no one’s little girl.
Mary and Mrs Medlock took the train. Mrs
Medlock told Mary about the house and its garden,
about her uncle, his poor back and his dead wife.
Mary did not feel cheerful. A house with a
hundred rooms, almost all closed, on the edge of
a m oor*, and a hunchback who had no friends!
She looked out of the window at the rain and fell
asleep. W hen she woke it was dark and they were
moor a large area of natural land with no trees and no agriculture; usually very
windy and uninhabited
14
in a station. They got into a carriage and drove off.
'W hat is a m oor?’ asked Mary suddenly.
'Look out of the window in ten minutes and
you’ll see,’ answered the woman. 'You w on’t see
much because it’s a dark night, but you will see
something.’
It was very dark and the wind made a strange
sound.
'It’s not the sea, is it?’ asked Mary.
‘No, it’s just miles and miles of wild land,’
answered Mrs Medlock.
After a while they saw a light. After another two
miles they arrived at a long, low house. The door
was huge, and the entrance hall was enormous,
full of portraits and arm our*. Mary felt very small.
She followed Mrs Medlock up a stair and down a
long corridor, and another, and then into a room.
‘Here you are. This room and the next one are
where you’ll live - and you must stay in them.
Don’t forget that!’ said Mrs Medlock.
W hen Mary woke up next morning, Martha, a
young housemaid, was lighting the fire.
'W hat is that?’ asked Mary pointing out of the
window.
armour a suit of metal to protect a soldier, only used by the rich
15
)&TL
'The moor. Do you like it?5 asked Martha.

Mary was surprised. In India servants only
responded to commands. They did not ask questions.
'No,5 answered Mary, 'I hate it. Are you going
to be my servant? Are you going to dress me?5
‘C an t you dress yourself?5 asked Martha,
surprised. She helped Mary to dress. Mary had
new clothes. They were nicer than her old clothes.
‘There are twelve of us in my family,5 said
Martha. ‘Everyone learns to do things quickly and
help the smaller ones. My brother Dickon, he’s
twelve, he’s got a young wild pony.5
Mary was interested in Dickon and his pet. It
was the start of a healthy feeling. She went into
the next room and found her breakfast.
‘I don’t w ant it,5 she said.
‘You don’t w ant your food?5 exclaimed Martha.
‘It’s very good! My family never have full stomachs.
They’re always hungry.5
‘I don’t know what being hungry feels like,5
said Mary.
Martha helped Mary to put on her boots, coat
and hat, and sent her outside. ‘There are a lot of
gardens, but one is locked. It was Mrs Craven’s
16
garden. Mr Craven locked it when she died ten
years ago and no one can go there/
Mary was curious about the locked garden, so
she w ent outside to explore. She m et an old man.
He told her the gardens were kitchen gardens and
orchards. Then she saw a bird w ith a red breast
sitting on the top of a tree.
‘H e’s a robin redbreast*, the friendliest bird
alive/ said the man. ‘H e’s my only friend.’
‘I have no friends,’ said Mary. ‘I never had. My
ayah didn’t like me and I never played with anyone.’
‘Then we are the same. We’re not good-looking
and we both have bad tempers.’
The m an’s name was Ben Weatherstaff. Mary
spoke to him for a while, and then asked him
about the locked garden. Ben was angry.
‘I must get on w ith my work,’ he said. ‘Go and
play/
And he walked away w ithout saying good bye. ■
robin redbreast a small bird with a red chest, native to Europe, usually associated
with Christmas
17
After-reading Activities
Reading
1 Look at the sentences and say if they are true (T) or
false (F).
T F
Mary likes pretending to make gardens. 0 □
1 Mary has no friends and not many people know
about her. □ □
2 Other people usually like Mary very much. □ □
3 Mary goes to live in a big city. □ □
4 Mary can go anywhere she wants in the house. □ □
5 Mary cannot put on her clothes by herself. □ □
6 Mary’s new clothes are ugly. □ □
7 Martha’s family is very poor. □ □
Grammar
2 Choose the correct indefinite pronoun from the box for
each sentence from Chapter 1.
any&rfng everyone som ething someone
nobody (3) no one (2)
No one would tell her ....$0y.WJ.0.9.......

1 Mary hid in her room and was forgotten b y ...................
2 .......................thought o f h e r, wanted her.
3 She wondered i f .......................would come to look for
her. B u t.......................came.
4 ‘I am Mary Lennox. W hy d o e s .......................come?’
asked Mary.
5 He lives in a big, lonely house in the country and
..................... goes near him,’ said Basil.
6 ‘You w on’t see much because it’s a dark night, but you
will see!.....................’.
18
Reading and Writing - KET style activity
3 Read the following definitions of adjectives from Chapter 1.
What are the adjectives? The first letter is already there.
There is one space for each other letter in the word.
Example:
0 This word means the opposite of fat. t ____
Answer: H Z Z
1 This word describes a person who
only thinks about himself. s
2 Another word for afraid. f
3 A person who frequently
contradicts others is c
4 Someone with no friends
or company can feel. 1
Before-reading Activities
Speaking
4 Look at this list of words that appear in Chapter 2 and
discuss why you think they will be important in the story.
1 hungry 2 crying 3 library 4 skipping rope 5 key
Listening
► 4 5 Put these sentences into a logical order, then listen to the
next part of the story and check your answers.
a D Mary walked round the garden wall looking for a door.
b Q M a ry listened to Martha talking about her m other and
brother Dickon.
c D Mary woke up and felt hungry for the first time,
d □ Mary heard a sound like a child crying.
e D Later, Martha explained to Mary that the locked garden
was Mrs Craven’s but when she died Mr Craven locked it.
19
Chapter 2
The Key
.pmiunyj
► 4 Every day was the same for Mary. She got up, ate
breakfast and looked out of the window. She had
nothing to do so she w ent out. She didn t realise
that this was the best thing she could do. She ran
to keep warm, so she got stronger. The wind put
some red colour in her cheeks and brightened
her eyes. One day she woke up and actually felt
hungry. She ate until her bowl was empty.
In the garden Mary often w ent to the long path
that ran round the walled* gardens. There were
flowerbeds and in one part the ivy* on the wall
seemed thicker than in other places.
One day she saw the robin. She began to laugh
as he hopped and flew. She ran after him. She
actually looked pretty for a m oment.
'I like you/ cried Mary and the robin flew to
the top of a tree on the other side of a wall and
sang loudly.. Mary looked at the tree.
walled enclosed by walls

ivy a plapt whose leaves have five points which is always green and climbs over
walls and bigger plants
20
‘It’s in the garden no one can go into,’ she said
to herself. ‘He lives in there! I wish I could see the
garden.’ She walked round and looked closely at
the wall of the garden but there was no door.
‘It’s very strange,’ she said to herself. ‘There
must be a door because Mr Craven buried the key
ten years ago.’
Mary began to be quite interested and feel that
she was not sorry to be at Misselthwaite. In India
she was always hot and too tired to care about
anything. Now the fresh wind from the m oor
was clearing her young brain and waking her up
a little.
Later that evening she asked Martha, ‘W hy did
Mr Craven hate the garden?’
‘It was Mrs Craven’s garden,’ answered Martha.
‘She made it when she was first married. She
and Mr Craven looked after it themselves. Then
one day Mrs Craven was sitting on a branch and
it broke. She died the next day. Now Mr Craven
doesn’t let anyone go in the garden.’
21
A good thing happened to Mary. She felt sorry for
Mr Craven. That made a completely new experience
for Mary: understanding a robin, runningin the wind,
feeling hungry and feeling sorry for someone.
Suddenly she heard a curious sound, like a child
crying.
'Do you hear the sound of crying?’ she asked
Martha.
‘It’s the wind,’ answered Martha, confused.
Mary did not believe that M artha was telling
the truth.
The next day it rained again. Mary could not
go out. She listened to Martha talking about her
cottage, her family and her mother. Mary liked to
hear about the m other and about Dickon.
► 5 Mary had nothing to do, so she decided to look for

the library. She did not care much about the library
itself, but the idea reminded her of the hundred
rooms with closed doors. She started wandering.
She went along corridors and up stairs. She found
herself in a long gallery covered with portraits*. One
was of a little girl rather like herself. Her eyes were
sharp and curious.
T
portrait a picture of a person, often of the face
22
\(xn.
‘W here do you live now?’ said Mary to her. ‘I

wish you were here.’
Mary started to open doors and visit rooms. She
saw so many different rooms that she became quite
tired and began to think that there must be a hundred.
She decided to go back to her own room, but
she did not know exactly where she was.
Suddenly the stillness was broken by a sound.
‘It is crying,’ said Mary.
But Mrs Medlock arrived. She was very angry.
She took Mary by the arm, and half pushed, half
pulled her to her room. Mary was pale with rage.
Two days after this Mary opened her eyes, sat up

in bed and called to Martha.
‘Look at the m oor!’
There was a brilliant, deep blue sky. In India the
sky was always hot and blazing; this was a deep,
cool blue with small white clouds.
‘I thought perhaps it always rained in England,’
she said.
‘No, not at all,’ answered Martha. It was Martha’s
free day and she was going to walk five miles to her
cottage and help her mother.
v
24
1 like your mother,’ said Mary, 'and I like Dickon.’
Mary felt lonely. She went into the garden and
ran. Then she went into the kitchen garden and
found Ben Weatherstaff.
‘Spring is coming,’ he said. ‘Can you smell it?’
‘I smell something nice and fresh and damp,’
said Mary.
‘T hat’s the earth,’ answered Ben. ‘Soon green
things will point out of the black earth. The sun is
warm ing them .’
‘Things grow in a night in India,’ said Mary.
‘These won’t grow in a night,’ said Ben. ‘Watch
them .’
‘I’m going to,’ said Mary.
She walked away. Then she saw the robin. He
was pretending to peck things out of the earth.
‘You rem em ber me!’ she cried out. She went
closer and closer to him, and tried to make
something like robin sounds. The robin made a
hole. Mary saw something and picked it up. It was
an old key.
‘Perhaps it has been buried for ten years,’ she
whispered. ‘Perhaps it is the key to the garden!’
She put the key in her pocket and walked up
and down. She couldn’t find the hidden door.
The next m orning M artha was back at work.
‘I have a present for you from m other,’ she said.
It was a skipping rope*.
In the garden Mary counted and skipped, and
skipped and counted until her cheeks were quite
red. She skipped into the kitchen garden and saw
Ben and the robin.
'Well!’ he exclaimed. 'Perhaps you are a child
after all!’
Mary skipped all round the gardens and the
orchard. The robin followed her.
'You showed me the key yesterday but I don’t
believe you know where the door is,’ she said.
Suddenly the wind moved the ivy covering the
wall. Mary caught it in her hand because she saw
something under it - a round knob*. The knob of
a door. She took out the key, put it in the lock, and
turned it. No one was coming. She pushed back the
door. It opened slowly.
skipping rope a piece of rope with a handle at each end which a person holds,
turning the rope and jumping over it
knob a round handle for a door
26
Then she went through it and shut it behind her.
She was standing inside the secret garden.
The garden was full of roses, they covered the
walls and the trees. Other roses looked like little
trees. Mary did not know if they were dead or alive.
'I am the first person who has been here for ten
years/ she whispered.
She walked around the garden and then noticed
little green points coming up from the earth, like
Ben W eatherstaff said. She decided to dig around
them to give them room to breathe. She spent the
whole day working in the garden.
That evening she said to Martha, ‘I wish I had a
little spade to dig!’
Martha promised to write to Dickon and ask
him to buy her one at the shop in the village. Then
Mary was so tired from the fresh air, the digging
and the skipping that she fell asleep. ■
27
Reading - KET style activity

1 Are the statements ‘Right’ (A) or ‘Wrong’ (B)? If there
is not enough information to answer ‘Right’ or ‘Wrong’
choose ‘Doesn’t say’ (C).
Example:
0 Mary did the same things every day.
A Right B W rong C Doesn’t say A n c w o rB I a b c l
1 Mary identified the locked garden because of the robin.

A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say
2 Mary thought she could hear a person crying.
3 Mary was very interested in the library.
4 Mary visited many bedrooms.
5 It was raining the day Mary found the key.
6 When Mary saw the robin pecking she was wearing
a new hat.
A Right B W rong C Doesn’t say
7 Mary found the door knob because of the rain.
8 Mary stayed in the garden all day.
Grammar
✓
2 Complete the sentences below with the Simple Past of the
irregular verbs in brackets.
She nothing to do so she ..went.. out (have, go)
28
1 S h e ..............to keep warm, sos h e ..............stronger.
(run, get)
2 S h e ..............to laugh as he hopped a n d .............
(begin, fly)
3 S h e ..............a robin, s h e ...............in the wind, s h e .......
hungry and s h e sorry for someone.
(understand, run, be, feel)
4 S h e ..............so many different rooms that s h e ...........
quite tired a n d ..............to think that there must be a
hundred, (see, become, begin)
3 Look at the conjunctions in the box and put them in the table.
tfrrfn finally a fte r that first o f all next
Introduces Introduces Introduces

the first event subsequent events the last event
then
Pre-reading Activity
Listening
*6 4 Choose the correct end for each sentence. Then listen to
the next part of the story to see if you were right.
1 Mary works in the garden...
A every day B every week
2 Mary has now been at Misselthwaite for...
A one month B one week
3 Ben’s favourite flowers are...
A sweet B roses
4 Mary wants to look for rabbits in the...
A garden B wood
29
Chapter 3
New Friends
► 6 The sun shone for nearly a week on the secret garden.

This was what Mary called it. She liked the feeling of
being shut out of the world in a fairy place.
Mary was beginning to like being outside. She
could run faster and skip to a hundred. She worked
in the garden. She was more pleased with the work
every day. She found many more green points and
cleared the earth around them. Sometimes she
tried to imagine the flowers that were coming.
She became friendlier with Ben Weatherstaff.
‘How long have you been here?’ he asked.
‘A m onth/ answered Mary.
‘You are a credit to Misselthwaite/ said Ben.
‘You are fatter and not so yellow. You were ugly
w hen you arrived/
Mary was not vain so she was not offended.
‘If you wanted to make a flower garden, what
would you plant?’ she asked.
‘Bulbs, and sweet-smelling things but mostly
roses/ answered Ben. ‘I learned about roses from a
young lady I was gardener for/
30
‘W here is she now?’ asked Mary.
‘Heaven,’ said Ben and pushed his spade into
the earth.
‘W hat about the roses?’ asked Mary. ‘How can
I tell if they are alive or dead?’
‘Look at them carefully after the rain and see
what happens,’ said Ben.
Mary decided to skip into the wood and look for
rabbits. At the gate, she heard a peculiar whistle.
A boy was sitting under a tree. He was playing a
pipe. He was about twelve, with a turned-up nose,
red cheeks and very blue eyes. He was very clean.
A squirrel*, a pheasant* and two rabbits were
watching him.
He saw Mary.
‘D on’t move,’ he said. ‘You’ll scare them .’
‘I’m Dickon, and you are Miss Mary,’ he said
after a pause. Mary was not surprised at all. W ho
else could charm animals?
‘Have you brought my spade?’ she asked.
‘Yes, and some seeds too,’ answered Dickon.
‘Have you got a bit of garden?’
squirrel a small red or grey animal with a big full tail that lives in woods
pheasant a wild bird that lives in the countryside, often hunted for food
31
>cm.
'Can you keep a secret if I tell you one?' asked

Mary Tve stolen a garden. It isn’t mine, nobody
wants it. Nobody can take it away from me! I care
about it and they don’t, they’re letting it die!’ Mary
started to cry.
‘W here is it?’ asked Dickon.
Mary took him to the garden. ■
► 7 ‘It’s a strange, pretty place. Like a dream,’ said Dickon.

He looked about for two or three minutes.
‘Did you know about this place?’ asked Mary.
‘Martha told me about it,’ said Dickon. ‘It’ll be
the safest nesting place* in England in the spring.’
‘Will there be roses? Perhaps they are dead,’
said Mary.
‘There’s a lot of old wood, but some is new,’
said Dickon.
They went from tree to tree and Dickon cut away
the dead wood with his knife. Suddenly he cried out.
‘W ho did that?’ He pointed to one of Mary’s
little clearings.
‘I did it,’ said Mary.
‘I thought you knew nothing about gardening,’
said Dickon.
nesting place a place, usually in a tree, where birds build their nests, or homes
32
‘I don t. They looked as if they had no room to
breathe, so I made a place for them,' answered Mary.
‘You were right,’ said Dickon. ‘They're snowdrops
and crocuses and daffodils*. There’s a lot of work to
do here.’
‘Will you help me do it?’ asked Mary.
‘I’ll come every day!’ said Dickon. ‘We’ll have a
lot of fun.’ He began to walk about, looking up at
the trees and walls.
‘I don’t want it to look all perfect,’ he said. ‘It’s
nicer like this.’
‘It wouldn’t seem like a secret garden if it was
tidy*,’ agreed Mary.
‘It’s a secret garden, but it seems as if someone
was in it after it was shut ten years ago,’ said Dickon.
‘But the door was locked and the key was
buried,’ said Mary. Then she said, ‘Dickon, you are
very nice and I like you. That makes five people
that I like. I never thought I would like five people.’
‘W ho are the other four?’ asked Dickon.
‘Your m other and Martha, and the robin and
Ben Weatherstaff.’
snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils three types of flower which grow in spring from
bulbs. Snowdrops are small and white, crocuses grow low to the ground and are
yellow or purple in colour, daffodils have a flower like a yellow trumpet
tidy in perfect order, everything in its place
33
\<y/L
'You are the strangest girl I ever m et,’ said

Dickon.
Then Mary did a strange thing. She asked him
a question she had never asked anyone before.
'Do you like me?’ she asked.
'Yes, I do,’ answered Dickon, 'and so does the robin.’
‘That’s two friends for m e,’ said Mary happily.
Mary was sorry when she heard the clock strike
midday.
'I have to go,’ she said. ‘You will have to go too.’
'My dinner* is easy to carry with me,’ said Dickon.
He took two slices of bread and some bacon* out of
his pocket.
'Promise you will never tell!’ said Mary.
‘You are safe with m e,’ said Dickon. And Mary
was quite sure she was.
Mary ran inside very fast.
'You’re late! Where have you been?’ asked Martha.
'I’ve seen Dickon!’ said Mary. ‘I think he’s
wonderful.’
Matha was very pleased. She asked where Mary
would plant her flowers and told her to ask Ben
W eatherstaff for a place. Mary ate her dinner very
dinner in the north of England and Scotland, people often talk about ‘dinner' at
midday and 'supper' or ‘tea’ in the evening
bacon a type of meat from a pig
\&TL
quickly and was going out again when Martha

stopped her.
'Mr Craven came back this m orning and he
wants to see you.’
Mary turned pale.
‘H e’s going away again tomorrow. H e’s going
to travel to foreign* places.’
Mary wanted him to go away and not come
back until winter. She would have time to watch
the secret garden come alive.
Mrs Medlock took Mary to a part of the house
she didn’t know. A man was sitting in an armchair
before the fire. He was not really a hunchback,
but he had high, crooked shoulders, and black
hair w ith a white streak. He was not ugly.
‘Come here,’ he said. ‘Are you well?’
‘Yes,’ answered Mary.
‘You are very thin,’ he said.
‘I am getting fatter,’ said Mary.
W hat an unhappy face he had!
‘W hat do you like to do?’ he asked.
‘I like to play outside.’
‘W here do you play?’ he asked.
‘Everywhere. I have a skipping rope. But I don’t
foreign of another country
36
do any harm / answered Mary.
'Don t look so frightened/ said Mr Craven in a
worried voice. ‘You may do what you like. Do you
w ant toys, books, dolls?’
'May I have a bit of earth?’ asked Mary.
‘Do you like gardens?’ he asked.
'I didn’t know about them in India,’ answered
Mary. ‘I sometimes made little beds in the sand*
and put flowers in them. But here it is different.’
'You can have as much earth as you want,’ he said.
'You remind me of someone who loved the earth.
And you may visit Martha’s mother and she may
visit you.’
Mary ran back to Martha.
‘I can have my garden,’ she said. And your mother
is coming to see me and I may go to your cottage!’
M artha was delighted. ‘That was nice of him,
wasn’t it?’ she said.
‘Martha,’ said Mary, ‘he is really a nice man, but
his face is so miserable.’
Mary ran as quickly as she could to the garden,
but Dickon was not there. Then she saw a piece of
paper attached to a rose bush. It was a letter. It said
‘I will come back’. ■
sand the material a beach is made from
37
Reading
1 Look at the events from Chapter 3 and put them in the
correct order.
AE| Mary gives the garden a special name.
B□ Mary meets her uncle.
C□ Dickon promises to help Mary in the garden.
D□ Mary asks Ben about garden plants.
E□ Mary tells Dickon her secret.
F □ Mary goes in for her dinner.
G□ Mary’s uncle agrees to give Mary a piece o f garden.
h D Dickon is surprised by Mary’s work in the garden.
Vocabulary - KET style activity

2 Read the sentences from Chapter 3. Choose the best word
(A, B or C) for each space.
Example:
0 She was more pleased ... the work every day.
A w ith B to C at E E H
1 She became frie n d lie r... Ben Weatherstaff.
A w ith B to C at
2 I learned about roses ... a young lady.
A o ff B at C from
3 A boy was sitting ... a tree.
A over B about C under
4 I care ... it and they don’t.
A about B behind C in
5 They went from tree ... tree.
A to B at C from
6 ‘I didn’t know about them ... India,’ answered Mary.
A on B in C at
38
Grammar
3 Complete the following questions from Chapter 3 using the
Simple Present or the Present Perfect question form. Then
check in the book.
‘How lo n g / y o u / b e / here?’ he asked.
1 You/ b rin g / m y/ spade?’ asked Mary. ..........................
2 ‘W here/ it / be?’ asked Dickon. ..........................
3 ‘W h o / b e / the other four?’ asked Dickon............................
4 ‘y o u / like/ me?’ she asked. ..........................
Pre-reading Activities
Listening
8 4 Listen to the next part of the story. Complete the sentences,
ticking A, B or C.
1 Mary goes out of her room w ith
A D a candle B D a torch C D nothing
2 The crying boy is
A D in a small room B D o n a bed C D next to a bed
3 The boy is Mr Craven’s
A □ nephew B D grandson C D son
4 Colin’s m other died
A □ soon after his birth B □ the year before his birth
C □ at this birth
5 Colin
A □ can read B D cannot read
C □ has no books
Speaking
5 Discuss these questions together.
- Do you think Colin really is ill?
- Do you think Dickon knows about Colin?
39
Chapter 4
Colin
► 8 Mary woke in the night and heard the sound of rain

which she hated. She could not go to sleep again.
Suddenly she heard something that made her sit up
in bed.
‘It isn’t the wind now/ she whispered. ‘It’s the
crying that I heard before/
She took a candle and w ent out of the room.
The distant crying led her to a door with light
coming from under it. She pushed it open.
There was a big room w ith very old furniture.
In it was a four-poster bed* and on the bed was a
boy who was crying.
The boy had a delicate face the colour of ivory*
and big eyes. He had a lot of hair which fell over
his forehead. He seemed to have been ill, and now
looked tired and angry.
‘W ho are you?’ he asked Mary. ‘Are you a ghost?’
‘No, I am n o t/ answered Mary. ‘Are you?
‘I am Colin Craven.’
four-poster bed a bed with four posts at the corners and a roof covering made
of fabric
ivory the material of which elephants’ tusks (teeth) are made
40
'I am Mary Lennox. Mr Craven is my uncle.'
‘He is my father,’ said the boy.
‘Your father?' said Mary. ‘No one told me he had
a boy! W hy are you crying?’
‘I can’t go to sleep. I am always ill. If I live I may
be a hunchback, but I w on’t live. My father hates
to think I may be like him .’
‘Does your father come to see you?’ asked Mary.
‘W hen I sleep. He doesn’t want to see m e,’ said
Colin. ‘My m other died when I was born and it
makes him sad to look at me. He almost hates me.
I want to hear about you.’
Mary sat near the bed and told Colin about
herself. She answered many questions about India
and her voyage across the ocean. Mary discovered
that because he was ill he did not do the things
other children did. He did not study. But he could
read and he had splendid books full of pictures.
‘How old are you?’ asked Colin.
‘I am ten and so are you,’ answered Mary.
‘How do you know?’ asked Colin, surprised. >
‘Because when you were born, the garden door
was locked. It has been locked for ten years.’
41
)<m.
‘W hat garden?' asked Colin.

‘The garden that Mr Craven hates,' answered Mary.
‘I can make them open it,' said Colin. ‘They all
have to please me, I will make them take me there,
and you too.'
‘Oh don't - don't!' cried Mary. ‘It will never be
a secret again!’
Mary started talking about what the secret garden
might look like and Colin listened. She told him
about the robin and he smiled.
‘W hen you stay in a room all the time you
never see things,’ he said. ‘I am going to let you
look at something. Pull back that curtain.'
Mary pulled back a silk curtain and saw a picture
of a girl with a laughing face.
‘She is my m other,’ said Colin.
‘She is much prettier than you,’ said Mary, ‘but
her eyes are just like yours.’
Colin looked sleepy. Mary was sorry for him so
she sang a song until he was asleep, and then left
in silence. ■
42
*< m . -j Quwim
► 9 The next day it rained and Mary could not go out.

In the afternoon M artha came to sit with her.
'I know what the crying is/ said Mary. 'It's Colin.
He is happy I came/
Martha was frightened.
‘Don t worry/ said Mary, ‘you won’t lose your job.’
‘But he w on’t let strangers* look at him!’ said
Martha in amazement.
‘He let me look at him!’ said Mary. ‘I think he
likes m e.’
‘H e’s been ill very often,’ said Martha, ‘but my
m other says it’s bad that he lives w ithout fresh air,
doing nothing, just lying on his back looking at
books and taking medicine. H e’s weak.’
‘Perhaps it would help him to go out into a
garden and watch things grow. It did me good.’
Mary w ent to visit Colin with Martha, who
was very worried.
‘If I want to see Mary, Mrs Medlock cannot
send you away, M artha,’ said Colin. ‘She must do
as I please. Everyone must do as I please.’
Mary told Colin about India, about Dickon
and about the moor. Colin and Mary talked and
strangers people we do not know personally
44
listened and laughed and enjoyed themselves.
Suddenly Colin said, ‘Do you know, there is
something we never thought of. We are cousins!’
They laughed more than ever and at that moment
Mrs Medlock and the doctor arrived. They were
horrified*.
'Mary makes me better,’ said Colin. ‘The nurse
must bring her tea with mine. We will have tea
together.’
‘Do not forget that you are ill,’ said the doctor.
‘I want to forget! Mary makes me forget. That
is why I w ant her. Now Mary, tell me about India.’
It rained for another week. Mary could not go
to the secret garden, but she enjoyed herself very
much w ith Colin.
‘Colin has been very well since you made friends,’
said Mrs Medlock.
Mary was careful not to tell Colin about the
garden. She did not know if she could trust him.
She also did not know if it was possible to take him
to the garden in secret. But gardens and fresh air
were good for her, perhaps they would help Colin
get better too.
horrified shocked
45
On the first m orning with a blue sky, Mary got
up very early and ran to the garden. It was much
greener and plants were growing. Suddenly she
saw Dickon and ran to him. Dickon had a little fox
cub with him, nam ed Captain, and a crow named
Soot. He showed Mary all the new green points
which were growing in the garden.
'There is something that I w ant to tell you,’
said Mary. 'Do you know about Colin?’
Dickon looked very surprised.
'I talk to him every day. He wants me to come.
He says I make him forget about being ill and dying.’
‘I’m glad. I am also glad you know about him. I
could not speak about him, and I don’t like hiding
things.’
‘Don’t you like hiding the garden?’ asked Mary.
‘I’ll never tell about it, but I told m other I have
a secret to keep. Not a bad one, a secret like where
a bird’s nest is,’ said Dickon.
‘W hat did she say?’ asked Mary.
‘She said: I’ve known you for twelve years and
you can have all the secrets you like!’
46
‘Do you think Colin wants to die?’ asked Mary.
‘No, but I think he’s sorry that he was born.
Mother says that children who are not wanted
don’t live well. It’s not right. I wonder if we could
get him into this garden.’
‘I’ve thought that too,’ said Mary. ‘Perhaps you
could help him push his carriage. He can make
the gardeners stay away.’
‘I think that would be better than doctors and
medicine,’ said Dickon. ‘We will have to bring
him here.’ Dickon looked up. ‘Look! The robin is
sitting on that branch. He’s thinking about how
to build his nest. Go on boy! You’ve got no time
to lose!’
‘I like to hear you talk to him,’ said Mary. Ben
Weatherstaff talks to him too and I know he likes it.’
‘We won’t tell where your nest is,’ said Dickon
to the robin, ‘if you don’t tell about our garden!’
Mary knew the robin would keep their secret. ■
47
Reading - KET style activity

1 Complete this summary of Chapter 4. Write ONE word in
each space.
Mary could not (0) ...sjeeg . .because of the r
someone (1 )...................She took a candle and ( 2 ) .................
out of the room. The crying came from behind a door. She
opened the door and saw a ( 3 ) ...................crying on a bed.
The boy was Colin Craven, Mr Craven’s ( 4 ) ...................He told
Mary he was always ill and probably would not live. Mary and
Colin talked for a while and then Mary ( 5 ) ................. him to
sleep. Every day for a week Mary visited Colin. Mary told him
about ( 6 ) .................., her voyage, Dickon and the moor. But
she did not ( 7 ) ................. him enough to tell him about the
secret garden. The first day it stopped (8 ) .................., Mary
went out to the garden and met Dickon. She told him about
Colin. Dickon suggested they bring Colin to the ( 9 ) .................
Then they watched the robin build his (1 0 ).................
Grammar
2 Read the sentences and then join them using the relative
pronouns which/that or who. Then check in Chapter 4.
Mary woke in the night and heard the sound of rain.
She hated it.
M aryw okejn the .night. and heard, the. sound .which..
she hated................................................................................
1 She heard something. It made her sit up in bed.
2 It’s the crying. I heard it before.’
3 There was a four-poster bed and on the bed was a boy.
He was crying.
4 He had a lot of hair. It fell over his forehead.
5 Mary went to visit Colin with Martha. Martha was very worried.
6 He showed Mary all the new green points. They were
growing in the garden.
48
3 Look at the verb pattern m ake/ help/let + object + infinitive
without to. Then look at the jumbled sentences and put the
words in the correct order as in the example.
m ake/ it / 1/ th e m / can/ open ../. can make, them open, it,
1 ta ke / th e re / w ill/ th e m / 1/ m ake/ me
2 le t/ som ething/l / g o in g / y o u / t o / a m / a t/ look
3 strangers/ h e / lo o k / h im / won’t / a t/ let
4 h im / lo o k / h e /m e / le t/ at
5 C olin/ th e y/ b e tte r/ g e t/ he lp / w o u ld / perhaps
6 c o u ld / push/ carriage/ his/ perhaps/ he lp / y o u / him
Writing - KET style activity

4 Write a short note (about 30 words) from Colin to his doctor
saying why he likes Mary and wants her to visit him. Start
like this:
Dear Doctor,
I have met my cousin Mary and I really like her. She.............
Listening
► 10 5 Listen to the next part of the story and say if the statements
are true (T) or false (F).
T F
1 The afternoon is better than the morning. □ □
2 Colin is sitting up when Mary goes to see him. □ □
3 Colin says that Dickon is selfish. □ □
4 Colin asks Mary to stay. □ □
5 Mr Craven sent Mary some dolls. □ □
6 Mr Craven decides to w rite to Colin. □ □
7 Colin screams all day. □ □
8 Mary tells Colin to stop screaming. □ □
49
Chapter 5
Spring Has Come
► 10 Mary and Dickon had a lot to do that morning

and Mary was late for dinner.
Tell Colin I can't come and see him yet,’ she said
to Martha. ‘I’m very busy in the garden.’
The afternoon was lovelier and busier than the
morning. The weeds were cleared out and the roses
and trees were pruned*.
‘You’re stronger than you were,’ said Dickon.
‘I’m fatter,’ said Mary. ‘My hair is thicker too.’
She wanted to tell Colin about Dickon and the
garden. When she went into Colin’s room he was
lying on his bed.
‘Why didn’t you get up?’ she asked.
‘I got up this morning when I thought you were
coming,’ said Colin. ‘Why didn’t you come?’
‘I was working in the garden with Dickon,’ said
Mary.
‘I won’t let that boy come here if you stay with him
instead of me,’ said Colin.
pruned past participle of to prune, to cut back plants in spring so they grow
better
50
'If you send Dickon away, I’ll never come here
again,’ answered Mary
‘I’ll make them bring you,’ said Colin.
'You’re selfish!’ replied Mary ‘You’re more selfish
than me. You’re the most selfish boy I ever knew!’
‘I’m not as selfish as Dickon! He keeps you in the
garden when he knows I’m here alone!’ cried Colin.
‘He’s nicer than any other boy that lived!’ shouted
Mary.
‘Get out!’ said Colin.
‘I wanted to tell you lots of nice things, but now
I won’t tell you anything!’ said Mary.
Outside the door Mary found the nurse laughing.
‘It’s the best thing that could happen to him, a child
as spoiled* as himself to fight with. You’ll save him!’
‘Is he going to die?’ asked Mary.
‘Hysterics are his problem,’ answered the nurse.
Mary went back to her room. She was angry but
she was not sorry for Colin. Martha was waiting for
her. There was a wooden box on the table.
‘Mr Craven sent it to you,’ said Martha.
spoiled describes a person, usually a child, who always gets everything he or

she wants
51
\<yrL
Mary found several beautiful books. Two were

about gardens and were full of pictures. There were
two or three games and a beautiful little writing
case with a gold pen.
‘I will write him a letter to thank him,’ said Mary.
Mary suddenly felt sorry she couldn’t go and
show Colin her new games and books.
‘He has been cross today,’ she thought. ‘Perhaps
he is thinking about dying. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll
go and see him.’
During the night she heard terrible sounds,
someone crying and screaming. She put her hands
over her ears and felt sick.
‘Somebody ought to make him stop!’ she said.
At that moment the nurse entered her room.
‘No one can do anything, come and try. He likes
you,’ she said.
Mary ran to Colin’s room, threw open the door
and ran to the four-poster bed.
‘You stop that!’ she shouted. ‘Stop it! I hate you!
Everybody hates you! You’ll scream yourself to
death in minute!’
Colin actually stopped for a moment.
52
‘If you scream again, I’ll scream too. I can scream
louder than you and I’ll frighten you.’
‘I can’t!’ gasped Colin.
‘You can, you can!’ answered Mary. ■
► 11 ‘I felt the lump on my back, I shall be a hunchback

and then I shall die,’ said Colin.
‘Nurse!’ commanded Mary. ‘Come here and show
me his back.’
Mary looked at Colin’s back. It was very thin
but there was no lump.
‘There’s not a single lump on your back,’ said
Mary. ‘If you say there is, I shall laugh.’
Colin looked at the nurse.
‘Do you think I’ll live?’ he asked.
‘Yes, if you do what you are told and go out in
the fresh air,’ she answered.
‘Mary, I would like to go out with you and Dickon,’
said Colin.
When Colin was calm again, everyone went
to bed. Mary stayed and talked to him about the
garden until he was asleep.
The next morning Mary woke late. She went
immediately to see Colin.
53
i<m.
‘I’m going to see Dickon for a moment/ she said,

'but I’ll come back. It’s about the secret garden.’
Colin’s face brightened and colour came into it.
When Mary went to the garden Dickon was
already there.
‘Listen to the birds!’ said Dickon. ‘It’s spring and
that poor boy is lying shut up in the house. We
must get him out here,’ he said.
‘Yes, we must,’ agreed Mary. ‘He wants to meet
you. I’ll ask if you can come and see him tomorrow
morning.’ Dickon showed Mary his squirrels and
his crow, and then his pony. It was very small and
pretty, and very strong. Its name was Jump.
When Mary went back to Colin’s room, he
said, ‘you smell like flowers and fresh things!’
‘It’s the wind from the moor,’ said Mary. And
she told him about Dickon and his animals.
‘And there’s more,’ she said. ‘Can I really trust
you? Dickon will come and see you tomorrow
morning with his animals. And the rest is better.
There’s a door into the garden. I found it.’
‘Oh Mary!’ gasped Colin. ‘Shall I see it?’ Shall I
live to get into it?’
54
\<xn.
‘Of course you will!’ said Mary. ‘Don’t be silly.’
The next morning the doctor visited Colin. He was

very surprised to find him happy and laughing,
looking at books about gardens with Mary.
‘I want to go out with my cousin and with Dickon,’
said Colin.
‘You will be safe with Dickon,’ said the doctor.
‘But you must rem ember-’
‘I don’t want to remember!’ said Colin. ‘I want
to forget I am ill!’
The doctor left with Mrs Medlock.
‘This is a new state of affairs*,’ he said. ‘And it
is better than the old one.’
The next morning Colin woke up and smiled. He

felt very comfortable, it was nice to be awake.
Mary arrived.
‘It has come!’ she said. ‘The spring! Dickon says
so!’ She opened the window and in a moment
freshness and scents were coming in. Colin breathed
deeply again and again and felt that something new
and wonderful was happening to him.
‘The flowers are coming up,’said Mary. ‘Everything
state of affairs situation
56
is new, and Dickon has a lamb. Its mother died and
he saved it/
Mary and Colin had breakfast together.
Suddenly Colin heard animal sounds. Dickon
came in smiling his nicest smile. Colin was shy
and didn’t know what to say. But Dickon was not
worried. He was used to shy animals. He started
to feed the lamb with a bottle.
Colin started to ask question after question.
As Dickon told them how he found the lamb, the
crow flew in and out of the open window and the
squirrels went out onto the big tree. The children
looked at the pictures in the gardening books.
Dickon knew all the flowers by their country
names. He knew which ones were already growing
in the secret garden.
‘This is a snapdragon/ he said, ‘and it grows
out in the fields, but the garden one is bigger and
grander. And this is columbine. It looks like blue
and white butterflies/
Tm going to see them!’ shouted Colin.
‘Yes you are,’ said Mary. ‘And you must waste
no time.’ ■
57
Reading
1 Look at the sentences and tick the ones that correctly
describe events from Chapter 5.
1 □ Colin screams all night because he is angry with Mary.
2 □ Mary is very gentle w ith him.
3 □ Mary receives a box of presents from Mr Craven.
4 □ Mary and Dickon agree that Colin must come into the
garden.
5 □ Colin says he prefers to stay in his room.
6 □ Dickon brings his pony to visit Colin.
Grammar
2 Look at the adjectives and make their comparative form.
Then use them to complete the sentences from Chapter 5.
Check in your book.
lovely ......... I9Y.?.1.1.?.?.......... d good
busy e big
a thick f strong
b fat g grand
c loud h selfish
The afternoon was J.aveJier.and .busier, tha

1 ‘You’r e ...............than you were,’ said Dickon.
2 ‘I’m .............. ’ said Mary. ‘My hair is ...............too.’
3 You’r e ...............than me. You’re the most selfish boy I
ever knew!’
4 I can scre a m than you and I’ll frighten you.’
5 And it is ...............than the old one.
6 It grows out in the fields, but the garden one is .............
a n d ...............
58
Writing - KET style activity
3 Read these two notes about the contents of Mary’s box. Fill
in the Post Office form with the information.
Order Form Dear Mary,

Wilson’s Toy Shop 1hope you like these books
Two books: Beautiful Gardens, and games. 1bought them
Gardening for Children for you in London. 1am
Three games: chess, cards, sending them by special
snakes and ladders delivery so 1hope they
One writing case containing: arrive very soon.
paper, envelopes, ink, gold pen, Your uncle,
Total: six items = £5 Mr Craven
To deliver by post directly to:
Miss Mary Lennox
Misselthwaite Manor
Misselthwaite - Yorkshire
Post Office Form

Sender/ Type of delivery: 1 M rC raven/
Number of items in parcel/ value of parcel: | /
Address for delivery/ City sent from: 1 / 1
Listening - KET style activity

12 4 Listen and write a letter (A-H) next to each person.
1 Colin □ A had a cold
2 Dickon □ B w rote a letter
3 The head gardener □ C took orders from Colin
4 Mary □ D had lunch
5 The nurse □ E laughed with Colin
6 Colin □ F came to visit every day
G covered his eyes with his hands
H made Colin ready
Chapter 6
I Will Live Forever!
► 12 They had to wait for more than a week because it

was very windy and Colin had a cold. Dickon came
to visit every day They had to plan the visit to the
secret garden. No one must see them. They had
long talks about the visit and which paths to take
to the garden.
One day the head gardener was called to Colin’s
room. When the door opened he was very surprised.
Colin was sitting in an armchair and Dickon was
next to him, feeding a lamb from a bottle. There
was a crow on the back of a chair, and a squirrel on
Dickon s back. Mary was sitting on a stool.
‘Are you the gardener?’ asked Colin. ‘I have
some very important orders for you. I am going
out this afternoon and I want all the gardeners to
stay away from the garden when I am there.’
‘Very good, sir,’ answered the head gardener.
He went out of the room.
‘This afternoon I will see it. This afternoon I
will be in it,’ said Colin. ‘What will it look like? I’ve
never seen it before.’
60
The nurse made Colin ready. She noticed that he
tried to help himself when she was dressing him.
He talked and laughed with Mary. The strongest
servant in the house carried him downstairs to his
wheelchair.
Dickon began to push it. Colin looked up at
the sky. It seemed very high and the snowy clouds
looked like little white birds. Colin looked as if he
was listening with his eyes.
‘This is where I used to walk up and down and
think,’ said Mary.
‘Is it?’ replied Colin.
‘This is the garden where Ben Weatherstaff
works,’ said Mary.
‘Is it?’ asked Colin.
‘This is where I met the robin,’ said Mary.
‘And this is where he showed me the key,’ said
Mary.
Dickon pushed him into the garden. Colin
covered his eyes with his hands. When the chair
stopped he took them away and looked around.
61
i&TL
Here and there and everywhere were touches of

gold and purple and white. The trees were pink
and white. Wings fluttered* and there were sweet
smells. The sun was warm on his face. Mary and
Dickon stared at Colin. He looked strange and
different because there was colour in his face.
‘I will get well! I will get well! And I will live
forever and ever and ever!’ ■
► 13 That afternoon the whole world seemed to want

to be perfect and beautiful and kind to one boy.
The spring put everything it could into one place.
‘I think I’ve never seen an afternoon as beautiful
as this,’ said Dickon.
They put Colin’s chair under a plum tree which
was white with flowers and musical with bees.
Mary and Dickon worked and Colin watched.
They brought him things to look at: buds*, twigs*,
a feather, an empty egg shell. Every moment of
the afternoon was full of new things and every
hour the sun became more golden.
to flutter to move rapidly, e.g. like wings, paper, leaves, fabric and other light
materials in the wind
bud the small “baby” leaf or flower before it develops
twig very small branches on a tree or bush
62
That's a very old tree over there, isn’t it?’ asked
Colin.
Dickon and Mary looked at the tree.
'Yes,’ said Dickon, very gently.
'It looks as if a branch broke off,’ said Colin.
'Along time ago,’ said Dickon. Suddenly, relieved,
Dickon said, 'Look! The robin!’
Colin saw the robin and laughed.
‘He’s taking tea to his mate,’ he said. 'Perhaps
it’s five o’clock. I’d like some tea too.’
They were safe.
Both Mary and Dickon knew how the tree lost its
branch ten years ago.
'We could never tell him how it broke,’ said Dickon.
'If he asks again, we must try to look cheerful.’
Colin now looked like a different boy. He had
colour in his face and he looked as if he was made
of flesh instead of ivory or wax*.
'I want to come here every day,’ said Colin. ‘I will
grow.’
‘Yes, and you’ll walk too,’ said Dickon.
wax substance made by bees, and used to make candles or models
63
‘Walk!’ said Colin. 'Will I?’
‘You’ve got legs.’
'Yes. There isn’t anything wrong with them, but
they are very thin and I’m afraid to stand,’ said Colin.
'When you stop being afraid, you’ll stand on
them,’ said Dickon, 'and you’ll stop being afraid
very soon.’
Suddenly Colin whispered, 'Who is that man?’
It was Ben Weatherstaff looking at them over
the wall from a ladder. He was very angry. He
shouted at Mary. But suddenly he stopped. Dickon
pushed Colin closer to the wall.
'Do you know who I am?’ asked Colin.
‘Yes, you have your mother’s eyes. How did
you get here? You’re a cripple*.’
Colin turned red and sat up.
'I’m not a cripple!’ he shouted. He was angry
and insulted.
‘Come here!’ he shouted to Dickon. Dickon
was by his side in a second. Colin held his arm
and then slowly stood up, as straight as an arrow.
He looked very tall.
‘Look at me!’ he shouted.
cripple an unkind and sometimes offensive word to refer to a person who is

physically disabled in some way
64
)&TL
‘He's as straight as I am, he’s as straight as any

boy in Yorkshire!’ cried Dickon.
Suddenly tears ran down Ben Weatherstaff’s
face.
‘The lies people tell! God bless you!’ he said.
‘This is my garden,’ said Colin. ‘Mary will bring
you here. I want to talk to you. You will have to be
part of the secret. Go and meet him, Mary.’
‘You see, you’ve stopped being afraid,’ said Dickon.
Are you two doing magic?’ Colin asked his friend.
‘No, you’re doing magic,’ said Dickon to Colin.
‘The same magic that made these flowers grow.’
‘I’m going to walk to that tree,’ said Colin
suddenly. ‘I’m going to stand when Ben Weatherstaff
gets here. I can rest against the tree if I want. When
I want to sit down I will sit down, but not before.’
Ben Weatherstaff came into the garden with Mary.
‘Am I a hunchback?’ Colin asked Ben.
‘No. Why have you been hiding? You made
people think you were a cripple and an idiot. The
world is full of liars. Why did you hide yourself
away?’
‘Everyone thought I was going to die,’ said
Colin. ‘I’m not.’
66
‘No, you’re not,’ said Ben. ‘You are very brave.
Now, sit down and give me your orders.’
‘What do you do here?’ asked Colin.
Anything. They keep me because she liked me,’
said Ben.
‘Who?’ asked Colin.
‘Your mother,’ said Ben. ‘She was very fond of*
this garden.’
‘Now it’s my garden,’ said Colin. ‘I will come
here every day. No one must know that we come
here. You must come when no one can see you.’
‘I’ve come here before when no one saw me,’
smiled Ben. ‘I came over the wall. She said to me:
Ben, if I go away, you must take care of my roses.
And I did.’
Colin tried to dig, and managed to turn some earth.
‘Would you like to plant something?’ asked Ben.
‘I can get you a rose in a pot.’ He went to get it.
‘Here,’ he said to Colin. ‘Put it in the earth
yourself, like a king when he goes to a new palace.’
When the sun began to go down, Colin was
actually standing on his own two feet and laughing. ■
to be fond of someone/ something to like someone or enjoy something
67
Reading
1 Match the sentence halves to make true sentences
about Chapter 6.
1 □ The children couldn’t go out for a week because
2 □ Colin ordered that all the gardeners
3 D When he entered the garden Colin saw
4 □ Mary and Dickon both knew why
5 □ At first Ben W eatherstaff was
6 D Colin planted
a Colin had a cold,
b a rose.
c many different colours,
d very angry,
e the branch was broken,
f had to stay away.
Speaking - KET style activity

2 Work in pairs. Student B looks at the information on the
left and covers the prompts on the right. Student A
covers the information and asks questions using the
prompts on the right. Then the students change roles
and use the second set of information.
Student B Student A
Inform ation about feeding Ask these questions:
the lamb:
- The bottle is always clean - B o ttle / always/ clean?
- The milk is always fresh - M ilk/ fresh?
- Feed regularly every 4 hours - How o fte n / fe e d / lamb?
- Put old newspaper on floor - W h a t/ put / on floor?
- One pint of milk each tim e - How m uch/ m ilk / g ive /
each time?
68
Student A Student B
Inform ation about secret plan Ask these questions:
to get Colin out
- Plan is absolutely secret - Plan/ secret or public?
- Colin will go out about 2pm - W hat tim e / C olin/ go out?
- Route: long path along - W h a t/ route?
secret garden
- Gardeners can’t stay - Gardeners/ ca n / stay?
- Purpose of visit: for Colin to see - W h a t/ purpose of visit?
the secret garden in spring

► 14 3 Listen to the next part of the story. For each question tick
( / ) A, B or C.
Example:
0 The doctor is worried about
A 0 Colin b Q Dickon C d M a r y
1 Mary thinks that

A □ Colin was rude B Q Colin was funny
C □ Colin was boring
2 Colin decides to
A □ take a long rest B Q have dinner
C D go to the garden every day
3 Ben says that Colin’s m other
A □ loved flowers B Q liked walking
C □ enjoyed helping him
4 Colin asked everyone to
A □ stand in a circle B Q sit in a circle
C[H stand in a row
69
Chapter 7
Magic
► 14 The doctor was waiting at the house when they

returned. He checked Colin very carefully
'You should not stay out so long/ he said. 'You
must not do too much/
'I am not tired at all/ said Colin. 'Tomorrow I
am going out in the garden in the morning and
the afternoon/
‘I am not sure I can allow it/ said the doctor.
'Do not try to stop me. I am going/ said Colin.
Mary thought that Colin was very rude.
She thought back to when she first arrived at
Misselthwaite and discovered that her bad
manners* were not usual or popular. She decided
to tell Colin.
'I am sorry for the doctor/ she said. 'It must be
horrible to have to be polite to a rude boy/
'Am I rude?' asked Colin.
‘Yes, you are/ answered Mary. ‘People daren't
do things to make you angry because they think
you are going to die. You are a poor thing.’
manners a person’s behaviour to other people. To have good manners = to be

polite
1 am not going to be a poor thing,’ said Colin. ‘I
stood on my feet this afternoon. I am not going to
be strange any more. I will go to the garden every
day. There is magic there, good magic.’
‘Yes, there is,’ said Mary.
The garden seemed magic in the months that
followed. The green pushed its way up. The buds
arrived and began to open and show colour - blue,
purple, red, white.
‘She was very fond of flowers,’ said Ben. ‘She
loved things that pointed up to the sky.’
Colin watched the roses grow. Fascinated, he
watched each change. Every morning he was
brought out and he spent every hour of the day
in the garden, when it didn’t rain. He watched
the insects and animals too. Often he talked about
magic with Mary.
‘I am going to try and experiment,’ he said.
He called for Ben.
‘Ben, please stand in a row* with Dickon and
Mary because I am going to tell you something
very important. When I grow up I am going to do
scientific experiments and I am going to begin now.
row straight line
71
The magic in this garden made me stand up and I
know I am going to live to be a man. I am going to
call the magic and make it go inside m e/
They all sat down in a circle and Colin started
to repeat: 'the magic is in me, the magic is in me.
Magic, magic come and help/
Suddenly he announced, 'I am going to walk
round the garden/
Colin started to walk with Dickon and Mary at his
side, Ben behind, and then all of Dickon s animals.
They moved slowly but with dignity. Every few yards
they stopped to rest. Sometimes Colin walked a few
steps alone without support. He went all round the
garden before stopping.
‘This is the biggest secret of all/ said Colin.
‘No one must know about it until I can walk and
run like other boys. Then when my father comes
home I will walk into his study and say - Here I
am. I am like other boys. I am quite well and I will
live to be a man/ ■
► 15 Colin was always miserable at the idea that his

father was afraid to look at him.
‘You will be a boxer!’ said Ben.
‘No, I will be a scientific discoverer!’ said Colin.
72
Dickon also worked in another garden, growing
vegetables and herbs for his mother. Dickon s
mother loved to sit and talk to him in the garden
after dinner. There were flowers in it too.
One evening Dickon told his mother the secret.
The children agreed that she could know. She was
happy and asked many questions.
‘What do they all think of it at the Manor?' she
asked.
‘They don't know what to think,' answered
Dickon. ‘In any case it's a secret. Colin pretends to
complain* sometimes, so no one tells his father. He
complains to the servants, he complains to Mary,
and Mary pretends to be sorry for him. Then, when
we get him safe into the garden they laugh and
laugh. The problem is that they are always hungry.
Colin wants more food, but can’t ask for it or the
servants will guess. Mary can't give him her food
because she will get thin.’
Dickon's mother laughed.
‘I'll make some bread and buns* and send them,’
she said.
‘You are wonderful, mother!’ said Dickon.
to complain to express displeasure, unhappiness

bun single round piece of bread, usually sweet
74
In fact the doctor and the nurse noticed that
Colin was eating much more. The doctor wanted
to write and tell his father, but Colin was very angry.
‘You must not tell him!’ he shouted. ‘It will
disappoint* him if I get worse again.’
Colin decided to eat less, but this brilliant idea
was too difficult. Every morning breakfast arrived
and he was very hungry.
‘I think I will have to eat it all,’ he said to Mary.
‘But I can send away some lunch or dinner.’
But they never sent away anything.
‘I wish the ham was thicker, and one muffin* is
not enough,’ said Colin.
‘It is enough for a person who is going to die,
but not for a person who is going to live,’ said Mary.
Then one morning Dickon brought them fresh

milk and buns from his mother. What a kind, clever
woman! They ate everything and Colin sent thanks
to Dickon’s mother. More food arrived, and the
children realised that it was not easy for Dickon’s
mother to send it with fourteen people at home to
feed. They sent her some of their money.
to disappoint to fail to realise a person’s hopes or expectations, making them sad

muffin a type of rich bread, sometimes sweet. Usually served hot
75
>cm.
Every day they repeated the magic circle, and

every day Colin walked. He became stronger
and could walk better. Dickon showed him some
exercises he learned from an athlete. Colin and
Mary started to do them every day. They also
discovered how to roast potatoes and eggs in the
wood. With that, and the food from Dickon s
mother, they could refuse the food in the house.
The servants could not understand how they were
getting fatter without eating anything.
‘The boy is a new creature,’ said the doctor to
Mrs Medlock.
‘And the girl is pretty since she got fatter and
lost her ugly look. She and Colin laugh together
all the time. Perhaps they are getting fat on that.’
‘Perhaps they are,’ said the doctor. ‘Let them
laugh.’
Every morning there was something new in the
secret garden. There were eggs in the robin’s nest.
The children stayed away from the nest, to leave
it in peace, and the robin and his mate watched
them with interest.
One day it rained and Colin was bored. Mary
had an idea.
76
‘Colin/ she said, ‘do you know how many
rooms there are in the house?’
‘A bout a thousand I think,’ said Colin.
‘There are about a hundred,’ said Mary
‘Let’s go and look at them! You can wheel my
chair. No one will follow us.’
They spent the morning looking at all the
rooms in the house. They were fascinated.
When they went back to Colin’s room, Mary
noticed a difference. The portrait of Colin’s mother
was not covered.
‘I am not angry to see her now,’ said Colin. ‘I
want to see her all the time. I think she was a sort
of magic person.’ ■
77
Reading
1 Read the summary and underline the mistakes. The first
is done for you. There are five more.
When Colin got back to the house Mrs Medlock was
worried, but Colin decided to return to the garden.
He went there every day and was bored watching the
plants grow and the animals. Ben told him that his aunt
loved flowers. One day Colin managed to walk all round
the garden. Dickon’s m other was afraid to hear of the
children’s activities and decided to send them food. The
children pretended not to eat, because Colin wanted
everyone to know that he could walk. He uncovered his
m other’s picture because he didn’t want to see her any
more.
.the doctor i .................... 2

3 .................... 4 .................... 5 ....................
Grammar
2 Look at the sentence from Chapter 7. What sort of future
time do they talk about? Then use the prompts below to
make sentences with going to and check in Chapter 7.
am not .going to be a.poor thing, 'sajdCglin............
A □ a possible future event
b D a definite intention
C D a tim etabled event
1 □ 1/ n o t/ going t o / b e / strange any more.
2 □ When I grow u p / 1/ going to / do scientific experiments.
3 □ I know 1/ going t o / live to be a man.
4 □ 1/ going to / call the magic and make it go inside me.’
5 □ 1/ going t o / walk round the garden.
78
Vocabulary
3 Look at the sentences and find opposites (antonyms)
for the adjectives underlined. They can all be found in
Chapter 7.
Danny has g ot such good manners,
he’s very polite........................................ ............ ....................
1 It’s a very ordinary sort of film,
nothing special.........................................................................
2 Please take your d irty boots
outside the house! .................................
3 He’s getting married and
she’s very happy for him. .................................
4 Don’t go there, it’s a very
dangerous place! .................................
Pre-reading Activities
Speaking
4 Talk together and decide if these characters will appear in
the last chapter and why.
the nurse the doctor Mr Craven Dickon’s m other

► 17 5 Listen to the next part of the story and complete the table.
Archibald Craven’s travels
Travelled ^ Far and
To the H n n ip i-e st m n ^ t................ places
Valley in |
Received H a ................ from Susan Sowerby
Means of transport |
Number of years |
79
Chapter 8
In the Garden
► 16 The children continued to believe in magic.

Sometimes Colin gave them lectures* on the
subject.
‘W hen I grow up I will make scientific discoveries,
and I will give lectures about them. I can only give
short lectures now because I am young, and Ben
Weatherstaff will think he is in church and fall
asleep,’ he said.
Ben watched Colin. Once Colin asked him, ‘W hat
are you thinking about?’
‘I think you have gained three or four pounds*
this week,’ answered Ben.
‘It’s the magic, and Dickon’s mother’s buns and
milk,’ said Colin. Suddenly he looked across the garden.
‘W ho is that coming in?’ he asked.
A wom an entered the garden. She had a nice
fresh face and very affectionate eyes.
‘It’s m other!’ cried Dickon, and ran to her.
Colin w ent to her too, and Mary with him.
lecture a long talk on a specific subject, usually educational

pound until recently the UK used ‘im perial’ w eights based on pounds, one
pound is equal to 0.45 kilos
‘Even when I was ill I wanted to see you/ he
said. 'You and Dickon and the secret garden/
'Dear boy/ she said, ‘You are so like your m other/
Then she put her hands on Mary’s shoulders and
looked at her. And you too. You must be like your
mother. Mrs Medlock said she was a pretty woman.’
Colin and Mary took her round the garden and
kept looking at her face. She gave them a lovely
feeling, as if she understood them. She had a basket
of food, and they sat together under a tree. The
children ate, and she talked.
‘I’d like to see your father’s face when he comes
back,’ she said.
Suddenly Colin caught her cloak* and held it.
'I wish you were my m other!’ he said. Dickon’s
m other hugged him under the cloak.
‘Your m other is in this garden I believe,’ she
said. ‘She couldn’t stay out of it. Your father m ust
come back.’ ■
► 17 Archibald Craven travelled far and wide. He saw

the most beautiful places in Europe, but stayed
nowhere for more than two or three days. He went
cloak used before coats, a large piece of fabric to pull around the body to keep
w arm
81
iO T L
to the quietest, most rem ote* places. He climbed

the highest mountains. But the light never seemed
to touch him. His thoughts were dark.
One day he was in a wonderful valley in Austria.
He was sitting by a beautiful stream* when gradually
his mind and body became quiet.
‘W hat is it?’ he asked himself. ‘I feel almost
alive again!’
Months later he discovered that this was the
day and hour that Colin cried, ‘I am going to live
for ever and ever.’
One night Mr Craven dreamed a voice called
him. It seemed real.
‘Archie! Archie!’ it called.
‘Lilias! W here are you?’ he asked.
‘In the garden, in the garden,’ she answered.
The next m orning he received a letter. The first
words immediately attracted his attention.
2>ear Si)— X am S usan
to you ab o u t M iss Mary. P/eaSe s ir, X think you
sh o u /d d o m e homeattain. X think you
happy to dom e, and X think your lady
coant you to d o m e, sh e
iP here.
Your obedient Servant,
S u san S o co erb y
remote very far from tow ns and villages

stream a narrow river
82
\om*
‘I will go back to Misselth waite,’ he said. ‘Yes,

Ml go at once/
In a few days he was in Yorkshire again. On the
long train journey he thought about his boy. In the
past he only wanted to forget him. He didn’t want to
be a bad father, he paid for doctors and nurses and
luxuries*. But he didn’t feel like a father. Now he
began to think in a new way.
‘Perhaps I have been w rong for ten years,’ he
said to himself. ‘Travelling for ten years. It is a
long time. It may be too late to do anything.’ ■
► 18 O f course this was the wrong magic, to begin by

saying ‘too late’. He still didn’t know this. He asked
himself if Susan Sowerby wrote to him because
Colin was ill. But he found he was trying to believe
better things.
‘Is it possible that Mrs Sowerby thinks I can still
do some good?’ he asked himself. ‘I will stop and
see her on my way to Misselth waite.’
W hen he stopped at the cottage Susan Sowerby
was not there, but he spoke to eight friendly, polite
children. He saw they were pleasant and gave them
some money to divide among themselves.
luxury som ething very expensive
84
At Misselthwaite he w ent slowly to the garden.
He could hear sounds inside, but he knew it was
impossible, the door was locked. Suddenly the
door opened and a boy ran out. He was a tall,
handsome boy.
‘Who? W hat? W ho?’ Mr Craven cried.
‘Father, it’s me! Colin!’
‘In the garden!’ said Mr Craven.
‘Yes, it was the garden that did it! Aren’t you glad?’
asked Colin.
‘Take me to the garden, my boy, and tell me all
about it.’
Mr Craven listened to a strange story, of mystery
and magic and wild creatures*.
Later, Ben W eatherstaff w ent to the house.
‘There are things that you house people don’t
know about, and soon you’ll find out,’ he said. ‘Look
what’s coming across the grass.’
All the servants looked.
Across the grass came the Master of Misselthwaite
and by his side, as strong as any boy in Yorkshire, was
Master Colin. ■
wild creatures anim als from the countryside, not dom estic
85
Reading
1 Read Chapter 8 and say if these sentences are true (T) or
false (F).
T F
Ben was interested in Colin’s weight. 0 □
1 Dickon’s m other says Mary is like Colin’s mother. □ □
2 Dickon took his m other round the garden. □ □
3 Mr Craven dreamt he heard his wife’s voice. □ □
4 Mr Craven arrived home in one day. □ □
5 Mr Craven didn’t want to see the garden. □ □
Grammar
2 Look at the superlative adjectives from Chapter 8.
Match them with their type. Then put the adjectives in the
box into the superlative form and use them to complete
the sentences.
A the + most + adjective B the + adjective + est
0 the most beautiful □ the quietest
□ the most remote □ the highest
affectionate pretty long polite handsome
Take route home please, I’m in a hurry.

1 1think Julie is ....................... of my friends, she’s really
good looking.
2 And her brother Kevin is ........................boy in school.
3 I’ve got three cats, and they’re all friendly, but Nina is
....................... of the three.
4 My parents always leave a tip f o r ...................... waiter in
the restaurant.
I
5 This book has got a thousand pages, it’s ......................
I’ve ever read.
86
3 Make the adjectives from Chapter 8, in brackets, into
adverbs and put them into the sentences.
Your little boy writes very (nice)
1 She sang the s o n g ............... (beautiful)
2 Please switch off the light and leave............... (quiet)
3 If you ask m e .................I’ll tell you the answer. (polite)
4 They are nice children. They spoke to their
v is ito r................ (pleasant)
5 I ................ believe these ideas are very important, (strong)
Speaking and Writing

4 Working together, answer these questions, discussing
your opinions. Then use your answers to write a short
paragraph (about 4 0 -5 0 words).
1 What is your opinion of this novel? Did you enjoy it? Why
(not)?
2 Who is your favourite character? Why?
3 Who is your least favourite character? Why?
4 Would you like to visit Yorkshire? Why (not)?
87
Focus on...
Frances Hodgson Burnett

E arly L ife
Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in 1849 in
the industrial city of Manchester, England.
Her father died young. Her m other could
not m anage the fam ily business and m oved
w ith her five children to Tennessee in 1865.
The fam ily was poor but Frances was good
at w riting. She had little form al education
but she read and w rote a lot. She earned
m oney for her fam ily by w riting stories for
ladies’ m agazines. After her m other died, she
supported her four brothers and sisters. Her
stories w ere a m ix of details of the lives of
poor w orking w om en and rom antic plots.
Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1888
E arly S u ccess
In 1873 she m arried a doctor, Swann Burnett. returned to Am erica. In 1876 Frances Hodgson
Their son, Lionel w as born in 1874 and the fam ily Burnett published her first novel, The Lass
travelled in Europe for several m onths. Their O’Lowries. It w as very popular,
son Vivian was born in 1875. The fam ily then
Famous
She w rote both for adults and for children, but was published in 1905 and w as also successful
her m ost fam ous novels were for children: Little w ith the public. Her m ost w ell know n novel,
Lord Fauntleroy (1886) was based on her son now considered a classic for children, was
Vivian. Thanks to the novel the fam ily started to The Secret Garden (1911). She based the sick
travel again to Europe. She bought a house in boy Colin on her son Lionel, w ho w as ill w ith
England and often w ent there. A Little Princess tubercolosis and died at the age of 15 in 1892.
88
Sadness
After the death of her son, Hodgson
Burnett was often depressed. She
suffered for m uch of her life from
depression and grew apart from her
husband. In 1898 they divorced and she
w ent to her country hom e in England
w here she w rote parts of The Secret
Garden. The novel show s her interest
in Theosophy, a type of religion w hich
believes that all religions have som e
truth to tell us about a higher spiritual
dim ension. One aspect of Theosophy is
the pow er and energy of the spirit, and
its ab ility to heal. This is the m agic that
helps Colin to get better.
Later Life
In 1900 Frances Hodgson Burnett
m arried her stage m anager Stephen
Cover of a vintage edition of The Secret Garden
Townesend w ho was ten years younger
than her. Many of her novels becam e
successful plays in the theatre. The
Questions
m arriage lasted tw o years and they
1 W hat were the main m isfortunes
separated in 1902. From 1898 she
in Frances Hodgson B u rn e tt’s
lived in Kent, England, but in 1907 she
life?
m oved back to Am erica. She travelled
2 How do you th ink she travelled
betw een the tw o countries until 1914,
to England from the USA? How
w hen the W ar forced her to stay on do people travel today? W hat
Long Island For the rest of her life she are the main advantages and
spent her tim e w riting and w ith her disadvantages o f each means o f
grandchildren. She died in 1924. transport?
3 Do you th ink her life was
conventional fo r the times? W hy
(no t)?
89
Focus on...
Postcard of a young girl playing mother
T he tu rn o f th e cen tu ry
Mary, Colin and Dickon live at the end of the Edwardian era, an age of social modernisation.
In 1902 an Education Act gave control of schools to local government. In 1906 the government
introduced “school dinners” to help poorer children eat better. In 1907 medical examinations
at school were introduced. It was believed that an educated workforce was important and in
1918 education became compulsory up to 14 years of age. Living in remote rural Yorkshire, the
children who feature in this story would be unaware of the immense social changes taking
place in the outside world.
90
E d u ca tio n for th e w ealth y
Neither Colin nor Mary go to school. Children like them would study at home with tutors and governesses.
Colin would then go to an expensive public school while Mary might stay at home. Middle class children
could go to private boarding schools or day schools, primary and then secondary “grammar schools".
P la y for th e w ealth y
Mary learns to skip with a skipping rope sent by Mrs Sowerby. Skipping ropes, spinning tops and hoops
were universal for all children. She also receives illustrated books and a writing set from Mr Craven:
these were expensive items available only to people with money. Girls from wealthy families also had
richly dressed wax or porcelain dolls, while the boys had mechanical toys. Wealthy Edwardian children
had a strictly controlled social life, visiting each other for tea.
Education for the poorer Sport

Dickon does not go to school as he is over 10. Sport in Britain was very popular with everyone.
The cost of a school is too much for his mother, Some sports like rugby and horse riding were
although it became popular in this period to for the wealthy and m iddle classes (women
offer free places to bright children at grammar increasingly enjoyed sports like tennis) but
schools. Increasing numbers of poorer children others were universal like boxing and athletics,
were starting to get an education. In a primary Wealthy girls wore restrictive long skirts and
school like Dickon’s, the subjects were “the corsets but the boys were freer to move,
three Rs” - reading, writing and arithmetic, and
not much else.
Playtime for the poorer

Children no longer worked in factories and
were starting to enjoy a childhood. They played
with simple homemade toys (dolls were often
wooden spoons with a piece of fabric tied around
them). Poorer children had a lot of freedom and
commonly met in the street or out in the fields
to play. They had more opportunity to play in
groups than wealthy children who spent more Two Londeners taking part in the long jum p in
time alone at home under supervision. Hertfordshire
Questions
1 How does the legislation fo r schools in England in 1911 com pare
to current legislation in your country?
2 W hat typ e o f schools are m entioned in the text? W ho could go to
them ?
3 How does Edwardian children’s free tim e com pare to your free time?
91
Focus on...
Yorkshire Food
Yorkshire
Yorkshire’s name comes from the city of York. It is the biggest county in England. Much of it is natural
countryside and its moors and dales are famous. There is some agriculture in the north of the county.
Yorkshire has several industrial towns like Bradford and Leeds and was famous for coal mining. There
is also a fishing industry. Yorkshire can be very cold, windy and wet in winter with a variable climate.
Until recently most working people had very hard lives outside in the cold or in factories, in coal mines
or fishing. Physical work needed a lot of energy but did not pay well. Food therefore had to be cheap
but provide energy. Traditional food is not always eaten now, because health needs have changed.
M eat, F ish Sw eets

and D airy Sweet baking such as muffins or scones is popular,
with jam and cream for a treat. In the past, since
Products sugar and its derivatives (treacle, syrup) were very
The most popular meat in Yorkshire is beef, cheap, filling and full of instant energy, these were
traditionally roasted or stewed. Fish comes eaten whenever possible. Yorkshire is still famous
from the North Sea, and is commonly eaten for its sweets. A famous cake is Parkin: a sweet,
fried in batter. Eggs and m ilk were also energy- dark ginger cake made only in Yorkshire.
giving foods for working people. Yorkshire has
a special cheese called Wensleydale with a
strong taste.
F ruit and
V egetables
Obviously the climate affects what can
grow, and before fruit and vegetables were
Muffins
imported, people could eat only local produce.
Root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, parsnips
and turnips) and vegetables protected by
pods (peas, beans) grow well: potatoes are
traditionally served with every meal. Favourite
fruits are from trees: apples, pears and plums.
Berries grow well in Yorkshire too: strawberries,
raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries. Jam is
very popular!
Parkin
92
Roast beef
Yorkshire
P udding
The best known Yorkshire recipe is Yorkshire
pudding, traditionally eaten with roast beef for
Sunday lunch.
Mix lOOg plain white flour and 1/4 teaspoon
Yorkshire pudding
of salt in a bowl. Drop in an egg. Start to mix,
gradually adding most of 300ml milk. Beat well
to obtain a smooth batter and then stir in the
rest of the milk. Place a drop of oil in each of
Curious Fact
Apparently liquorice was invented in
the spaces in a muffin tin. Heat in the oven until
Yorkshire by monks when crusaders brought
the oil is hot. Half fill each well with batter.
the plant back in the Middle Ages.
Bake in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes.
Questions
1 How did the clim ate and 3 Look back at the various
w ork affect people’s foods m entioned on p. 92.
nutritional needs? Does your co u n try produce
2 Look in yo ur d ictio na rie s or make any o f these foods?
and find these verbs: W ould you like to try any o f
roast stew fry bake them ?
Do you eat fo od cooked in 4 Is Yorkshire p udding sweet
this way? W hich do you or savoury? Can you w rite
th ink are m ore healthy? a recipe fo r a trad ition al dish
from your local area?
93
Test yourself
1 Read the summary of The Secret Garden. There are six
mistakes. Find them and correct them. The first one is
done for you as an example.
Mary is a little girl who lives in India. One day she wakes up
alone and discovers that her parents have died. She travels to
England to live in Cornwall with her uncle, Archibald Craven,
in a large house on the moor. There she meets Martha, a
cook, and her brother Dickon, who is very clever with animals.
Dickon helps her in the secret garden, a garden Mr Craven
locked when his sister died. Mary also discovers that she has
a cousin, Colin, who stays closed in a sitting room because he
is sick. She and Dickon take Colin to the garden and with Ben
Weatherstaff’s help they all bring it back to life. Colin is very
unhappy in the garden but learns to walk. When Mr Craven
comes home, he is very angry about the garden and his son’s
recovery.
Yorkshire | 2
3 ....................... 4 ....................... 5 .......................
2 Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense in these

sentences from The Secret Garden.
Mary and Mrs Medlock (take) the train.
1 ‘Don’t move,’ he said. ‘You (scare )............. them.’
2 The next day it rained and Mary (c a n ) not go out.
3 When she went into Colin’s room he ( lie ) ............. on his
bed.
4 I (s ta n d )............when Ben W eatherstaff gets here.
5 Dickon’s mother laughed. ‘I (m a ke )............. some bread
and buns and send them,’ she said.
6 But he found he ( t r y ) ............. to believe better things.
94
Syllabus
******************** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ^
Verb tenses
Simple Present: states and habits
Present Continuous: actions in progress
Past Simple: finished actions
Past Continuous: actions in progress at a point in the past,
interrupted actions
Present Perfect: actions in non specific time in the past
(with already, yet), unfinished past (yet, ever, never)
Future forms: Present Continuous, going to, will
Modal verbs
Can: ability, permission; Could: ability, permission in the past
May: permission, possibility; Might: possibility
Must: obligation; Have to: necessity
Will: offers, spontaneous decisions for future, predictions
Conditional forms
Zero: cause and effect always true; First: future cause and
effect; Second: hypothetical cause and effect
Types of clause
Main clause
Subordinate clause following sure, certain, know, think,
believe, hope, say, tell, if
Defining and non defining relative clauses
Adjectival forms
Main clause
Subordinate clause following sure, certain, know, think,
believe, hope, say, tell, if
Defining and non defining relative clauses
Lexical Areas
Clothing, Home and garden, Jobs, Emotions, Games and
toys, Family, Animals
95

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Burnett Frances Hodgson - The Secret Garden

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Retold and with activities by Jane Bowie

Illustrated by Philip Giordano

Teen (Ell) Readers

1 D a person who treats sick people.

2 Now put the words in the table.

The Forgotten Girl

► 2 W hen Mary Lennox arrived at Misselthwaite

‘She has been forgotten!’ said the soldier to his

► 3 For a while Mary stayed with a poor English

'He lives in a big, lonely house in the country

armour a suit of metal to protect a soldier, only used by the rich

'The moor. Do you like it?5 asked Martha.

No one would tell her ....$0y.WJ.0.9.......

walled enclosed by walls

► 5 Mary had nothing to do, so she decided to look for

portrait a picture of a person, often of the face

‘W here do you live now?’ said Mary to her. ‘I

Two days after this Mary opened her eyes, sat up

Reading - KET style activity

1 Mary identified the locked garden because of the robin.

tfrrfn finally a fte r that first o f all next

Introduces Introduces Introduces

► 6 The sun shone for nearly a week on the secret garden.

'Can you keep a secret if I tell you one?' asked

► 7 ‘It’s a strange, pretty place. Like a dream,’ said Dickon.

'You are the strangest girl I ever m et,’ said

quickly and was going out again when Martha

foreign of another country

sand the material a beach is made from

Vocabulary - KET style activity

► 8 Mary woke in the night and heard the sound of rain

‘W hat garden?' asked Colin.

► 9 The next day it rained and Mary could not go out.

strangers people we do not know personally

Reading - KET style activity

Writing - KET style activity

Spring Has Come

► 10 Mary and Dickon had a lot to do that morning

spoiled describes a person, usually a child, who always gets everything he or

Mary found several beautiful books. Two were

► 11 ‘I felt the lump on my back, I shall be a hunchback

‘I’m going to see Dickon for a moment/ she said,

‘Of course you will!’ said Mary. ‘Don’t be silly.’

The next morning the doctor visited Colin. He was

The next morning Colin woke up and smiled. He

state of affairs situation

The afternoon was J.aveJier.and .busier, tha

Order Form Dear Mary,

Post Office Form

Listening - KET style activity

I Will Live Forever!

► 12 They had to wait for more than a week because it

Here and there and everywhere were touches of

► 13 That afternoon the whole world seemed to want

wax substance made by bees, and used to make candles or models

cripple an unkind and sometimes offensive word to refer to a person who is

‘He's as straight as I am, he’s as straight as any

to be fond of someone/ something to like someone or enjoy something

Speaking - KET style activity

Listening - KET style activity

1 Mary thinks that

► 14 The doctor was waiting at the house when they

manners a person’s behaviour to other people. To have good manners = to be

row straight line