The Secret Garden (ESL/EFL Version with Audio)
By Qiliang Feng & Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Release Date: 2015-12-21
- Genre: Coming of Age Fiction for Young Adults
This is Book 5, Collection I, of the Million-Word Reading Project (MWRP) readers. It is suitable for learners with a basic vocabulary of 1,500 words.
Million-Word Reading Project (MWRP) is a reading project for ESL/EFL learners at the elementary level (with a basic vocabulary of 1,500 words). In two years, for about fifteen minutes each day, an ESL/EFL learner can read one million words, and reach the upper-intermediate level, gaining a vocabulary of about 3,500 words and a large number of expressions.
[Text Information]
Readability | 86.57
Total word count | 22614
Words beyond 1500 | 593
Unknown word percentage (%) | 2.62
Unknown headword occurrence | 3.2
Unknown words that occur 5 times or more | 31
Unknown words that occur 2 times or more | 93
[Synopsis]
Mary Lennox is a nine-year-old British girl. She grows up in India and is spoilt and selfish. Her parents die and she becomes an orphan, so she is sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle. There is a secret garden at the manor, which has been locked up for 10 years. And with the help of “magic”, Mary finds the key to the garden door that has been buried in the earth.
With the help of kind Dickon, Mary begins secretly working in the garden to bring its many roses back to life. Mary also discovers the secret of the Manor one night: her uncle has a son. The boy, Colin, is even more spoiled than Mary. He’s weak and is not allowed to go out.
What is the secret about the garden? What other miracles can “magic” bring about?
This book is rewritten from “The Secret Garden” by Frances H. Burnett (1849-1924). It was first published in 1911. It is now one of Burnett’s most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of English children’s literature. Several stage and film adaptations have been produced.