When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselth waite Manorto live with her uncle everybody said she was the mostdisagreeable-looking child ever seen. It was true, too.

　　She had a little thin face and a little thin body,thin light hair and a sour expression. Her hair was yellow,and her face was yellow because she had been born inIndia and had always been ill in one way or another.

　　Her father had held a position under the EnglishGovernment and had always been busy and ill himself,and her mother had been a great beauty who cared onlyto go to parties and amuse herself with gay people.

　　She had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Marywas born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah,who was made to understand that if she wished to pleasethe Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as muchas possible. So when she was a sickly, fretful, ugly littlebaby she was kept out of the way, and when she becamea sickly, fretful, toddling¹ thing she was kept out ofthe way also. She never remembered seeing familiarlyanything but the dark faces of her Ayah and the othernative servants, and as they always obeyed her and gaveher her own way in everything, because the Mem Sahibwould be angry if she was disturbed by her crying,by the time she was six years old she was as tyrannicaland selfish a little pig as ever lived. The young Englishgoverness who came to teach her to read and write dislikedher so much that she gave up her place in three months,and when other governesses came to try to fill it theyalways went away in a shorter time than the first one.

　　So if Mary had not chosen to really want to know howto read books she would never have learned her letters at all.

　　One frightfully hot morning, when she was about nineyears old, she awakened² feeling very cross, and she becamecrosser still when she saw that the servant who stoodby her bedside was not her Ayah.

　　"Why did you come?" she said to the strange woman.

　　"I will not let you stay. Send my Ayah to me."The woman looked frightened, but she only stammeredthat the Ayah could not come and when Mary threw herselfinto a passion and beat and kicked her, she looked onlymore frightened and repeated that it was not possiblefor the Ayah to come to Missie Sahib.

　　There was something mysterious in the air that morning.

　　Nothing was done in its regular order and several of thenative servants seemed missing, while those whom Marysaw slunk or hurried about with ashy and scared faces.

　　But no one would tell her anything and her Ayah did not come.

　　She was actually left alone as the morning went on,and at last she wandered out into the garden and beganto play by herself under a tree near the

点击收听单词发音  

1 toddling
v.（幼儿等）东倒西歪地走( toddle的现在分词 )；蹒跚行走；溜达；散步
参考例句：
You could see his grandson toddling around in the garden. 你可以看到他的孙子在花园里蹒跚行走。 来自《简明英汉词典》 She fell while toddling around. 她摇摇摆摆地到处走时摔倒了 来自辞典例句

2 awakened
v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到
参考例句：
She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。 The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 veranda
n.走廊；阳台
参考例句：
She sat in the shade on the veranda.她坐在阳台上的遮荫处。 They were strolling up and down the veranda.他们在走廊上来回徜徉。

4 scarlet
n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的
参考例句：
The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。 The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。

5 disdaining
鄙视( disdain的现在分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做
参考例句：

6 imploringly
adv. 恳求地, 哀求地
参考例句：
He moved his lips and looked at her imploringly. 他嘴唇动着，哀求地看着她。 He broke in imploringly. 他用恳求的口吻插了话。

7 wrung
绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水）
参考例句：
He has wrung the words from their true meaning. 他曲解这些字的真正意义。 He wrung my hand warmly. 他热情地紧握我的手。

8 wailing
v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱
参考例句：
A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。 The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

9 gasped
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要
参考例句：
She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。 People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 appalling
adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的
参考例句：
The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。 Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

11 cholera
n.霍乱
参考例句：
The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。 Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

12 wailed
v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
She wailed over her father's remains. 她对着父亲的遗体嚎啕大哭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》 The women of the town wailed over the war victims. 城里的妇女为战争的死难者们痛哭。 来自辞典例句

13 bungalow
n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房
参考例句：
A bungalow does not have an upstairs.平房没有上层。 The old couple sold that large house and moved into a small bungalow.老两口卖掉了那幢大房子，搬进了小平房。

14 bungalows
n.平房( bungalow的名词复数 )；单层小屋，多于一层的小屋
参考例句：
It was a town filled with white bungalows. 这个小镇里都是白色平房。 来自《简明英汉词典》 We also seduced by the reasonable price of the bungalows. 我们也确实被这里单层间的合理价格所吸引。 来自互联网

15 tightening
上紧，固定，紧密
参考例句：
Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前，检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。 It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。

16 drowsy
adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的
参考例句：
Exhaust fumes made him drowsy and brought on a headache.废气把他熏得昏昏沉沉，还引起了头疼。 I feel drowsy after lunch every day.每天午饭后我就想睡觉。

17 wails
痛哭，哭声( wail的名词复数 )
参考例句：
The child burst into loud wails. 那个孩子突然大哭起来。 Through this glaciated silence the white wails of the apartment fixed arbitrary planes. 在这冰封似的沉寂中，公寓的白色墙壁构成了一个个任意的平面。 来自英汉非文学 - 科幻

18 perfectly
adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地
参考例句：
The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。 Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

19 gliding
v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的
参考例句：
Swans went gliding past. 天鹅滑行而过。 The weather forecast has put a question mark against the chance of doing any gliding tomorrow. 天气预报对明天是否能举行滑翔表示怀疑。

20 standing
n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的
参考例句：
After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。 They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

21 wink
n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁
参考例句：
He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。 The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间，那颗卫星就消失了。