Mary in Yorkshire（约克郡） They arrived at a very large old house. It looked dark and unfriendly（ 不友好的） from the outside（外部）. Inside（在里面）, Mary looked around the big shadowy（朦胧的） hall（门厅） and felt very small and lost. They went straight（ 直的） upstairs. Mary was shown to a room where there was a warm fire and food on the table. "This is your room," said Mrs.Medlock.

  "Go to bed when you've had some supper（晚餐）. And remember you must stay in your room. Mr.Craven doesn't want you to wander（漫游） all over the house." When Mary woke up the next morning, she saw a young servant（仆人） girl cleaning the fireplace（壁炉）. The room seemed（ 似乎） dark and rather（宁可） strange（陌生的） with pictures of dogs and horses and ladies on the walls. It was not a child's room at all. From the window, she could not see any trees or houses, only wild（野生的） land which looked like a kind of purple sea.

  "Who are you?" she asked the servant coldly. "Martha, miss," answered the girl with a smile（ 微笑）. "And what's that outside?" Mary continued（继续）. "That's the mower!" smiled Martha. "Do you like it?" "No," replied（回答） Mary immediately（立即）.

  "I hate it." "That's because you don't know it. You will like it." "I love it. It's lovely（可爱的） in spring and summer when there are flowers. It always smells（闻出） so sweet（甜的）. The air so fresh（新的） and the birds sing so beautifully（美丽地）. I never want to leave the mower."

  Mary was feeling very bad-tempered（使回火）. "You're a strange servant," she said. "In India（印度）, we don't have conversations with servants（仆人）. We give orders and they obey（顺从） and that's that." Martha did not seem to mind（介意） Mary's crossness. "I know. I talk too much," she laughed. "Are you going to be my servant?" asked Mary.

  "Well, not really. I work for Mrs.Medlock. I'm going to clean your room and bring you your food. But you won't need a servant except（除了） for those things." "But who's going to dress me?" Martha stopped cleaning and stared（ 盯着看） at Mary. "But can I dress this, then?" She asked, shocked（震惊的）. "What do you mean? I don't understand your language."

  "Oh, I forgot. We all speak the Yorkshire dialect（方言） here. But, of course, you don't understand that. I meant to say, 'Can't you put on your own clothes?'" "Of course not. My servant always used to dress me." "Well, I think（ 想） you should learn to dress yourself." "My mother always says people should be able（有能力的） to take care（小心） of themselves, even if they're rich and important." Little Miss Mary was furious（狂怒的） with Martha.

  "It's different in India where I come from. You don't know anything about India or about servants or about anything. You—you—" She could not explain what she meant. Suddenly（突然地）, she felt very confused and lonely（孤独的）. She threw（(threw) 扔） herself down on the bed and started crying（喊） wildly（疯狂地）. "Now, now, don't cry like that," Martha said gently（有礼貌地）. "I'm very sorry. You're right.

  I don't know anything about anything. Please stop crying, Miss." She sounded kind（ 善良的） and friendly, and Mary began（开始） to feel better and soon stopped crying（喊）. Martha went on talking as she finished her cleaning. But Mary looked out of the window in a bored way and pretended（假装） not to listen. "I've got eleven brothers and sisters, you know, Miss. There's not much money in our house, and they all eat so much food.

  Mother says it's the good（好处）, fresh air on the moor（沼地） that makes them so hungry. My brother, Dickon, is always out on the moor. He's twelve, and he's got a horse, which he rides sometimes." "Where did he get it?" asked Mary. She had always wanted an animal of her own, and so she began to feel a little interest in Dickon. "Oh, it's a wild horse, but he's a kind boy, and animals like him, you see. Now, you must have your breakfast, Miss.

  Here it is, on the table." "I don't want it," said Mary. "I'm not hungry." "What?" cried Martha. "My little brothers and sisters would eat all this in five minutes." "Why?" asked Mary coldly.

  "Because they don't get enough（足够的） to eat. That's why. And they're always hungry." "You're very lucky（幸运的） to have the food, Miss." Mary said nothing, but she drank some tea and ate a little bread. "Now, put a coat on and run outside to play," said Martha. "It'll do you good to be in the fresh air."

  Mary looked out of the window at the cold, grey sky（天空）. "Why should I go out on a day like this?" she asked. "Well, there's nothing to play with indoors（室内的）, is there?" Mary realized（实现） Martha was right. "But who will go with me?" she said. Martha stared at her. "Nobody.

  You'll have to learn to play by yourself. Dickon plays by himself on the moors for hours with the wild birds and the sheep and the other animals." She looked away for a moment. "Perhaps（也许） I shouldn't tell you this, but one of the walled gardens is locked（锁上） up. Nobody's been in it for ten years. It was Mrs Craven's garden, and when she died so suddenly, Mr Craven locked it and buried（埋葬） the key. Oh, I must go. I can hear Mrs Medlock's bell（钟） ringing（响） for me."

  Mary went downstairs and wandered through the great empty（空的） gardens. Many of the fruit and vegetable gardens had walls round（附近） them, but there were no locked doors. She saw an old man digging（掘） in one of the vegetable gardens, but he looked cross（十字形的东西） and unfriendly（ 不友好的）, so she walked on. "How ugly（ 难看的） it all looks in winter," she thought. "But what a mystery（神秘） the locked garden is. Why did my uncle bury the key? If he loved his wife, why did he hate our garden?

  Perhaps I'll never know. I don't suppose（猜想） I like him if I ever meet him, and he won't like me, so I won't be able to ask him." Just then she noticed（注意） a robin（知更鸟） singing to her from a tree on the other side（方面） of a wall. "I want that trees in the secret（秘密的） garden," she told herself. "There's an extra wall here, and there's no way in." She went back to where the gardener（园丁） was digging（掘） and spoke to him.

  At first he answered in a very bad-tempered way, but suddenly the robin flew down near them and the old man began to smile. He looked a different person then, and Mary thought how much nicer people looked when they smiled. The gardener spoke gently to the robin when the pretty little bird hopped（单足跳跃〔跳行〕） on the ground（地） near them. "He's my friend," he is, said the old man. "There aren't any other robins in the garden, so he's a bit（一点） lonely（孤独的）." He spoke in strong Yorkshire dialect, so Mary had to listen carefully（小心地） to understand him.

  She looked very hard at the robin. "I'm lonely too," she said. She had not realised（了解） this before. "What's your name?" she asked the gardener. "Ben Weatherstaff. I'm lonely myself. The robin's my only friend, you see."

  "I haven't got any friends at all," said Mary. Yorkshire people always say what they are thinking, and old Ben was a Yorkshire Moor man. "We're alike（ 类似于）, you and me," he told Mary. "We're not pretty to look at, and we're both very disagreeable." Nobody had ever said this to Mary before. "Am I really as ugly and disagreeable as Ben?" she wondered（想知道）.

  Suddenly, the robin flew to a tree near Mary and started singing（烧焦） to her. Ben laughed loudly（大声地）. "Well," he said, "I want to be your friend." "Oh, would you please be my friend?" she whispered（低声地讲） to the robin（知更鸟）. She spoke in a soft（软的）, quiet voice（声音）, and old Ben looked at her in surprise（惊奇）. "You said that really nicely（漂亮地）," he said.

  "You sound like Dickon when he talks to animals on the moor." "Do you know Dickon?" asked Mary. But just then, the robin flew away. "Oh, look, he's flown into the garden with no door. Please, Ben, how can I get into it?" Ben stopped smiling and picked（ 拾起） up his spade（铲）. "You can't, and that's that. It's not your business. Nobody can find the door.

  Run away and play, will you? I must get on with my work." And he walked away. He did not even say goodbye. In the next few days, Mary spent almost（几乎） all her time in the gardens. The fresh air from the moor made her hungry and she was becoming stronger and healthier.

  One day, she noticed the robin again. He was on top（ 顶部） of a wall singing（烧焦） to her. "Good morning. Isn't this fun? Come this way," he seemed to say as he hopped along（沿着） the wall. Mary began to laugh as she danced along beside（在…旁边） him. "I know the secret gardens on the other side of this wall," she thought excitedly.

  "And the robin lives there. But where's the door?" That evening, she asked Martha to stay and talk to her beside the fire after supper. They could hear the wind（风） blowing（吹） round（附近） the old house, but the room was warm and comfortable（舒适的）. Mary only had one idea in her head. "Tell me about the secret garden," she said. "Well, alright（ 好） then, Miss, but we aren't supposed to talk about it, you know." It was Mrs Craven's favourite garden she and Mr Craven used to take care of it themselves.

  They spent hours there reading（读） and talking, very happy they were. They used the branch（树枝） of an old tree as a seat（座位）. But one day, when she was sitting on the branch, it broke and she fell. She was very badly（坏） hurt（使受伤） and the next day she died. That's why it hates the garden so much and won't let anyone go in there. "How sad!"

  said Mary. "Poor（(Poor)人名） Mr Craven!" It was the first time that she had ever felt sorry for anyone. Just then, as she was listening to the wind outside, she heard another noise（喧闹声） in the house. "Can you hear a child crying?" she asked Martha. Martha looked confused.

  "No!" she replied. "No! I think it must be the wind." But at that moment, the wind blew open their door and they heard the crying very clearly（明白地）. "I told you!"

  cried Mary. At once, Martha shut（（使）关[合]上） the door. "It was the wind!" she repeated, but she did not speak in her usual（通常的） natural way and Mary did not believe her. The next day, it was very rainy, so Mary did not go out. Instead（代替）, she decided to wander（漫游） round（附近） the house, looking into some of the hundred rooms that Mrs Medlock had told her about.

  She spent all morning going in and out of dark（黑暗）, silent（沉默的） rooms which were full of heavy（重的） furniture（ 〈总称〉 家具） and old pictures. She saw no servants at all and was on her way back to her room for lunch when she heard a cry. "It's a bit like the cry that I heard last night," she thought. Just then, the housekeeper（女管家）, Mrs Medlock appeared（出现） with her keys in her hand. "What are you doing here?" she asked crossly. "I didn't know which way to go and I heard someone crying," answered Mary.

  "You didn't hear anything. Go back to your room now and if you don't stay there, I'll lock you in." Mary hated Mrs Medlock for this. "There was someone crying. I know there was," she said to herself. "But I'll discover（发现） who it is soon." She was almost beginning to enjoy herself in Yorkshire.