Meeting Dickon Mary spent nearly（差不多） a week working（使工作） in the secret（秘密的） garden. Each day she found new shoots（发芽） coming out of the ground（地）. Soon there would be flowers everywhere（到处）, thousands（一千） of them. It was an exciting game to her. When she was inside（在……之内） those beautiful old walls no one knew where she was. During that week she became more friendly with Ben who was often digging（掘） in one of the vegetable gardens.

  "What are your favorite flowers, Ben?" she asked him one day. "Roses. I used to work for a young lady（女士） who loved roses（玫瑰）, you see, and she had a lot in her garden. That was ten years ago, but she died. Very sad it was." "What happened to the roses?" asked Mary. "They were left there in the garden."

  "If rose branches（树枝） look dry（干的） and grey, are they still alive（活着的）?" asked Mary. "It was so important to know." "In the spring they'll show green shoots, and then..." "But why are you so interested in roses?" he asked. Mary's face went red. "I just wanted to pretend（假装） I've got a garden. I haven't got anyone to play with."

  "Well, that's true," said Ben. He seemed（ 似乎） to feel sorry for her. Mary decided she liked old Ben, although he was sometimes bad-tempered（使回火）. She skipped（跳过） along（向前） and into the wood（木材） at the end of the gardens. Suddenly（突然地） she heard a strange（陌生的） noise（喧闹声）, and there in front of her was a boy. He was sitting under a tree, playing on a wooden（木制的） pipe（管子）.

  He was about twelve, with a healthy red face and bright（明亮的） blue eyes. There was a squirrel（松鼠） and a crow（鸦） in the tree, and two rabbits sitting on the grass（草） near him. "They're listening to the music!" thought Mary. "I mustn't frighten（使惊恐） them." She stood very still.

  The boy stopped playing. "That's right," he said. "Animals don't like it if you move suddenly." "I'm Dickon, and you must be Miss Mary. I've brought you the spade（铲） and the seeds（种子）." He spoke in an easy, friendly way. Mary liked him at once.

  As they were looking at the seed packets（小包(裹)） together, the robin（知更鸟） hopped（单足跳跃〔跳行〕） onto（到…上） a branch（树枝） near them. Dickon listened carefully（小心地） to the robin（知更鸟）'s song. "He's saying he's your friend," he told Mary. "Really? Oh, I am pleased（开心的） he likes me. Can you understand everything that birds say?" "I think I do, and they think I do. I've lived on the moor（沼地） with them for so long.