Life is always hard for the poor, in any place and at any time. Ethan Frome is a farmer in Massachusetts. He works long hours, but his farm makes little money. His wife, Zeena, is a thin, grey woman, always complaining, and only interested in her own ill health.
Then Mattie Silver, a young cousin, comes to live with the Fromes, to help Zeena and do the housework. Her bright smile and laughing voice bring light and hope into the Fromes’ house – and into Ethan’s lonely life. But poverty is a prison from which few people escape…
Glossary
NON-STANDARD ENGLISH USED IN THIS STORY
- ain’t: am not / isn’t / aren’t; hasn’t / haven’t
- awful cold, awful hard: awfully (very) cold, awfully hard
- I got: I have got
- comin’, leavin’: coming, leaving
GLOSSARY
- anger the feeling when you are angry
- apart not together
- beauty being beautiful
- bitter angry and unhappy about something that has happened
- buggy a small, open ‘car’ with four wheels, pulled by a horse
- coasting riding down a snow-covered hill on a sled
- complain to say that you are not happy about something
- cousin the son or daughter of your aunt or uncle
- despair the feeling when you have lost all hope
- difference being different
- discontented not happy, not pleased
- dish (n) a plate or bowl for holding food, fruit, etc.
- embarrassed feeling shy or uncomfortable; worrying about what other people will think
- fault when something bad or wrong happens because of what you have done, it is your fault
- flow to move like water
- further the opposite of ‘nearer’
- glue (n) something soft and sticky used to join things together
- grave (n) a hole in the ground where a dead person’s body is put
- gravestone a stone on a grave, with the name, dates, etc. of the dead person
- grim very serious-looking, unsmiling
- hire to pay to use something, or to use someone’s help
- housekeeper a person who takes care of someone’s home
- jealous angry or sad because you are afraid of losing someone’s love or because you want what another person has
- jug a pot with a handle, for things like milk, water, etc.
- kiss (v) to touch someone with your lips in a loving way
- lamp something that gives light
- lined having long, thin marks on your face, like an old person
- lively full of life
- load (v) to put things (often large and heavy) into a car, ship, etc.
- mail (n) (American English) post (letters, postcards, etc.)
- maybe perhaps
- pond a very small lake
- poverty being very poor
- rocking chair a chair on rockers, which can be moved backwards and forwards by the person sitting in it
- saw mill a kind of small factory where trees and wood are cut
- scarf a piece of cloth to wear round the head or neck
- science the study of natural things in the world
- sew to join pieces of cloth together; to make or mend clothes
- silence (n) being silent
- sled a kind of small, open ‘car’ without wheels, but with long pieces of metal or wood for moving over snow
- sleigh a large sled, pulled by a horse
- slope the side of a hill; a piece of ground that goes up or down
- smart (adj) (American English) clever
- spine the long, thin bone down the middle of your back
- steep (adj) going up or down very quickly, e.g. a steep hill
- tear (past tense tore) to pull something (e.g. paper) into pieces
- thought (n) something that you think
- twisted (adj) pulled into a strange shape
- warmth a warm feeling
- whine (v) to speak in a thin, high, complaining voice
- whinny (v) to make the long high cry of a horse
Hello, this kind of stories are very useful for beginners who are learning English as a secon d language.I appreciate if you can send stories with Britsh accent.thank you
I like very much your site. Thank you!! 🙂