Ethan Frome

2
Ethan Frome
learn english through story Ethan Frome level 3
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

  1. ain’t: am not / isn’t / aren’t; hasn’t / haven’t
  2. awful cold, awful hard: awfully (very) cold, awfully hard
  3. I got: I have got
  4. comin’, leavin’: coming, leaving

 

GLOSSARY

  1. anger the feeling when you are angry
  2. apart not together
  3. beauty being beautiful
  4. bitter angry and unhappy about something that has happened
  5. buggy a small, open ‘car’ with four wheels, pulled by a horse
  6. coasting riding down a snow-covered hill on a sled
  7. complain to say that you are not happy about something
  8. cousin the son or daughter of your aunt or uncle
  9. despair the feeling when you have lost all hope
  10. difference being different
  11. discontented not happy, not pleased
  12. dish (n) a plate or bowl for holding food, fruit, etc.
  13. embarrassed feeling shy or uncomfortable; worrying about what other people will think
  14. fault when something bad or wrong happens because of what you have done, it is your fault
  15. flow to move like water
  16. further the opposite of ‘nearer’
  17. glue (n) something soft and sticky used to join things together
  18. grave (n) a hole in the ground where a dead person’s body is put
  19. gravestone a stone on a grave, with the name, dates, etc. of the dead person
  20. grim very serious-looking, unsmiling
  21. hire to pay to use something, or to use someone’s help
  22. housekeeper a person who takes care of someone’s home
  23. jealous angry or sad because you are afraid of losing someone’s love or because you want what another person has
  24. jug a pot with a handle, for things like milk, water, etc.
  25. kiss (v) to touch someone with your lips in a loving way
  26. lamp something that gives light
  27. lined having long, thin marks on your face, like an old person
  28. lively full of life
  29. load (v) to put things (often large and heavy) into a car, ship, etc.
  30. mail (n) (American English) post (letters, postcards, etc.)
  31. maybe perhaps
  32. pond a very small lake
  33. poverty being very poor
  34. rocking chair a chair on rockers, which can be moved backwards and forwards by the person sitting in it
  35. saw mill a kind of small factory where trees and wood are cut
  36. scarf a piece of cloth to wear round the head or neck
  37. science the study of natural things in the world
  38. sew to join pieces of cloth together; to make or mend clothes
  39. silence (n) being silent
  40. sled a kind of small, open ‘car’ without wheels, but with long pieces of metal or wood for moving over snow
  41. sleigh a large sled, pulled by a horse
  42. slope the side of a hill; a piece of ground that goes up or down
  43. smart (adj) (American English) clever
  44. spine the long, thin bone down the middle of your back
  45. steep (adj) going up or down very quickly, e.g. a steep hill
  46. tear (past tense tore) to pull something (e.g. paper) into pieces
  47. thought (n) something that you think
  48. twisted (adj) pulled into a strange shape
  49. warmth a warm feeling
  50. whine (v) to speak in a thin, high, complaining voice
  51. whinny (v) to make the long high cry of a horse

 

 

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2 COMMENTS

  1. 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