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- Herausgeber: Read Stories - Learn English
- Kategorie: Fremdsprachen
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021
Improve your English without any extra studying, with Read Stories - Learn English.
“I’m sure you are very lonely in this place,” I said. As I talked, I watched him but he stayed silent. There was something strange about him and he made me nervous.
I suddenly had a horrible thought: Is he a man or a ghost?
Here are
four ghost stories by the
famous British writer
Charles Dickens, adapted for learners of English (CEFR level B1).
We meet a
signalman working on a lonely railway line, who has a
terrible secret … Two men, who are
the only guests in a hotel where
strange things keep happening … A
painter, who meets a
mysterious young woman on a train and is asked to paint her portrait … An old
professor with many sad memories, who is given a choice – does he want to
forget his past?
This book:
- includes four exciting ghost stories: ‘The Signalman’, ‘The Ghost in the Bride’s Bedroom’, ‘The Portrait Painter’s Story’ and ‘The Haunted Man’
- is adapted for learners of English from the classic Charles Dickens stories
- uses grammar and vocabulary for learners at CEFR level B1 (strong Pre-intermediate level or Intermediate level)
- has definitions of difficult words
Books at this level have a word count of 15,000–18,000 words and 1,600 headwords.
You will find language-learning exercises for this book on our website.
Warning: This book may not suitable for young children.
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GHOST STORIES
by Charles Dickens
CEFR level B1
Adapted by Read Stories – Learn English
Read Stories – Learn English
Ghost Stories
Original text by Charles Dickens
Adapted text © Karen Kovacs, 2021
Logo by Sunnie DG Illustrations © Karen Kovacs, 2021
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the authors.
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People in the stories
The Signalman
The Ghost in the Bride’s Bedroom
The Portrait Painter’s Story
The Haunted Man
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The most important people in the stories
The Signalman
the narrator – he tells the story
the signalman
the ghost
Tom – the train driver
The Ghost in the Bride’s Bedroom
Francis Goodchild and Tom Idle – friends, and guests at the hotel
six old men
Ellen – the bride
the young man
The Portrait Painter’s Story
Thomas Frank Heaphy – the painter
Mr and Mrs Kirkbeck
the woman in black
Mr Lute and his daughter, Maria
The Haunted Man
Mr Redlaw – a chemistry professor
William, Milly and Philip Swidger – Redlaw’s servants
the ghost
the Tetterby family
Edmund Denham (or Longford) – Redlaw’s student
The Signalman
“Hello! You down there!”
When he heard my voice calling to him, he was standing at the door of his signal box. There was a flag in his hand, wrapped around its short pole. He heard me but he didn’t look up, although it was obvious that my voice came from above him. I was standing at the top of the steep cutting and looking down on him but he didn’t turn towards me. Instead, he turned and looked towards the railway line.
This seemed very strange to me.
I saw all this very clearly, although I was far above him and he was far below me. I saw it clearly although I had to protect my eyes from the angry sunset before I could see him at all.
“Hello! You down there!”
He was still looking towards the railway line, but when I called again, he finally raised his eyes and looked up at me.
“It’s very steep,” I shouted down to him. “Is there a path I can use to get down to you? I would like to speak to you.”
He looked up at me without replying, and I looked down without repeating my question, waiting patiently. Exactly at that moment, I felt a vibration in the earth and air, which grew stronger and stronger. I stepped back because I was scared that it would somehow pull me down into the cutting.
It was a train, travelling quickly down the train tracks. Its smoke rose to my height at the top of the cutting. When the train was gone and I could see it continuing over the countryside far away, I looked down again and saw the man wrapping the flag round its short pole. He had shown the flag to the train as it passed him.
“Is there a path I can use to get down to you?” I repeated. He hesitated and seemed to watch me very carefully. Then he pointed his flag towards a part of the cutting at my level, about 200 metres from where I was standing. I called down to him, “All right!” and walked in the direction he showed me.
I looked around me, found a rough path leading down the cutting and followed it.
The cutting was extremely deep and extremely steep. They had cut through stone to make it and the path was quite wet. It got wetter and wetter as I moved further down the path. For these reasons, I had time to think and I remembered something: when the man had pointed towards the path, he had seemed very reluctant. I don’t think he had wanted to do it.
When I next looked towards him, I saw that he was standing between the tracks, where the train had recently passed. It seemed that he was waiting for me. I was surprised because he looked so nervous and I didn’t understand why.
I continued moving down the path and finally stepped off it and onto the ground at the level of the railway line. I could now see that he had dark hair.
I thought, What a sad, lonely place to work! On both sides, there was a steep, wet wall of stone and you could only see a tiny part of the sky. In one direction, you could see the railway line continuing into thedistance. In the other direction, you could see the railway line entering a tunnel. The tunnel was huge and it was black inside. It created a depressing atmosphere. At the entrance to the tunnel, there was a red light. I believe this was used to warn of dangers.
Very little sunlight could enter this place so it smelled of wet earth, and there was a cold wind howling along the railway line. I felt that I was in another world, a frightening world.
As I approached him, he didn’t move. He just stared at me. Then, when I got really near to him, he stepped back one step and lifted his hand.
“I’m sure you are very lonely in this place,” I said. “I was going for a walk and it attracted my attention. I suppose you rarely get visitors. But I hope you don’t mind that I’m here. I don’t know very much about railways but I’m fascinated by them.” As I talked, I watched him but he stayed silent. There was something strange about him and he made me nervous.
He looked towards the red light near the entrance to the tunnel. He didn’t take his eyes from it for a while and I thought, Why is he staring so hard at that light?
I asked him, “That red light is important, isn’t it?”
“Of course it is,” he answered in a low voice. “It warns of approaching trains. It switches on when they are coming.”
I suddenly had a horrible thought: Is he a man or a ghost?
