The secret garden — Chapter One The child who was left behind

　　However, in a few short days Mary"s life was changed. She woke up one morning to discover that her parents had died in the night of a terrible disease called cholera（霍乱）. Many of the servants had died, too. An officer came to the house to search for survivors, and found Mary there, alone. For some reason the child hadn"t become ill.

　　Mary had liked to look at her mother, because she was so young and pretty. But Mary had not known her mother, or her father. So she did not feel very sad that they were dead. Mary was a very selfish child, and she only thought about herself. She wondered who would take care of her now. She hoped that they would be polite to her. She wanted them to give her whatever she wanted, like her Ayi had.

　　Mary was taken to the house of an English man named Mr.Crawford. She was going to stay there for a while. Mary did not like the man"s family. He had five children. At first the children tried to be nice to Mary. However, she was so unkind to them that no one would play with her. They called her names(谩骂某人)，which made her very angry. Basil, the little boy, called her "Mistress Mary Quite Contrary".

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