高中三年级英语(人教版)全一册 Unit 13 Reading 1

　　THE MOONSTONE

　　The novel The Moonstone is set in England in 1848, but the story really began 50 years earlier. The Moonstone is a huge yellow diamond that was once part of a statue of the moon god in India. An Englishman murdered three holy men, stole the diamond from the temple and brought it back with him to London. When his sister heard about this, she would not speak to him any more. The diamond was cursed and the man lived a sad, lonely life without friends or family. When he died he left the Moonstone to his sister's daughter, Rachel, in an act of revenge, passing on his bad fortune to her. Rachel would receive the Moonstone as a present on the reception for her eighteenth birthday.

　　Rachel Verinder is a beautiful and wealthy young woman. She lives with her mother and several servants in a fine house in the north of England. She spends the days before her birthday party with her childhood friend Franklin Blake, painting a door in her sitting room with flowers and birds. They work together on it and finish it on Rachel's birthday. Franklin, who is a smoker, is very considerate towards Rachel. His move to quit smoking cigars to please her is seen by the servants as evidence that he is in love with Rachel.

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