PART ONE - LIFE AT GATESHEAD
CHAPTER ONE
The Fight

The red room was a cold, silent room. It was the largest bedroom in the house, but no one slept in it. Nine years ago my uncle, Mr. Reed, had died in this room. Since then no one wanted to go into the room.
Now that I was alone I thought about the terrible people I lived with. John Reed, his sisters, his mother, the servants, they all scolded and hated me. Why could I never please them? Eliza was [-----1-----], but it did not matter. Georgiana had a bad temper, but everyone loved her because she was beautiful. John was ugly, curel and violent, but nobody punished him. I tried to be good and make no mistakes, but they called me bad every day. Now that I had fought John to protect myself, everyone blamed me.
I spent the rest of the day in the red room asking myself why I had to suffer and why life was so unfair. "Perhaps I should run away, or [-----2-----] myself to death," I thought sadly.
Soon it was dark outside. It was raining, and I could hear the wind in the trees. It sounded like ghosts crying. I was no longer angry, and I began to think the Reeds might be right. Perhaps I was really bad inside. Did I [-----3-----] to die like my uncle Reed? I didi not remember him. Just before he died, he had made my Aunt Reed promise to care for me like their own children. Now she probably wished she had never made that promise to him!

Vocabulary Focus

now that由于……，例如：Now that you have finished your homework, you can watch TV.（既然你完成了作業，那么你可以看電視。）