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PRIDE AND PREIUDICE Stage 6 'It is a truth well kno.....,11 to all the world that an unmarried man in possession of,\ lar�c forrunc must he in rH:ed of a wife.' And so, wh<:n such a man comes to live nc:u the Bennet family, Mrs Bennet is delighted. At 01ll:e, she:: secs in Mr Bingky a possibk, almosr a certain, hush.rn<l for one of her fivedau�htcrs. 'People s:iyhe's 4uite young, very handsomt:, and extremely charming!' says foolish Lydi:i, tht: youn�t:st of the:: Bennet sisters. ·And even lx:rrcr, he lovt·s d:rncing! E veryhody knows chat means he.. ·s likely rn Lill in lovc!' Rut with whom? Soon, Fliz.1hc..-rh Bennet is sure that he admires ht:r eldest si:,.tcr, .Janc. Certainly, he is most arrcnrive to her wht:never tl1c..·y mt:ct, but who cm tell if admir:uion will k:id to m;irriagc, ;1nd happiness? Mr Binglcy, however. is 1101 the 011 ly young man to show interest in rhc lk11ne1 girk There is tht:ir <:ousin,the borin� Mr Collins. There arc the offi<:ers of the regiment - the d1.nming Mr \X/i<:kh:im, for example::. And of course., there is Mr Bin�lcy ':,.frn:nd, Mr D.m.:y- tall, Jark, and c::xtremely wealthy, hut then he is \tH.:h .1 rude, proud, disa�reeahk man ... Jane n.u::.Lrn 11175 -1817), one of England's hcst-loved :1uthors, kd an urn.:vcntful life. Her novels deal with the rc:latiom.hips .rnd manners of the En�lish middlc-das,, an<l '-ht: wrotr with a wit and a ...harpncss of oo�rvation char luve made her famous to this day. OXFORD BOOKWORMS------ For a full list of titles in all the Oxford Bookworms series, pleaserefer to the Oxford English catalogue. Titles available include: """ Black Series """ """"Stage 1 (400 headwords) """ Stage 4 ( 1400 headwords) •The Elephant Man Tim Vicary •The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler •Goodbye, Mr Hollywood John Escott •The Hound of the Baskervilles •The Monkey's Paw W.W. Jacobs Sir Arthur Conan Doyle •The Phantom of the Opera Jennifer Bassett Lord Jim Joseph Conrad Under the Moon Rowena Altinyemi •Three Men in a Boat Jerome K. Jerome """"Stage 2 (700 headwords) """ Stage 5 ( 1800 headwords) • Dracula Bram Stoker Deadlock Sara Paretsky •New Yorkers 0. Henry (short stories) •Ghost Stories retold by Rosemary Border •Sherlock Holmes Short Stories Heat and Dust Ruth Prower Jhabvala Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I, Robot Isaac Asimov (short stories) •voodoo Island Michael Duckworth "Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte """"Stage 3 ( 1000 headwords) """"Stage 6 (2500 headwords) • Love Story Erich Segal • American Crime Stories retold by John Escr>ft •The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde Cry Freedom John Briley •Skyjack! Tim Vicary Meteor John Wyndham (short stories) Tooth and Claw Saki (short stories) "Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen Wyatt's Hurricane Desmond Bagley "Tess of the d'Urbcrvilles Thomas Hardy """ Green Series """ """"Stage 2 (700headwords) """Stage 4 ( 1400headwords) •Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll •Black Bcauty Anna Sewell "Huckleberry Finn Mark Twam •Gulliver's Travels Jon.ithan Sw,(t "Robinson Crusoe D<lnrel Defoe "Lirtlc Women Louis" May Alcott Too Old to Rockand Roll Jan Mark (short stories) The Silver Sword Ian Serraillier •Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson """"Stage 3 ( 1000heaJwords) "The Call of rhe Wild Jack London On the EJge Gillian Cross •The Prisoner of ZenJa Anthony Hope "The SecretGarJen fr<lnces Hodgson Burnett Many other titles available, both classic <lnd modern. •cassettes av.ii/able for theu t!tlt!s. ----OXFORD BOOKWORMSCOLLECTION---- Fiction by well-known <luthors, both cl<lssic and modern. Texts .ire not abridged or s,mpl,(iedin any way. Titles ai•a1/,,ble include· From the CraJle IO tht' Grave A Window on rhe Univcrsc: (stories by S,,k,. Evelyn Wc1ugh, Ro.ild Dahl, (stories by Ray Br.idbury, Arthur C.Cl<lrke, Sujwn H,J/, R.iymond Carver, and or hers) ls<l.ic Asimov, Philip K. D,ck, and others) Crime Never Pays The Eye of Chil<lhoc"I (srorics by Ag<ltha Christie, Patrici<l H,ghsm,th, (storie� by D. H. L1wre"ce, Wi/11.im Boyd, Gr,1ham Green�. Ruth Rendell, ,inJ other�) Penelope l ivdy, John Upd,ke. and other,) Jane Austen !MIOC,/C.,:,rf°�!' �m. · 0 irLanguage Retold by Clare West OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS www.irLanguage.com � !JAe91�' ,uu,. � It is a truth welJ known to all the worJd that an unmarried man in possession of a large fortune must be in need of a wife. And when such a man moves into a neighbourhood, even if nothing is known about his feelings or opinions, this truth is so clear to the surrounding families, that they think of him immediately as the future husband of one or other of their daughters. ·My dear Mr Bennet,' said Mrs Bennet to her husband one day, 'have you heard that someone is going to rent Netherfield Park at last?' 'No, Mrs Bennet, I haven't,' said her husband. 'Don't you want to know who is renting it?' cried Mrs Bennet impatiently. 'You want to tell me, and I don't mind listening.' Mrs Bennet needed no further encouragement. 'WeH, my dear, I hear that he's a very rich young man from the north of England. It seems he came to see Netherfield on Monday and was so delighted with it that he arranged to rent it at once. Of course, it is the finesthouse in the area, with the largest gardens. His servants will be here by the end of the week, and he w-ill be arriving soon afterwards!' 'What is his name?' asked Mr Bennet. 'Bingley.' 'Is he married or single?' 'Oh, single, my dear, of course! A single man of large fortune - he has an income of four or fivethousand pounds a year. How wonderful for our girls!' ·whv? How can it lffect them?' Mr Bennet asked. .. ., www.irLanguage.com 2 Pride and Prejudice 'My dear Mr Bennet,' she replied, 'haw can you be so annoying! You must realize I'm thinking of his marrying one of our daughters.' 'Is that his purpose in coming to the area?' 'His purpose? No, of course not. But it's very likely that he'll fall in love with one of them. And I want him to see the girls as soon as possible, before our other neighbours introduce themselves. So you must visit him as soon as he arrives.' 'I really don't see why I should,' said Mr Bennet. 'You and the girls can visit him, or perhap6 you should send them by themselves. Yes, that might be better, as you're as attractive as any of them, and Mr Bingley might like you best.' 'My dear, you flatterme,' replied his wife, 'I certain]y have been called beautiful in the past, but I think a woman with five adult daughters should stop thinking of her own beauty. Mr Bennet, I beg you to visit him. You know it's correct for the gentleman of the family to visit new neighbours first. I simply cannot take the girls to see him unless you have already met him.' 'Surdy you worry too much about the rules of polite society. I'm sure Mr Bingley will be delighted to see you al1. And I'll write him a few lines, which you can give him, agreeing gladly to his marrying any of the girls, although I must especially recommend my dear little Lizzy.' 'Oh no, Mr Bennet!' gasped Mrs Bennet, horrified. 'Please don't do that! And Lizzy is no better than the others, although I know she is your favourite.' 'Our daughters are all very silly, ignorant girls, it's true. But at least Lizzy is a little more intelligent than her sisters.' 'Mr Bennet, how can you speak so unkindly of your own children? Oh dear, how ill I feel! Have you no pity for me? Don't The Bennets• new neighbour 3 you realize how I suffer?' 'Indeed, my dear, I've suffered with you for the last twenty­ three years. But I think you will recover, and live to see many more rich young men come into the neighbourhood.' When he was young, Mr Bennet had made the mistake of falling in love with a pretty but foolish young woman. During the long years of their marriage, he had had time to regret his mistake. He soon realized that his wife had little intelligence or common sense, and was only interested in talking, shopping and finding husbands for her daughters. His experience had made him rather bitter, and he could not stop himself mocking his wife, who never understood her husband's sense of humour. So when, a week later, Mrs Bennet discovered that her husband had in fact visited Mr Bingley at Netherfield, she was surprised and very pleased. But she and her daughters tried in vain to persuade Mr Bennet to describe the wealthy stranger, and in the end they had to rely on another neighbour's description. 'He sounds wonderful, Mama!' cried Lydia, the youngest and noisiest of the sisters. 'Charlotte Lucas's father has been to see him, and says he's quite young, very handsome, and extremely charming! And even better, he loves dancing! Everybody knows that means he's very likely to fall in love!' As politeness required, Mr Bingley came to visit Mr Bennet a few days later. He was not, however, fortunate enough to see the Bennet girls, who were hiding behind the curtains in an upstairs room in order to catch sight of the handsome stranger.

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