Interactive English

The charming Vanda - or, as she was described in her passport, the Honourable Citizen Nastasya Kanavkin - found herself, on leaving the hospital, in a position she had never been in before: without a home to go to or a farthing in her pocket. What was she to do? Read in English, unabridged.

Santa Claus lives in the Laughing Valley, where stands the big, rambling castle in which his toys are manufactured. His workmen, selected from the ryls, knooks, pixies and fairies, live with him, and everyone is as busy as can be from one year's end to another. One would think that our good old Santa Claus, who devotes his days to making children happy, would have no enemies on all the Earth; and, as a matter of fact, for a long period of time he encountered nothing but love wherever he might go.

This is a tale about a tail—a tail that belonged to a little red squirrel, and his name was Nutkin. He had a brother called Twinkleberry and a great many cousins: They lived in a wood at the edge of a lake.

Yegor could not imagine his future works, but he could see distinctly how the papers would talk of him, how the shops would sell his photographs, with what envy his friends would look after him.

Nellie, a young and pretty girl, dreaming day and night of being married, gazes into a looking glass. In the mirror her future husband emerges, and they live together through days and months in fast-forward, yet she sees her future distinctly in all its details.

In the town of Surat, in India, was a coffeehouse where many travellers and foreigners from all parts of the world met and conversed. One day a learned Persian theologian visited this coffeehouse. He was a man who had spent his life studying the nature of the deity and reading and writing books upon the subject. He had thought, read, and written so much about God that eventually he lost his wits, became quite confused and ceased even to believe in the existence of a god. Read in English, unabridged.

Once upon a time there was an old cat called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who was an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and whenever they were lost they were always in mischief! On baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard. She caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom. Read in English, unabridged.

"When a word game turns deadly, how do you fight it?" Who do you go to for help? Martin must answer these questions before he becomes the next victim of an insidious plot. In a single day Byrne's simple life as a business executive is turned upside down, because of his fascination with word games. And he is not the only one in danger.

A story of a successful farmer, Ilyas, who grew into one of the wealthiest in the area only to lose it all through series of bad accidents. He finds his happiness, however, only after losing all his possessions and achieving peace for himself and his wife. Read in English, unabridged.

Lord Murchison recounts to his old friend a strange tale of a woman he had loved and intended to marry, but she was now dead. She had always been very secretive and mysterious. He one day followed her to see where she went and discovered her stealthily going to a boarding house. He suspected there was another man and confronted her the next day. She confessed to having been there but said nothing had happened. He did not believe her and left; she died some time later. Read in English, unabridged.

Perpetual winter comes to the beautiful garden of a selfish giant who erected a wall around it to stop children playing in the garden. Unexpected consequences follow. The birds stop singing in this garden, and both trees and flowers stop blossoming. One day the giant discovers that spring has returned to the garden, and the children have found a way in through a gap in the wall. He sees the error of his ways and resolves to destroy the wall. Read in English by Josh Verbae, unabridged.

Between five and six in the evening. A fairly well-known man of learning is sitting in his study nervously biting his nails. ''It's positively revolting,'' he says, continually looking at his watch. ''It shows the utmost disrespect for another man's time and work. In England such a person would not earn a farthing, he would die of hunger. You wait a minute, when you do come....'' The short story is read in English, and unabridged.

I am a novelist, and I suppose I have made up this story. I write 'I suppose,' though I know for a fact that I have made it up, but yet I keep fancying that it must have happened somewhere at some time, that it must have happened on Christmas Eve in some great town in a time of terrible frost. Read in English, unabridged.

One day when she was younger and better looking, and when her voice was stronger, Nikolay Petrovitch Kolpakov, her adorer, was sitting in the outer room in her summer villa. It was intolerably hot and stifling. Kolpakov, who had just dined and drunk a whole bottle of inferior port, felt ill humoured and out of sorts. Both were bored and waiting for the heat of the day to be over in order to go for a walk. Read in English, unabridged.

Dostoyevsky skilfully paints a portrait of a character who manages to recall a childhood memory from 20 years ago, and by doing so he alters the course of his life and even enables himself to completely free his heart from hatred and anger. Read in English, unabridged.

'If anything happens it's all known at once, nothing is hidden! It's incredible! You can't imagine! Look! My name has been published! Now all Russia knows of me!' A cautionary tale about people wanting and getting fame at any cost.

A native Frenchman no longer tutors the wealthy landlord's children, as they've grown up and left the house. The Frenchman is now paid simply to be around, to be properly dressed, to smell of scent, and to listen to Kamyshev's babble, to eat and drink and sleep. It may sound like a dream job, but there's always a catch. Read in English, unabridged.

Hughie Erskine is in love and wants to marry, but the girl's father will not allow it, since Erskine has no money. Erskine's friend, Alan Trevor, is a painter, and Erskine visits him at his studio one day to find him with a pitiable beggar - the model for his painting. Erskine only has one coin, on which he depends for transportation, but he decides he can walk for a couple of weeks and gives the beggar the coin. Read in English, unabridged.

'Once, as I was wandering about the fields after partridges with Yermolai, I saw some way off a deserted garden, and turned into it. I had hardly crossed its borders when a snipe rose up out of a bush with a clatter. I fired my gun, and at the same instant, a few paces from me, I heard a shriek; the frightened face of a young girl peeped out for a second from behind the trees, and instantly disappeared. Yermolai ran up to me: "Why are you shooting here? There is a landowner living here."'

Once upon a time, there was a gentleman who married, as his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman who ever was seen. She had two daughters of her own, who were indeed exactly like her in all things. The gentleman had also a young daughter of rare goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world. Read in English, unabridged.