Alice in Wonderland is a very famous book written in the nineteenth century by a British author named Lewis Carroll. It's about a girl who ends up in a place that is filled with very strange things, like food that makes you grow larger or smaller, talking animals, and playing-cards that walk. Some people think of Alice in Wonderland as a book for children only, but it can be enjoyed by adults too (some of the jokes are meant for adults). - Derek
Vocabulary bank=river bank (the shore of a river); waistcoat=vest; started to her feet=jumped up; antipathies=this is a joke by the author. Antipathy (an-TI-pa-thee) (noun) is a word which means dislike or hatred. Example: His antipathy to me is obvious. What Alice means to say is the "antipodes" (an-TI-po-deez), which are the points on the earth's surface on opposite sides (for example, British people used to call Australia the antipodes). (The word antipodes is not common in spoken or written English). Tea-time="tea" in Britain can mean the drink, or it can refer to "afternoon tea", which is a light meal served with tea. Tea-time simply refers to the time at which "tea" (the meal and the drink) is served. Also note that White Rabbit is not normally capitalized. The author capitalized it to make it a proper name (the name of the character).
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversations?”
So she was considering, in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.Vocabulary bank=river bank (the shore of a river); waistcoat=vest; started to her feet=jumped up; antipathies=this is a joke by the author. Antipathy (an-TI-pa-thee) (noun) is a word which means dislike or hatred. Example: His antipathy to me is obvious. What Alice means to say is the "antipodes" (an-TI-po-deez), which are the points on the earth's surface on opposite sides (for example, British people used to call Australia the antipodes). (The word antipodes is not common in spoken or written English). Tea-time="tea" in Britain can mean the drink, or it can refer to "afternoon tea", which is a light meal served with tea. Tea-time simply refers to the time at which "tea" (the meal and the drink) is served. Also note that White Rabbit is not normally capitalized. The author capitalized it to make it a proper name (the name of the character).
Alice in Wonderland
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversations?”
There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” (when she thought it over afterward, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but, when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and, burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.
