Welcome back to another English Through Stories.
I'm Oliver and today we are reading a story called The Mysterious Note.
I will read through the story in slow and clear English and then we will look and talk about some difficult vocabulary.
Okay, let's get started.
The Mysterious Note In a small seaside town, the summer sun was shining brightly.
Mia, a 12-year-old girl, spent most of her days exploring the sandy beaches and rocky cliffs near her home.
She loved finding seashells, small crabs and smooth stones by the shore.
One day, as Mia walked along the beach, she saw something unusual.
A green glass bottle was half buried in the sand.
Curious, she picked it up.
Inside the bottle was a rolled up piece of paper.
A message in a bottle, Mia exclaimed.
She ran back home, holding the bottle tightly.
At home, Mia carefully pulled the paper out.
The note was written in messy handwriting.
It said, find the red boat at Sunset Bay.
The treasure is close.
Mia's heart raced.
Treasure?
What kind of treasure?
And who had written the note?
Mia decided to follow the instructions.
That evening, she packed a flashlight, a bottle of water, and a small backpack.
She told her parents that she was going to watch the sunset.
They nodded, not suspecting anything unusual.
Sunset Bay was only a short walk from Mia's house.
When she arrived, she looked around for the red boat.
At first she saw nothing, but as the sun dipped lower she noticed an old red rowboat lying upside down near the rocks.
Mia ran to the boat and started looking around.
Underneath it, she found a small wooden box.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
Inside was a handful of coins, some seashells and a piece of paper.
The paper read, Congratulations!
You found the treasure.
This is part of the seaside treasure hunt.
Follow the clues to find more.
Mia laughed.
It wasn't gold or jewels, but it was exciting.
She decided to keep the coins and seashells as a memory.
She also noticed a map on the back of the paper. and it showed another location in the town.
Over the next few weeks, Mia followed the clues.
Each time she found a new treasure, it was something simple but special.
A small toy, a beautiful stone, or a polished piece of driftwood.
With each discovery, there was a new note and a new map pointing to the next location.
For example, the second treasure was hidden under a large rock near the lighthouse, and there she found a little clay figure which was shaped like a crab.
The note said, keep going.
The best treasures are still to come.
The third treasure was buried in the sand by an old pier.
Mia dug carefully and uncovered a tiny glass bottle with colorful beads inside.
The note inside said, you're getting closer to the final prize.
Mia was thrilled.
She started to feel like a real adventurer, like the heroes in her favourite books.
But she also started to wonder, who had created this treasure hunt, and why?
Finally, the last map led her to a hidden cave near the cliffs.
It was a place that Mia had never been before because it was so hard to reach.
She had to climb over rocks and wade through shallow water to get there.
When she entered the cave, her flashlight lit up the walls, which were covered in drawings of fish boats and waves.
In the middle of the cave was a small wooden chest.
Mia opened it carefully, and inside was a journal and a note that read the following.
Congratulations, explorer.
You've reached the final treasure.
This journal is for you to write about your own adventures.
Remember, the real treasure isn't gold or jewels.
It's the journey, the places you discover, and the memories that you make.
Keep exploring.
Mia smiled as she flipped through the journal.
On the first page, someone had written The treasure hunt was created by the Seaside Explorers Club to share the joy of adventure with you.
If you enjoyed it, create your own treasure hunt for others.
Mia decided that she would do just that.
She started writing in the journal, planning new clues and treasures to hide for other kids in town.
That summer, Mia didn't just find a treasure.
She found a love for adventure, creativity and sharing joy with others.
And that's the end of our story.
Wasn't that lovely?
Now let's take a look together at some of the more difficult words, and I will provide definitions for these words.
After I explain the words, I would recommend re-listening to the story again, just to practice and to hear it better the second time, to understand more.
Okay, let's look at some words.
Okay, the first word is seaside.
So the sentence, in a small seaside town.
And seaside means near the sea or the ocean.
Very simple adjective.
The next word is trembled.
And this means to shake slightly.
Something shook slightly often because of excitement or nervousness.
The sentence here was her hands trembled as she opened it.
So her hands, they shook slightly.
They moved.
She was excited.
So her hands were moving.
Okay, another word is clues.
Clues are hints or pieces of information. that help you solve a puzzle or a mystery.
So they help us to solve something.
And this word was used a few times throughout the story.
So clues or clue.
Okay, another word which maybe is a bit more American is driftwood.
Driftwood are pieces of wood washed onto the shore by the sea.
So pieces of wood maybe that are on the beach and they've came in from the sea.
Another word, pier.
A pier is a platform built out into the water and it's often used for fishing or docking boats.
So for parking your boat, this is called a pier.
And that one is from the sentence, The third treasure was buried in the sand by an old pier.
Okay, and now a verb, wade.
So to wade is to walk through water that is not very deep.
And with maybe a more British pronunciation, wade, wade.
My accent is a little bit stronger on that word.
I say wade.
So it means to walk through water that's not very deep.
And this sentence before, or the sentence which has this is she had to climb over rocks and wade through shallow water to get there.
So she had to walk through shallow water.
Okay, now we have one more word to look at, and that is explorer.
An explorer is someone who travels to new places to learn about them.
So that was in Seaside Explorers Club, which was talked about at the end of the story.
That's all of our new words for today.
Now try to re-listen to the story and spot or hear these new words.
Thank you so much for listening.
If you enjoyed, make sure to like the video and subscribe if you're new.
Thank you for listening.
Have a great day.
Goodbye.
