TIM VICARY
Grace Darling
GRACE DARLING
The sea has many faces. Sometimes it is calm and gentle – as quiet as a swimming-pool. Sometimes it is wild, and angry, and dangerous. We build walls against the sea, and the sea washes them away. We build ships to sail on the sea, and the sea breaks them in two, like a child breaking a toy. When the sea wears its angry face, it is like a wild animal – that wants only to kill.
You, of course, are not afraid of the sea. You are safe on land, you are warm and dry. But it is different when you are on a small boat in an angry sea, with salt water flying into your face and the wind screaming in your ears. For us it is easy not to be afraid; this is only a book. But for Grace Darling it was no story. It was a very real, cold, wild night when she fought with the sea, and was not afraid.
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DPOxford University Press is a department of the University of OxfordIt furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New YorkAuckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei TorontoWith offices inArgentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine VietnamOXFORD and OXFORD ENGLISH are registered trade marks of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countriesThis edition © Oxford University Press 2008The moral rights of the author have been assertedDatabase right Oxford University Press (maker)First published in Oxford Bookworms 19912 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1No unauthorized photocopyingAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address aboveYou must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirerAny websites referred to in this publication are in the public domain and their addresses are provided by Oxford University Press for information only. Oxford University Press disclaims any responsibility for the contentISBN 978 0 19 479061 1A complete recording of this Bookworms edition of Grace Darling is available on audio CD ISBN 978 0 19 478984 4ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Illustrated by: David Frankland Maps by: Brian WalkerWord count (main text): 6685 wordsFor more information on the Oxford Bookworms Library, visit www.oup.com/bookwormswww.oup.com/bookwormse-Book ISBN 978 0 19 478691 1e-Book first published 2012
