The Bears of Blue River (ESL/EFL Version with Audio)

By Qiliang Feng and Charles Major

This is Book 11, Collection II, of the Million-Word Reading Project (MWRP) readers. It is suitable for learners with a basic vocabulary of 1,500 words.
Million-Word Reading Project (MWRP) is a reading project for ESL/EFL learners at the elementary level (with a basic vocabulary of 1,500 words). In two years, for about fifteen minutes each day, an ESL/EFL learner can read one million words, and reach the upper-intermediate level, gaining a vocabulary of about 3,500 words and a large number of expressions.

[Text Information]
Readability | 81.74
Total word count | 21833
Words beyond 1500 | 1128
Unknown word percentage (%) | 5.17
Unknown headword occurrence | 3.64
Unknown words that occur 5 times or more | 69
Unknown words that occur 2 times or more | 156

[Synopsis]
This book describes the adventures of a young boy growing up in the wild country of Indiana in the early nineteenth century.
Little Balser lives with his parents, a younger brother, and a baby sister in a cozy log cabin on the bank of the Big Blue River. Although he is only thirteen or fourteen years old, he is quite familiar with the dangers and hardship of frontier life.
Strange stories are told about a Fire Bear among the settlers in the area. It is said that if one sees the bear and does not kill him, he will die in three months. One stormy night, Balser does see the Fire Bear....
This book is rewritten from “The Bears of Blue River” by the famous American writer Charles Major (1856-1913).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Qiliang Feng
• Release date: Dec 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311509666

Qiliang Feng

Qiliang Feng has been a teacher of English in senior high schools since 1983. He is a keen supporter of reading in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and is expert at rewriting graded/simplified ESL(English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) readers. He has published several series of English reading course books and is promoting a reading project called Million-Word Reading Project (MWRP), in which ESL/EFL learners at the elementary level (with a basic vocabulary of 1,500 words) are expected to read one million words within two or three years, and reach the upper-intermediate level easily.

Book preview

The Bears of Blue River

(ESL/EFL Version with Audio)

Original by: Charles Major

Rewritten by: Qiliang Feng

Million-Word Reading Project Workshop

Copyright 2022 Qiliang Feng

License Notes

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About This Book

This is Book 11, Collection II, of the Million-Word Reading Project (MWRP) readers. It is suitable for learners with a basic vocabulary of 1,500 words.

Million-Word Reading Project (MWRP) is a reading project for ESL/EFL learners at the elementary level (with a basic vocabulary of 1,500 words). In two years, for about fifteen minutes each day, an ESL/EFL learner can read one million words, and reach the upper-intermediate level, gaining a vocabulary of about 3,500 words and a large number of expressions.

Text Information

Readability | 81.7

Total word count | 21833

Words beyond 1500 | 1128

Unknown word percentage (%) | 5.17

Unknown headword occurrence | 3.64

Unknown words that occur 5 times or more | 69

Unknown words that occur 2 times or more | 156

Notes:

1. About readability: This is Flesch Reading Ease Readability calculated with MS WORD. The higher the score, the easier the text is to read.

Score | Level

0-29 | Very difficult

30-49 | Difficult

50-59 | Fairly difficult

60-69 | Standard

70-79 | Fairly easy

80-89 | Easy

90-100 | Very easy

2. This e-version does not give the meanings of unknown words. You can look them up with the dictionary on your e-reader. For words with different meanings and some expressions, we give their meanings at the end of the passages. We also provide some necessary background information.

3. To get the audio or video of this book, GO>>>

Synopsis

This book describes the adventures of a young boy growing up in the wild country of Indiana in the early nineteenth century.

Little Balser lives with his parents, a younger brother, and a baby sister in a cozy log cabin on the bank of the Big Blue River. Although he is only thirteen or fourteen years old, he is quite familiar with the dangers and hardship of frontier life.

Strange stories are told about a Fire Bear among the settlers in the area. It is said that if one sees the bear and does not kill him, he will die in three months. One stormy night, Balser does see the Fire Bear….

This book is rewritten from "The Bears of Blue River" by the famous American writer Charles Major (1856-1913).

Chapter 1. The Big Bear

Many years ago, when Indiana was a young state, there stood on the east bank of Big Blue River a small log cabin. It was a mile or two north of the point where that stream crosses the Michigan road, and it had two rooms - one front and one back.

The house faced the west. In front of the house was a blue-grass lawn, with a dozen or more trees. Close at the water’s edge was a steep slope of ten or twelve feet. Back of the house was the deep dark forest. In the forest, there lived deer, bears, wolves, squirrels and birds. And in the river, there were many fish of all kinds.

South of the house there was a log barn. It was large enough for three horses and two cows. Around the barn, there was a fence, eight or ten feet high. In this area, the farmer kept a few sheep and cattle. In the evening, he also drove the chickens, geese, and ducks here to save them from the animals.

The owner of this log hut and the land around was a man named Balser Brent. Balser was his name, and it was also the name of his boy, the hero of the bear stories I am about to tell you.

Mr. Brent and his young wife had moved to this place from North Carolina, when young Balser was a little boy five or six. They had bought the land on which they lived. It had cost them one dollar per acre, which was then considered a good sum.

The house was made up of two large rooms. The back room was the kitchen, and the front room was living room, bedroom, sitting room and library all in one.

When the story happened, young Balser was thirteen or fourteen years old. He had a younger brother, Jim, nine years old, and a little sister, one year old. Young Balser was very proud of them indeed.

One day Little Balser was helping his father down in the field. Mrs. Brent called him into the house. When he reached the house, his mother said:

Balser, go up to the river and catch some fish for dinner. Your father is tired of deer meat three times a day. I know he would like a nice dish of fried fish at noon.

All right, mother, said Balser. And he immediately took down his fishing-pole and line and was ready to go. Then, his mother said:

You had better take a gun. You may meet a bear, but you must be careful with it.

The gun was heavy and much longer than himself. Balser took it and started toward the river, about a quarter of a mile away. There had been rain during the night and the ground near the river was soft.

Here, Little Balser noticed fresh bear tracks, and his breath began to come quickly. He opened his eyes wide and looked carefully round. Then he walked on carefully, until he reached the river.

Balser was just a little fellow, but his father had taught him how to use a gun. Although Balser had never killed a bear, he had shot seven deer, and had once killed a wildcat.

Although Balser had never met a bear face to face and alone, yet he had said that there wasn’t a bear in the world big enough to frighten him, if he only had his gun.

He had often told his parents and little brother just what he would do if he should meet a bear. He would wait calmly and quietly until the bear should come within a few yards of him. Then he would slowly lift his gun. Bang! And Mr. Bear would be dead with a bullet in his heart.

When he saw the fresh bear tracks, he began to realize that he would probably have a chance to put his theories into practice. But then, he began to wonder if he would become frightened and miss his aim.