Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Stevenson Robert Louis

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      Robert Louis Stevenson

      Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

      DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

      Have you ever wished to be someone else? Have you ever looked at someone you know and thought, ‘He does what he wants. Why shouldn’t I do what I want?’ And have you then thought that if you looked like someone else, only for one day, you would be free to do anything you wanted? And nobody could blame you for it. Nobody would ever know that it was you, because it wasn’t you! How exciting to change into someone else! Just for a day, or perhaps from time to time, not too often. Because if you changed into that other person often, then you might become that other person – and you might find it difficult to be yourself again.

      These are dangerous thoughts for someone to have, especially for Doctor Jekyll. Because Doctor Jekyll is a very clever scientist, and he has found a way of turning this dream into reality …

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DPOxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide inOxford 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 simplified edition © Oxford University Press 2008Database 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 479170 0A complete recording of this Bookworms edition of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is available on audio CD ISBN 978 0 19 479149 6Typeset by Hope Services (Abingdon) LtdPrinted in Hong KongACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Illustrated by: Paul DickinsonWord count (main text): 12,520 wordsFor more information on the Oxford Bookworms Library, visit www.oup.com/bookwormse-Book ISBN 978 0 19 478643 0e-Book first published 2012

      1

      The mysterious door

      Mr Utterson the lawyer was a quiet, serious man. He was shy with strangers and afraid of showing his feelings. Among friends, however, his eyes shone with kindness and goodness. And, although this goodness never found its way into his conversation, it showed itself in his way of life. He did not allow himself many enjoyable things in life. He ate and drank simply and, although he enjoyed the theatre, he had not been to a play for twenty years. However, he was gentler towards other men’s weaknesses, and was always ready to help rather than blame them. As a lawyer, he was often the last good person that evil-doers met on their way to prison, or worse. These people often carried with them memories of his politeness and fairness.

      Mr Utterson’s best friend was a distant cousin called Richard Enfield, who was well known as a fun-loving ‘man about town’. Nobody could understand why they were friends, as they were different from each other in every way. They often took long walks together, however, marching through the streets of London in companionable silence.

      One of these walks used to take them down a narrow side-street in a busy part of London. It was a clean, busy, friendly street with bright little shops and shiny doorknockers. Near the end of this street, however, stood a dark, mysterious, windowless building. The door had neither bell nor knocker and looked dusty and uncared for. Dirty children played fearlessly on the doorstep, and nobody ever opened the door to drive them away.