Short Stories in English for Beginners

boat
. It was old and made of wood. It was
standing in the water near the 
shore
. George looked at Sylvia. ‘Let’s get in
it!’
‘
Are you kidding
?’ replied Sylvia. ‘Why?’
‘We can go to the middle of the lake!’
‘I don’t know ….’
‘Come on! Let’s go! It’ll be fun!’
‘OK …,’ said Sylvia. She didn’t sound happy.
Sylvia and George got into the boat with their backpacks. They slowly
rowed
 to the middle of the lake. Sylvia looked around. ‘It’s so nice here!’
she commented.
‘Yes, I know. There are lots of trees. And we can still see the sun
perfectly.’
‘I’m so happy we came out here. Let’s have something to eat. Do you
want something?’
‘Of course! What do you have?’
Sylvia took several cookies and sandwiches out of her backpack. George
took out the energy drinks.
‘What do you want?’
‘The sandwiches look good ….’
‘Sure! Help yourself.’
‘Thank you, Sylvia!’
The two friends ate their sandwiches in the middle of the lake. Suddenly,
they heard a noise.
‘Did you hear that?’ George said.
‘Yes, I did,’ Sylvia replied. She sounded scared.

---

‘I think it’s coming from the house.’
‘So do I!’
‘Let’s go and look!’
Sylvia looked at George in surprise. ‘Seriously?’ she said.
‘Yes! Come on!’
George and Sylvia rowed back to the shore. They put their backpacks on.
Then they slowly walked to the old wooden house.
‘Sylvia, I want to go in the house.’
‘Why? Aren’t we supposed to be hiking? Out in the clean air? Not in
houses?’
‘Well, yes. But in the woods there are lots of interesting things. I like to
explore
 interesting things.’
‘I’m not sure ….’
‘Come on. Let’s go into the house,’ George suggested again. Finally
Sylvia agreed.
Sylvia and George took a few steps towards the house. They opened the
door and went in. Everything inside the house was very old. No one had
lived in it for a very long time. There was 
dust
 everywhere.
‘Sylvia, look at this,’ called George. His voice sounded strange.
‘What?’
‘Here, next to the window.’
Sylvia looked. On the floor, in the dust, there were several very large
footprints
.
‘What do you think these footprints could be?’ asked George.
‘I think they’re bear footprints!’ answered Sylvia.
‘A bear, Sylvia?! There aren’t any bears around here! The closest bears
are hundreds of miles away!’
‘Then I have no idea. But let’s get out of here!’
Suddenly, the two friends heard a noise in the kitchen. Sylvia and George
ran to the room. They could not believe their eyes. A big hairy creature was

---

standing in the kitchen! It quickly turned, went out the back door and ran
away. The creature made a lot of noise. It even broke the door as it left!
George and Sylvia stood still. The creature