The document is a reading passage about a poor little girl on New Year's Eve. It was very cold and snowing heavily. The girl was trying to sell matches to earn money but had no luck. Exhausted and freezing, she huddled in a corner between two houses. She struck a match which briefly made her warm before it went out. She then saw a vision of a lavish meal when striking another match before it too was extinguished, leaving her cold and hungry in the dark alley.