Guided Reader Help

[Matazi]

Currently I'm reading 女の子 in Guided Reader Volume 1 and having a little trouble deriving meaning from the paragraph.

大きい家の大きい部屋に、女の子がいます。　　
部屋には、　ものがたくさんあります。
絵本もピアノもテレビもあります。
人形もあります。

でも、一つだけありません。
それは、「言葉」。
女の子は「言葉」を言いません。
そして、笑いません。

What I think it says is:

The girl was in the big room of the big house.
There were many things in the room.
Picture books, a piano, and a television were there.
As well as a doll.

But, these weren't the only things.
Words were there.
Words the girl didn't speak.
So, she never smiled.

[becki_kanou]

Currently I'm reading 女の子 in Guided Reader Volume 1 and having a little trouble deriving meaning from the paragraph.

大きい家の大きい部屋に、女の子がいます。　　
部屋には、　ものがたくさんあります。
絵本もピアノもテレビもあります。
人形もあります。

でも、一つだけありません。
それは、「言葉」。
女の子は「言葉」を言いません。
そして、笑いません。

What I think it says is:

The girl was in the big room of the big house.
There were many things in the room.
Picture books, a piano, and a television were there.
As well as a doll.

But, these weren't the only things.
Words were there.
Words the girl didn't speak.
So, she never smiled.

I think your translation of the 5th line is what's confusing you. It isn't "But, these weren't the only things." It's "One thing wasn't there."

[Matazi]

Ah! Indeed, this makes sense now. ありがとうございます！

[AJBryant]

From a translation standpoint:

Accuracy matters. Why have you formulated the translation in the past tense, when the genbun is all *non*past?

For the record, there are times when you will need to be funky with tenses and moods in your translations, but when you are learning, it is critical to be PRECISE with the source material.

(And I would translate that fourth line as "There are also dolls.")

As Becky said, that fifth line screws you up. Line six is "That (missing thing) is, 'words'."
Likewise, the sixth line has the GIRL as the subject, not the words (again, precision).