Practising English
Listening practice for learners of B1 intermediate and B2 upper-intermediate levels of British English. Learn British English by listening to stories. Original and exciting stories written for learners and students of British English. Practise and prepare for Cambridge: B1 PET Preliminary and FCE First Certificate exams. IELTS: level 4, level 5 and level 6. Includes English grammar explanations and practice exercises, examples of vocabulary use, phrasal verbs and collocations help, British English pronunciation practice, advice and help for passing B1 and B2 English examinations: Cambridge, IELTS and Trinity. Start practising and improving your British English listening, vocabulary and speaking levels today!
Practising English
244. The Breath of the Mosquito (complete version) B1 Story
Ask me a question for the podcast?
For health reasons, I'm afraid I cannot share a new podcast with you today. I include instead, one of my favourite stories that I wrote for students studying for B1 English level: The Breath of the Mosquito as a complete version.
This extract will help you understand what the story is about...
'If… if something went back in time and existed in the past, something or somebody who was not there before, he/she/it would change time in the present. Things would not be the same when he or she returned. It would take just a moment, the tiniest movement in the past would have the effect like a stone thrown into a pond. The circles of effect would move out, growing and growing
for ever and changing the world as they go.'
'But, Emil,' interrupted his friend. 'I was only there for a minute or so.'
'Mathew, a minute is a long, long time. Listen to me, even the breath of a mosquito 33 million years ago would change the world and events in history as we know them today. Just one breath of a mosquito. Imagine how incredibly small that would be.'
Has time changed in the present? If so, in what ways?
Enjoy the story!
My NEW book: "B1 English Vocabulary Builder - 22 Short Stories for Learning the Words and Phrases Students Need to Pass the B1 Exam" is now available! This book gives the learner enough vocabulary to pass any B1 exam (special help for Cambridge exams).
To read more about my book, click here (you can access it from any Amazon platform):
https://amzn.to/46AVFe9
Learners studying towards B2 level will be interested in my B1 to B2 reader: The Tudor Conspiracy (includes audio version) https://amzn.to/4gPsj0i
For very young learners (from 8-10), I recommend my picture reader book for children learning A1 to A2 English. It comes with a fully dramatised audio version: https://amzn.to/46TCWvv
At https://www.practisingenglish.com/ I offer learners of intermediate-level English, free grammar help and exercises and other English learning pages.
https://www.practisingenglish.com/
Be back soon with another podcast!
Mike Bilbrough (Secondary school English teacher and Doctor in English philology)