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
263. If Only We Could Go Back (B2 story)
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The audioscript for today's B2 story:
If only we could go back
On Tuesday morning, Alice decided to call in sick, not because she was ill, but because the clouds outside looked like elephants marching across the sky. Today she felt like the little girl that she used to be many years before. She simply couldn’t be bothered to sit at her office desk when such wonders were happening around her.
She set off to the fields near her country home, carrying a picnic basket. A rabbit wearing a red jacket ran beside her and said, “You’ve picked a magical day for an adventure.” Alice asked the rabbit how it could talk, to which it didn’t reply, so instead she chose to change the subject and offered the rabbit a sandwich.
As they walked together, a clumsy, rather overweight fairy flew past, dropping fairy dust everywhere. She apologized for her carelessness, then laughed and raced through the air. Alice, trying to be cautious, didn’t touch the fairy dust, unsure what it might do.
“Don’t be so suspicious,” the rabbit said in a cheeky voice. “Magic works best when you trust it.”
Under normal circumstances, Alice might have turned back, but today she followed them, just as a little child follows that which is innocent and wonderful. And when they came to a golden door that appeared among the trees – inviting them to go in, Alice couldn’t face doing the safe thing anymore. With a deep breath, she pushed the door open, ready for whatever lay beyond.
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)