Hello and welcome back to Practicing English.
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And as I say, it's called B1 English Vocabulary Builder.
22 short stories for learning the words and phrases students need to pass the B1 exam.
Right today we've got a B1 story and I'm going to Read through first of all, and the first task for you to do is just to listen.
And can you identify the B1 words in the story from what you know of B1 English?
So, here we go then with the story.
It's called The Mystery of the Lake.
Hello and welcome to Practicing English.
My name is Mike Bilbre and these are podcasts for students of English at B1 or B2 levels.
For transcripts, please go to practicingenglish.com.
The Mystery of the Lake Day after day, Lily walked past the old lake near her village.
The elderly people of the village said it was dangerously deep and that in its depths lived an enormous monster.
In all her life, Lily had never seen anything, although she often wondered why there were never ducks or swans on the lake.
One summer morning, she decided to take her small boat and explore the lake herself.
As her tiny boat moved further from the lake's edge, dark clouds began to form.
The wind grew stronger and waves started to crash against the side of her boat.
She tried to turn back, but something sharp cut into the wood and made a huge hole.
Lily thought she saw something just under the water, something powerful and dark that moved under the boat.
It was huge like a whale, but no whale lives in lakes.
Water started to pour into the boat fast.
Lily knew she had to deal with the situation quickly.
She jumped into the cold water, swimming hard towards the shore.
Her arms felt heavy and her energy began to run out.
Just when she thought she wouldn't make it, A fisherman's voice shouted from behind her.
She knew him.
He was a friend of her father's.
He grabbed her arms and pulled her on board.
Lily was delighted to be rescued, but shaking from cold and fear.
The fisherman smiled and said, You were lucky.
The last person who went so far out into the lake never returned.
You should stay near the shore.
Now safe, Lily sat in the back of the large metal fishing boat.
She thought about what she had seen under the water and realized that perhaps what the elderly people of the village said might be true.
Right, that is the story.
Did you identify words which are at B1 level?
I'll go through it again now and talk about the B1 words, and then there'll be a short test afterwards.
So here we go then.
The mystery of the lake.
Mystery is a B1 word.
Day after day.
That's a nice B1 expression, meaning really as the days go by, day after day.
It's a nice phrase to use in a story, perhaps.
Your story for the B1 Cambridge Pet Exam.
Lily walked past the old lake near her village.
The elderly people of the village said, the elderly people, So elderly is a B1 word for old.
It's more polite and perhaps nicer to say elderly than old, which might seem a bit negative and rude.
Elderly.
And the people said it was dangerously deep.
So now you should know then three parts of speech of the word dangerous.
So you've got danger, which is the noun dangerous, which is the adjective, and dangerously, which is the adverb.
And this is dangerously deep.
So an adverb to explain or describe another adjective deep, which means that the water goes down a long way.
And that in its depths, so that is the noun of deep, the depth.
This is in the plural, depths, which is common in novels and literary writing.
The depths, the depths of the sea.
Anyway, in the depths of this lake lived an enormous monster.
So you have...
Two words which are B1, which mean very big or very large.
And that is enormous and huge, which we will hear later on in the story.
In all her life she had never seen anything, although she often wondered why although, which is a linking word we saw this last week, it means, i suppose here however, but although she often wondered why there were never ducks or swans.
So, although is a nice b1 linking word you want to try to use, to wonder is to think about something, usually quite deeply often, when we don't know the answer, when the answer might be a mystery.
To wonder, to wonder why ducks and swans?
Swan, you probably know what a duck is.
And swans are large birds, white birds, aquatic birds, birds that live on the water.
You get a lot in the UK, usually large and very white, very beautiful birds.
One summer morning, she decided to take her small boat and explore the lake herself.
Explore meaning to look for something that you don't know about, to explore some land, to explore, in this case, the lake.
As her tiny boat moved further from the lake's edge.
Tiny is like the opposite of enormous, meaning very, very small and a B1 word.
Further from the lake's edge.
So the edge is the side of the lake, where the lake meets the ground or the shore.
The shore and I will give you that word in a moment which is the edge of the lake.
Another word for the edge of the lake the shore.
Dark clouds began to form, the wind grew stronger and waves started to crash against the side of her boat.
Waves are the hills of water that form when it's very windy, in the sea, for example.
The waves.
And they crashed against the side of a boat.
It means they hit the side of the boat very hard to crash.
She tried to turn back, but something sharp cut into the wood and made a huge hole.
So there's the other word for enormous, huge.
And sharp is something which is like a knife, which cuts easily.
And this cut into the wood of the boat and made a hole.
Lily thought she saw something just under the water, something powerful.
It's a nice B1 word from the word the noun power, powerful is the adjective, which means something very large and strong, powerful and dark that moved under the boat.
It was huge like a whale, but no whale lives in lakes.
Water started to pour into the boat fast.
This word, to pour, is a verb, which means to Put water from one container into another.
Usually, well, especially if you're British, you pour some milk into your tea.
Pour milk into your tea.
Or you pour yourself a glass of water.
So the water moves into the glass.
Here, the water is going into the boat, through the hole.
Lily knew she had to deal with the situation quickly.
To deal with means to find a solution to, to find a way to resolve the problem.
To deal with, that's a phrasal verb.
Be one phrasal verb.
She jumped into the cold water, swimming hard towards the shore.
So there's the word shore S-H-O-R-E, and it means the side of a lake or the side of the sea, the land where the land touches the water.
Her arms felt heavy and her energy began to run out.
To run out means to become less and less.
So, for example, if you're in your car and you have very little petrol, the petrol might run out.
So you have none left, no petrol left.
Or perhaps you open the fridge door and you say, hey, we've run out of milk.
We have no milk.
I'll have to go out and buy some.
So here's her energy running out.
Just when she thought she wouldn't make it.
So that very common use of make, but not used very much by my students, means to arrive somewhere.
To make it.
You can say this to your teacher if perhaps you are going to be absent from your class.
You could say, sorry, next class, I won't be able to make it.
I can't go to the class.
To make.
It is a nice informal way of saying to attend, which is much, much too formal if you're talking to an English teacher anyway.
A fisherman's voice, the voice is the sound you make when you speak, shouted from behind her.
She knew him.
He was a friend of her father's.
Now, put that one in there because I thought it was interesting.
A friend of her father's.
I wrote it, but it could be a friend of her father.
Okay, a friend of her father.
But in English, we often make this sort of double genitive.
So it says a friend of.
So that's the possession with the of.
But then we put apostrophe S there as well, the Saxon genitive.
So we've got two genitives in one.
A friend of her father's.
I'm not saying that's a B1 structure, but it's an interesting one where you have the use of the Saxon genitive and the possessive of a friend of.
And it's common in colloquial English especially.
A friend of a father's, the double genitive.
He grabbed her arms and pulled her on board.
So to grab somebody is to pick them up quickly or hold onto them or hold onto something to grab it.
B1 verb, to grab it, to hold it.
Usually you take it quickly.
And pulled her on board.
B1 word meaning to go onto some vehicle, like a train, a bus, or in this case, on a boat.
Lily was delighted.
B1 word meaning very happy.
To be rescued.
B1 word meaning to be saved from danger.
But shaking from cold and fear.
To shake is to tremble.
Your body shakes when you are very cold, for example.
That quick vibrating movement.
To shake be one word.
And from cold and fear.
Fear comes from frightened.
It is the noun fear.
The way you feel, what you have when something which has made you frightened or afraid in this case seeing this monster or some strange thing she saw pass under the boat.
The fisherman smiled, be one word meaning to show you're happy by moving the corners of your mouth up and said you were lucky.
The last person who went so far out into the lake never returned.
You should stay near the shore.
You were lucky.
The last person who went so far out into the lake never returned.
You should stay near the shore.
That accent's interesting, isn't it?
That accent is from my hometown in the west of England.
They speak like that.
Yeah, lovely accent, which I've lost now.
I've lost that accent in my adult years.
Now safe, Lily sat in the back of the large metal fishing boat.
She thought about what she had seen under the water and realized.
So I'm repeating a word or verb from last week as well, to realize meaning.
An idea comes to your head.
That perhaps what the elderly people of the village said might be true.
Right, now what I'm going to do, I'm going to give you a short test on some of those B1 words.
I will read the story and you will hear.
And when you hear, you wait until there's a space, a stop in the narration and you say the word which is missing.
Okay, so for example, my name is...
I will tell you the answer as well.
So here we go with a little B1 test.
The mystery of the lake.
Day after day, Lily walked past the old lake near her village.
The people of the village elderly, said it was deep dangerously and that in its lived depths and monster enormous.
In all her life she had never seen anything, although she often Why?
Wondered.
There were never ducks or swans on the lake.
One summer morning, she decided to take her small boat and the lake herself.
Explore.
As her boat tiny moved further from the lake's Edge.
Dark clouds began to form.
The wind grew stronger and waves started to against the side of her boat.
Crash.
She tried to turn back, but something cut into the wood.
Sharp and made a hole. huge.
Lily thought she saw something under the water, something and dark.
Powerful, that moved under the boat.
It was huge like a whale, but no whale lives in lakes.
Water started to into the boat fast.
Poor Lily knew she had to the situation quickly.
Deal with.
She jumped into the cold water, swimming hard towards the shore.
Her arms felt heavy and her energy began to run out.
Just when she thought she wouldn't it make, a fisherman's voice shouted from behind her.
She knew him.
He was a friend of her father's.
He her arms and pulled her on board, grabbed.
Lily was to be rescued delighted, but shaking from cold and fear.
The fisherman smiled and said, You were lucky.
The last person who went so far out into the lake never returned.
You should stay near the— Sure.
Now safe, Lily sat in the back of the large metal fishing boat.
She thought about what she had seen under the water and— that perhaps what the elderly people of the village said might be true.
Realized Right, that's the end of the test.
Did you get them all right?
Tomorrow is another podcast for B2 level students, and I will.
And I'll read you another B1 level podcast next week.
Until next time, goodbye for now.
