Hello and welcome back to Practicing English.
Today I'm going to read you a story at B1 level.
And for this level, if you are doing a B1 exam, you need to know the different genres or different types of books or films.
So we have westerns, for example.
A western is usually about cowboys gunfights in the Wild West of the United States in the 19th century, for example.
Western which is a common genre for films and for books as well.
Then you have comedy, which are films which make us laugh.
Comic films is another word.
Comic, we can say.
And then there are musicals, which are films which have songs in them as part of the play or film not a book, obviously.
A musical you can see usually in the theater, or you can see it as a film West Side Story or Les Miserables.
And also there are romance books, films which are stories which centre on love and romantic relationships.
Then you have fantasy.
Fantasy, which is perhaps part of science fiction, which involves magic and mythical creatures and imaginary worlds.
And then the thriller.
And the thriller can be well it could be detective stories with a lot of action and where there is a lot of suspense and tension, often involving crime, for example.
And perhaps in that genre of thriller as well, we could include horror films or horror stories, books which are about events which are usually fantasy or the supernatural, and this supernatural horror is the genre of my short story today.
Okay, it's called the girl in the painting.
First of all, i'll read the story.
I would like you to listen, and can you identify the words which you think are B1 language.
Here we go.
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 Girl in the Painting.
Sophie had been meaning to visit the old house on the hill for years, and she was surprised to see the door open, as though inviting her to visit.
Inside, the air was heavy and quiet.
She glanced around the dusty room and saw an old mirror.
In the glass, she saw a handsome young man smiling at her.
She turned suddenly.
However, there was no one there behind her.
She turned back to the mirror.
There was the same young man, dressed in a smart dinner jacket and matching trousers, his dark, curly hair falling down onto his broad shoulders.
Help yourself to some tea, he said calmly and pointed to a table with a silver teapot plates and dishes with cakes.
Sophie wanted to escape, But the man's deep brown eyes somehow pulled her towards them and then she disappeared into the mirror altogether.
When her friends came looking for her a few days later, the mirror was gone and in its place was an enormous painting of a young couple in fine clothes taking tea and cakes.
The gorgeous woman looking out of the painting they recognized as Sophie, her sad eyes filled with tears.
Right, so that's the story, my little horror story.
And what I would like to do then is to just go quickly through the B1 words in that story by reading the story again.
So Sophie had been meaning to visit the old house on the hill for years.
So that little expression there to be meaning to do something.
She had been meaning to visit the old house, which means you have the intention to do it.
In fact, there is another, well, I think it's probably B2 actually.
It is B2, to intend to do something, which means to have the intention of doing something.
And the B1 version would be this, to be meaning to do something.
And she was surprised to see the door open as though inviting her to visit.
So this little linking expression then, as though, here meaning it seemed.
It was inviting her to visit.
Of course, doors, open doors, don't really invite people, but it seemed as though it were doing that, as though inviting her to visit.
Inside the air was heavy and quiet.
She glanced around.
So to glance is to look quickly.
The B1 word means to look quickly from one place to another.
To glance around in different directions.
She glanced around the dusty room.
So when a room has been left for a long time, there is a layer of dust over all the furniture and the floor and everything because it hasn't been cleaned.
It is dusty, which is the adjective of dust. and saw an old mirror.
In the glass she saw a handsome young man smiling at her.
Handsome meaning attractive.
So this word handsome we reserve for men.
We use to talk about men or boys.
We don't usually say a handsome woman.
She turned suddenly, which means very quickly.
Another b one word.
However, there was no one there.
She turned back to the mirror.
There was the same young man dressed in a smart dinner jacket and matching trousers.
Smart meaning elegant, meaning the best clothes that we have are smart, clean and ironed and looking very attractive.
Smart and matching trousers.
So it means they were the same colour as the jacket matching his dark curly hair falling down on to his broad shoulders.
Broad meaning wide, which is a nice B1 alternative for wide.
Broad, a broad street.
Broad shoulders meaning very wide.
Help yourself to some tea, he said calmly.
So when you have a guest in your house and you are going to invite them to have tea or coffee or cake, You say help yourself, which means please take some.
Please take some.
Take a cake.
Take some tea.
Help yourself to some tea.
He said calmly, which means quietly, not nervously and point it to a table with a silver teapot, to point with your finger to show where something is to point.
Sophie wanted to escape, which means to get away.
If you are frightened and you don't want to be in that place, you want to escape.
But the man's deep brown eyes, so deep meaning they go in a long way.
Okay, so it's a bit sort of figurative really.
The deep eyes.
Perhaps they were quite large eyes, but we often talk about somebody has deep eyes, deep brown eyes.
Somehow pulled her towards them.
So this somehow is a bit like as though so really, eyes can't pull somebody towards them, but it was as though they were doing that somehow, in a way, we're not sure how, in a way, we're not sure how, somehow that's one word, the b1 word pulled her towards them And then she disappeared into the mirror altogether.
To disappear, meaning you can't see that person anymore.
Altogether, meaning totally, completely.
That's a nice B1 word, altogether.
When her friends came looking for her a few days later, the mirror had gone and in its place was an enormous painting.
Enormous, huge, very big.
These are B1 words.
Instead of saying very big, enormous.
Painting of a young couple in fine clothes taking tea and cakes.
Now, usually we use the word have when we're having something to drink or having something to eat.
You have breakfast, you have a cup of tea, you have a coffee.
Here using the word take sounds more literary, the language that you read in novels and books taking tea and cakes.
The gorgeous woman looked out of the painting.
Gorgeous is a B1 word.
Not a very common word, but it is in the B1 glossary, which means that something or somebody is very, very attractive, gorgeous.
It's a good word, isn't it?
You can find these words and this text of this story in your podcast app and also at my website, practicingenglishcom.
The gorgeous woman looked out of the painting and they recognized her as Sophie.
To recognize.
If you recognize somebody, you know who that person is.
Ah, look, it's Sophie.
I recognize her.
Her sad eyes filled with tears.
Tears would be one word for the water that falls from our eyes when we are very sad.
Okay, that's the story with the explanation.
Here's a short test.
I'll read through the story again and I will stop at some of the B1 words and I'd like you to tell me what they are.
You will hear a bleep like that, and then there'll be a space for you to say the word, and then you will hear the answer given directly afterwards.
So here we go with the test.
The girl in the painting.
Sophie had been to visit the old house on the hill for years.
Meaning, and she was surprised to see the door open, inviting her to visit, as though inside the air was heavy and quiet.
She around the dusty room, glanced and she saw an old mirror.
In the glass she saw a young man.
Handsome, smiling at her, she turned Suddenly, however, there was no one there.
She turned back to the mirror.
There was the same young man dressed in a dinner jacket, smart and trousers, matching his dark, curly hair falling down onto his shoulders.
Broad.
Help.
To some tea yourself, he said calmly and to a table pointed with a silver teapot, plates and dishes with cakes.
Sophie wanted to, but the man's deep brown eyes somehow pulled her towards them and then she disappeared into the mirror altogether.
When her friends came looking for her a few days later, the mirror was gone and in its place was an painting enormous, of a young couple in fine clothes taking tea and cakes.
The woman.
Gorgeous.
Looking out of the painting, they as Sophie.
Recognised. her sad eyes filled with tears.
That's the end of the story.
I hope you found it useful and learned a few more words of B1 vocabulary.
Until next time, goodbye for now.
