It's New Year and a time of hope, of hope for the future.
The first internal combustion engine, the first car using petrol, was invented in 1886.
Well, over a hundred years later, we still have cars with internal combustion that use petrol or diesel and, as we know fully well, pollute our planet.
Yet we are not able to design batteries which are light enough and powerful enough to make these cars go along our roads in a much cleaner way, not destroying the environment.
It seems really that what happens with all these wonderful inventions, all this wonderful technology?
We use it only when there is profit to be made, when something is profitable.
And at the moment cars, for example, are not particularly profitable if they're driven by batteries, because there's a lot of profit in oil and the production of petrol diesel to drive cars.
There was a story a few years ago which was a very tragic story, which happened in the south of andalusia.
As i go through this story, people who are spanish, from spain listening to this story, will recognize it because it was nationally very well publicized.
Later I'll tell you more events of this story.
But basically what it was.
A family went for a picnic around about New Year and their little boy fell down a borehole.
A borehole is a hole in the ground which is very, very deep and is used to look for water, for irrigation, for watering the land.
This little boy fell down this hole and the whole of Spain, and I don't know what other resources as well they tried to get hold of, were not able to pull this boy out of the hole.
I've rewritten the story in a story of hope, of things that perhaps could have happened If we spent more time and money on our technology for the good of mankind and not so much just for the good of profit.
So this is a B2 story.
I'm going to read the first half today, and on Monday that's in a couple of days time I'm going to read the second part.
I'll just bring out 10 B2 words in the text and then there won't be a test, because this is a longer story.
So your job as a student will be to listen for those words as I read the story.
Right, so here we go.
Here we go with 2026 and a new year.
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.
Would you like to see my books for learning B1 and B2 level English?
Then go to the show notes at your podcast app, and just below today's lesson you'll see a link to Amazon and there you'll be able to read about my new B1 book and my B2 book.
Check it out today.
Right, so my B2 words in this story, there are more.
And you'll be able to find the story at my website at Practicing English.
I'll leave a link to the web page where you can see the full audio script of the first half today and then the second half on Monday.
You can see the other words there because they will be in bold, that's in dark type.
The ones I'm going to bring out, the B2 words which I'm going to tell you about are To head for.
Now, if you head for somewhere, it means you're going somewhere.
Hi, John, where are you going?
I'm heading for the shops.
I'm heading for the shops.
I'm going to the shops.
So it could be quite colloquial, this use of to head for meaning to go somewhere.
The next one is to be thankful, which is an adjective.
The B1 version would be grateful, which you may know if you've come across that at B1 English, meaning that you thank the people around you or you are happy with a situation.
To be thankful, to say thanks to something, literally.
My next word is naturally.
So this is an adverb you can use at the beginning of a sentence, which really just means, of course.
So listen for that word, naturally.
An example of naturally is, well, it's raining today.
So naturally, I'm not going to go out without my umbrella because I get wet.
The next one is firmly, another adverb.
There are different ways of using this word.
It can be literally when you hold something in your hand.
If you hold it firmly, you hold it tightly.
So your grip is tight.
It is firm, which is the adjective.
So firmly means to have something in your hand and you hold it tightly very, very close to you, and with a lot of strength, firmly.
We also use it in another way, perhaps, and when we are talking in a way which is very serious.
To say something firmly is to give your opinion in a very strong way, to speak firmly.
My next B2 word is responsive.
And this usually would refer to a machine.
Perhaps it has other meanings too, but here is referring to a machine.
And it means that it reacts very quickly on some stimulus.
So if I, for example, I have a fast car, if I had a fast car And I put my foot on the accelerator and the car whizzed off down the road at great speed, very quickly.
I would say the car is very responsive.
As soon as I put my foot on the accelerator, it moves quickly.
My next word is to ignore.
In English, this word may be a little different from similar sounding words in other Latin-based languages.
But to ignore in English means not to take any notice of something.
So if somebody speaks to you and you don't want to hear what they're saying, you ignore them.
Okay, that's the meaning of ignore in English.
My next word, I'm just doing 10 here.
So I have the word attempt.
I've brought that word out before, I think, in other podcasts.
But it's one of those words which could sound like something else, with another meaning a false friend.
To attempt something is to try, it's a verb.
And there is the noun an attempt, which means a try, literally.
How many times have you taken the B2 exam?
Well, just once, but I failed actually the first time.
I failed at my first attempt.
OK, an attempt is to try or a try at something.
And the other one is fire brigade.
Notice that's in the B2 glossary and it's a nice glossary.
British word.
The fire brigade refers to those wonderful people who go to fires and put them out.
Phrasal verb.
To put them out.
To extinguish would be the Latin-based equivalent.
They stop fires.
The fire brigade.
The Americans talk about firefighters.
We don't usually say that.
Interestingly, though, we say firemen, which is these days, of course, a little bit sexist because there are women firefighters as well.
So I've adopted the word firefighters in this story.
I'm not sure if it's in this part today or in the next part.
So Fire Brigade is the organization of firefighters.
My next one is a phrasal verb and is to pass out.
And to pass out is to faint when you lose consciousness.
Perhaps because you've received a knock on the head, or perhaps there's not enough oxygen to breathe and you pass out.
You faint.
My final one is to rush, which is a B2 verb meaning to move very quickly, usually because we don't have much time.
It can be a verb or a noun.
Hello, Jennifer, where are you going?
Oh, I'm heading for the shops, but I can't stop to chat.
I'm in a rush.
I'm rushing.
I'm rushing to the shops.
Move quickly to rush.
Right, those are the words.
Now what you have to do is simply listen to the story and try to identify those words as I say them and the context they are used in.
So here's the first part of my story.
It's called The Hole.
We are arriving, senor. said the helicopter pilot.
It's down there, by that hill.
I'll land as close as I can.
Time is going to be crucial.
The helicopter dropped down vertically and bounced once before finally settling on the grassy slope.
There are a number of people gathered about 50 meters further up the hill and several vehicles cars, police vehicles, two ambulances and a fire engine.
It was otherwise a lonely spot close to a country road pleasant, with green grass trees and four or five wooden tables with benches for picnickers.
New Year is part of the Christmas holiday season in Spain.
And in Andalusia, where the weather is often mild at this time of year, families will often head for the nearest countryside with a picnic basket and spend an afternoon in the fresh clean, outdoors.
The helicopter pilot jumped out and pulled open the side exit for me, and I jumped out immediately too with my backpack and heavy canvas bag.
I was not alone.
Sunny, my four-year-old golden retriever, jumped out too thankful to be out of that strange and noisy craft.
However, I had another companion with me with a more complex name.
High degree of articulated freedom robot.
Naturally, you cannot use that name all the time when talking to an AI robot.
So, I had given her a shorter name, Heidi.
At my robotics company in Almeria, she had been my own creation.
Although a whole team of computer engineers had been responsible for her construction.
Although smaller than a golden retriever, she looked like a dog in shape.
So much so that Sunny, the golden retriever, accepted her company, even though a little suspiciously.
However, there was little covering the shiny titanium structure, so she looked something like a yellow and silver dog's skeleton, but she had two bright green and gold-coloured eyes and there was a hook-like hand at the end of her tail so she could hold firmly to any surface.
She behaved like a dog too, the perfect companion, all obeying, fast and responsive, with a strength far exceeding her canine friend Sunny.
The three of us ran up to the large group of people gathered around the hole.
I was aware there were television cameras on me, reporters with microphones, wanting an exclusive.
I ignored them, and they seemed to respect that.
There was something that needed doing, and fast.
However, all eyes were then on Heidi.
Nobody had seen anything like her before.
I was the first to speak.
My name is Mike Finnegan, from Cyber Robotics.
I've come to help.
Who are the parents?
I asked, in English as my Spanish was bad.
A slim, dark-haired man stepped forward with his wife just behind.
Their faces were full of worry.
They had obviously been crying.
He spoke in an English with a strong accent.
I am the father.
My name is Juan Fernandez.
What do you want to know?
How long did your son fall into the hole?
That was about eleven o'clock this morning.
It is now one o'clock.
Two hours.
How old is he?
Carlitos is two and a half.
I looked at the hole.
It was what is called a borehole. an attempt at locating deep underground water for watering crops.
This one was illegal.
Unfortunately, the fool of the farmer who owned it had failed to block the entrance, and so close to a picnic site too.
The problem was its width, only about 25 centimetres wide.
No adult human could possibly be lowered down on a rope to pull the child up.
They simply would not fit.
Furthermore, the borehole was over 100 meters deep.
Do you know if he fell head first or feet first?
I think feet first.
I saw him as he fell.
He cried out.
Has there been any sound from the hole since?
Juan Fernandez cupped his face in his hands and sobbed.
A large man stepped forward in fire brigade clothing.
My name is Pedro.
I am in charge of the operation.
His English was also excellent.
The father told me that after about five minutes, his son Carlitos stopped crying and fell silent.
So he didn't die on impact, I thought to myself.
He might have just passed out.
How far down do you think he is?
We shone powerful torches down there and could see nothing.
Then we lowered a camera down.
We saw a bag of sweets, then earth at about 70 meters down.
He's under that earth, Signor Finnegan.
That was too much for the mother.
All of a sudden, she rushed forwards towards me.
Can you do anything?
Nobody knows what to do.
We are helpless.
Can you find my son?
Can you get my son out?
She looked down at Heidi and her metal frame reflecting in the afternoon sunlight.
Other eyes looked down too on this bizarre metallic thing and suspected what it was for.
I'm going to try.
I can't promise anything.
This is Heidi.
She's a... It's a robot.
I believe it can rescue your son.
Do I have your permission to try, Signora?
Of course, of course.
But please be quick.
That is the end of part one of my story, The Hole.
I will be back on Monday with part two.
I hope you heard the words which I mentioned at the beginning of the story.
As I say, you can go to the show notes, Find the story there, or to my podcast webpage, which is practicingenglishcom.
Until next time, goodbye for now.
