Hello Mike Bilbre, back here again with another late night session of my B1 Story, Treasure Island, chapter three today.
Chapter three.
I'm sitting here with a small glass of whiskey because in this story, they don't drink whiskey.
They drink rum.
Anyway, I'm having a small glass of whiskey because I don't have any rum.
I don't think I like rum very much anyway.
So I want to really try to get into the characters.
The characters are perhaps developed more later on in the story, when we meet Long John Silver, for example.
This is just the initial part.
Before the Jim Hawkins that's the boy, the young boy begins his journey to look for the treasure, to search for Treasure Island.
So this is chapter three.
And today I'm not going to give you vocabulary.
But of course you're willing to come to my website and check out the audio script, which is there, and the B1 words have been highlighted in bold so you can see them.
All right, so that's something you can study in your own time.
But I'm just going to ask you four comprehension questions today about the story and I'll give you the answers after the story is finished.
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.
So, question number one.
Why wouldn't the people... from the village help Jim and his mother?
Why wouldn't the people from the village help Jim and his mother?
Now, they're just four questions.
If you're not going to look at the show notes, where you can see the questions.
Hopefully you'll remember these questions, as there are only four of them while you are listening.
Anyway, so Jim goes to the village and he doesn't get any help from the people.
Why is that?
Question number two.
How much money did Jim's mother take from the chest?
Now, this word chest refers to a box.
I started the story calling it a box because the word chest is not a B1 word.
But if you think of pirates, if you think of treasure, well then that big box they keep it in is called a chest.
Really, a chest used to be just like a huge suitcase, if you like.
And.
Before the invention of the more comfortable suitcase, people used to travel with their clothes and things in a chest.
Okay, like a box with a lid at the top.
So the question is, how much money did Jim's mother take from the chest?
Okay.
And number three.
How did the blind man and his men get into the inn?
So you should have picked up on that by now.
The inn is like a hotel or a place where people can stay and also can eat as well.
An inn, I double N is spelled.
So how did the blind man and his men get into the inn?
And question four, what was inside the packet that Jim found inside the chest?
So what was in that packet?
Okay, those four questions.
I'm going to start the story now.
Chapter three of Treasure Island.
¶¶
I did not waste time telling my mother everything I knew.
I knew I should have told her earlier, but now it was too late to think about that.
We both understood at once that we were in a dangerous situation.
Some of the captain's money must belong to us, but we knew his old shipmates would never give up their treasure easily.
The blind beggar and the man called Black Dog were frightening people and we were sure they would come back.
My mother looked about the house with fear.
Every small sound, the fire in the kitchen, the sound of the clock made us feel nervous.
We imagined footsteps outside and jumped at every noise.
We can't stay here, my mother said quietly.
We must get help.
So we decided to go together to the nearby village.
Without hats and coats, we ran out into the cold evening fog.
The village was not far away and luckily it was in the opposite direction from where the blind man had gone.
As we walked, we sometimes stopped and listened, but we heard nothing except the sea and the sounds of the woods.
When we reached the village, lights were shining in the windows.
I felt calmer. but our hope soon disappeared.
No one wanted to return with us to the Admiral Benbow.
When we told our story, the villagers became even more afraid.
Captain Flint, one man whispered, that name means trouble.
Some had seen strange men near the inn, and others had noticed a small ship in the bay.
Everyone was too scared to help defend the inn.
They were willing to send someone to Dr Livesey, but that was all.
Then my mother spoke bravely.
If all of you are too afraid to help us, she said, then Jim and I will go back alone.
I will take only what is ours from the chest.
They called us fools, but no one stopped us.
They gave me a pistol and promised to have horses ready if we needed to escape.
The moon was rising as we returned to the inn.
We moved quickly, hiding in the shadows.
When we finally closed the door behind us, we both took a deep breath.
Inside the house was silent.
The dead captain lay where we had left him.
Close the curtains, Jim, my mother whispered.
I did so, and then she said, We must find the key, but who will touch him?
I knelt down and searched his pockets.
I found coins, tobacco and small tools, but no key.
Maybe it's around his neck, my mother said.
With great fear, I opened his shirt and found the key on a string.
We hurried upstairs to his room and opened the chest.
Inside were clothes pistols silver, strange shells and finally a bag of gold and a packet wrapped in paper.
I will take only what we are owed, my mother said.
As she counted the money, I suddenly heard a sound.
The tap, tap, tap. of a stick on the frozen road.
Mother, I whispered, he's back.
The blind man tried the door, but it was locked.
After a long silence, he went away.
Let's go now, I said, please.
But my mother refused to take more than her share, and she wanted to count out the money correctly.
Then we heard a whistle outside.
That's enough, she said.
Let's leave.
I grabbed the paper packet and we ran out into the night.
We had not gone far when we heard running footsteps and saw a lantern coming closer.
Jim, my mother said suddenly, I can't go on.
She fell and I pulled her under a small bridge.
Then I went back to watch.
Seven or eight men arrived at the inn.
The blind beggar shouted, Break down the door!
They broke it down and ran inside and soon one of them cried, Bills did!
Search the house!
The blind man shouted.
Find the chest!
A man leaned from the window.
They've already been here.
The chest is empty.
The blind man became extremely angry.
Find them, he shouted.
The men searched everywhere, but then another whistle sounded, this time from the hills.
Horses were coming.
They're coming, someone cried.
The men ran away in all directions. leaving the blind beggar alone.
Confused, he ran into the road just as the horses arrived.
One rider tried to stop, but it was too late.
The blind man fell as the horse ran into him.
I ran forward and called out.
The riders were soldiers and law officers, led by Mr. Dance.
They had come just in time.
My mother soon recovered, though she still worried about the missing money.
The officers chased the ship in the bay, but it escaped.
Later, I returned to the inn with Mr. Dance.
The place was destroyed.
What were they looking for? he asked.
Not money, I said.
There was not much in there.
My mother took the money we were owed, but there was not a large amount.
I think I have something here that they were interested in.
I touched the packet in my pocket.
We rode to Dr. Livesey's house and from there to the Squire's Hall.
Dr. Livesey and Squire Trelawney listened carefully as Mr. Durrance told the story.
Well done, cried the squire.
A brave lad.
I gave the packet to the doctor.
Inside were a book and a map.
The book showed a list of crimes and stolen money.
The map showed an island with three red crosses.
Treasure, whispered the squire.
The doctor smiled.
Then we must be careful.
These men will try again.
The squire stood up excitedly.
I will get a ship ready at once.
Jim will come with us.
Dr. Livesey nodded.
Yes, but we must keep quiet.
Not a word to anyone.
And so, that night, my great adventure began.
Right, so that's the end of chapter three.
Lots happening there.
And here are the answers to the questions.
Number one was why wouldn't the people from the village help Jim and his mother?
And the answer was that everyone was too scared to help defend the inn.
They were willing to send someone to Dr. Livesey, but that was all.
So that's why the soldiers and the law officers came later, because they sent someone to Dr Livesey, you see, and told him what was happening.
Question two, how much money did Jim's mother take from the chest?
In the story, it said, I will take only what we are owed, my mother said, as she counted the money.
So what you are owed is the passive of to owe something.
If you owe money to somebody, it means you should give them that money.
And this was the captain or Bill, as his name was, the man who died in the inn from a heart attack.
He didn't pay for his accommodation, if you remember, only right at the beginning, and then he didn't pay any more.
So his mother, Jim's mother only took the money that was owed to her.
Number three, how did the blind man and his men get into the inn?
Well, in the story it said, the blind beggar shouted, break down the door.
They broke it down and ran inside.
The blind beggar.
If you're still not sure what a beggar is, a beggar is somebody who asks for money in the street.
And as this man is a blind man, he doesn't have another way of making a living.
Well, you didn't anyway in those days.
Number four.
What was inside the packet that Jim found inside the chest?
Well, in the story, it said, I gave the packet to the doctor.
Inside were a book and a map.
The book showed a list of crimes and stolen money.
The map showed an island with three red crosses.
And then the squire said, aha, a treasure map.
OK, and now they're off to look for the island and to find the treasure map.
Okay, so that's the end of chapter three.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Have a look at my website, read through the story.
Look at the b1 language there in bold i'll be back again next week with you.
Until next time, 15 men on a dead man's chest ho ho, ho and a bottle of rum.
