When you die, you become a ghost.
Or do you?
I don't know if I believe in ghosts, really.
But perhaps some people are very sensitive and can detect ghosts, people who have died.
That word die is a difficult word to conjugate, isn't it?
The verb is to die.
Past tense died.
Past participle died.
The noun is death.
The death.
The death of somebody.
Somebody's death.
D-E-A-T-H.
And the adjective is dead.
A dead animal.
A dead person.
Okay.
Well, the story is a B1 story today, and it's called A Helpful Ghost.
I'll be reading the short story to you and explaining some of the vocabulary.
So here we go.
So I'll start to read the story to you, and what I would like you to do is to listen for the b1 words, and i'll also ask you a little question, which is what is a word which means scenery?
Okay, scenery is a b1 word and it means when you're outside and you have in front of you a lot of forests mountains, the sea, perhaps in front of you.
We call that the scenery.
And there's another word for that as well.
Listen to the story and tell me, well, and listen, and can you hear which word it is?
Before I start the story, may I just mention my book again?
B1 English Language Booster with 22 short stories from my podcasts and lots of vocabulary exercises to help you remember the B1 vocabulary that you need to pass a B1 exam or that you need to improve your language knowledge at B1 level.
At intermediate level.
You can see the link to it in your podcast app just below the story, which is also included in your podcast app, like Spotify or Apple, for example.
Okay, so don't forget my book.
A lot of people have been telling me it's very useful and they're really enjoying it.
It really is quite a thick book with over 270 pages.
And it's like a course, really, like a full course.
There's a lot of things to do there. and a lot of language to learn.
Be one English vocabulary builder.
Okay, let's get on with the story.
A Helpful Ghost Detective Sam Green liked to hang around any place where strange things happened.
One autumn morning he arrived in a small town surrounded by a beautiful landscape of snowy mountain peaks.
The people there seemed friendly, but whenever Sam asked about the old castle on a nearby hill, they were silent.
At night, lights could be seen in the windows, yet Nobody had lived there for hundreds of years.
Sam had some knowledge of what people were like in this area and knew the villagers were hiding something.
It's better to keep this secret, one old woman admitted to him.
We don't want the tourists to get frightened and leave.
We need them.
However, Sam kept on thinking about this mystery, watching from a distance and taking notes.
One foggy evening, he saw a soft light in the window.
Quietly, he climbed the hill and broke in through the locked door.
In an upstairs room, a simple light bulb was attached to a battery and a clock.
Sam smiled.
Well, would you believe it, he said.
There's nothing like a ghost to attract the tourists.
If you don't have one, you've got to invent one.
Mystery solved.
Okay, so that's the end of the story.
I'll now go through it and I'll explain some of the B1 words. which are in there.
First of all, the answer to the vocabulary question, which word means scenery?
Something that you see when you're outside looking across the sea, looking at the mountains, et cetera.
And the word was landscape.
That's a B1 word then, which means scenery.
So a helpful ghost, Somebody who's helpful is somebody who helps you, literally.
If you go to a shop and somebody like the shop assistant comes out and says, good evening, sir.
And how can I help you?
I'm interested in buying some shoes.
Certainly, sir.
What size would you like?
And which color?
Well, I'm quite interested in the ones I saw in the window.
Certainly, sir.
I'll go and get them for you.
Would you like to try them on?
Okay, got some vocabulary in there about going to the shoe shop.
But that would be a helpful person, right?
Somebody who tries to help you in some sort of situation.
Okay, so a helpful ghost, detective, be one word, Sam Green, like to hang around.
To hang around is just to be in some place and do nothing much really.
Some people like to hang around in the street and have a chat with friends.
To hang around.
Phrasal verb.
Any place where strange things happened.
One autumn morning, he arrived in a small town surrounded by... Surrounded by.
That means all around it, there was something strange.
Surrounded by, which is B1.
Surrounded by a beautiful landscape of snowy mountain peaks.
Peaks being the top of the mountains.
And they are snowy.
The adjective of snow.
The people there seemed friendly.
To seem.
The impression they gave was that they were friendly.
They seemed friendly.
Perhaps they weren't, but they seemed it.
But whenever Sam asked about the old castle, whenever is one word which means at any time.
At any time, isn't it?
But whenever Sam asked about the old castle, so whenever is a B1 word on a nearby hill.
So nearby means near, but it's an adjective.
The hill is nearby, a nearby hill.
You can't say a near hill, but you can say a nearby hill, which means the hill was very close.
They were silent.
So we have the word silent, which is an adjective of the noun silence, ending in C-E.
And silent, ending in T, is the adjective, meaning very quiet.
At night, lights could be seen.
I've included there a passive.
You could see the lights, so the lights could be seen.
In the windows.
Yet, nobody had lived there for hundreds of years.
Yet, however, it's a bit Like but as well, I suppose.
There are two contrasting situations.
You could see lights.
However, there's nobody there.
Nobody lives there.
And we could say however, or we could say yet, as in the story.
Y-E-T.
Nobody had lived there for hundreds of years.
Sam had some knowledge of what people were like in this area.
Knowledge is the noun of the verb to know.
So if you know something, you have knowledge.
That is the noun.
And knew, past tense, the villagers were hiding something.
So in a village, which is a small town, you have the people who live there and they are the villagers.
The people who live in a small town or village.
It's better to keep this secret, one old woman admitted to him.
So to keep a secret is to not tell anybody about anything.
And we use that collocation, the verb keep a secret.
One old woman admitted to him.
So she told him perhaps she didn't really want to, but she told him anyway.
That is to admit, be one word.
We don't want the tourists to get frightened.
Frightened means scared.
Whoa!
Afraid is another word.
And leave.
We need them.
However, Sam kept on thinking about this mystery.
To keep on means to continue, continue thinking.
Thinking for a long time.
Past tense.
Kept.
Kept on thinking about this mystery.
Watching from a distance and taking notes.
So distance is the noun of distant, which is the adjective.
It's a bit like what we had before, isn't it?
It's a bit like the word silent, which was the adjective ending in T.
And here also distant is the adjective ending in T and the noun ends in CE.
Silence and distance.
Well, so watching from a distance means watching from a long way.
One foggy evening, he saw a soft light in the window.
Soft meaning not bright.
Quietly he climbed the hill and broke in.
To break in a phrasal verb meaning to break a window or force the door so you can get into a house or a castle, in this example.
So to break in through the locked door.
So a door is closed with a key.
We call that locked.
In an upstairs room.
So that's an adjective, upstairs.
We can say an upstairs room, an upstairs bathroom, an upstairs toilet.
And the opposite, of course, is downstairs.
A downstairs room, a downstairs toilet.
A simple light bulb.
A light bulb is a round piece of glass which lights up when we switch on a switch.
When we turn on a switch and it is connected to electricity and it produces light.
And that is called a light bulb.
Bulb.
B-U-L-B.
And it was attached to a battery and a clock.
So, attached to means joined to.
Connected to.
Attached.
So...
Obviously, the idea was that the villagers had done this themselves, so that they had a ghost and that would attract the tourists and not really frighten them, of course, because people like ghosts, don't they?
Sam smiled.
Well, would you believe it?
He said, there's nothing like a ghost to attract the tourists.
So if you attract somebody, they come to you.
They come to the town to see the ghost.
If you don't have one, you've got to invent one.
You've got to create it to make it.
Mystery solved.
They found the solution to the mystery.
And there is no mystery anymore.
Right, that's the vocabulary.
Let's do the test.
You know what to do.
You have to listen.
I'll read the story.
And when I come across...
Some of the B1 words.
You'll hear a bleep and wait for the space that I give you afterwards so that you can say the word.
Then I will say the word and continue with the story.
OK, so here we go with the test.
A helpful ghost.
Detective Sam Green.
Liked to Any place where strange things happened.
Hang around One autumn morning he arrived in a small town.
A beautiful landscape.
Surrounded by Of snowy mountain Peaks The people there friendly seemed.
But Sam asked about the old castle.
Whenever on a hill nearby they were At night, lights could be seen in the windows.
Nobody had lived there for hundreds of years.
Yet, Sam had some of what people were like in this area.
Knowledge and knew the were hiding something. villagers.
It's better to this secret keep, one old woman admitted to him.
We don't want the tourists to get and leave.
We need them.
Frightened.
However, Sam thinking about this mystery Kept on.
Watching from a... And taking notes.
Distance.
One foggy evening he saw a soft light in the window.
Quietly he climbed the hill and... Through the locked door.
Broke in.
In an... Room...
Upstairs, a simple... light bulb was attached to a battery and a clock.
Sam smiled.
Well, would you believe it, he said.
There's nothing like a ghost to... the tourists... attract.
If you don't have one, you've got to invent one.
Mystery...
And that's the end of my story for today.
I hope you've learned some new words.
I'll be back tomorrow with a B2 recording and next week with another B1 story or recording.
That's all from me for now then.
Until next time, goodbye for now.
B1
