When I go shopping, or I go shopping with my wife to the local supermarket, there is often, or perhaps nearly always, somebody sitting there asking for money or asking for food.
I sometimes give them something, not usually money.
I used to give a couple of coins perhaps, But now I say, would you like something to eat?
And I'll buy you something on my way out.
And usually they say yes.
I've got some children at home and we've got no money.
And, you know, they don't have much food.
And I'd really appreciate it if you could bring me, you know, some tins of something.
Tins of food.
So sometimes I do.
Not often.
Always, occasionally, I suppose.
We always seem to be busy, have to go somewhere else.
My wife, I think, nearly always does.
But my wife is a better person than I am.
The story today is about somebody similar.
Somebody who asks for money or asks for something to eat in the street.
It's called The Sandwich Hero.
And it's a B1 story, B1 level, for those people studying for B1 level English.
So, 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 practisingenglish.com.
First of all, what I'll do is to read you the story, and I'd like you to listen for the words which you think are B1 English.
I've said before how important that is to be able to recognise B1 words so that you can use them in your B1 exam.
And I can ask you a question as well.
And the question is, what is the verb to do this?
Right?
What is that verb in English?
And I could ask you another question, a horrible one, and say, how do you spell it?
As you know, English is so unphonetic and the spelling of that word is rather strange.
Okay, so that's the question and you can listen out for that word during the story.
Here we go.
The Sandwich Hero In our town there used to be this chap, Tom.
Every day he sat near the market, asking for coins or for a sandwich to eat.
His clothes were dirty and his hair was messy.
I noticed he smelt a little bit as well.
People didn't pay him much attention.
I couldn't say I was fond of him, but I did feel sorry for him.
He looked a bit depressed.
I wondered if he'd had a difficult life.
I used to give him money now and again.
I remember one cold winter morning.
Smoke began to rise from the bakers in the high street.
Soon the fire filled the building.
People just stood there watching.
Quite honestly, I didn't know what to do either.
Where the baker was, I don't know.
Somebody called the fire brigade, but that was it.
We all heard this crying from inside.
A child crying.
Then Tom appeared, and without delay, he ran into the burning building.
A few minutes later, Tom came out, coughing, with a small girl in his arm.
The crowd clapped.
The baker's daughter was safe, thanks to him.
Then the fire brigade arrived.
Fortunately, they didn't need to save anybody.
I think people felt ashamed of how they had felt about Tom.
Now he was a hero.
The baker, who had left the bakers for change when the fire started, gave him a new coat and a place to stay.
From that day on, people greeted Tom with smiles instead of cold looks.
He no longer asked for money in the street as the baker gave him a job in the shop selling sandwiches.
Right, that's the end of my little story.
Nice when somebody who is thought so little of suddenly becomes a hero.
I'll go through it again quickly and bring out those B1 words and expressions.
Hero, actually, is a B1 word.
And there is a female version.
The girl or woman hero is called a heroine.
Heroine.
H-E-R-O-I-N-E.
Don't have to listen to me spelling the words.
You can go to your app, your application for your podcast, and you will see the spelling there as I write out the whole text of the story for you to look at and study.
And also you can find it at practicingenglish.com.
So in our town, there used to be this chap. used to be so as you know this is for talking about the past and used to plus the infinitive saying that this is something that happened frequently or a situation that continued for a long time in the past used to every day he sat near the market asking for coins so coins is the metal money Be one word.
Or for a sandwich to eat.
His clothes were dirty and his hair was messy.
We have the noun mess, which is when something is not well kept, not in order.
Your hair, if your hair is messy, it is uncombed.
You haven't passed a comb through it and it looks terrible.
Messy.
I notice he smelt a bit too.
Meaning then that if you notice something, it means you detect it in some way.
Maybe by looking at it, or perhaps you smell it, or one of the senses detects it.
You notice.
And that he smelt a bit.
Past tense of smell, smelt.
People didn't pay him much attention.
So to pay attention to somebody or pay somebody attention is to talk to them, to go up to them say hello.
If you don't, then you don't pay much attention to that person.
I couldn't say I was fond of him.
Fond of.
Okay, so one of these several expressions meaning to like in B1 English.
Fond of somebody, to like somebody. keen on somebody.
There's another one there, which is be one, meaning to like somebody.
But I did feel sorry for him.
To feel sorry, meaning that, because of the way he was, there was some sort of sentiment inside you which thought oh, that's not nice.
What a shame to feel sorry for somebody.
He looked a bit depressed.
Depressed It's a B1 word meaning very sad, usually for a long time.
I wondered if he'd had a difficult life.
To wonder means you ask yourself inside to wonder.
I used to give him money now and again, meaning sometimes now and again.
I remember one cold morning.
Smoke everywhere. began to rise from the bakers in the high street.
Smoke, which you get from fire, began to rise, to go up, to rise.
Soon the fire filled the building.
People just stood there watching.
Quite honestly, I didn't know what to do either.
That structure, not either.
The people didn't know what to do and I didn't know what to do either.
B1, grammatical structure, not either.
Where the baker was, I don't know.
Somebody called the fire brigade, which is a B2 word, actually meaning the people who come to put out fires, usually a big red lorry with hose pipes and lots of water.
We all heard this crying sound from inside, a child crying.
Then Tom appeared.
So to appear suddenly, we saw him.
He came from somewhere we didn't know.
We didn't know where.
And without delay, he ran into the burning building.
Without delay, which means he did not stop.
He went straight into the building without delay.
A few minutes later, Tom came out coughing and that was the answer to the question.
That sound that we make is coughing, spelt c-o-u-g-h to cough cough, although the sound is like an f, as in france cough.
And of course he was coughing because of the smoke in the building.
And he came out with this small girl in his arms.
The crowd clapped and onomatopoeic word to clap.
It's one of those many words in English that the word is named after the sound onomatopoeic.
Clap, clap, clap.
Okay.
The word actually sounds like a clap.
Okay.
The baker's daughter was safe, be one word.
So safe is the adjective of The verb to save, to rescue, thanks to him.
Then the fire brigade arrived.
Fortunately, they didn't need to save anybody.
I think people felt ashamed of how they had felt about Tom.
Ashamed, meaning that inside you wish you hadn't done what you did.
So they felt bad about not having paid attention to Tom.
They felt ashamed of that.
Now he was a hero.
The baker, who had left the bakers for change when the fire started, gave him a new coat and a place to stay.
From that day on.
That's a nice expression to use in your stories.
From that day on.
People greeted Tom.
So to greet is to say hello, good morning, good afternoon, good evening.
With smiles instead of cold looks.
He no longer asked for money.
No longer.
He no longer asked for money.
He didn't ask for money anymore.
As the baker gave him a job in the shop selling sandwiches.
As the baker gave him a job.
As meaning because.
So here it means because.
That's a B1 word.
As, in that context, with that meaning.
As the baker gave him a job.
Because the baker gave him a job.
Right, I'm going to read that story again.
I'm not going to use all those words because there's quite a lot there.
But I will stop at some of the B1 words.
You'll hear a bleep.
And then you have to say the word when you come to a space.
I will stop so there'll be a time difference. for you to say the word.
Okay?
For example, in our town, there be this chap.
Used to.
There used to be this chap.
Okay?
So here we go with the test.
The sandwich hero.
In our town, there be this chap?
Used to.
Every day he sat near the market asking for coins or for a sandwich to eat.
His clothes were dirty and his hair was messy.
I noticed he a bit too smelt.
People didn't pay him much attention.
I couldn't say I was of him fond, but I did feel for him sorry.
He looked a bit depressed.
I wondered if he'd had a difficult life.
I used to give him money, now and again.
I remember one cold winter morning.
Smoke began to from the bakers in the high street.
Rise.
Soon the fire filled the building.
People just stood there watching, Quite honestly, I didn't know what to do either.
Where the baker was, I don't know.
Somebody called the fire brigade.
But that was it.
We all heard this crying sound from inside.
A child crying.
Then Tom appeared.
And without...
Delay, he ran into the burning building.
A few minutes later, Tom came out with a small girl in his arms, coughing.
The crowd clapped.
The baker's daughter was safe, thanks to him.
Then the fire brigade arrived.
Fortunately, they didn't need to save anybody.
I think people felt of how they had felt about Tom.
Ashamed.
Now he was a hero.
The baker, who had left the bakers for change when the fire started, gave him a new coat and a place to stay.
From that day on, people ****** Tom with smiles instead of cold looks.
Greeted.
He ****** asked for money in the street.
Longer.
Beep!
The baker gave him a job in the shop selling sandwiches.
As.
That's the end of the story.
Hope you enjoyed it and learned some new vocabulary at B1 level.
Tomorrow there'll be another podcast for B2 level learners.
And so until tomorrow, goodbye for now.
