← All listening lessons B1 · 5 minutes · Short stories
A Retrieved Reformation Jimmy Valentine, a clever safe-breaker, leaves prison and plans to return to his old work. Then he falls in love. A story by O. Henry, adapted for learners.
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What you’ll practise Hear the past perfect and instructions.
Words to know reformation A change to a better way of living. judge The person who makes decisions in a court of law. prison A place where criminals are kept. At B1, you probably know about 100% of the words in this lesson.
The other words of this lesson are at B1 or below.
Word levels from the CEFR-J Wordlist 1.5 (Yukio Tono, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies); words not in it count as above B2. Your level is the one you chose in the level guide, otherwise the lesson’s.
Source “A Retrieved Reformation” by O. Henry, adapted for VOA Learning English American Stories. Public domain.
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Five sentences selected from the opening and cut into clips. Explanations and vocabulary are original.
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