B1 · 5 minutes · Short stories

Luck

A famous military hero is admired by everyone, but someone who knew him well tells a surprising secret. A story by Mark Twain, adapted for learners.

Loading your practice…

What you’ll practise

Understand opinions and descriptions of a person.

Words to know

greatness: Being very important or very good.
clergyman: A religious leader in a church.
miracle: A wonderful event that seems impossible.

Words at this lesson’s level (B1)

At B1, you probably know about 95% 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

“Luck” by Mark Twain, adapted for VOA Learning English American Stories. Public domain.

View the source · Licence terms

Five sentences selected from the opening and cut into clips. Explanations and vocabulary are original.

Levels are suggestions. Found a mistake? Tell us through the Contact page.