← All listening lessons B1 · 5 minutes · Short stories
Pigs Is Pigs A railway clerk and a customer argue about the price of sending two small animals. The rules say pigs are pigs. A comic story by Ellis Parker Butler, adapted for learners.
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What you’ll practise Understand arguments, choices and formal threats.
Words to know argument An angry disagreement. guinea pig A small furry animal often kept as a pet. receive To get something that someone sends you. Words at this lesson’s level (B1) At B1, you probably know about 97% 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 “Pigs Is Pigs” by Ellis Parker Butler, 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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