← All listening lessons B2 · 5 minutes · Short stories
The Birthmark A brilliant scientist marries a beautiful woman, but he cannot stop thinking about the small mark on her face. A story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, adapted for learners.
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What you’ll practise Understand emphasis with “did” and descriptions.
Words to know birthmark A mark on the skin that a person is born with. remarkable Unusual and surprising. opinion What someone thinks about something. Words at this lesson’s level (B2) At B2, you probably know about 97% of the words in this lesson.
Show 1 word that may be new These words are in the recording, so they also help with the answers.
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 “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 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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