B1 · 5 minutes · Short stories

The Californian's Tale

A gold miner travels through an empty part of California and finds a small house that feels full of love. A story by Mark Twain, adapted for learners.

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What you’ll practise

Hear emphasis with “did” and expressions of surprise.

Words to know

discover: To find something for the first time.
realize: To suddenly understand something.
notice: To see something and pay attention to it.

Words at this lesson’s level (B1)

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

“The Californian's Tale” by Mark Twain, 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.

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