B1 · 5 minutes · Short stories

The Gift of the Magi

Della has very little money, and tomorrow is Christmas. A classic story by O. Henry, adapted for learners.

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What you’ll practise

Follow past-tense narration in a classic story.

Words to know

count: To find the total number or amount.
clearly: In a way that is easy to see or understand.
expenses: Money that you spend on things.

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 Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, adapted by Karen Leggett for VOA Learning English, read by Shep O'Neal. 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.