B2 · 5 minutes · Short stories

The Line of Least Resistance

Mr. Mindon comes home for lunch and finds that his wife has gone. A story by Edith Wharton, adapted for learners.

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What you’ll practise

Understand negative sentences and questions inside sentences.

Words to know

resistance: Refusing to accept something. The “line of least resistance” is the easiest way.
servant: A person who works in someone's house.
unfamiliar: Strange; not known.

Words at this lesson’s level (B2)

At B2, you probably know about 100% of the words in this lesson.

The other words of this lesson are at B2 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 Line of Least Resistance” by Edith Wharton, 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.