B1 · 5 minutes · Short stories

The Romance of a Busy Broker

Harvey Maxwell is so busy with his work that he forgets something very important. A story by O. Henry, adapted for learners.

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What you’ll practise

Understand the past perfect with “for” and plans for today.

Words to know

broker: A person who buys and sells things for other people.
secretary: A person who helps with letters, calls and plans in an office.
act: To do something.

Words at this lesson’s level (B1)

At B1, you probably know about 97% of the words in this lesson.

Show 1 word that may be new

broker's above B2Look up

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 Romance of a Busy Broker” by O. Henry, 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.

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