B1 · 5 minutes · Short stories

To Build a Fire

A man walks alone through the frozen north with only a dog. A famous story by Jack London, adapted for learners.

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What you’ll practise

Follow description and setting in a story.

Words to know

trail: A path through forest, mountains or snow.
uncomfortable: Not feeling relaxed or pleasant.
extreme: Very great or very strong.

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

“To Build a Fire” by Jack London, adapted by Dona de Sanctis for VOA Learning English, read by Harry Monroe. 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.