Joy English · Level C2 · Citiesjoy-english.com
Buildings that remember
Name:Date:
Hear listed examples and an idea built across several clauses.
Listen to each sentence and write what you hear.
Audio and answer checking: https://joy-english.com/listening-lessons/buildings-that-remember
Words to know
- district
- A part of a city.
- alteration
- A change made to something.
- clutter
- A messy collection of things.
- demolish
- To knock down completely.
Answer key
- Walk through any old district and you will notice that the buildings seem to hold a conversation across the centuries.The opening imperative means if you walk. “Centuries” has three syllables: CEN-chu-ries.
- A doorway widened for carts, a window bricked up to dodge a tax: each alteration preserves a forgotten decision.The colon introduces the general point after two examples. “Bricked up” means closed with bricks.
- Architects call this layering, and the best contemporary designers treat it not as clutter but as evidence worth preserving.“Contemporary” means of the present time. “Not as… but as…” again contrasts two views.
- Demolish the oldest layer, and a city loses not merely a surface but the means to explain itself.After “not merely” the listener expects “but”. “Demolish” stresses the second syllable.
- It is no accident that the places people love most tend to be those that have been gently adapted, never wiped clean.“It is no accident that” means it is not by chance that. “Wiped clean” means completely erased.