The audioscript for today's B2 story:

If only we could go back

On Tuesday morning, Alice decided to call in sick, not because she was ill, but because the clouds outside looked like elephants marching across the sky. Today she felt like the little girl that she used to be many years before. She simply couldn’t be bothered to sit at her office desk when such wonders were happening around her.

She set off to the fields near her country home, carrying a picnic basket. A rabbit wearing a red jacket ran beside her and said, “You’ve picked a magical day for an adventure.” Alice asked the rabbit how it could talk, to which it didn’t reply, so instead she chose to change the subject and offered the rabbit a sandwich.

As they walked together, a clumsy, rather overweight fairy flew past, dropping fairy dust everywhere. She apologized for her carelessness, then laughed and raced through the air. Alice, trying to be cautious, didn’t touch the fairy dust, unsure what it might do.

“Don’t be so suspicious,” the rabbit said in a cheeky voice. “Magic works best when you trust it.”

Under normal circumstances, Alice might have turned back, but today she followed them, just as a little child follows that which is innocent and wonderful. And when they came to a golden door that appeared among the trees – inviting them to go in, Alice couldn’t face doing the safe thing anymore. With a deep breath, she pushed the door open, ready for whatever lay beyond.

Support the show

My NEW book: "B1 English Vocabulary Builder - 22 Short Stories for Learning the Words and Phrases Students Need to Pass the B1 Exam" is now available! This book gives the learner enough vocabulary to pass any B1 exam (special help for Cambridge exams).
To read more about my book, click here (you can access it from any Amazon platform):
https://amzn.to/46AVFe9

Learners studying towards B2 level will be interested in my B1 to B2 reader: The Tudor Conspiracy (includes audio version) https://amzn.to/4gPsj0i

For very young learners (from 8-10), I recommend my picture reader book for children learning A1 to A2 English. It comes with a fully dramatised audio version: https://amzn.to/46TCWvv

Oxford Bookworm Graded Readers: Read stories at your level to improve your English. I recommend Oxford Bookworms as the best series of books for learners: https://amzn.to/4r7YVHg

At https://www.practisingenglish.com/ I offer learners of intermediate-level English, free grammar help and exercises and other English learning pages.
https://www.practisingenglish.com/

Be back soon with another podcast!
Mike Bilbrough (Secondary school English teacher and Doctor in English philology)