Practice Listening English Exercises for B1 – Life

A

Story 1: The man put the engagement ring in the woman’s salad, but she didn’t see it and put it in her mouth.

Story 2: They went on a dive, and the man proposed to the woman underwater.

Story 3: The man made a video of him proposing to his girlfriend and put it on YouTube.

B

1   in a restaurant

2   She put the ring in her mouth and nearly swallowed it.

3   Egypt

4   She said yes.

5   He made a two-minute YouTube video of him proposing and sent her a link.

6   She made a video of herself saying yes.

C

1 Story 1   2 Story 2   3 Story 3   4 Story 2   5 Story 3   6 Story 1

Audioscript

W1 = 1st woman     M = Man     W2 = 2nd woman

Story 1

W1:   My boyfriend and I were at a restaurant, and I don’t know how he did it, but he put the engagement ring in my salad. I didn’t see it, and I put it in my mouth. I think he panicked and tried to stop me. Anyway, luckily I felt something hard as I bit into my food, and I didn’t swallow it. I took it out, saw what it was and accepted! So that was how we got engaged. It was almost a disaster. We got married one month later.

Story 2

M:   We decided to go on vacation in Egypt, since we both liked diving. This was my girlfriend and I at the time. So we went on a dive, and I proposed to her underwater. I didn’t say anything. I just gave her the ring while we were, I don’t know, ten feet under. Luckily, she smiled. We got back on the boat, and she said yes.

Story 3

W2:   My husband and I are video artists. We met at art school, and honestly we fell in love immediately. And what he did was he made a funny two-minute video. He put it on YouTube and sent a link to me. And it was him proposing. And in the video there was music, and then all of our friends suddenly appeared, singing and dancing. It was amazing and such a surprise. I watched it, and then I surprised him. I accepted his proposal, but I didn’t tell him. Instead I made a video of me saying yes.

1   They met at school.

2   They get along really well; they have lots of things in common; the speaker thinks she can rely on Michelle and that Michelle is a great person; they have lots of laughs together.

3   She’s a bit competitive.

Audioscript

I’ve known Michelle for a long time. We met when we were at school together. We were about eleven years old, and I had to show her where to hang up her coat. And, we’ve been friends ever since. Er … we get along really well. She’s one of those people who, if you haven’t seen [them] for six months, six days, it’s the same. It’s like time hasn’t passed. We have lots of things in common. We play tennis together. The only problem with Michelle is that she’s a bit competitive, and we had a falling out over tennis. Sometimes, if she wins, I haven’t spoken to her … erm … and she’s just one of those people you can rely on. She’s sort of like number one in my phone book. Umm … and, yes, she’s a great person. We have lots of laughs together.

A

a 2   b 4   c 1   d 6   e 3   f 5

B

1   He was eighteen (years old).

2   They were in Spain.

3   They promised to write to each other.

4   They decided to stop because it was too difficult.

5   They met again ten years later.

6   They felt (really) shocked.

7   Their son’s name is Jamie.

Audioscript

When I was eighteen, I went on vacation with a group of buddies to Cancun. We had a great time. Every day, we went sunbathing on the beach, and, at night, we went out dancing. On the last night, I met a Mexican girl called Maria, and we got along really well. We went to a 24-hour café and talked all night. Soon it was morning, and we both had to go.

We promised to write to each other when we got home, and, at first, we did. But, after a few months, we decided that it was too difficult because we lived in different countries, so we stopped. I started college and forgot about her.

Ten years later, I started a new job in Portland. On the first day, I walked into the office, and who do you think I saw? It was Maria! I recognized her immediately. She still looked the same. Of course, we were both really shocked to see each other. She explained that she now lived alone in Portland because of her job with the company. Well, of course, we got along really well again, and we started hanging out with each other. I showed her around Portland, and we went to museums, concerts and restaurants.

It wasn’t long until we fell in love! It felt right, so I proposed to her, and she accepted! We got married soon after and had our son, Jamie. We’re very happy together!