You can find the audioscript to the B2 story today just here:

https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-288.htm

The Lost Ring

Mary Grams, a woman from Alberta, Canada, lost her diamond engagement ring in 2004 while she was working in her garden. The ring slipped off her finger, but although she made a long search for it, in the end, she believed it had gone missing forever.

Mary was very disappointed about the disappearance of her ring, but she did not want to worry her husband. Instead of telling him, she decided to buy a replacement ring and wore that for many years.

Thirteen years later, Mary's daughter-in-law made an interesting discovery. She was picking vegetables from the same garden when she pulled up a strange carrot. Around the carrot was a gold ring. When the family cleaned it, they realised it was Mary's original engagement ring. It had finally turned up.

Mary was over the moon. Despite being in the ground all that time, it was in perfect condition and did not need restoring - it even fit her finger. The family believes the ring had fallen into the soil years earlier, and as the carrot grew, it passed through the ring.

The story quickly became well-known around the world and reminded many people that although things can go missing, they may turn up again - even after a long time.

1. vanished - My wallet seems to have vanished without a trace.

2. locate - It took hours to locate the missing document.

3. restore - The museum worked hard to restore the damaged painting.

4. disappearance - The disappearance of the important files was never explained.

5. discovery - I made an important discovery last night. I found snails on my cabbages in the garden.

6. search - a search was made for the missing hikers

7. seek - We are seeking top secretaries for our London office

8. turn up - My door key finally turned up. It was under the sofa.

9. go missing - Several files went missing after the office renovation.

10. come across - I came across these old photograph albums in the attic

11. hold on to - Make sure you hold on to the receipt.

12. replacement - a part of the car engine is worn; the gar

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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).
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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.
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This is the audioscript for today's B1-level dialogue:

https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-287.htm

That's Life!

Mary: 'Morning, Anna. You don't look very well today. Are you sick?

Anna: 'Morning, Mary. Oh, yes. I feel terrible. I'm suffering from this backache and my head hurts. I think it's an illness caused by this awful, cold weather.

Mary: Oh dear. I've got problems too. I can't breathe properly, and I have to blow my nose all the time. I know I'm always complaining of my poor health, but it's getting worse - I can tell you!

Anna: Did you check your temperature?

Mary: Yes, it's a little high. The doctor says it's nothing serious, but I'm not sure I believe him. I've probably got some terrible, tropical disease, but he doesn't want to tell me. You know what doctors are like? Anyway, last week I fell and now I have a bandage on my leg. Just look at it!

Anna: Ooer! That looks painful. I think many people of our age suffer from the same illnesses. Our lifestyle is quite unhealthy, my mum is always telling me. Too many hamburgers and no salads.

Mary: You're right. We don't exercise enough - too much mobile phone, my dad says.

Anna: I hope I recover soon. I want to feel young again. After all, I'm only fifteen.

Mary: I'll be sixteen next month. Time waits for nobody! …By the way, Anna.

Anna: What's the matter now? Another illness you haven't told me about?

Mary: No. I was just going to ask. Is your mum giving you a lift to school tomorrow?

Anna: Oh, yes. As always.

Mary: Can she take me too? All that walking makes me tired.

Contact Mike Bilbrough with a question or enquiry about advertising on Practising English Podcasts: https://www.practisingenglish.com/contact.htm

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....

This is the audioscript for this B2 story (part 2) of The Hole:

https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-286.htm

The Hole (Part 2)

I hurriedly set up the equipment from out of my bags.

'Can I help, señor?' Pedro stepped forwards.

'Please. Undo these two ropes. One has a harness and the other is fixed to this small sack, while I set up the laptop and monitor.'

I then had to think fast. After I had the computer equipment ready, I knelt down at the side of the borehole and felt the walls. Cement.

'Pedro. Are the walls cement all the way down to the bottom? I imagine they're not.'

'These holes are dug with a machine and lower down the walls are just earth.'

So as the child fell, his body brushed against the sides of the hole bringing the earth down on top of him, I thought to myself. Not good.

I turned to Heidi. I had already typed in the programme for her to follow.

'Go, Heidi!'

She almost jumped into the hole head first. Even her small body would find it difficult to descend, but she disappeared rapidly into the darkness. Unlike the slow and clumsy articulated robots we usually see, those constructed at my company had the ability to react and move with lively and precise movements.

I looked into the borehole, as did Pedro and the father. I could see Heidi's multiple phosphorescent bulbs on her titanium frame had now lit up. The brightness descended as her feet dug expertly but carefully into the walls of the borehole so as not to disturb the soft soil.

I then turned to the laptop screen and monitor, and Pedro and the father followed. I examined the screen. There was now a crowd of people behind us, silent but impatient. The camera and microphone on Heidi's tail showed her metal frame moving mechanically down metre after metre.

'There's the bag of sweets,' said Pedro pointing at the screen. 'And there's the earth. The tunnel stops there.'

Heidi did not pause. She began digging with great care into the floor. We could hear the sounds over the speakers.

I then picked up the rope with the sack and dropped it into the hole, ensur

Contact Mike Bilbrough with a question or enquiry about advertising on Practising English Podcasts: https://www.practisingenglish.com/contact.htm

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....