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Level 1
This news is from China. It is about a baby elephant. It falls into a pit.
People see the animal. It tries to get out but it cannot. People call the police. The police come and help the elephant. They move some earth at one side of the pit. This makes the pit lower at this side. It is easier for the elephant to get out now.
After an hour, the elephant gets free. It runs into the forest.
Source: newsinlevels.com
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Dictionary
1) Baby-noun/ˈbeɪ.bi/- a very young child, especially one that has not yet begun to walk or talk:
a newborn baby
a six-week-old baby
baby clothes
a baby boy
baby food
2) Elephant-noun /ˈel.ə.fənt/-
3) About-preposition /əˈbaʊt/- on the subject of, or connected with:
What’s that book about?
a film about the Spanish Civil War
We were talking/laughing about Sophie.
He’s always (going) on about what a great job he’s got.
I’m worried about David.
I really don’t know what all the fuss is about.
I wish you’d do something about (= take action to solve the problem of) your bedroom – it’s a real mess.
UK informal Could you make me a coffee too while you’re about it (= while you are making one for yourself)?
What didn’t you like about the play?
There’s something about her attitude that worries me.
There’s something special about him (= in his character).
“Is that your car?” “Yes, what about it?” (= Why are you asking me?)
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4) Fall-verb /fɑːl/ – to suddenly go down onto the ground or towards the ground without intending to or by accident:
The path’s very steep, so be careful you don’t fall.
He fell badly and broke his leg.
Athletes have to learn how to fall without hurting themselves.
The horse fell at the first fence.
I fell down the stairs and injured my back.
The object appeared to have fallen from a great height.
The water’s deep here, so don’t fall in!
She slipped and fell on the ice.
He fell into the river and had to be rescued.
I fell off my bike and scraped my knee.
He was leaning out of the window and almost fell out.
She fell under a bus and was killed instantly.
She fell five metres to the bottom of the ravine.
He fell to his death climbing the Matterhorn.
5) Into-preposition /ˈɪn.tuː/ – to the inside or middle of a place, container, area, etc.:
Would you put the jar back into the cupboard for me, please?
Let’s go into the garden.
Stop running around and get into bed!
I can’t get into these trousers any more. They’re far too small for me.
They climbed into the truck and drove away.
The door opened and a nurse came into the room.
Crack three eggs into a bowl and mix them together.
He thrust his hands into his pockets.
He took off his clothes and got into the bath.
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6) Pit-noun /pɪt/ – a large hole in the ground, or a slightly low area in any surface:
They’d dug a shallow pit and left the bodies in it.
These pits in my skin are from when I had chickenpox.
7) Try-verb /traɪ/ – to attempt to do something:
Keep trying and you’ll find a job eventually.
If I don’t get into the academy this year, I’ll try again next year.
I’ve tried really hard but I can’t convince him to come.
I’m trying my best/hardest, but I just can’t do it.
I tried to open the window.
Maybe you should try getting up (= you should get up) earlier.
8) Call-verb /kɑːl/- If a person, especially a child, calls someone names, he or she addresses that person with a name that is intended to be offensive:
Tom’s worried that if he wears glasses at school the other children will call him names.
Mars is sometimes called the Red Planet because of its distinctive colour.
I think he was called Blake, if I remember correctly.
He was most uncivil to your father – called him an old fool.
What have they decided to call their new baby?
The meat produced from a pig is called pork, bacon, or ham.
9) Come-verb/kʌm/ – to move or travel towards the speaker or with the speaker:
Are you coming with me?
There’s a car coming!
Can you come to my party?
Here comes Adam.
She’s come 500 km (= has travelled 500 km) to be here with us tonight.
If you’re ever in Dublin, come and visit us.
We came by car.
Your father will come for (= to collect) you at four o’clock.
Come forward a bit and stand on the line.
I’ve come straight from the airport.
The door opened and a nurse came into the room.
A man’s coming to mend the boiler this afternoon.
As he came towards me, I could see he’d been crying.
He thought we’d been picking his apples and came after (= chased) us with a stick.
He came rushing over when I fell.
10) Help-verb /help/ – to make it possible or easier for someone to do something, by doing part of the work yourself or by providing advice, money, support, etc.:
How can I help you?
I wonder if you could help me – I’d like some information about flights to New Zealand.
My dad said he would help with the costs of (= give part of the cost of) buying a house.
The $10,000 loan from the bank helped her (to) start her own business.
I feel that learning English will help (= improve) my chances of promotion at work.
Nothing can help her now (= her situation is too bad for anyone to be able to improve it).
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11) Move-verb /muːv/- to (cause to) change position:
I’m so cold I can’t move my fingers.
Will you help me move this table to the back room?
Can we move (= change the time of) the meeting from 2 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. ?
Don’t move! Stay right where you are.
I thought I could hear someone moving about/around upstairs.
If you move along/over/up (= go further to the side, back, or front) a little, Tess can sit next to me.
Police officers at the scene of the accident were asking people to move along/on (= to go to a different place).
Come on, it’s time we were moving (= time for us to leave).
Let’s stay here tonight, then move on (= continue our journey) tomorrow morning.
You can move the cursor either by using the mouse or by using the arrow keys on the keyboard.
I didn’t want to move in case I woke her up.
In the summer, the shepherds move their sheep up into the hills .
Could I possibly ask you to move your chair a little?
The poor things were kept in small cages without room to move.
12) Some-determiner /səm/ – an amount or number of something that is not stated or not known; a part of something:
There’s some cake in the kitchen if you’d like it.
Here’s some news you might be interested in.
We’ve been having some problems with our TV over the last few weeks.
Could you give me some idea of when the construction work will finish?
I’ve got to do some more work before I can go out.
I’ve just had some chocolate.
Add some fresh parsley, finely chopped.
I need to get some fresh air to clear my head .
Steven gave me some good advice.
We had some friends round for dinner on Saturday.
13) Side-noun /saɪd/- a flat outer surface of an object, especially one that is not the top, the bottom, the front, or the back:
The names of ships are usually painted on their sides.
The window on the right side of the house was open.
Please write on one side of the paper only.
UK I’ve already written four sides (= pages of writing) for my essay.
Canadian coins have a picture of the British Queen’s head on one side.
Please use the side entrance.
Quigley clouted me smartly across the side of the head.
This plan shows the front, side and back elevations of the new supermarket.
You turn the television on by flipping the switch at the side.
The monument was hewn out of the side of a mountain.
I walked around the side of the building.
14) Make-verb/meɪk/- to produce something, often using a particular substance or material:
Do you want me to make some coffee?
He made a chocolate cake.
She makes all her own clothes.
He made us some coffee./He made some coffee for us.
The pot is made to withstand high temperatures.
He works for a company that makes furniture.
The label on the box said “made in China”.
Butter is made out of/from milk.
earrings made of gold
Her new trainer has promised to make an Olympic athlete of her.
15) Lower-verb/ˈloʊ.ɚ/ – to move something into a low position:
They lowered the coffin into the grave.
Heavily pregnant by now, she lowered herself carefully into the chair.
He lowered his eyes (= looked down) in embarrassment when he saw me.
We lowered the floors to give more space in the rooms.
He lowered the flag and the cars were off.
They lowered the old man into a chair.
We lowered the wall to let in more light.
She lowered her hand so that I could see what she was holding.
16) Hour-noun /aʊr/- a period of 60 minutes:
The exam lasted an hour and a half.
There are 24 hours in a day.
How many hours’ sleep do you need?
I’ll be back in an hour’s/two hours’ time (= after one/two hours).
My hometown is an hour from Houston/an hour away (= it takes an hour to travel there).
He gets paid by the hour (= gets a particular amount of money for each hour he works).
Trains leave every hour on the hour (= at exactly one o’clock, two o’clock, etc.).
Buses leave at ten minutes past/to the hour (= at ten past/to one o’clock, two o’clock, etc.).
formal War was declared at eighteen hundred hours/18.00 hours (= at six o’clock in the evening).
17) Run-verb /rʌn / – (of people and some animals) to move along, faster than walking, by taking quick steps in which each foot is lifted before the next foot touches the ground:
The children had to run to keep up with their father.
I can run a mile in five minutes.
The sheep ran away/off in fright.
A little girl ran up to (= came quickly beside) me, crying for her daddy.
In the semi-final she will be running against her nearest rival.
The first two races will be run (= will happen) in 20 minutes.
18) Forest-noun /ˈfɔːr.ɪst/- a large area of land covered with trees and plants, usually larger than a wood, or the trees and plants themselves:
the Black Forest
The children got lost in the forest.
They were campaigning against the destruction of the rain forest.
The campsite is set in the middle of a pine forest.
A fierce fire is still raging through the forest, burning everything in its path.
Her legs were covered in scratches and bruises after her walk through the forest.
Tropical rain forests used to cover 10% of the earth’s surface.
It is about a baby elephant– level 2
A baby elephant fell into a water storage pit because the ground around the pit was slippery.
Local Chinese people noticed the animal. It tried to get out, but it just couldn’t. They called the police to help the animal. The police removed some earth at one side of the pit, so the elephant could get out more easily. After about an hour, the little elephant finally got free. It ran back into the nearby forest.
Source: newsinlevels.com
Short stories for esl adults beginners free download
Dictionary
1) Storage-noun /ˈstɔː.rɪdʒ/ – the putting and keeping of things in a special place for use in the future:
All chairs collapse for easy storage.
These garden chairs will fold flat for storage.
The paper records were microfilmed to save storage space.
The new wine is pumped into storage tanks.
We follow very strict guidelines on the use and storage of personal details on computers.
2) Slippery-adjective /ˈslɪp.ɚ.i/ – If something is slippery, it is wet or smooth so that it slides easily or causes something to slide:
slippery soap
a slippery floor
The road was wet and slippery.
3) Notice-verb /ˈnoʊ.t̬ɪs/- to see or become conscious of something or someone:
I noticed a crack in the ceiling.
Mary waved at the man but he didn’t seem to notice.
He noticed (that) the woman was staring at him.
Did you notice how she did that?
4) Back-adverb /bæk/ – in, into, or towards a previous place or condition, or an earlier time:
When you take the scissors, remember to put them back.
He left a note saying “Gone out. Back soon.”
She went to Brazil for two years, but now she’s back (= has returned).
He looked back (= looked behind him) and saw they were following him.
Looking at her old photographs brought back (= made her remember) a lot of memories.
I was woken by a thunderstorm, and I couldn’t get back to sleep (= could not sleep again).
The last time we saw Lowell was back (= at an earlier time) in January.
This tradition dates back to (= to the earlier time of) the 16th century.
5) Nearby-adverb, adjective- /ˌnɪrˈbaɪ/- not far away:
If there’s a café nearby, we could stop for a snack.
I noticed a policeman standing nearby.
We stopped at some nearby shops to buy some food.
Water was pumped from a nearby lake in an attempt to damp down the flames.
Thousands of fish were killed as a result of a discharge of poisonous chemicals from a nearby factory.
The injured were taken to several nearby hospitals.
A passing motorist stopped and gave her a lift to the nearby town.
The explosion shattered nearby windows and wrecked two cars.
It is about a baby elephant– level 3
A baby elephant has been rescued after it fell into an empty water storage pit after wandering into a village in China.
The adorable little calf was spotted by local residents in southwest China’s Yunnan Province. They reckoned he fell in and was unable to escape the two-metre-deep pit.
While the baby elephant kept trying to get out, he just couldn’t, so the police were called in to give him a hand.
They shoved some earth into one side of the pit, making it easier for the elephant to climb out.
“Looking at the traces at the scene, it probably fell into it yesterday. Because it rained yesterday, the ground around the pit was slippery.”
Source: newsinlevels.com
Short stories for esl adults beginners free download
Dictionary
1) Rescue-verb /ˈres.kjuː/ – to help someone or something out of a dangerous, harmful, or unpleasant situation:
The lifeboat rescued the sailors from the sinking boat.
The government has refused to rescue the company from bankruptcy.
They shouted for help, but nobody came to rescue them.
The management are putting together a plan to rescue the company.
Six people were rescued by helicopter from a fishing boat in distress off the Cornish coast.
She showed enormous courage when she rescued him from the fire.
A goal just before half-time rescued the match from mediocrity.
2) Wander-verb /ˈwɑːn.dɚ/ – to walk around slowly in a relaxed way or without any clear purpose or direction:
We spent the morning wandering around the old part of the city.
She was found several hours later, wandering the streets, lost.
He was here a minute ago but he’s wandered off somewhere.
3) Adorable-adjective /əˈdɔːr.ə.bəl/ – used to describe someone or something that makes you love or like them, usually because they are attractive and often small:
She has the most adorable two-year-old girl.
These snowflake-shaped picture frames are just adorable.
I think it’s adorable that your parents still hold hands.
4) Calf-noun /kæf/- a young cow, or the young of various other large mammals such as elephants and whales
5) Spotted-adjective /ˈspɑː.t̬ɪd/- covered in small, usually round areas of colour:
a spotted toad
She was wearing a black and white spotted dress.
6) Reckon-verb /ˈrek.ən/- to think or believe:
I reckon it’s going to rain.
How much do you reckon (that) it’s going to cost?
“Can you fix my car today?” “I reckon not/so (= probably not/probably).”
“How old do I reckon she is? I’d say 38.” “Spot on.”
She’s been promising to pay back the money for six months, but I reckon she’s just stringing me along.
He reckons all policemen are fascists and bullies.
There was a man on the news last night who reckons we’ve been visited by beings from other worlds.
I paid for the tickets and you bought dinner so we’re quits, I reckon.
7) Shove-verb /ʃʌv/- to push someone or something forcefully:
She was jostled and shoved by an angry crowd as she left the court.
Just wait your turn – there’s no need to shove.
Reporters pushed and shoved as they tried to get close to the princess.
8) Trace-verb /treɪs/- to find someone or something that was lost:
The police are trying to trace the mother of a newborn baby found abandoned outside a hospital.
Attempts to trace the whereabouts of a man seen leaving the scene of the crime have so far been unsuccessful.
Their missing daughter was finally traced to (= found in) Manchester.
Short stories for esl adults beginners free download