299. The man who could work miracles - part 2 (B2 story)

0:00When I started this podcast on the story of the man who could work miracles by H.G. Wells I Didn't realize how relevant it would be to today's situation Suddenly terrible things are happening in the world Now the story which I am continuing today is the second part of Of this story the man who could work miracles But rather than the miracles what we're talking about is a person who has great power Great powers to do really whatever he likes And there's a danger to that A danger if that person or people who have those powers are not really qualified to know how to use them properly to the good of mankind

1:07That's what's happening in the world at the moment and this story is a reflection on that And the terrible things that could happen if we give too much power to somebody somebody who is Really simply not mature enough to be able to use the power wisely This is the second part of my B2 story then the man who could work miracles I'm going to give you seven words and expressions at B2 level for you to listen out for during the reading of the story And I'll give you some example sentences of these words and expressions And they'll be a short test at the end So here we go with part two of the man who could work miracles by HG Wells

2:17Hello and welcome to practicing English My name is Mike Berber and these are podcasts for students of English at B1 or B2 levels For transcripts please go to practicingenglish.com Would you like to see my books for learning B1 and B2 level English Then go to the show notes at your podcast app and just below today's lesson you'll see a link to Amazon And there you'll be able to read about my new B1 book and my B2 book check it out today Right my first word is amusement So the word amuse to amuse somebody a transitive verb Means to make somebody happy

3:18We can use it as an adjective. I am amused Meaning that I feel something is quite funny Okay, it's just quite funny. So I am amused And here we have the noun the B2 noun amusement In fact, it's a little expression with a preposition in front of it in amusement So to do something in amusement means to do something and feel or find the situation is quite funny Amusing in other words my example phrase is Mary laughed in amusement when she saw the puppy trying to catch his own tail She laughed in amusement. She thought it was very funny My second B2 word is to boast B-O-A-S-T Now there's another relevant word as well, isn't it for people these days in the news

4:22boasting quite a lot boast is about B-O-A-S-T as you know you can go to your podcast app and find these words there together with The tape script or audio script of the story or at my website practicingenglish.com To boast means then to say how good we are doing something You're right to say that we are very clever at something or that we are very able to do something in a particularly good way and we think that other people should know how clever we are and we like telling people about that Here is my example phrase Donald likes to boast about his achievements Even when no one asks him about them

5:23Okay to boast about his achievements to say About the things he's done and how well he has done them to boast My next word is deliberately Okay, so that is the adverb obviously with our LY at the end from the adjective deliberate Now if you do something deliberately you do it on purpose which is a nice little expression on purpose of B1 expression You do it because you wanted to do it So my example phrase is she deliberately ignored his message because she was still upset with him So she deliberately ignored his message So on purpose intentionally Knowing what she was doing she ignored his message Because she was upset with something that he had said

6:27My next word phrase rubber to cross your mind Now your mind is well you know when we say the word mind we're thinking about our our head our thoughts our brain So if something crosses your mind An idea occurs to you we say an idea comes to your mind So the thought comes to you Here is the example sentence it never crossed my mind that I might fail the exam I never thought that it would be possible to fail the exam I just thought it was going to be really easy. I mean after all it was about English and I'm so good at English And then I would have failed it. Oh my goodness It never crossed my mind that that would happen. I never thought that might happen My next word is costly Okay, so this is an adjective really ends in L.Y

7:31But it's an adjective and it's related to cost talking about money Here is my example phrase Buying a new car can be a costly decision If you don't plan your budget carefully So if it's costly it means it is expensive It costs you a lot of money All right buying a new car well it can be you've got to be careful Okay, so it's not just buying the car you've got to run the car get the insurance for the car And get the car service to say Needs is regular service so that it keeps running and can stay on the road very expensive Very costly Okay, so something can be costly if it is expensive and cost a lot of money My next one Ah one two three four five six. Okay, I've got seven. So this is number six to take a deep breath

8:37I might take a deep breath just now actually Now usually we say that when we're about to do something important Maybe it's quite a difficult thing we're going to do and therefore we need to relax And get our thoughts together we say and Get some self-control Here's my example for sentence Before speaking in front of the audience Jennifer took a deep breath to calm her nerves Jennifer took a deep breath to calm her nerves So to calm your nerves means to relax And my last one then is a simple verb And the verb is to spin SPIN And to spin means to go round and round and round

9:41It's nice these days as I come out of school. I see the children from primary school They're playing with what we used to call spinning tops Which are small toys They are small you can hold them in your hand They're round and they have a point at the bottom and you wrap a string around them Pour the string hard Throw down the spinning top and it spins on the floor and stand us up So that is to spin which means to go round usually very fast The world spins, isn't it? The earth our planet earth spins Today you'll find out how fast it actually spins Because it comes as part of the story So let's get on with it then So this is part two of the man who could work miracles by HG Wells

10:54On Sunday George went to church Although this was not the usual habit of his The vicar A young Confident and enthusiastic Mr. Maidig preached about forbidden powers And our duty not to take advantage of others weaker than ourselves Simply because we are capable of it George felt uneasy Despite feeling quite doubtful as to whether he should do so After the service he asked to speak to the vicar privately

11:54In the vicar's study George nervously explained everything that had been happening You may not believe me He replied but it seems that I can perform miracles Mr. Maidig looked at George in amusement I see Well why don't you show me? He said pleasantly George pointed at a jar of sweets on the table Be a bowl of violets It changed instantly into exactly that Purple flowers spilled out from a glass bowl Mr. Maidig stepped back This is astonishing

12:55That's nothing Boasted George and miraculously changed it into a fish bowl Then into a pigeon Then back to a sweet jar again Mr. Maidig's eyes shone with excitement Are you doing this deliberately? I mean Are you fully in control of what you change things into? Well yes George replied I think of an object in my mind and then will it to happen and it just happens My dear man he cried this is a gift an immensely special gift We must use it to do good in the world There's a problem I'm afraid I sent Constable Winch to San Francisco I didn't really mean to but I accidentally hit him with my walking stick that had grown into a rose bush

14:03Anyway If I wish him back again he's going to arrest me I imagine his wife will be wondering where he's ended up It crossed my mind that I could make him forget what happened But I'm not sure if that would be morally the right thing to do Yes yes yes we'll we'll sort that out later Said Mr. Maidig quickly obviously with other things on his mind Think of what we can achieve with your powers Here I've got a few tasks for you Said the Vicar with a mysterious smile on his face They began with small changes They improved Mr. Maidig's tasteless meals usually produced by Mr. Maidig's housekeeper and cook Delicious and tasty dishes now appeared on the table

15:04A hot beef stew with garden potatoes and a freshly made salad together with a bottle of red bogele wine Come on Have dinner with me while we make plans as how to convert this world into a better place They laughed like old friends What else can we do? Asked George We should contribute to the well-being of this village cried Mr. Maidig at the moment it is unfit for good Christians to live in That night they worked miracle after miracle They cured the local drunks from their drinking problems They cleared up the local stream that had been polluted for years And removed the disgusting stink that had always come from it

16:09They improved the local railway and ensured that all future trains would always arrive exactly on time Mr. Maidig insisted on making improvements to the church roof That had been leaking over the past few weeks and would have been very costly to repair George was beginning to feel powerful as though he was unstoppable But at three in the morning he grew tired Um, I ought to be at work at eight He pointed out to the vicar We're just getting started Replied Mr. Maidig He looked up at the moon Stop the earth from spinning That will give us more time to complete our work as morning will come later

17:12George hesitated All that sounds risky. I mean You're talking about stopping the whole planet Why not whispered the vicar And there was a look of obsession in his eyes George finally agreed He took a deep breath and commanded in a ceremonious voice Stop spinning earth Instantly George's world turned upside down George was thrown through the air At an incredible speed building smashed into pieces before his eyes Trees were poured up from their roots as they span through the air like mathematics The wind roared like a monster from hell

18:12The village was gone The world was a chaos What George did not know Because his knowledge of physics was extremely limited Was that he had stopped the spinning of the earth But not the objects on its surface Everything had been thrown forward at great speed In fact at about 600 miles per hour Which is the speed of the surface In England due to the rotation of the earth Let me be safely down on the ground He shouted He landed hard but alive The wind terrible in his ears A cow flew past his head crashed into a rock and exploded like an orange

19:17All around him was destruction I've ruined everything He cried A wall of water like an enormous tsunami rushed towards him Stop He screamed Lightning flashed I must fix this He thought carefully Let nothing happen until I say off The storm paused As though waiting for some final order From his great god Now he said slowly Let everything go back To how it was before I did any miracles Let me lose this power forever Let everybody in the world forget the terrible events of this night

20:19He closed his eyes Off So you say Said toddy beamish George Opened his eyes He was back in the long dragon Arguing about miracles He felt slightly confused as if he had forgotten something of extreme importance But the feeling passed I tell you he said confidently Miracles are impossible They go against the laws of nature They simply can't happen So you say Replied beamish calmly Let's define a miracle George continued A miracle is something done by an act of will

21:19Something that wouldn't happen naturally So you say Beamish repeated George pointed at a lamp hanging from the ceiling That lamp couldn't burn upside down could it And that is the end of the story The man who could work miracles Appropriate isn't it For the events happening in the world at this particular time Did you hear the phrases and words that I Mentioned at the beginning of the story I will just mention them again So if you want to see them in context you can go to my My podcast website practicing english.com

22:20Podcast 299 And they can read the whole story there So what I'm going to do now is just test you on these seven words and expressions And to remind you they were in amusement To boast deliberately Cross somebody's mind costly Take a deep breath And spin I'm going to give you five sentences I will leave a space and you'll hear a bleep Where there is a word or expression missing You must say the expression which is missing And then I'll repeat it just afterwards to give you the answer Here we go with the test You Number one

23:21The company made a Decision that resulted in significant financial losses Costly a costly decision Number two Well it um it never That they might cancel the events at the last minute I just didn't expect it Crossed my mind it never crossed my mind Number three Stephen Avoided answering the question because he didn't want to reveal the truth Deliberately Stephen deliberately avoided answering the question

24:24Number four Donald likes to About his achievements Even when nobody is really interested boast boast about his achievements Number five Jane Raised her eyebrows When did she realize the mistake was so simple In amusement She raised her eyebrows in amusement Right that is the end of the test I hope you enjoyed the story And have learned a few phrases and words today at B2 level I'll be back next week with another podcast at B1 level Let us hope that those in the world Who have so much power

25:26Learn to use it More wisely Goodbye for now