A Quiet Day by the Sea — Calm English Listening

Transcript

Introduction

A: Hello, and welcome.

A: This is slow, calm B1 English for a quiet evening.

A: Tonight you’ll hear two gentle stories about a day by the sea.

A: Then we’ll review ten phrases, practice quietly, and listen one more time, even more slowly.

A: Listen for six of them: the sound of the waves, salt in the air, and warm sand.

A: To walk along the shore, the horizon, and to sit and watch the water.

A: If you miss a word, let it go. Another one will come.

A: You can practice the phrases in Recursio another day. The link is in the description.

A: For now, just listen.

Early morning on the beach

A: It is the last week of August, in a small town by the sea.

A: Mira wakes up before her alarm, which never happens at home.

A: The room is gray and cool. The shutters are closed, but there is a thin white line of light between them.

A: She lies still for a moment and listens.

A: The sound of the waves is already there.

A: It was there all night, under her sleep, and it is there now.

A: She puts on yesterday’s dress and takes her shoes in her hand.

A: The hallway is quiet. The kitchen is dark. Nobody in the house is awake yet.

A: Outside, the air is cool and it smells of salt.

A: Salt in the air, and something green from the gardens, and bread from somewhere she can’t see.

A: It is two hundred steps to the beach. She has counted them, on another morning.

A: Down the lane between two white walls. Past the bakery, which is open but has no customers yet.

A: Past the blue door that is always shut, and the cat that is always on the step in front of it.

A: Then the road ends, and there is nothing between her and the water.

A: The beach is empty.

A: Not one towel. Not one umbrella. Only a boat pulled up onto the sand, and a man far away with a dog.

A: The sand is cold at first, right at the edge of the water.

A: Higher up, away from the water, she finds warm sand under her feet.

A: Mira leaves her shoes on a rock and starts to walk along the shore.

A: She walks with the water on her left, in the wet part where the sand is hard and easy to walk on.

A: The sound of the waves changes as she walks along the shore.

A: In one place it is loud, and there are stones under the water.

A: A hundred steps later it is soft, almost nothing, just a long breath in and a long breath out.

A: She stops sometimes. Not for anything. Just to stop.

A: The water comes up over her feet and goes away again.

A: It is colder than she expects, every single time.

A: She stands there until the sand under her heels is soft and she sinks a little.

A: There is a lot to look at, if you decide that small things count.

A: A white shell with a hole in it. A piece of green glass, made smooth by the sea.

A: A line of small birds that run away from the water and then run after it.

A: A long brown line of dry seaweed, exactly where the sea stopped last night.

A: One shoe. Only one, and quite far from the water. She decides not to think about where the other one is.

A: Mira picks up the green glass and puts it in her pocket. She will forget it there for a year.

A: After a while she looks up and out.

A: The horizon is very clear this morning.

A: One straight line, dark blue below and pale blue above, and nothing in the way.

A: There is a ship on the horizon, so small that she isn’t sure it’s a ship.

A: She watches it for a long time to see which way it is going, and she never finds out.

A: There is something in her chest that opens up when she looks that far.

A: At home there is a wall thirty steps from her window.

A: She has not looked at anything this far away for months.

A: Looking across the open water feels restful.

A: She sits down on the warm sand, higher up, and puts her hands behind her.

A: From here she can sit and watch the water without looking at anything else at all.

A: The waves come in at an angle this morning, one after another, never quite the same.

A: The town starts to wake up behind her.

A: A shutter opens. A scooter goes past on the road. Somebody calls a name twice.

A: A man arrives with a towel over his shoulder and walks straight into the water.

A: He begins to swim slowly, following the line of the shore.

A: The sun is higher now, and the light on the water changes from pale silver to white.

A: Near the boat, a woman comes out of the sea and sits on a towel to dry in the sun.

A: Mira would like to come back after breakfast, perhaps to stay until evening.

A: Mira walks back the way she came, and her own footprints are still there in the wet sand.

A: Some of them have water in them now.

A: The man with the dog passes her going the other way and says good morning, and she says it back.

A: For now, it is the only sentence she needs.

A: She finds her shoes on the rock. She does not put them on.

A: It is seven fifteen, and the whole day is still in front of her.

Phrase review

A: Now, slowly, the ten phrases.

A: The sound of the waves. The noise the sea makes as the water comes in and goes out. It may be soft or loud, steady or changing.

A: “I sleep well here. I like the sound of the waves.”

A: Salt in the air. Near the sea, you may notice a salty smell or taste in the air.

A: “You can smell the salt in the air from the bus stop.”

A: Warm sand. Sand that the sun has warmed. It may feel comfortable under your feet when it is not too hot.

A: “We put the towels down on the warm sand.”

A: To walk along the shore. The shore is the edge of the land, where it meets the water. You walk on it, following the line of the sea.

A: “Every morning we walk along the shore for an hour.”

A: The horizon. The line far away where the sea seems to meet the sky.

A: “There was one small ship on the horizon.”

A: To sit and watch the water. To sit without doing anything else, and look at the sea.

A: “I don’t need a book. I can sit and watch the water for hours.”

A: The light on the water. The bright, moving light the sun makes on the surface of the sea.

A: “In the evening the light on the water turns orange.”

A: To swim slowly. To move through the water without hurrying. In these stories, the swimmers are not racing or exercising.

A: “He swims slowly, out to the rocks and back.”

A: To dry in the sun. To let the warmth and the air dry the water on your skin instead of using a towel.

A: “I stayed on the warm stones and dried in the sun.”

A: To stay until evening. To remain somewhere until evening instead of leaving earlier.

A: “We took some bread and cheese, and we stayed until evening.”

The long afternoon

A: Now the same beach, the same day, later — and a different person.

A: Tomas is sixty-one, and he has been coming to this same beach since he was a boy.

A: He arrives at four in the afternoon, when most people are starting to leave.

A: This is on purpose. He spent the hot hours in a chair in the shade, with the radio on very low.

A: He brings three things: an old towel, a bottle of water, and a paper bag with bread and two tomatoes.

A: He puts the towel on the stones at the far end, past where the sand stops.

A: The stones here hold the heat, and by four o’clock their surfaces are warm.

A: He knows these stones. He knows which ones are flat enough to lie on, and he knows the one with the sharp edge.

A: When he was eight, this end of the beach was where the fishermen kept their nets.

A: Now there is a metal ladder into the water, and a sign about jellyfish that has been there for years.

A: For a while Tomas does nothing at all.

A: He sits and watches the water.

A: This is the main activity of his week, and he takes it seriously.

A: The sea is calm today. Small waves, no wind.

A: The light on the water is white, and hard to look at.

A: Two children are swimming near the rope, calling to each other as they play.

A: Their mother is standing in the water, up to her knees, with her arms folded, watching them and not swimming.

A: At four thirty Tomas goes in.

A: He walks in slowly and stops when the water is at his chest, and breathes out.

A: Then he swims slowly, out toward the rocks.

A: He is not a fast swimmer and he has never been one.

A: He goes with his head up, and every so often he stops and floats and looks back at the town.

A: From out here the town is small. Three streets, a church, and the hotel with the blue shutters.

A: He can see the window of the room where his grandmother lived, and the tree that is taller than the house now.

A: The sound of the waves is different from inside the water. Nearer, and quieter at the same time.

A: He turns at the rocks and comes back, and it takes him twice as long as it used to.

A: This bothers him less than he thought it would.

A: Back on the stones he lies down and dries in the sun.

A: He does not use the towel for drying. The towel is to lie on.

A: He dries in the sun with his eyes closed, and he can feel the salt drying on his shoulders.

A: Salt in the air, and salt on his arms, and the taste of it on his lips.

A: A little wind comes up and goes away again, and small lines move across the water.

A: At six he eats the bread and the tomatoes, slowly, with salt from a small paper packet.

A: The children have gone. The mother has gone. Somebody has left one small red bucket near the water.

A: This is the part he comes for, and it is the part few people photograph.

A: The beach after the busy part of the day. Everything is still warm, and almost nobody is left.

A: The light changes. It comes lower and from the side.

A: Now the light on the water is not white any more. It is gold, and then it is orange.

A: There is a bright path across the sea, from the horizon to the stones, and it moves when the water moves.

A: Tomas could go home. Dinner is at eight, and it is a ten-minute walk.

A: He decides to stay until evening.

A: He always decides to stay until evening, and he always makes it sound like a new idea.

A: The horizon is soft now, not the hard line it was this morning.

A: Sea and sky are almost the same color out there.

A: A boat comes in and passes the rocks, and the man in it lifts one hand.

A: Tomas lifts one hand back. They have never spoken.

A: The sun goes down over the sea, off to the right, and the stones start to give their heat back.

A: When he finally stands up, the water is dark and the sky is still bright.

A: He folds the towel. He picks up the red bucket and leaves it by the steps, where somebody will find it.

A: Then he walks up into the town. Two hundred steps, more or less, though he has never counted them.

Quiet repetition

A: Now a few quiet questions. Try them in your mind, or just listen if you feel sleepy.

A: The noise the sea makes as the water comes in and goes out?

A: The sound of the waves.

A: The phrase for walking for an hour at the edge of the sea, following the water?

A: To walk along the shore.

A: The far line where the sea seems to meet the sky?

A: The horizon.

A: Tomas came out and lay on the stones with his eyes closed, and he did not use the towel. What did he do?

A: He dried in the sun.

A: Mira sat down higher up, away from the water. What was under her?

A: Warm sand.

A: What do we call the bright, moving light the sun makes on the sea?

A: The light on the water.

A: You remain there until evening instead of leaving earlier.

A: You stay until evening.

A: And when you sit down with no book and no phone, and just look at the sea?

A: You sit and watch the water.

A: Not fast. You move through the water without hurrying.

A: You swim slowly.

A: And the salty smell you may notice near the sea?

A: Salt in the air.

A day, more slowly

A: One more time now, more slowly. No work here. Just listening.

A: It is early, and the beach is empty.

A: The sound of the waves was there all night.

A: Salt in the air.

A: Warm sand higher up, cool sand at the edge of the water.

A: You walk along the shore with the water on your left.

A: You stop for no particular reason.

A: The water comes over your feet and goes away again.

A: A shell. A piece of green glass, smooth from the sea.

A: The horizon is one clear line.

A: A ship so small you are not sure it is a ship.

A: Looking far across the water feels restful.

A: Later, in the afternoon, the stones are warm on the surface.

A: You sit and watch the water.

A: You swim slowly out toward the rocks, and stop, and float.

A: Then you lie on the towel and dry in the sun.

A: The light on the water turns from white to gold.

A: A bright path from the horizon to the stones.

A: And you decide to stay until evening.

A: The water goes dark. The sky stays bright a little longer.

A: The stones give their heat back.

A: Salt on your skin, and the quiet evening ahead.

Final phrases and goodbye

A: The ten phrases, one last time.

A: The sound of the waves.

A: Salt in the air.

A: Warm sand.

A: To walk along the shore.

A: The horizon.

A: To sit and watch the water.

A: The light on the water.

A: To swim slowly.

A: To dry in the sun.

A: To stay until evening.

A: That’s all for tonight. Thank you for listening.

A: If you’d like to practice these phrases when you’re awake, the link is below.

A: Sleep well, or have a good evening, wherever you are.