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[8:46] Essential English Listening: Detailed Guide to Describing Shapes and Textures

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This article introduces common descriptions of object shapes and textures in English listening, suitable for beginners to practice with short passages and gradually improve comprehension skills.

Select word → Click 🔍 to translate"

Content

Practice listening easily in just 15 minutes a day! This book selects 2-minute short passages with moderate difficulty, suitable for beginners. Through four stages — 'pre-listening, catching keywords, sentence-by-sentence understanding, and overall retelling' — learners can progressively understand more than 90% of the content. Consistent practice leads to qualitative improvement, boosting your English listening skills dramatically! Below, the qicai.com editor has compiled some listening content suitable for beginners and middle/high school students (beginner level).

Some things are different shapes. They can be described by their shape. A circle is round. A compact disc is a circle. A square has four equal sides. A rectangle is similar, but two of the sides are longer. A triangle has only three sides. Have you ever seen anyone play a triangle in an orchestra? The word triangle can stand for an instrument or a shape. An oval is rounded, but it is not round. An egg is an oval shape. The floor is flat. If something is smooth, it has no bumps or lumps. Silk is smooth. Some things are rough. Sandpaper is rough. If something is dull, it is not sharp or pointed. A dull knife will not cut bread because the blade is not sharp. If something is pointed, it has a sharp end. A sharp pencil has a pointed end. A pencil that has been used a lot and hasn't been sharpened has a dull end. Some things are soft. A teddy bear is soft. It feels good to touch. Some things are hard. A rock is hard. Soft can also represent a noise level. If you have a soft voice, it is not very loud. If someone tells you to speak softly, they want you to speak quietly. Loud is the word used to describe noises that hurt your ears. A big truck will make a loud noise. Sometimes your mother will tell you that your music is too loud.

Listening Comprehension

  • smooth

    noun

    1. the act of smoothing

    e.g. he gave his hair a quick smooth

  • dull
  • loud

    adj

    1. characterized by or producing sound of great volume or intensity

    e.g. a group of loud children
    loud thunder
    her voice was too loud
    loud trombones

    2. used chiefly as a direction or description in music

    e.g. the forte passages in the composition

    Synonym: forte

    3. tastelessly showy

    e.g. a flash car
    a flashy ring
    garish colors
    a gaudy costume
    loud sport shirts
    a meretricious yet stylish book
    tawdry ornaments

    Synonym: brassycheapflashflashygarishgaudygimcrackmeretricioustackytattytawdrytrashy

  • soft
  • triangle

    noun

    1. a percussion instrument consisting of a metal bar bent in the shape of an open triangle

    2. any of various triangular drafting instruments used to draw straight lines at specified angles

    3. a three-sided polygon

    Synonym: trigontrilateral

    4. something approximating the shape of a triangle

    e.g. the coastline of Chile and Argentina and Brazil forms two legs of a triangle