Home >  English Short Stories >  List  > English Listening Passage on Honesty and Lies

Listening Content

[10:03] English Listening Passage on Honesty and Lies

Listening Content Display

This English listening passage tells a story about lying and honesty, suitable for beginners to improve their comprehension skills through listening practice. The content is simple and emphasizes the importance of honesty.

Select word → Click 🔍 to translate"

Content

Practice listening easily with just 15 minutes a day! This book selects 2-minute short passages of moderate difficulty, suitable for beginners. Through four stages: “pre-listening — catching keywords — sentence-by-sentence understanding — overall retelling,” it gradually helps you understand over 90% of the content. Keep practicing, and quantity will turn into quality, making your English listening improve rapidly! Below is a collection from the qicai website editor of some listening content starting from the simplest English listening, suitable for junior and senior high school (beginner level).

Yesterday, I told a lie. I don't feel very good about it. I was bouncing a ball in the kitchen and the ball bounced up and broke a cup. It was one of my mother's best cups, so I was afraid that she would be mad. I put the broken cup back on the table and I didn't tell anyone that I had broken it. That night my mother asked who had broken the cup. My brother said, not me. My sister said, I didn't do it. I said, I didn't break the cup. But I was lying.

My mother said that we would all be punished if someone didn't tell the truth and say who broke the cup. I still did not tell her that I had broken it. She gave us one more chance, and she said, she wasn't mad about the cup. She just wanted us to be honest. I still didn't say anything. My brother, sister and I, all got sent to our rooms. We had to stay in our rooms all morning. My brother said it wasn't fair. I felt very bad because my brother and sister were being punished because of me.

I went to my mother and told her that I had broken the cup. She said that she was not upset about the broken cup. She knew that it was an accident. She was disappointed in me because I hadn't come forward and told the truth. She said that she wouldn't have punished me if I had been honest with her.

I told my brother and sister that I was sorry. I felt bad because they were punished because I was dishonest. I told my mother that I was sorry that I had lied to her. I told her that I had learned a lesson. Honesty is the best policy. It is better to tell the truth. It is not a good feeling when people don't trust you. I have learned that lying just hurts people. Sometimes it is hard to be honest, but it is the best way to be.

Listening Comprehension

  • bounce

    noun

    1. a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards

    Synonym: leapleapingspringsaltationbound

    2. the quality of a substance that is able to rebound

    Synonym: bounciness

    3. rebounding from an impact (or series of impacts)

    Synonym: bouncing

  • accident

    noun

    1. anything that happens suddenly or by chance without an apparent cause

    e.g. winning the lottery was a happy accident
    the pregnancy was a stroke of bad luck
    it was due to an accident or fortuity

    Synonym: strokefortuitychance event

    2. an unfortunate mishap
    especially one causing damage or injury

  • punish

    verb

    1. impose a penalty on
    inflict punishment on

    e.g. The students were penalized for showing up late for class
    we had to punish the dog for soiling the floor again

    Synonym: penalizepenalise

  • trust
  • disappointed

    adj

    1. disappointingly unsuccessful

    e.g. disappointed expectations and thwarted ambitions
    their foiled attempt to capture Calais
    many frustrated poets end as pipe-smoking teachers
    his best efforts were thwarted

    Synonym: defeateddiscomfitedfoiledfrustratedthwarted