The Lane That Drained
Free B2 Upper-intermediate English dictation about Places (2 min): listen to natural English audio, type what you hear and check every word instantly.
B2 (Upper-intermediate) English dictation about Places: 10 sentences, about 2 min.
Full transcript
Each cloudburst left the market square underwater, except for a narrow lane behind the bakery. For years, residents credited its raised stones, which barely rose above the surrounding pavement. During a building survey, Leila found a shallow groove crossing the bakery cellar floor. Beside it, an old ledger paired dates with one terse note about clearing the channel. Before each storm, the baker lifted two paving stones and cleared leaves from below. Nobody noticed water disappearing through the brick channel, because the lane stayed passable. After the bakery closed, concrete sealed the cellar, and the channel gradually vanished from local maps. Leila persuaded drainage crews to investigate, although their expensive pump proposal had already been approved. Beneath a planter, they uncovered the outlet, which led into a forgotten stone cistern. The pump was cancelled, and the cistern now stores stormwater that once threatened every shop.
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Dictation connects what you hear with how it is written. When you listen to natural English and type every word, you find your blind spots right away: weak forms, silent letters, linked words and fast contractions that slip past you when you only listen.
How does a dictation work?
Each lesson is a short English text split into sentences. Play a sentence, replay it as often as you need, type what you heard and send it. When you finish, you see your accuracy and every mistake, with a short note on why it was easy to miss.
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