Intermediate II: Biography and Tale

Here is some listening practice with two typical instances of the use of the past tenses: a biography and a children's tale. As for the biography, the narrator is obviously an extremely proficient non-native speaker; everything he says is correct but for a couple of minor details, among them the way he pronounces "honourable", and "national" and its derivates (correct pronunciation:/ˈɒnərəbl/ and /ˈnæʃnəl/ but careful, nation = "neIʃn").