Level: A2

American accent

Marta was 39. She had a job, a chair, and a back that hurt every day. She worked long hours and sat too much. Her company said they cared about “health”. This meant many emails, short breaks, and free fruit that nobody ate.

One Monday morning, the boss called a meeting. People came with tired faces. Some still held coffee. They sat down and waited.

The boss stood near the screen. “Today we start a new health plan,” he said. “It will make you feel healthier and help you work better.”

No one asked questions.

He showed a picture of a green drink. “Every morning, you drink this,” he said. “It helps your body. It helps your mind.”

Leo raised his hand. “Do we have to?”

The boss smiled a little. “It is better if everyone does it,” he said.

Sara from Human Resources added, “It is part of our new way of working.”

Marta looked at her empty coffee cup.

The next day, the coffee machine was gone. In its place was a table with green powder, glasses, and a small sign:

“START WELL. WORK WELL”

“Where is the coffee?” Marta asked.

“No more coffee,” Sara said. “Coffee is not good for stress.”

Marta felt worried.

She made the drink. It smelt like plants. She drank it. It tasted bad.

“How do you feel?” Sara asked.

Marta looked around. People were watching.

“Okay,” she said.

By Friday, everyone felt “okay”. Leo said he had more energy. Sara said she could think better. Tom said he slept well.

Marta felt the same. But now she felt people were watching her.

Every day, the boss sent emails: How do you feel? Tell us your progress.

People began to change. They used words like ‘clean’ and ‘natural’. They stopped eating normal food.

“No bread,” said Tom.
“No sugar,” said Sara.

Marta said nothing.

One day, Leo came to work looking weak.

“I feel bad,” he said.

“Did you drink it?” Sara asked.

Leo said no.

The room became quiet.

Leo went to the kitchen and drank one glass. Then another. After a few minutes, he smiled.

“Better,” he said.

Everyone felt calm again.

That afternoon, the boss sent an email: Work is getting better.

Marta read it. Then she looked at her work. It was the same. Same hours. Same pain in her back.

Nothing was really better.

That night, she looked at the green bag. Very small words said, “Plant mix.”

“What plant?” she said.

No answer.

She searched online. The website showed happy people and big smiles. But there was no real information. Only words: pure, power, focus.

The next day, Marta went to a park. She sat and looked at the grass. It was green and everywhere.

She touched it. Then she laughed.

That evening, she tried something. She took some grass, washed it, and mixed it with water.

Same colour. Same smell.

She tasted it.

Same bad taste.

The next morning, she told Leo, “I think it is just grass.”

Leo looked tired. He held his drink.

“I don’t care,” he said. “I feel better.”

“Do you?” Marta asked.

Leo did not answer. He drank.

Marta went to the kitchen. She looked at the powder and the people. They were quiet and smiling.

Then she opened a drawer. Inside was a small coffee machine.

She turned it on.

The sound was loud. People looked at her.

Sara did not smile.

Marta made a cup of coffee. It smelt real.

“I feel better,” she said.

No one answered.

That afternoon, a new email came: Some habits are not part of our new way.

The next morning, Marta arrived at work.

The green drink was ready. People stood in line.

Marta went to her desk.

The coffee machine was gone.

There was a note: Please see HR.

Marta went to the HR office.

Sara looked at her. “This plan is important,” she said. “We need everyone to follow it.”

Marta said nothing.

“If this is not right for you,” Sara said, “maybe this is not the right place for you.”

Marta understood.

She went back to her desk, took her bag, and left.

No one stopped her.

Outside, she bought a coffee.

It tasted strong and real.

Marta smiled a little.

Then she walked away.

📒 Key vocabulary

• hurt (hurt, hurt, hurt) – to feel pain in your body
• boss – the person who is in charge at work
• screen – a flat surface on a computer or TV where you see images and words
• mind – the part of you that thinks and feels
• powder – a very fine, dry substance like dust
• weak – not strong; having little energy
• pain – a bad feeling in your body that hurts
• plant mix – a mix of different plants (often dried and used for food or drinks)
• grass – green plants that grow on the ground in parks or gardens
• drawer – a box in a desk or table that you can pull out to keep things inside
• habits – things you do often, usually without thinking

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American accent

Sam wanted one thing. He wanted to be strong.

And he didn’t just want to be strong—he wanted to be the strongest. Stronger than everyone he knew. He thought about it all day. In the morning, at night, even before sleep. He wanted to be number one.

Every day was the same for Sam. He woke up early and ate the same food—eggs, chicken, and rice. No change.

Then he went to the gym.

At the gym, Sam worked very hard. He lifted heavy weights again and again. He did not smile. He did not stop. He went in the morning before work and again in the evening before coming home. He spent most of his weekend there too.

His body hurt, but he did not care. “This is good,” Sam said. “This makes me strong.”

He watched his body change. His arms got big. His back got wide. His body was hard. He liked it.

People watched him too. Some were quiet. Some moved away when he trained. No one talked to him. Sam liked that.

He did not go out. He did not see friends. He did not rest for long. Everything was for one thing—to be the strongest.

At home, his wife Cara saw this change.

At first, she waited.

“Sam, eat with me,” she said.
“Not now,” Sam said. “I already ate.”

“Sam, sit with me.”
“I am tired.”

“Sam, talk to me.”
“Later.”

But later never came.

Weeks passed. Then more weeks. Then months. Cara stopped asking. The house became very quiet.

One night, Cara sat at the table.

“Sam,” she said, “do you still see me?”

Sam looked at her. “Yes. You are here.”

Cara moved her head. “But you are not here. You never think about me. All you think about is getting stronger.”

Sam felt a little angry. “I work very hard. This is important.”

Cara looked down. “Am I important?”

Sam said nothing.

The next day, Sam went to the gym again. He wanted more—more strength.

He added more weights than before.

A man said, “That is too much.”

Sam said nothing. He held the weights and lifted.

At first, it moved.

Then—

A strong, fast pain came into his arm.

Sam cried out. The weights fell to the floor with a loud sound. Everyone looked at him.

Sam stood still. His arm hurt.

“I am okay,” he said.

But he was not okay.

At the hospital, the doctor said, “You are hurt. You must stop training.”

“For how long?” Sam asked.

“A long time,” the doctor said. “If you do not stop, your arm may not get better.”

Sam went home.

The house felt strange. Too quiet. Too empty.

Cara was not there.

Her shoes were gone. Her bag was gone.

On the table, there was a note.

Sam picked it up.

Sam,
I waited for you.
I tried to stay.
But you chose the gym again and again.

I cannot stay here alone.

— Cara

Sam read the note many times. He sat down.

His strong arms could lift heavy weights—but they could not bring Cara back.

Days passed. Sam did not go to the gym. He walked in the house. He looked at the empty chair. He sat alone.

For the first time, he felt weak.

Weeks later, Sam went back to the gym. He stood in front of the weights.

He did not add too much.

He stopped.

He thought.

Then he lifted slowly and carefully.

After that, he looked in the mirror.

He was still strong.

But now he knew:

He lost something more important.

And no weight in the world could fix that.

📒 Key vocabulary

• gym – a place where people go to exercise and get fit
• lifted (lift, lifted, lifted) – pick up something heavy, usually with your hands or body
• weights – heavy objects used for exercise to build muscle
• hurt – to feel pain in your body
• trained (train, trained, trained) – practise or exercise to get better or stronger
• strength – the power to be strong or to lift, push, or carry things
• empty – having nothing inside; feeling alone or without people or things
• weak – the opposite of strong

🤔 Comprehension quiz

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American accent

Sally was a hard-working mother. She lived in a small house with her husband, Tom, and their two teenage children, Amy and Jack. Sally loved her family very much, but they were lazy. Every day she cooked, cleaned, washed clothes, and did the shopping, but none of the family helped. Tom sat on the sofa watching TV, Amy stayed in her room with her phone, and Jack played games for hours. They expected her to do everything and never thanked her.

One morning, Sally woke up and felt something change inside her. She looked around the messy kitchen. There were dirty plates everywhere, the rubbish bin was full and there were clothes on the floor. Sally sighed and said softly, “Enough. I am not their servant.” She smiled to herself. She had an idea.

She made breakfast as usual, but she did not clean anything. When Tom came in, he said, “Sally, where are my clean shirts?” Sally smiled. “I don’t know,” she answered. “Maybe you can find them.” Tom looked confused, but he said nothing.

Amy came into the kitchen next. “Mum, why is there no clean bowl for my cereal?” she asked. “Because I didn’t wash it,” Sally said. “You can wash one yourself.” Amy looked shocked. She had never washed a dish before.

Then Jack shouted from the living room, “Mum! Why is my schoolbag still dirty?” Sally walked to him and said calmly, “Because you didn’t clean it.” Jack opened his mouth, but no words came out.

The house became very quiet. Sally took her bag, put on her coat, and said, “I’m going out. I will be back later. There is food in the fridge if you want to cook.” Her family stared at her in surprise.

Sally left the house and went for a long walk in the park. She enjoyed the cool air and the sound of birds. For the first time in years, she felt relaxed. She sat on a bench and watched people walking their dogs. She smiled. “They need to learn,” she thought.

At home, Tom, Amy, and Jack looked around the messy rooms. Tom said, “We should do something.” Amy nodded. “Mum works so hard. Maybe we should try.” Jack sighed but agreed.

They started slowly. Tom washed the dishes while Amy cleaned the kitchen table. Jack picked up clothes and put them in the washing machine. They worked for a long time, and soon the house looked much better.

When Sally returned home, she opened the door carefully. She expected a disaster. But instead, she saw a clean floor and a tidy kitchen. Her family stood together, looking nervous.

Tom said, “We are sorry, Sally. We didn’t see how much work you did. We want to help now.”

Amy stepped forward. “We made dinner.”

Jack nodded. “And I cleaned my room.”

Sally felt warm inside. She smiled and hugged them. “Thank you,” she said. “From now on, we work together.”

And they did. The house became a happier place, not because it was clean, but because everyone helped and respected the mother who had taught them an important lesson.

📒 Key vocabulary

• messy – not clean or tidy
• rubbish – trash; things to throw away
• servant – a person who works for others in a house
• shocked – very surprised
• stared (stare, stared, stared) – look at someone for a long time
• nodded (nod, nodded, nodded)- move the head up and down to say ‘yes’
• hugged (hug, hugged, hugged)- hold someone in your arms
• respected (respect, respected, respected) – treat someone well and value them

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Tom Parker always said he was busy. He said it many times each day.

Whenever a coworker asked him how he was, he always gave the same answer: “Oh, I’m very busy. I have so many things to do. More than anyone else!”

Tom liked to say this because it made him feel important.

At work, Tom walked very fast. He wanted people to think he had no time to stop. When someone asked, “Can you help me with this?” he quickly said, “No, I’m too busy.” When people invited him to lunch, he said, “No time. I have work.”

But Tom did not really have a lot of work. He just liked people to think he did.

One Monday morning, Tom entered the office and said loudly, “What a busy day! I am the busiest person here!”

His coworker Anna looked at him and asked, “What do you have to do today?”

Tom opened his computer. He saw only two small tasks. They were easy and not important. He felt a little strange, but he still said, “Oh, many things. Too many to explain.”

Anna only said, “Okay,” and went back to her desk.

At lunchtime, several coworkers walked past Tom’s desk.

“Tom, we’re going to lunch. Do you want to come?” Anna asked.

Tom wanted to say yes, but he didn’t want people to think he had spare time. So he said his usual words: “Sorry, I’m too busy.”

After everyone left, Tom ate a small sandwich alone at his desk. It did not feel good. He looked at the empty office and felt a little sad.

On Wednesday, there was a team meeting. Tom told everyone, “I can’t go. I have too much work.”

Later that day, his boss came to talk to him.

“Tom,” she said, “I checked your work. You are not behind. You have time for the meeting. Why do you keep saying you are too busy?”

Tom sat quietly for a moment. Then he said, “I… I don’t know. I guess I want people to think I am important.”

His boss spoke gently. “Being busy does not make you important. Working together with others does. Talking to people and helping them does.”

Tom did not know what to say, but he understood her words.

That night, Tom lay in bed and thought about his week. He thought about all the times he said, “I’m too busy.” He thought about eating alone. He thought about Anna and the other workers going to lunch without him. He finally understood something: saying he was busy all the time did not make his life better. It only pushed other people away.

The next morning at work, Tom tried something new. He walked at a normal speed. He smiled a little.

When Anna passed by, he said, “Good morning.”

She smiled. “Good morning.”

Then Tom said, “If you and the others go to lunch today… can I come too?”

Anna looked happy. “Yes, of course. We would like that.”

Tom felt warm inside. Not because he was “important”, but because he was included.

From that day on, Tom tried to stop saying he was too busy. He learnt that having time for people made his days better. He felt lighter, friendlier, and not alone anymore.

📒 Key vocabulary

• coworker – a person who works with you
• invited (invite, invited, invited) – ask someone to come with you
• tasks – jobs or pieces of work you need to do
• explain (explain, explained, explained) – tell someone clearly so they can understand
• meeting – a time when people come together to talk about work
• boss – a person of authority in a workplace
• gently – in a soft and kind way
• speed – the rate at which you do something
• included – being part of a group or activity

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Mike walked out of the prison gates. The sky was blue, and the sun was shining. The world looked the same as he remembered it, but for him, everything felt new. After ten long years inside, he was finally free.

In prison, Mike had changed. He had worked in the kitchen and read many books. He had learned how to stay calm and be patient. He told himself again and again, “When I go out, I will live a good life.”

At first, he was full of hope. He went to many places and asked for work. He wanted to cook, clean, do anything. But people always asked about his past.

“Have you ever been in trouble with the police?” they said.

Mike told the truth. Every time, they said they would call him, but they never did. After a few weeks, he had no money left. He stayed in a small room near the bus station and ate bread and soup.

He started to feel sad again. Sometimes, he thought about giving up. But he remembered the books he read — books about people who didn’t stop trying. So every morning, he got up and tried again.

One day, he walked past a bakery. The smell of bread made him stop. Inside, a woman was working. Mike asked, “Do you need help?”

She looked at him. “Maybe,” she said. “Have you worked in a bakery before?”

“I worked in a kitchen,” he said. “In prison.”

The woman looked away. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “Not today.”

Mike thanked her and walked out. His heart felt heavy, but he didn’t get angry. He knew people were afraid.

That afternoon, something happened. Mike was walking down the main street when he heard a loud crash. Two cars had hit each other. Smoke came from one of them.

People stood and watched, but no one moved. Mike ran to the car. Inside was a woman screaming. The door wouldn’t open. Mike pulled hard until it opened, then helped her get out. Crying, she said, “Thank you! You saved me!”

Soon, the police and ambulance came. A police officer asked, “What’s your name?”

“Mike Harris,” he said.

The next day, the story was in the local newspaper: “Man Helps Woman After Street Accident.”

When people found out Mike had just come out of prison, they were surprised — but also impressed. The bakery woman came to see him.

“You were brave,” she said. “Would you still like to work for me?”

Mike smiled. “Yes. Thank you.”

He started work the next day. He cleaned, baked, and learned how to make bread. The pay was not much, but it was honest work.

Every morning, he watched the sun rise over the town. He was tired but happy. Life was not easy, but it was real.

Mike was finally back to reality — and this time, he was ready for it.

📒 Key vocabulary

• prison – a place where people stay as punishment for a crime
• gates – parts of a fence or outside wall that open and close
• in trouble – in a position where someone in authority is angry with you
• bakery – a shop selling bread
• crash – a loud noise made when two things hit each other, like cars
• smoke – grey air that comes from fire or something burning
• ambulance – a special car that takes sick or hurt people to hospital
• impressed – feeling respect or surprise because someone did something good
• brave – not afraid to do something dangerous or difficult
• rise (rise, rose, risen)– go up

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Rita worked as a cleaner in a big office in the city. Every morning, she arrived before the sun came up and started her long day of work. The rooms in the building were quiet at that time, and the air was still pleasantly cool. She cleaned the desks, the floors, and the kitchen, and when she had finished doing that, she emptied the bins and washed all the cups that people left behind.

When the workers came in, everything was always bright and tidy — but nobody thanked her. They talked to each other and ignored her. They left food on the tables, dropped paper on the floor, and never said hello. Occasionally they laughed when she worked. “You missed a spot,” one man said one day. Rita smiled, but she felt hurt inside.

One morning, after a night of heavy rain, the office looked terrible. Footprints covered the floor. Coffee had spilt across a desk. The kitchen was dirty, with plates and cups everywhere. Rita looked around and felt tired. She had cleaned this office for years, and nothing ever changed.

So that morning, she made a choice. She put her cleaning things away and sat down for a few minutes. Then she went home early.

The next day, the office looked the same as before — messy and dirty. The workers came in and stopped at the door.

“What happened?” one woman asked.
“Where’s Rita?” said another.

The place smelt bad. The tables were sticky. The bins were full. Nobody wanted to sit down or make coffee. People started to complain. “This is awful,” one man said. “How can we work like this?”

They had never seen the office dirty before. Now they realised how much work Rita did every single day.

When Rita came in later, everyone turned to look at her. She stood by the door with her cleaning trolley and smiled.

“Looks like you’ve had a busy morning,” she said quietly.

The manager walked over to her. “Rita,” he said, “we’re sorry. We didn’t see how much you do for us.”

Rita nodded. “It’s all right,” she said. “Maybe now you do.”

That evening, some of the workers helped her clean. They picked up papers, washed the cups, and wiped the tables. They saw how hard it was to make everything clean again.

After that day, things were different. The workers tried to keep their desks tidy. They said hello when Rita arrived. Sometimes, they even thanked her.

Rita still worked early and left late, but she felt better. Now people saw her — really saw her — and she smiled as she worked.

📒 Key vocabulary

• cleaner – a person whose job is to clean places
• bin – a container for rubbish
• tidy – clean and organised
• ignore (ignore, ignored, ignored) – not pay attention to someone
• miss (miss, missed, missed) – not notice or reach something
• spill (spill, spilt, spilt) – make liquid fall or run out by mistake
• sticky – not clean and a little wet, so things stay on it
• trolley – a small cart used to carry cleaning tools
• wipe (wipe, wiped, wiped) – rub with a cloth to make clean

🤔 Comprehension quiz

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