B2 English Reading Practice: “The Story of an Hour” | Learn English Through Short Stories
If you want to improve your English speaking skills in a way that feels thoughtful and real, reading short stories can be surprisingly powerful!
In the video below, we read “The Story of an Hour“by Kate Chopin together. It’s a short text, but it raises big questions about freedom, identity, and marriage – questions that were controversial at the time it was written and still feel very relevant today.
We focus first on understanding what happens in the story. Then I invite you to pause the video and explain the story out loud in three or four sentences.
This kind of solo English speaking practice is simple, but it’s one of the most effective ways to build fluency. It helps you get into the habit of actually using your English and also the habit of organising your thoughts in response to deep ideas.
English Solo Speaking Practice:
If you sometimes feel that your speaking is less precise than your reading, writing or listening, this approach helps close that gap.
When you read something meaningful and then respond to it out loud, you practise:
organising your ideas in English clearly
choosing English vocabulary carefully
demonstrating you have understood an idea by adding to it or questioning it
All these are of course an important part of conversational English fluency.
If you would like some help and support building these important skills and habits, my Read to Speak Book Club can help:
PLEASE NOTE:
I adapted this version of “The Story of an Hour” from the original story by Kate Chopin to make it clearer and more accessible for modern English learners. This means I lightly changed some words and phrases to make the story more modern. If you want to read the original version, you can find that HERE.
"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart condition, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.
Her sister Josephine was the one who spoke to her, using broken sentences and indirect hints that revealed the truth while still trying to soften it. Her husband’s friend Richards was there, too, near her. He had been at the newspaper office when news of the railway disaster arrived, with Brently Mallard’s name at the top of the list of those reported killed. After confirming the report with a second telegram, he hurried to tell Mrs. Mallard himself, hoping to prevent a less careful person from delivering the news.Mrs. Mallard did not react as many women do, with shocked disbelief or emotional paralysis.
She cried immediately, openly and intensely, collapsing into her sister’s arms. When the surge of grief had passed, she went alone to her room and closed the door behind her, refusing to let anyone follow.
There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below, a street vendor called out about his goods for sale. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.
There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.
She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.
She was young, with a calm, pale face marked by self-control and quiet strength. But now her eyes were fixed on one small patch of blue sky, her expression vacant and distant. It was not thoughtful reflection, but a pause – a moment where conscious thought seemed suspended.
There was something coming to her awareness and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will – as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulse beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body. She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.
She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked at her except with love, now pale, motionless, and lifeless. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.
There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
And yet she had loved him – sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!
“Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering.
Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhold, imploring for admission. “Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door – you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door.”
“Go away. I am not making myself ill.” No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.
Her imagination was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.
At last, she stood and opened the door to her sister’s desperate pleading. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and without realizing it, she carried herself like a goddess of victory. She clasped her sister’s waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.
Just then, the front door opened. Brently Mallard stepped inside, slightly dusty from travel, calmly holding his bag and umbrella. He had been nowhere near the accident and did not even know one had occurred. He froze in confusion at Josephine’s sharp cry and at Richards’s instinctive attempt to block him from his wife’s view.
When the doctors arrived, they said she had died of heart disease – of a joy too powerful to survive.
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Vocabulary Review:
Roomy (adjective)
Meaning:
Spacious; having plenty of space.
Example:
The new apartment is surprisingly roomy for something in the city center.
Synonyms: spacious, large, airy
Antonyms: cramped, tiny, crowded
Nuance & tone:
Very natural and conversational. It’s commonly used in everyday speech.
Aquiver (adjective)
Meaning:
Shaking or trembling slightly – often because of emotion or anticipation.
Example:
She stood in front of her team aquiver with excitement before announcing the news.
Synonyms: trembling, quivering, shaking
Antonyms: still, steady, calm
Common collocations:
aquiver with excitement/fear/anticipation
Nuance & tone:
This is literary and poetic. You’ll see it more in novels and written English rather than in everyday conversation. In speech, people usually say “quivering” or “shaking” or “trembling.”
Eaves (noun)
Meaning:
The part of a roof that hangs over the walls of a house.
Example:
Birds had built a nest under the eaves of the cottage.
Synonyms: overhang (less specific)
Vacant (adjective)
Meaning:
Empty; not occupied. It can describe a space or a person’s expression.
Example sentence:
There’s a vacant seat next to me if you’d like to sit down.
He stared at me with a vacant expression.
Synonyms: empty, unoccupied, available
Antonyms: occupied, full, taken
Keen (adjective)
Meaning:
Very eager, motivated, or strongly interested in something.
Example:
I’m keen to hear your thoughts on the proposal.
She’s really keen on learning new languages.
Synonyms: eager, enthusiastic, motivated
Antonyms: reluctant, uninterested, indifferent
Common collocations:
keen to help/learn
keen on sports/sports etc
a keen interest in
Nuance & tone:
Very common in British English. In American English, “eager” is more frequent. It is often used in UK English to mean “fond of.” E.g. I am not keen on cabage.
Keen has a second meaning as used in the story:
Meaning:
Sharp, strong, or highly perceptive – either physically (like sight) or mentally (like awareness).
Example (physical sense):
The eagle scanned the field with keen eyes.
Example (mental sense):
After a few moments of confusion, her keen eyes focused on the details she had missed before.
Synonyms: sharp, perceptive, penetrating, acute
Antonyms: dull, blunt, unaware
Common collocations:
keen eyes/mind/intellect/sense of smell awareness
Nuance & tone:
This meaning feels slightly more literary or descriptive.
“Keen eyes” suggests clarity, alertness, and intelligence – someone who notices details others might miss.
Coursing (verb)
Meaning:
Moving quickly and powerfully through something.
Example sentence:
Adrenaline was coursing through her veins before the presentation.
Synonyms: flowing, racing, surging
Antonyms: slowing, fading
Common collocations:
coursing through
blood coursing
energy coursing
Nuance & tone:
Often used to describe emotions, blood, electricity, or energy. It adds intensity and movement.
Monstrous joy
This is an example of an oxymoron (a phrase combining contrasting ideas). “Monstrous” usually has a negative meaning (huge, terrible), so pairing it with “joy” which is positive creates strong emotional impact.
Exalted (adjective)
Meaning:
Highly respected, elevated, or filled with intense happiness.
Example:
He felt exalted after receiving the award.
Synonyms: elevated, honored, uplifted
Antonyms: humbled, lowered, ordinary
Common collocations:
exalted position/status/mood
Weep (verb)
Meaning:
To cry, especially quietly or with deep emotion.
Example:
She wept when she heard the terrible news.
Synonyms: cry, sob, mourn
Antonyms: laugh, rejoice
Nuance & tone:
More emotional and formal than “cry.” It often suggests deep feeling rather than casual tears.
Elixir (noun)
Meaning:
A magical or medicinal liquid believed to cure illness or give special power.
Example:
For her, a quiet morning walk is the perfect elixir for stress.
Synonyms: remedy, potion, cure
Antonyms: poison (in contrast)
Nuance & tone:
Can be literal (medicine) or metaphorical (something that makes you feel better). Slightly poetic or imaginative.
To run riot (verb phrase)
Meaning:
To behave in a wild, uncontrolled way or to grow/spread freely.
Example:
The children ran riot in the garden after being indoors all day.
Her imagination ran riot during the storm.
Synonyms: go wild, rage, run wild
Antonyms: stay controlled, remain calm
Common collocations:
imagination run riot
emotions run riot
let something run riot
Nuance & tone:
Can describe people, emotions, ideas, or even plants. It suggests loss of control – sometimes playful, sometimes negative.
Speaking Activities:
From the story:
Summarise the story in three or four sentences.
Descibe how Mrs Mallard’s emotional state changes during the story.
- Describe what is ironic about the ending of the story.
Why do you think Chopin chose to make the story so short and focused on one hour?
Personal Response – Marriage, Identity & Freedom
How is marriage generally viewed in your culture?
Do you think marriage changes a person’s responsibilities or identity? In what ways?
How important is personal independence within a long-term relationship?
Do people today expect something different from marriage than previous generations did?
What does “freedom” usually mean in everyday adult life?
Can a person grow and change while staying in the same relationship? How?
Writing Activities:
Write a diary entry from Mrs Mallard’s point of view. Choose one moment in the story (after she hears the news, or while she is alone in her room) and write her private thoughts.
Rewrite the ending from a different perspective. Write the final scene from Mr Mallard’s, her sister’s, or the doctors’ point of view.
Write an alternative ending to the story.
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