Welcome to mr. Aslanov’s pre-ielts lessons 40 stories to retell

 
STORY 21. 
Mr. Day was a teacher at a school in a big city in the north of England. He usually went to France 
or Germany for a few weeks during his summer holidays, and he spoke French and German quite well. But one 
year Mr. Day said to one of his friends, ‘I’m going to have a holiday in Athens. But I don’t speak Greek, so I’ll 
go to evening classes and have Greek lessons for a month before I go.’ He studied very hard for a month, and 
then his holidays began and he went to Greece. When he came back a few weeks later, his friend said to him, 
‘Did you have any trouble with your Greek when you were in Athens, Dick?’ ‘No, I didn’t have any trouble 
with it,’ answered Mr. Day. ‘But the Greeks did!’
 
 
STORY 22. 
Mr. Pearce liked shooting ducks very much. Whenever he had a free day, he went out shooting 
with his friends. But one summer he said to himself, ‘I’ve never been to the mountains. My holidays are going 
to begin soon, so I’m going to go to the mountains and shoot deer. They’re more interesting than ducks, I 
think.’ So when his holidays began, Mr. Pearce went to the station, bought his ticket and was soon in the 
mountains. He got out at a small station and walked through fields and forests for a few kilometres. Then he 
saw a farmer in a field. ‘Good morning,’ Mr. Pearce said to him. ‘Are there any deer here?’ ‘Well,’ answered 
the farmer slowly, ‘there was one last year, but all the gentlemen from the town came and shot at it, and it’s 
gone somewhere else now, I think.’
 
 
STORY 23. 
Mr. Leonard was twenty-three years old and not very rich. He was not married and he lived in two 
rooms in a small house in a city. Every summer, Mr. Leonard went down to the sea for a holiday. He stayed in 
small, cheap hotels, but he always wanted to have a clean, tidy room. He hated dirty places. One summer a 
friend of his said, ‘Go to the Tower Hotel in Whitesea. I went there last year, and it was very nice and clean.’ 
So Mr. Leonard went to the Tower Hotel in Whitesea. But there was a different manager that year. The new 
manager took Mr. Leonard to his room. The room looked quite nice and clean, but Mr. Leonard said to the 
manager, ‘Are the sheets on the bed clean?’ ‘Yes, of course they are!’ he answered angrily. ‘We washed them 
this morning. Feel them. They’re still damp.’ 
STORY 24. 
Two years after Tom and Elizabeth married, they went to live in a small flat in a big city. They 
were both quite young: Tom was twenty-six and Elizabeth was twenty-two. Tom worked in a bank, and 
Elizabeth worked in a big office. Elizabeth always cooked the dinner when they got home, and when they had 
meat, Tom always cut it up when they sat down to eat. While Tom was cutting the meat up one evening, 
Elizabeth said to him, ‘When we were first married, Tom, you always gave me the bigger piece of meat when 
you cut it, and you kept the smaller one for yourself. Now you do the opposite: you give me the smaller piece 
and keep the bigger one for yourself. Why do you do that? Don’t you love me any more?’ Her husband laughed 
and answered, ‘Oh, no, Elizabeth. It isn’t that! It’s because you’ve learned to cook now!’