Before you listen
Talk about it first.
- Have you ever used an audio guide in a museum?
- What can an old object tell us about the people who made it?
Listen for these words
You will hear
- sewn
- Joined with a needle and thread; the past participle of “sew.”
- cedar chest
- A wooden box used for storing blankets and clothes.
- donated
- Given for free to an organization such as a museum.
- faded
- Less bright than before, often because of light or washing.
- whatever they had
- Any material that was available to them.
B2 Upper intermediate · Tour · About 1 minute
Listen
Listen once for the main idea. Then answer, and listen again for the details. Don’t read the transcript yet.
Step 1 · Main idea
What is it about?
Listen once, all the way through. Then choose the best answer.
01What is this audio-guide stop mainly about?
Step 2 · Details
Listen again for the details
Read the questions first, then play the recording again. Pause when you need to.
01Who was the quilt originally given to?
02When was the quilt found again?
03What do experts believe about the faded blue fabric?
04What does the guide suggest about why the colors have survived?
Show the transcript
You’re now at stop fourteen, the Friendship Quilt. It was made in eighteen ninety-two by eleven women in a small farming town in Ohio, and it was given to a neighbor who was moving west with her family. Each square was sewn by a different woman, and if you look closely, you’ll see that most of them are signed in ink.
For many years, the quilt was kept in a cedar chest and almost forgotten. It was found by the family’s great-granddaughter in nineteen seventy-eight and donated to the museum a few years later.
Notice the faded blue in the corner squares. Experts believe the fabric may have come from old work shirts, which would suggest that the women used whatever they had. If the quilt had been washed more often, those colors probably wouldn’t have survived at all.
When you’re ready, continue to stop fifteen, just through the arch on your left.
Now play the recording and read along. Then try saying it with the speaker, at the same speed.
Speak
Your turn
Describe an old object from your family or your town. Say who made it, how it was used, and what it might tell us about the past.