5-speed listening (Level 5)

Rare stamp sells for $9.5 million


Slowest

Slower

Medium

Faster

Fastest


Try  Level 4  |  Level 6



MY e-BOOK
See a sample

This useful resource has hundreds of ideas, activity templates, reproducible activities for …

  • warm-ups
  • pre-reading and listening
  • while-reading and listening
  • post-reading and listening
  • using headlines
  • working with words
  • moving from text to speech
  • role plays,
  • task-based activities
  • discussions and debates
and a whole lot more.


More Listening

Spelling  |  Dictation


READING:

There is a new world record for the sale of a postage stamp. It is for the one-of-a-kind, 1856 British Guiana One-Cent Magenta. The auction house Sotheby's sold it in New York for $9.48 million. It is the fourth time the stamp has broken the record. Sotheby's said the record would not be broken again, unless the same stamp came up for auction. A spokesman said: "That price will be hard to beat, and likely won't be exceeded unless the British Guiana itself comes up for sale again in the future." A former curator of stamps at the British Library said the sale was like buying the 'Mona Lisa'.

An anonymous buyer bought the stamp. It was last owned by an heir to the du Pont chemical fortune. He is currently in prison for killing an Olympic champion wrestler. A 12-year-old stamp collector first found the stamp in 1873. He sold it a few years later for about $50 in today's money – a lot back then. It has since had a dozen owners, including the French government. The Sotheby's spokesman was amazed at the stamp's popularity. He said: "This is the most valuable item in the world by weight. It's just a tiny piece of paper." He was happy a collector bought it and not an investor.

Other Levels

Try other levels. The listening is a little longer, with more vocabulary.

Level 4  |  Level 6

All Levels

This page has all the levels, listening and reading for this lesson.

← Back to the stamps  lesson.

Online Activities

Help Support This Web Site

  • Please consider helping Breaking News English.com

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You