On a Farm in France - Fox (Series 001, Episode 001)

Welcome to 'Hear English', we provide English listening resources for free.  This is our first series of blogs and webcasts which will provide an audio clip and a written transcript to go with it.  They follow our adventures on a 3 week working holiday on a farm in France.  This first episode is for intermediate level listeners and is about a fox.  Visit our blog at http://hearenglishhere.blogspot.com/ for the written transcript for this episode and for all our other webcasts.

The Fox


Click above to listen.  You can get the .mp4 here, and the .mp3 here (opens in new window).

“Can you hold him for me?”

“Um, no, not really, he’s full of ticks and fleas and has mange.”

“Can you drive the van?”

“No, I’ve not got my driving licence on me.”

Vincent gave me a look, as if to say I was being unreasonable and then went round to the back of the van to find a box.

“Why are we stealing a fox?” Sarah sounded exhausted.

“I don’t know.  Maybe it’s injured, or maybe he’s worried it’s too young to have left the den.  Or maybe,” I sighed, “because he’s completely mad.”

Vincent jumped back into the driver’s seat and plonked a box on my lap.  “Hold the top, so he can’t get out.”  The fox was curled in the corner of the box, shivering with fear.  It also stank.

We had been on the way back, after a day’s work on a market stall at a fair outside of Toulouse. We had made the same journey, there and back, twice that weekend and it should have taken an hour, but as Vincent was hopeless at directions, couldn’t read signposts while driving, never brought a map, ignored any of our suggestions and drank a beer before setting off, we had got lost every time.  On this journey we had been lost for over 2 hours, it was late and we were very tired, and just as we were nearly home a fox had jumped out in front of us.  Vincent had abandoned the van in the middle of the road, shouting “I am going to have him”, had chased the fox into a ditch and had caught it.  And now, it seemed, had given it to me.

 “When we were children, my sister found an injured fox and kept it as a pet.”

“Ah, so it is injured.”

“No, not this one, he is fine.”

“Then why are you keeping it?”

“He will be a pet for my eldest son.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea, you’ll have to keep him here for another 2 days, and then it’s a 3 hour journey to your house in the mountains.  Do they need injections?  Do you even know what they eat?  Plus aren’t they very difficult to train?  Your son is 6 years old, surely its better to wait until he’s older?”

 “You think I shouldn’t take him?  But it’s always been my dream to have a fox.”  Vincent was crestfallen, his voice wavering.  “There are lots of hunters here,” he said, after a pause, “if I left him, they would just shoot him.”  This last comment restored his confidence and so he repeated it, which didn’t convince me but seemed to make him feel justified.

We got to the house and whilst Vincent busied himself with the fox, Sarah and I unloaded the van and then we all sat down to eat. 

“Have you given the fox anything to eat and drink?” Sarah asked.

“I’ve given him some water, but we don’t really have much food in the house, so I gave him some of my left-overs from lunch.”  We had been worried about the fox and so were relieved that Vincent seemed to know how to care for it.

“How is the fox?” I asked as we ate breakfast the next day.

“Ok, he’s still a little scared and he’s not eaten any of his food, I don’t think he likes spaghetti Bolognese.” 

My heart sank, it was obvious that Vincent had no idea how to care for the fox.  I couldn’t believe he had fed the fox pasta, moreover because Vincent was a vegetarian, and the bolognese was not made of meat, but of tofu.


Click above to listen.  You can get the .mp4 here, and the .mp3 here (opens in new window).