B1 · Reading · Listening · Vocabulary

Eat, Pray, & Love —
Three Journeys

Inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir. One year, three countries, three lessons in being human — pleasure in Rome, silence in an Indian ashram, and balance on the island of Bali.

B1 90 min Reading + Listening 🇮🇹 Italy 🇮🇳 India 🇮🇩 Indonesia
00

Meet Elizabeth Gilbert

Warm-up · 3 minutes · about the author + the journey

Elizabeth Gilbert is an American writer. In 2006 she published a book called Eat, Pray, Love — a personal story about her divorce, her sadness, and her decision to travel for a whole year. She went to three countries — one for each part of the title.

The idea: Italy — how to enjoy life again. India — how to be quiet with yourself. Indonesia (Bali) — how to balance both.

🎬 Watch the official trailer · 2:27

Before you press play — read three quick questions on the right of your notebook. First watch is for gist, second watch is for details.

Before you watch — guess:
  1. How old do you think Liz is at the start?
  2. Why do you think she decided to travel?
  3. Which country would you want to visit first — Italy, India, or Indonesia?
🎬
Eat, Pray, Love · official trailer (2010)
Julia Roberts as Liz Gilbert · Javier Bardem as Felipe · Ryan Murphy dir. · Sony Pictures. Two and a half minutes — one year of her life in three cities.

✅ Comprehension · after watching · 6 questions

Click your answer · explanation appears after

1 Where does the trailer begin — which country?
→ The first sequence is Italy — food, cafés, Roman streets. Liz starts her year in Rome to learn how to enjoy.
2 Why does Liz decide to travel for a whole year?
→ She is a modern woman at a crossroads — after divorce and long unhappiness she risks everything to change her life. The book comes later, from her real journey.
3 Which three cities / countries does she visit — in this order?
→ Eat (Italy) → Pray (India) → Love (Indonesia). The title itself is the order of her year.
4 In India, what does she practise?
→ In India = «Pray». She goes to an ashram for meditation and silence — as we'll read in section 02.
5 Who does she meet on Bali?
→ Bali = «Love». She meets Felipe — a divorced Brazilian businessman. That's the actor we saw on our hero image at the top of the lesson.
6 What is the main idea of the film according to the trailer?
→ The tagline in the trailer: «there really is more than one way to let yourself go and see the world». Not one path — three, at least.

🎴 Words you hear in the trailer · 6 cards

Tap to flip · ▶ to hear the pronunciation

crossroads
noun
перекрёсток жизни
She is at a crossroads after divorce.
divorce
noun
развод
After her divorce she left New York.
sabbatical
noun
творческий отпуск, длинный перерыв в работе
She took a year-long sabbatical.
comfort zone
noun
зона комфорта
She steps out of her comfort zone.
to marvel at
verb
восхищаться, изумляться
She travels to marvel at the world.
to reconnect with
verb
снова обрести связь с (собой)
She wants to reconnect with her true self.

🧭 Match the scene to the country

Which country appears in each scene from the trailer?

1 A plate of pasta in a small café · people laughing at the table
→ Italy = Eat. Food-centred, warm.
2 Candles, silence, a woman praying in an ashram
→ India = Pray. Meditation, quiet, discipline.
3 Rice terraces, an old man drawing a picture, a scooter ride through a village
→ Bali = Love. Ketut the medicine man draws his famous «four legs and smiling face» picture.
🎤 Your turn · 3 questions · answer aloud in full sentences:
  1. Which of the three countries would you visit first, and why?
  2. Have you ever been «at a crossroads» in your life? What did you decide?
  3. What would your «Eat, Pray, Love» be? Name one country for each verb.

🔊 Full intro · listen to the whole passage

Joanna narrator · 30 seconds · use as a warm-up before reading section 01

🔊 Intro · listen

Today we read three short passages — one from each country — listen to them, and pick up 18 useful travel and life-words. Ready? Let's begin in Rome.

01

🇮🇹 Italy · Rome · the art of pleasure

Reading + listening + 6 vocabulary cards + 3 comprehension questions

Rome · Italy

Il dolce far niente —
the sweetness of doing nothing

🎬
Video story · a rainy afternoon in Rome
A small trattoria near Piazza Navona. Rain outside, warm bread inside. The waiter smiles and says: take your time.
🔊 Read + listen · Salli · US voice
Julia Roberts as Liz Gilbert eating pizza in a small trattoria in Rome — a scene from Eat, Pray, Love (2010)
Liz in a small trattoria near Piazza Navona — the moment she remembers what pleasure feels like.

I arrived in Rome in the middle of a rainy October. My apartment was small — one window, one bed, one blue kettle. But when I opened the window the city was there: wet, golden, alive. I knew I had been right to come.

My Italian teacher back in New York had given me a phrase before I left. "One phrase," she said, "and you will already understand my country." She wrote it down: il dolce far niente. The sweetness of doing nothing. In Rome, doing nothing is not laziness. It is an art.

For a whole week I watched how Romans practised that art. They sat in cafés for two hours over one small espresso. They talked, they watched people cross the piazza, they laughed and grew quiet again — and no one hurried them. They simply existed, and existing was enough.

On my third day I found a small trattoria near Piazza Navona. The waiter smiled when I sat down, and smiled again when I could not choose between the pastas. When my plate finally arrived I ate slowly, one bite at a time, trying to savour every taste. The waiter passed by, looked at me and said in gentle English: take your time.

I understood then. I had forgotten what pleasure felt like — not the loud, expensive kind, but the quiet, ordinary kind that lives in one plate of pasta and one afternoon of rain.

📖 Reading · True or False

5 statements. Read the passage above · click ✓ True or ✗ False · explanation appears after.

1 Liz's apartment in Rome was big and had many rooms.
→ False. «My apartment was small — one window, one bed, one blue kettle.» Just one of each.
2 Her Italian teacher gave her one phrase before she left New York.
→ True. «One phrase, and you will already understand my country» — il dolce far niente.
3 Romans usually finish their espresso in five minutes and rush away.
→ False. «Two hours over one small espresso» — that's the whole point.
4 The waiter in the trattoria told Liz to hurry.
→ False. He said «take your time» — the opposite of hurrying. That's the Italian way.
5 In Rome, Liz realised she had forgotten what pleasure felt like.
→ True. «Not the loud, expensive kind — the quiet, ordinary kind.» The rain, the pasta, the moment.

🍝 Vocabulary · 6 cards

Tap a card to flip · ▶ to hear the word

pleasure
noun
удовольствие
Rome taught me pleasure.
laziness
noun
лень
This is not laziness — it is art.
dolce far niente
italian
сладкое ничегонеделание
Il dolce far niente is an art.
trattoria
noun
небольшой ресторан
A small trattoria near the square.
to exist
verb
существовать / просто быть
They simply exist and enjoy.
to savour
verb
смаковать, наслаждаться
Savour every bite of pasta.

🎯 Interactive · Fill Liz's story

Tap a word from the bank, then tap the gap. Green = correct · red = try again.

"I arrived in Rome. My Italian teacher had told me one phrase — il dolce far niente, the sweetness of doing nothing. In Rome, doing nothing is not . It is an art. People sit in cafés for two hours over one small . On my third day, I ordered pasta in a small near Piazza Navona. The waiter smiled and said, take your time. I understood then — I had forgotten what felt like. Now I want to every bite."
laziness
trattoria
pleasure
espresso
savour
✅ All five words are from your vocab cards above. Laziness is what Romans deny — «not laziness — it is art». Espresso is the excuse to sit for two hours. Trattoria = tiny family-run restaurant. Pleasure = удовольствие, and to savour = наслаждаться каждой мелочью.

🎤 Interactive · Say it like a Roman

Tap 🎙, say the phrase out loud. The browser will listen · Chrome only · needs mic permission.

Il dolce far niente🇮🇹 Italian · «the sweetness of doing nothing»
tap 🎙
"Take your time."what the waiter says · calm, unhurried
tap 🎙
"I had forgotten what pleasure felt like."past perfect · Liz's realisation
tap 🎙
"Doing nothing is not laziness — it is an art."the philosophy of Rome
tap 🎙

✅ Check yourself · 3 questions

Click the correct answer · explanation appears after

1 What does il dolce far niente mean?
→ Literally «the sweet doing-nothing». For Romans it's not laziness — it's a life philosophy: sitting, watching, existing without a task.
2 How long do people typically sit in a Roman café over one espresso?
→ Two hours over one small espresso — that's the Italian rhythm. In the text: «People sit in cafés for two hours over one small espresso.»
3 What had the narrator forgotten before she came to Rome?
→ «I had forgotten what pleasure felt like.» Rome reminded her — through food, slowness, and the waiter's «take your time».
02

🇮🇳 India · Ashram · the art of silence

Reading + listening + 6 vocabulary cards + 3 comprehension questions

Ashram · India

Silence at 4 in the morning

🎬
Video story · ashram at dawn
A stone courtyard before sunrise. Two hundred people sit cross-legged. Only breathing — and one bell, once every hour.
🔊 Read + listen · Kimberly · US voice
An ashram courtyard at dawn — Liz meditating cross-legged among other students, from the film Eat, Pray, Love (2010)
The stone hall before sunrise. Two hundred people, one hour of silence — and Liz on the seventh day.

After Italy came India. If Rome had asked me to eat, this country asked me to be quiet. I flew from a place of tables and pasta to a place of temples and dust, and I did not know if I was ready.

I chose an ashram in a small village. Meditation began at four in the morning. Two hundred people sat cross-legged in a stone hall, in the dark, in silence. Only breathing — and one bell, once every hour.

The first week was war. My knees hurt. My back ached. My mind screamed. I made lists of everything I hated about the food, about the heat, about the people I had left behind. I wanted to run out of the hall and never come back.

Then the teacher said one thing that changed the week for me. "Do not fight your thoughts. Watch them like clouds. Let them pass." So I stopped fighting. I began to notice my breath instead of my thoughts, and I began to understand what discipline really means — not a hard rule, but a soft return, again and again, to what matters.

On the seventh day, something quiet happened. A small silence — not empty, but full. Like the moment after a bell has finished ringing. It was the first quiet minute of my adult life, and I finally understood what people mean by faith: not certainty, but the courage to keep returning.

📖 Reading · True or False

5 statements. Read the passage · click ✓ True or ✗ False · explanation appears after.

1 Meditation at the ashram began at four in the morning.
→ True. Before sunrise, before the world starts asking anything from you.
2 The first week at the ashram was easy and calm for Liz.
→ False. «The first week was war.» Knees hurt, mind screamed, she wanted to run.
3 The teacher told her to fight her thoughts until they disappeared.
→ False. The opposite — «watch them like clouds, let them pass». Not fighting; observing.
4 On the seventh day, she felt a small, full silence — not empty.
→ True. «Not empty — full. Like the moment after a bell has finished ringing.»
5 Liz began to understand that discipline is «a soft return, again and again, to what matters».
→ True. That's the ashram's real lesson — discipline is not force, it's coming back.

🕉 Vocabulary · 6 cards

Tap a card to flip · ▶ to hear the word

silence
noun
тишина
The ashram was full of silence.
meditation
noun
медитация
Meditation at 4 a.m. is not easy.
ashram
noun
ашрам, духовный центр
She spent months at the ashram.
discipline
noun
дисциплина
Silence requires discipline.
faith
noun
вера
Faith is a quiet kind of hope.
to surrender
verb
сдаться, отпустить
She had to surrender her ideas.

🎯 Interactive · Fill the ashram story

Tap a word from the bank, then tap the gap. Green = correct · red = try again.

"I chose an in a small village. began at four in the morning. Two hundred people sat cross-legged in the dark, in . The teacher said: watch your thoughts like clouds — do not fight, just . I began to understand what really means: a soft return, again and again. And — not certainty, but the courage to keep returning."
ashram
Meditation
silence
surrender
discipline
faith
✅ Six vocab words in six gaps. Ashram = the spiritual centre. Meditation = the practice. Silence = both room and state. To surrender = to stop fighting your mind. Discipline = the soft return. Faith = the courage to come back.

🎤 Interactive · Say it like a quiet mind

Tap 🎙, say the phrase out loud. Chrome only · needs mic permission.

"Meditation began at four in the morning."before sunrise · the ashram rule
tap 🎙
"Watch your thoughts like clouds."the teacher's advice · don't fight, observe
tap 🎙
"A small silence — not empty, but full."the seventh-day breakthrough
tap 🎙
"Discipline is a soft return, again and again."what practice really means
tap 🎙

✅ Check yourself · 3 questions

Click the correct answer · explanation appears after

1 At what time did meditation begin at the ashram?
→ «Meditation began at four in the morning.» That was the daily rule — before sunrise, before the world starts asking anything from you.
2 What did the teacher tell her to do with her thoughts?
→ Not fight — watch. The idea is to observe, not to argue. Thoughts pass on their own if you don't grab them.
3 What kind of silence did she feel on the seventh day?
→ Not empty — full. A silence with presence in it. That image of the bell is the key — the sound is gone but something still resonates.
03

🇮🇩 Indonesia · Bali · the art of balance

Reading + listening + 6 vocabulary cards + 3 comprehension questions

Bali · Indonesia

The medicine man and the balance he taught

🎬
Video story · a village in Ubud
Green terraces stepping down the hill. In a small wooden house sits an old man with a soft laugh. He has been reading palms for sixty years.
🔊 Read + listen · Joanna · US voice
Ketut Liyer, the old Balinese medicine man, drawing on his porch — Liz visiting his village near Ubud, from Eat, Pray, Love (2010)
Ketut on his small porch near Ubud. A drawing of four legs, a smiling face — and one green earth.

Bali was different. Italy had taught me pleasure. India had taught me silence. Bali asked me to bring both into one life — to eat and to sit still, to talk and to listen, to belong somewhere without losing myself.

I met an old medicine man in a small village near Ubud. His name was Ketut. He was small, wrinkled, and had one tooth that appeared when he smiled — and he smiled often. On my first visit he took my hand, looked at my face and said something in his own language. His helper translated softly: "He says you have the mouth of one who laughs and the eyes of one who has been sad. He can help."

Every afternoon for two months I climbed the two steps up to his porch. He would draw pictures for me — pictures of the mind, of the heart, of the body. His favourite drawing was simple: a person with four legs and a smiling face, standing on a small green earth. "Four legs so you cannot fall," he said. "A smile because the earth is round and you belong on it."

To find balance, he told me, you must keep your feet on the ground and your heart open. Not too much thinking. Not too much feeling. Just watch, and smile. He said the village was my family now, and every neighbour a small teacher, and the rice terraces a slow prayer. He was teaching me community without using the word.

I began to belong there — not to a place, exactly, but to a way of standing in the world. Two legs for the head, two for the heart. A face that remembered how to smile. And a piece of wisdom small enough to fold and carry in a pocket: the earth is round, and you belong on it.

📖 Reading · True or False

5 statements. Read the passage · click ✓ True or ✗ False · explanation appears after.

1 Ketut lived in a small village near Ubud.
→ True. «I met an old medicine man in a small village near Ubud.»
2 Liz visited Ketut only once during her two months in Bali.
→ False. «Every afternoon for two months I climbed the two steps up to his porch.»
3 Ketut's favourite drawing was of a person with four legs and a smiling face.
→ True. «Four legs so you cannot fall. A smile because the earth is round and you belong on it.»
4 Ketut said balance means thinking a lot and feeling a lot.
→ False. The opposite — «Not too much thinking. Not too much feeling. Just watch, and smile.»
5 In Bali, Liz began to belong to «a way of standing in the world», not just to a place.
→ True. That's the whole lesson of Bali — belonging is a posture, not an address.

🌴 Vocabulary · 6 cards

Tap a card to flip · ▶ to hear the word

balance
noun
равновесие
Bali gave her balance.
healing
noun
исцеление
The medicine man practised healing.
medicine man
noun
знахарь, целитель
The medicine man read her palm.
community
noun
сообщество
The village lived as one community.
wisdom
noun
мудрость
His wisdom came from age.
to belong
verb
принадлежать, быть на месте
On Bali she began to belong.

✅ Check yourself · 3 questions

Click the correct answer · explanation appears after

1 What lesson did Bali offer her?
→ Bali is the synthesis — Italy + India in one place. Not either/or but both/and. That's the whole point of the third journey.
2 Who did she meet in Ubud?
→ Ketut Liyer — a real person from Gilbert's memoir. In the text: «I met an old medicine man in a village near Ubud. His name was Ketut.»
3 According to Ketut, what does balance require?
→ Grounded, open, watching. Balance = middle way. Not the intensity of the ashram, not the abandon of Rome — the still centre between them.

🎯 Interactive · Fill the balance story

Tap a word from the bank, then tap the gap. Green = correct · red = try again.

"I met an old in a village near Ubud. He drew a favourite picture — a person with four legs and a smile. To find , he told me, keep your feet on the ground and your heart open. His hands offered not with medicine but with attention. The village became my family — every neighbour a small teacher. He was teaching me without using the word. I began to — not to a place, but to a way of standing in the world. And a piece of small enough to carry in a pocket."
medicine man
balance
healing
community
belong
wisdom
✅ Six vocab words in six gaps. Medicine man = the village healer. Balance = the whole lesson of Bali. Healing lived in his attention. Community was the village. To belong = to find your place. Wisdom = the pocket-sized truth he gave.

🎤 Interactive · Say it like Bali

Tap 🎙, say the phrase out loud. Chrome only · needs mic permission.

"The earth is round, and you belong on it."Ketut's pocket wisdom
tap 🎙
"Four legs so you cannot fall."the balance drawing
tap 🎙
"Keep your feet on the ground and your heart open."Ketut's rule for balance
tap 🎙
"Not too much thinking. Not too much feeling. Just watch, and smile."the middle way
tap 🎙
Liz and Felipe embrace in a wooden Balinese house — the final scene of the Bali chapter
“ Two legs for the head, two for the heart.
A face that remembered how to smile. ”
04

🧭 Vocabulary wrap-up · 18 words in three colours

All three countries in one grid · tap to flip · ▶ to hear · builder auto-highlights them in the reading text above

You've met 18 new words — 6 in Rome, 6 at the ashram, 6 on Bali. The vocabulary section that appears automatically at the top of the page is your central deck — click any word in the reading text to add it. Everyone can add — teacher and student alike.

How to add a word: highlight any word in the reading text → «+ в словарь» appears on the right → tap → fill in the meaning → it saves to your local deck with a ⭐ mark. Works for both of us.
05

🎤 Speaking · Would you rather? · 6 questions

Answer aloud in full sentences · use «I would rather…», «For me…», «I think…» · minimum 2 sentences per answer

  1. Would you rather live in Rome for a year — or in an Indian ashram for a year? Why?
  2. Would you rather learn a language by sitting in cafés — or by studying in silence?
  3. Would you rather have pleasure without wisdom, or wisdom without pleasure?
  4. Would you rather meet Ketut on Bali — or Gilbert's Italian teacher in Rome?
  5. Would you rather find balance in a busy city — or in a quiet village?
  6. Would you rather travel for a whole year alone — or for a month with a friend?
06

📚 Homework · 4 auto-check exercises

Green = correct, red = try again · your progress saves automatically

1 · Match countries and lessons (drag / tap)

Which country taught which lesson? Click the matching pair — country + lesson.

1 Italy taught her…
→ Rome · pasta · dolce far niente — the art of enjoying.
2 India taught her…
→ Ashram · meditation · watching thoughts pass — full silence, not empty.
3 Bali taught her…
→ Ketut · four legs · smiling face · middle way between the two.

2 · Word-in-context · pick the missing word

1 «I had forgotten what ___ felt like.» (Rome)
→ Rome brought back pleasure — the missing one from her old life.
2 «Silence requires ___.» (Ashram)
→ You can't just fall into silence — you have to choose it, day after day.
3 «Keep your feet on the ground and your heart open — that is ___.» (Bali)
→ Ketut's core lesson. Both/and, not either/or.

3 · Sentence order · rebuild the phrase

Click the words in the right order. Two Would-you-rather patterns.

1 Correct order — polite offer:
→ Pattern: Would you rather + verb + option A + or + option B?
2 Correct reply structure:
→ Pattern: I would rather + verb + reason with «because».

4 · Speaking · pick one country and record

Choose one country (Italy · India · Bali) and record a 60-second voice memo: describe what that country taught the narrator, using at least 5 words from that country's vocab section. Send to teacher before the next lesson.
07

Discussion & Check

First — five open questions for our talk (3-5 sentences each, use at least one vocab item from any of the three countries). Then — eight True / False statements to check the plot of Elizabeth Gilbert's journey.

🎙 Discussion · 5 open questions
Q1Gilbert calls Italy the art of pleasure, India the art of silence, Bali the art of balance. Which of the three arts do you feel you need the most right now — and why?
Q2The Italians have a phrase «il dolce far niente» Italy. In your culture, is doing nothing seen as art or as laziness? Give one example from your family or country.
Q3At the ashram Gilbert had to surrender her ideas about how meditation should feel India. When did you last have to surrender an idea about how life «should» be? What happened after?
Q4Ketut Liyer, the Balinese medicine man, says balance is not «half-half» but knowing when to give more to one side Bali. Where in your life would «real balance» look unbalanced from outside?
Q5Gilbert travelled for a whole year to find herself. Do you think a person needs to leave to change — or can real change happen without going anywhere?
✅ True / False · 8 statements about the story
1ItalyGilbert travels to Rome mainly to study Italian language and food.
True. Rome is her chapter of pleasure: language, pasta, unhurried meals — she calls it «learning to be an Italian» and reclaims her appetite.
2Italy«Dolce far niente» means «sweet homework» in Italian.
False. It means «the sweetness of doing nothing» — pleasure in idleness itself, not in any task done.
3IndiaAt the ashram she wakes up at 4 a.m. for meditation.
True. Pre-dawn silence is a core practice of the ashram — Gilbert struggles with it before she learns to «sit in it».
4IndiaMeditation at the ashram comes to her easily from the first week.
False. The opposite — her mind is loud and rebellious. She only begins to break through after weeks of discipline and one intense night on the roof.
5BaliKetut Liyer, the medicine man, predicted she would return to Bali before she actually did.
True. On her first short visit to Bali he reads her palm and tells her she will come back and stay with him. That prediction is the reason she chooses Bali as the third stop.
6BaliIn Bali she launches a business selling essential oils.
False. In Bali she helps raise money to build a house for Wayan, a local healer and single mother. No essential-oils business.
7ItalyIndiaBaliThe whole journey is exactly one year long — four months in each country.
True. That's the structural spine of the book — 12 months, split in three, one lesson per stop.
8ItalyIndiaBaliGilbert's main goal is to teach English in each of the three countries.
False. The journey is not about work — it's a personal search after divorce. She is learning, meditating, healing, not teaching.
Liz walking through Rome with a gelato — one of the final Italy scenes
“ Take your time.
Not the loud, expensive kind of pleasure — the quiet, ordinary kind. ”