Click on the File menu and then on New.
The work area will open and there will be several controls and tools, along with the space for the audio tracks.
You can save the project in a folder of your choice from the menu File - Save project as.

Verify your microphone is correctly plugged to your computer.
Clicking on the Recording button (red bullet), Audacity creates an audio track (two if you’re in stereo mode) that record the sound of the mic.
To stop the recording click on the Stop button (yellow square).

If you want to record again, delete the track by clicking on the little square with the X and start the recording over again.

To obtain a good output, you have to carefully set the Input level (that’s the slider with the mic icon).

The graphic representation of the sound (wave shaped) allows you to understand if the level needs to be modified:

A - The level is too low: the higher sound peaks are distant from the  borders of the sound representation range. It can be partiallly fixed with later adjustment.

B - The level is correct: the higher sound peaks are near the borders of the sound representation range.

C - The level is too high: the higher sound peaks got cut by the borders of the sound representation range. In this case the output is irremediably ruined and it’s not possible to fix it.

Now you can listen to the result of your recording by clicking on the Play button (green triangle).

In order to listen the track from a specif point on, you can point there with the mouse using the Selection tool.
If you want to listen to a specific part only, drag the mouse pointer and select the part you want. By clicking the Time Shift key and clicking the Play button, the loop reproduction of the selection will be activated.

From the Edit menu you can access to several options in order to delete, cut, copy and paste the portion of the sound of your choice, or select the part you want to keep and delete all the rest, eliminating for instance the unuseful parts at the beginning and at the end of a reading.

Go on ot the next section: Adding a soundtrack.