A2 · Getting started
Longer stories about daily life, past and future.
- 통행료를 받는 다리 Polly walks the Brooklyn Bridge, where workers got sick building it underwater, and elephants once proved... ? Quiz included Audio
- 일부러 기른 잔디 Polly learns that Central Park was built by hand on blasted rock, and that real sheep once ate the grass... Audio
- 정육면체 똥을 만드는 동물 Wombats make cube shaped poop, and now we know why. Audio
- 날면서 잠을 자는 새 Frigatebirds fly for many days and sleep only a little. Audio
- 한 나라 전체가 먹는 점심 In the Dominican Republic, everyone eats the same lunch at the same time. Audio
- 화산이 요리한 저녁 In the Azores, people cook food inside a hot volcano. Audio
- 마지막 기차 Tomas misses the last train in Tokyo and sleeps in a tiny room. Audio
- 빈 컵 On his first day, Pedro drinks from a cup that is not his. Audio
- 번호 마흔일곱 Carla waits a long time at the clinic for a small cut. Audio
- 리스본에서 길을 잃다 Sofía gets lost in Lisbon and a woman helps her with a map. Audio
- 발코니가 있는 방 Marcos gets a hotel room with a nice balcony. Audio
- 혼자를 위한 테이블 Mia eats alone in a small restaurant, and the waiter helps her choose. Audio
- 한때 금만큼 비쌌던 향신료 Saffron comes from tiny flower threads picked by hand, and for most of history a pound of it cost about the... Audio
- 여름마다 사라지는 호수 In Slovenia, a huge lake fills a valley in winter and then vanishes underground every summer, leaving... Audio
- 하얀 지붕과 긴 성벽 At Kanazawa Castle, Polly finds long stone walls and roofs made of lead that look white. Audio
- 구십 초짜리 비행 A tiny plane hops between two Orkney islands in Scotland on the shortest scheduled flight in the world. Audio
- 아이스크림에 금을 올리는 도시 Kanazawa in Japan makes almost all of the country's gold leaf, and wraps whole sheets of it around soft ice... Audio
- 콘월에 왈라비가 돌아다녀요 A small Australian kangaroo has been hopping around an English market town for days, and nobody knows where... Audio
- 소리치지 않으면 정류장을 놓쳐요 A shared minibus with no bell and no screen, where the only way off is to say so out loud, early and twice. Audio
- 우리 집 옆 공원 A squirrel describes the small park next to its tree: the pigeons by the benches, Mr. Badger and his bread,... Audio
- 문어와 세 개의 심장 The octopus is a clever sea animal with three hearts and blue blood. Audio
- 바다 밑 케이블 Long cables under the ocean carry almost all of the information that travels between countries. Audio
- 마라톤이라는 긴 경주 The marathon is a very long running race with a curious and surprising history. Audio
- 커피는 어디에서 올까요 Coffee begins as a red fruit on a green plant and travels far before it fills a cup. Audio
- 밤 기차에서 잠자기 Night trains in Europe carry travelers between cities while they sleep in cozy beds. Audio
- 아마존, 가장 큰 강 The Amazon is the river that carries the most water in the world. Audio
- 꿀벌은 어떻게 꿀을 만들까요 Honeybees turn sweet flower nectar into golden honey through hard teamwork in the hive. Audio
- 긴 비단길 The Silk Road was a famous trade route that linked China with Europe for many centuries. Audio
- 이탈리아에서는 라떼를 주문하지 마세요 In Italy, the word latte does not mean coffee. One small word can bring you a big surprise. Audio
- 시계 속의 작은 새 In Germany's Black Forest, carved wooden cuckoo clocks call out every hour while children wait and laugh. Audio
- 폭포를 오르는 물고기 In Hawaii, a fish smaller than your finger climbs up waterfalls taller than buildings, using its mouth as a... Audio
- 죽는 것이 금지된 마을 When a small Italian town ran out of space in its cemetery, the mayor signed an order telling people not to... Audio
- 끝나지 않는 점심 In Spain, the best part of lunch starts when the food is finished. It even has its own name. Audio
- 버스를 타는 고양이 Every morning a cat climbs onto the same city bus, watches the streets go by, and gets off at his own stop. Audio
- 마을의 첫 번째 불빛 While the whole village sleeps, one window glows: the baker lights the oven so fresh bread will be ready by... Audio
- 김과 작은 접시 A first night at a Taipei night market, where pointing, smiling, and one brave question buy a very good... Audio
- 소리 내서 드세요, 그게 예의예요 In Japan, slurping your noodles loudly is not rude, it is a sign that you are enjoying the meal. Audio
- 거꾸로 떨어지는 폭포 On very windy days, strong gusts can blow a Norwegian waterfall's spray back up into the sky. Audio
- 돌의 원과 아침 배 The Ring of Brodgar at dusk, then the small practical business of leaving an island, done in four sentences... Audio
- 구십일 곡식 In a bar in Kirkwall, a flat dark bannock turns out to be the reason the islands were farmable at all. Audio
- 암초 위의 모임 Grey seals are hauling out on the low rocks before the pupping season, and the questions Polly has been... Audio
- 가진 것으로 지은 것 On Lamb Holm, two army huts hold a chapel that prisoners of war made out of scrap, and the only honest... Audio
- 폭풍 아래의 마을 At the Bay of Skaill, a guide with a carrying voice explains a village that a storm returned to the light... Audio
- 난롯가의 의자 A guesthouse above the harbour, an argument about what counts as a quiet room, and a chair whose whole... Audio
- 배가 들어오다 Polly lands at Stromness off the morning boat and works out, one question at a time, how a place with no... Audio
- 분홍색은 없어요 Pink has no wavelength of its own; it is a color the brain invents when the eyes see red and blue light... Audio
- 당신은 지금 빛나고 있어요 The human body constantly emits an extremely faint light, invisible to the eye but detectable with a... Audio
- 안개가 그녀의 뒤를 닫는다 On her last afternoon, Polly flies high over the island before fog rolls in and hides it behind her. Audio
- 화산에 연결된 마을 Polly learns that the same volcano heat that cooked lunch also warms a big public pool and heats homes in... Audio
- 새벽에 묻은 저녁밥 Polly watches a cook bury pots of food in the ground, where the volcano's heat cooks dinner with no fire. Audio
- 하나의 분화구, 두 가지 색 Polly finds a huge old crater with two lakes, one blue and one green, joined together under a strip of land. Audio
- 두 번이나 사라진 줄 알았던 새 Polly looks for the priolo, a tiny grey and pink bird that lives only in one forest and was once thought to... Audio
- 유럽에 남은 마지막 두 정원 Polly finds one of the only two tea farms left in Europe, started after the island's orange trees died. Audio
- 아홉 개의 섬, 세 개의 판 Polly arrives over São Miguel, the biggest of the nine Azores islands, made of black rock, green fields,... Audio
- 폴리, 버스를 타다 Polly's first bus ride: does this bus go downtown, one ticket, how much, where do I get off, next stop,... Audio
- 폴리, 길을 묻다 Polly is lost on the way to the library and asks an owl for directions: excuse me, where is it, is it far,... Audio
- 폴리, 커피를 주문하다 Polly's first cafe order: good afternoon, a coffee with milk, do you have churros, the check please, how... Audio
- 폴리, 시장에 가다 Berta takes Polly to the market. Polly buys fruit for the first time: what is this, two apples, how much, a... Audio
- 폴리, 새 이웃을 만나다 Polly moves to a new street and meets Berta the bear. First greetings: hello, your name, nice to meet you,... Audio
- 가장 건조한 곳을 오르다 Polly arrives at a big observatory in the Atacama, the driest desert in the world. Audio
- 블라디보스토크 Polly arrives in Vladivostok and flies off over the Pacific Ocean. Audio
- 아무르강 Polly reaches the Amur River and meets a rare crane on the sixth day of the Trans-Siberian. Audio
- 바이칼 호수 Polly spends a day on the train along Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake on Earth. Audio
- 우랄 산맥을 넘어서 Polly crosses the Ural Mountains, the line between Europe and Asia, on the Trans-Siberian train. Audio
- 자작나무 숲 Polly watches Russian birch forests from the Trans-Siberian train and learns that forty percent of Russia... Audio
- 야로슬라브스키 역 Polly boards the Trans-Siberian train at Moscow and begins her seven-day journey to Vladivostok. Audio
- 파스타에게 작별 인사 Polly says goodbye to Pasta the octopus and flies out of Naples. Audio
- 스스로 편집하는 생물 Polly learns that octopuses can change their own nervous systems by editing RNA in real time. Audio
- 피자와 긴 점심시간 Polly has lunch with Chiara at a Neapolitan pizzeria and learns about traditional Neapolitan pizza. Audio
- 보는 피부 Polly learns that octopus skin can sense colours even though octopus eyes cannot. Audio
- 생각하는 몸 Polly watches an octopus solve a maze with two arms working independently. Audio
- 나폴리 만 Polly arrives in Naples and meets a giant Pacific octopus at the world's oldest marine biology institute. Audio
- 계곡을 떠나며 Polly says goodbye to Ranger Tomas and flies west out of Yosemite. Audio
- 빙하 포인트 위의 은하수 Polly watches the Milky Way at Glacier Point and looks through a telescope at the centre of our galaxy. Audio
- 하프 돔 Polly flies up Half Dome on warm air with a flock of swifts, sees the summit, then glides back down. Audio
- 다이빙 매 Polly tries to copy a peregrine falcon's dive, learning what makes the falcon the fastest animal in the world. Audio
- 세쿼이아 Polly visits a giant sequoia nearly 3,000 years old and learns about its fireproof bark. Audio
- 레인저 토마스와 함께 타기 Polly spends the morning in Ranger Tomas's truck, learning about bear feeding and peregrine falcon nests. Audio
- 계곡 위에서 Polly flies into Yosemite Valley, watches climbers on El Capitan, and rides the shuttle bus at dusk. Audio
- 계피 향기 A new neighbor leaves a small surprise outside her door. Audio
- 인내심 2킬로그램 A first trip to the local market with a vendor who refuses to let her leave with the wrong tomatoes. Audio
B1 · Finding your flow
Polly's weekly adventures and real-world stories.
- 통행료를 받아낸 다리 Polly walks the Brooklyn Bridge and learns how building it underwater left more than a hundred workers... Audio
- 온 나라가 함께 먹는 점심 In the Dominican Republic the main meal lands at midday, it is almost always the same three things, and the... Audio
- 당신의 지도는 점심때쯤이면 틀려 있을 것이다 Satellite clocks tick faster than clocks on the ground, and if nobody corrected for it your phone would... Audio
- 당신은 빛난다. 아무도 볼 수 없을 뿐. Human skin gives off a faint light all day long, and a Japanese team photographed it in a sealed dark room. Audio
- 이 파란색은 한 곳에만 있어요 A stony beach in the Dominican southwest, one pebble that is blue all the way through, and the single... Audio
- 카페 하나, 두 나라 In one small town, the border between Belgium and the Netherlands runs straight through streets, houses and... Audio
- 메시지는 바닷속을 지나간다 Almost everything you send across an ocean travels through cables lying on the sea floor, not through... Audio
- 밤에 파랗게 빛나는 해변 On some warm coasts, the sea lights up electric blue when you touch it. The light comes from billions of... Audio
- 잠든 사이 움직이는 호텔 On a European night train, you fall asleep in one country and wake up in another, with the Alps outside... Audio
- 화산이 요리하는 저녁 식사 On a green island in the Azores, cooks lower a pot into a hot hole in the ground and let the earth slowly... Audio
- 왕이 거의 살지 않은 성 A Bavarian king built a fairy-tale castle on an alpine crag, slept there only a handful of nights, and left... Audio
- 바다 밑바닥을 걷다 Twice a day the North Sea pulls back for kilometres, and people walk barefoot across the bare seabed before... Audio
- 추운 날씨에 휴대폰이 꺼지는 이유 Your phone shows forty percent battery, then dies in the snow. The battery is not empty. It is cold, and... Audio
- 강을 다시 드러낸 도시 For fifty years, Seoul hid a river under an elevated highway. Then the city tore the highway down, and the... Audio
- 하늘 십 킬로미터 위 Passenger planes cruise about ten kilometres above the ground. That number is not random: it is where the... Audio
- 막차 In Tokyo, the trains stop around midnight. Tomas learns this five minutes too late, and discovers where the... Audio
- 고대 인류는 열대우림에서도 잘 살았어요 Scientists once thought ancient humans avoided rainforests. New evidence from West Africa says they thrived... Audio
- 삼천 년 전 꿀이 아직도 먹을 수 있는 이유 Honey jars from Egyptian tombs three thousand years old are still edible. The chemistry behind a food that... Audio
- 삼 일 동안 계속된 테니스 경기 The longest tennis match ever played: Isner vs. Mahut, Wimbledon 2010, eleven hours, three days, a final... Audio
- 자물쇠를 딴 문어 An octopus called Inky escaped his aquarium tank at night through a drain pipe, and what it reveals about... Audio
- 치즈가 항상 이기는 경주 Once a year in England, people chase a wheel of cheese down a dangerously steep hill, and the cheese almost... Audio
- 손톱만 한 완전히 새로운 동물 두 종 Scientists in Montenegro just described two snail species new to science, found on limestone cliffs in a... Audio
- 진짜 벌레가 컴퓨터를 고장 낸 날 In nineteen forty-seven, engineers found an actual moth stuck inside a giant computer, taped it into their... Audio
- 집게발 안에 태양을 품은 새우 A small ocean shrimp snaps its claw so fast that it creates a flash of heat nearly as hot as the surface of... Audio
- 두 나라로 나뉜 집 In a small town on the Belgian-Dutch border, some houses sit in two countries at once, and the front door... Audio
- 새에게 패배한 군대 In nineteen thirty-two the Australian military was sent against emus eating the wheat crop in Western... Audio
- 침팬지도 사투리를 쓴다 A new study of more than eleven thousand recorded calls found that young chimpanzees in different parts of... Audio
- 인터넷은 바닷속에 있다 Almost all international internet traffic travels along cables lying on the sea floor, which break... Audio
- 정육면체를 만드는 동물 Wombats are the only known animal to produce cube shaped droppings, and the corners are formed by uneven... Audio
- 한 건물 안에서 사는 마을 Almost every resident of Whittier, Alaska lives inside a single fourteen storey building reached through a... Audio
- 이 새는 날면서 잠을 잔다 Frigatebirds stay in the air for days over open ocean, and researchers put recorders on their heads to find... Audio
- 맛을 보는 팔 Octopus suckers contain special receptors that let an arm taste whatever it touches, even in total darkness. Audio
- 육상 역사상 가장 큰 상금 A brand new athletics championship this month paid its winners more than the sport has ever offered before. Audio
- 고래 말을 배우는 컴퓨터 Researchers are using artificial intelligence to search for real structure inside the clicking patterns of... Audio
- 나무의 느린 심장 박동 Laser scans at night revealed that trees pulse gently every few hours, possibly pumping water through their... Audio
- 새벽 세 시의 꽃 시장 At three in the morning, Bangkok's biggest flower market is more awake than midday, and it never really... Audio
- 선수 만 명, 하나의 개막식 The 2026 Asian Games, hosted jointly by Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, bring together roughly ten thousand... Audio
- 치즈만 받는 은행 An Italian bank keeps a vault holding more than half a million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, accepted as... Audio
- 배터리 숫자는 추측이에요 A phone's battery percentage is not a direct measurement, but an estimate calculated from voltage and... Audio
- 이 해변은 쓰레기로 만들어졌다 A sparkling beach in Northern California is made entirely of old dumped glass, smoothed into colorful... Audio
- 어디에도 사 층이 없다 In much of East Asia, elevators skip the number four entirely, because it sounds exactly like the word for... Audio
- 우랄산맥을 넘어서 Polly crosses the Ural Mountains, the dividing line between Europe and Asia, on the third day of the... Audio
- 야로슬랍스키 역 Polly boards the Rossiya at Moscow's Yaroslavsky Station to begin the 9,289-kilometre, seven-day... Audio
- 파스타에게 작별인사 Polly says goodbye to Pasta the octopus and flies out of Naples toward her next destination. Audio
- 스스로 편집하는 생명체 Polly learns that octopuses edit their own RNA in real time, building a brain that is different in each... Audio
- 은하수가 보이는 글레이셔 포인트 Polly watches sunset from Glacier Point and stays for the Milky Way, looking through a park astronomer's... Audio
- 레인저 토마스와 함께하는 여정 Polly spends a morning in Ranger Tomas's truck, learning how he tracks bear feeding in wildflower meadows... Audio
- 번호 사십칠 A small injury, an old magazine, and a waiting room that teaches patience. Audio
- 일요일 빠에야 An adult granddaughter visits home and finds her grandfather hasn't forgotten anything yet. Audio
- 빈 머그컵 First day at a new office, a small lesson about asking before assuming. Audio
- 그라나다행 기차 An overheard phone call on the train turns a long trip into a kind of company. Audio
- 잘못 찾은 서점 A simple coffee order leads to a strange conversation about a bookshop that doesn't exist anymore. Audio
- 304호실의 풍경 A late check-in turns into a small gift when the hotel runs out of rooms on the lower floors. Audio
- 혼자만의 식탁 A traveler eats alone in Madrid and discovers the waiter is the real star of the meal. Audio
C1 · Stretch yourself
Rich, natural texts about places, history and ideas.
- 절벽에서 발견된, 아무도 이름 붙이지 않았던 두 생물 Scientists in Montenegro have described two snail species new to science, found on limestone cliffs in a... ? Quiz included Audio
- 만오천 킬로미터를 헤엄친 고래 Polly learns about two humpback whales who swam 14,000+ km from Australia to Brazil, breaking the world... Audio
- 집게발 속에 태양을 품은 새우 A small ocean shrimp snaps its claw so violently that it produces a flash of heat nearly as hot as the... Audio
- 호주가 에뮤에게 진 전쟁 In nineteen thirty-two the Australian military was deployed against emus devastating the wheat crop in... Audio
- 알고 보니 침팬지도 사투리가 있다 A new study of more than eleven thousand recorded calls finds that young chimpanzees in different parts of... Audio
- 치즈를 담보로 돈을 빌려주는 은행 An Italian bank stores and ages more than half a million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, accepted as... Audio
- 왜 당신의 지도는 점심때쯤이면 틀려 있을까 Satellites tick at a different rate than clocks on the ground, and without a deliberate correction your... Audio
- 피부가 멈추지 않고 내뿜는 빛 Human skin gives off a faint light around the clock, invisible to the eye, as a Japanese team confirmed by... Audio
- 말이 바다를 건너는 진짜 방법 Almost everything sent between continents travels not through satellites but through cables lying on the... Audio
- 잠든 사이 국경을 건너는 호텔 On a European night train, a traveller falls asleep in one country and wakes in another, with the Alps... Audio
- 서울이 반세기 동안 숨겨 온 강 Seoul spent decades entombing a river beneath a highway, then reversed course and dug it back into the... Audio
- 일요일이 여전히 요구하는 것 An adult granddaughter returns home for Sunday paella and discovers that her octogenarian grandfather's... Audio
- 건물 하나 안에서 사는 마을 Almost the entire population of Whittier, Alaska lives inside a single fourteen storey building, reached... Audio
- 카페 하나, 나라 둘 In the Belgian Dutch town of Baarle, the international border runs straight through streets, houses, and... Audio
- 왕이 거의 보지 못한 성 Bavaria's King Ludwig the Second poured a fortune into a fairy tale castle he would inhabit for barely a... Audio
- 바다 밑바닥을 걸어서 건너다 Twice each day, the tide withdraws for kilometres along the Wattenmeer coast, inviting walkers onto the... Audio
- 휴대폰이 고장 난 게 아니다. 그저 추운 것뿐이다 A phone that shows forty percent battery and then dies the moment you step into the cold has not run out of... Audio
- 고도 십 킬로미터 위에서 Passenger jets cruise about ten kilometres up not for the view but because that is where thin air starts... Audio
- 제국보다 오래 남은 꿀 Honey sealed inside Egyptian tombs thousands of years ago remains perfectly edible today, and the reason... Audio
- 자물쇠를 풀고 나간 문어 An octopus named Inky vanished from a New Zealand aquarium overnight, and the ingenious route he took to... Audio
- 파스타에게 작별을 Polly says goodbye to Pasta the octopus, who presses one arm against the glass exactly opposite where... Audio
- 스스로를 편집하는 자 Polly learns that octopuses edit their own RNA in real time, tuning their nervous systems to their... Audio
- 피자와 긴 점심 Polly takes the long lunch with Chiara at a Neapolitan pizzeria, learning the protected rules behind... Audio
- 잠수하는 매 Polly tries to copy a peregrine falcon's dive after seeing one launch from El Capitan, learning about the... Audio
- 레인저 토마스와 함께하는 여행 Polly rides shotgun with Ranger Tomas Rodriguez through Yosemite for a morning, learning how rangers... Audio