C1 · Stretch yourself
Rich, natural texts about places, history and ideas.
- نوعان لم يسمهما أحد، عُثر عليهما على جرف صخري Scientists in Montenegro have described two snail species new to science, found on limestone cliffs in a... Audio
- الجمبري الذي يحمل شمسا داخل مخلبه A small ocean shrimp snaps its claw so violently that it produces a flash of heat nearly as hot as the... Audio
- الحرب التي خسرتها أستراليا أمام طيور الإيمو In nineteen thirty-two the Australian military was deployed against emus devastating the wheat crop in... Audio
- يتضح أن للشمبانزي لهجات A new study of more than eleven thousand recorded calls finds that young chimpanzees in different parts of... Audio
- المصرف الذي يقرض مقابل الجبن An Italian bank stores and ages more than half a million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, accepted as... Audio
- لماذا كانت خريطتك ستصبح خاطئة بحلول الغداء Satellites tick at a different rate than clocks on the ground, and without a deliberate correction your... Audio
- التوهج الذي لا يتوقف جلدك عن إصداره Human skin gives off a faint light around the clock, invisible to the eye, as a Japanese team confirmed by... Audio
- ما الذي ينقل كلماتك حقا عبر المحيط Almost everything sent between continents travels not through satellites but through cables lying on the... Audio
- الفندق الذي يعبر الحدود بينما تنام On a European night train, a traveller falls asleep in one country and wakes in another, with the Alps... Audio
- النهر الذي أخفته سيول نصف قرن Seoul spent decades entombing a river beneath a highway, then reversed course and dug it back into the... Audio
- ما لا يزال الأحد يفرضه An adult granddaughter returns home for Sunday paella and discovers that her octogenarian grandfather's... Audio
- البلدة التي تعيش داخل مبنى واحد Almost the entire population of Whittier, Alaska lives inside a single fourteen storey building, reached... Audio
- مقهى واحد، بلدان اثنان In the Belgian Dutch town of Baarle, the international border runs straight through streets, houses, and... Audio
- القلعة التي لم يعش ملكها ليراها Bavaria's King Ludwig the Second poured a fortune into a fairy tale castle he would inhabit for barely a... Audio
- المشي على قاع البحر Twice each day, the tide withdraws for kilometres along the Wattenmeer coast, inviting walkers onto the... Audio
- هاتفك لم يتعطل. إنه بارد فقط. A phone that shows forty percent battery and then dies the moment you step into the cold has not run out of... Audio
- على ارتفاع عشرة كيلومترات Passenger jets cruise about ten kilometres up not for the view but because that is where thin air starts... Audio
- عسل نجا من سقوط الإمبراطوريات Honey sealed inside Egyptian tombs thousands of years ago remains perfectly edible today, and the reason... Audio
- الأخطبوط الذي أفلت من قفله An octopus named Inky vanished from a New Zealand aquarium overnight, and the ingenious route he took to... Audio
- الحوت الذي قطع خمسة عشر ألف كيلومتر Polly learns about two humpback whales who swam 14,000+ km from Australia to Brazil, breaking the world... Audio
- الحلقة وقارب الصباح The Ring of Brodgar at dusk, then the small practical business of leaving an island, done in four sentences... Audio
- حبّ التسعين يوماً In a bar in Kirkwall, a flat dark bannock turns out to be the reason the islands were farmable at all. Audio
- التجمّع على الصخور Grey seals are hauling out on the low rocks before the pupping season, and the questions Polly has been... Audio
- بنَوها مما وجدوا On Lamb Holm, two army huts hold a chapel that prisoners of war made out of scrap, and the only honest... Audio
- القرية تحت العاصفة At the Bay of Skaill, a guide with a carrying voice explains a village that a storm returned to the light... Audio
- الكرسي بجانب المدفأة A guesthouse above the harbour, an argument about what counts as a quiet room, and a chair whose whole... Audio
- وصول قارب الصباح Polly lands at Stromness off the morning boat and works out, one question at a time, how a place with no... Audio
- الضباب ينطبق خلفها On her last afternoon, Polly climbs high over the whole island one more time before fog rolls in from the... Audio
- قرية موصولة ببركان Walking through the village, Polly finds the same underground heat that cooked lunch also fills a giant... Audio
- عشاء يُدفن عند الفجر Beside a steaming lake, Polly watches a cook lower sealed pots into holes heated only by the volcano below,... Audio
- فوهة واحدة ولونان Polly finds an ancient volcanic crater holding two lakes side by side, one blue and one green, joined... Audio
- الطائر الذي يئسوا منه مرتين Deep in an old laurel forest, Polly searches for the priolo, a tiny grey and pink bird found nowhere else... Audio
- آخر حديقتين في أوروبا Polly lands on a terraced hillside where one of only two working tea plantations left in Europe still uses... Audio
- تسع جزر وثلاث صفائح Polly arrives over São Miguel, the largest of the nine Azores islands, and finds a coastline of black... Audio
- بولي في الحافلة One nervous first ride, a capybara who has seen it all, and the exact moment a new neighborhood starts... Audio
- بولي والسؤال عن الطريق Twenty minutes of proud wandering, one patient owl, and the discovery that a single question is worth more... Audio
- بولي في المقهى A rainy afternoon pushes Polly into the corner cafe, where a badger with a bow tie, a first coffee order,... Audio
- بولي في السوق Berta keeps her promise and walks Polly through the Saturday market, where a spiky fruit, a chatty goat,... Audio
- بولي مع جارة جديدة On moving day, Polly meets Berta the bear watering her geraniums, and a chat over the fence turns into a... Audio
- تسلق المكان الأكثر جفافًا Polly arrives at ESO's Paranal Observatory in the Atacama, the driest place on Earth, where four enormous... Audio
- فلاديفوستوك Polly arrives in Vladivostok at the end of the Trans-Siberian's 9,289 kilometres, stretches her wings, and... Audio
- نهر آمور Polly reaches the Russian Far East on the sixth day of the Trans-Siberian, sees the Amur River bordering... Audio
- بحيرة بايكال Polly spends the fifth day of the Trans-Siberian running along Lake Baikal, the deepest, oldest, and... Audio
- المناطق الزمنية Polly explores the dining car on the fourth day of the Trans-Siberian and learns that the whole train runs... Audio
- عبور الأورال Polly crosses the Ural Mountains, the geographic boundary between Europe and Asia, on the third day of the... Audio
- غابات البتولا Polly wakes up on the second morning of the Trans-Siberian crossing the birch forests of European Russia.... Audio
- محطة ياروسلافسكي Polly boards the Rossiya, the flagship train of the Trans-Siberian Railway, at Moscow's Yaroslavsky... Audio
- وداعًا للباستا Polly says goodbye to Pasta the octopus, who presses one arm against the glass exactly opposite where... Audio
- المحرر من ذاته Polly learns that octopuses edit their own RNA in real time, tuning their nervous systems to their... Audio
- البيتزا والغداء الطويل Polly takes the long lunch with Chiara at a Neapolitan pizzeria, learning the protected rules behind... Audio
- الجلد الذي يرى Polly watches Pasta find food under a coloured plate even though octopuses are colour-blind through their... Audio
- الجسد الذي يفكر Polly watches Pasta solve an acrylic maze using two arms independently. She learns that two-thirds of an... Audio
- الجرّة Polly watches a giant Pacific octopus named Pasta open a screw-top jar to retrieve a live crab. She learns... Audio
- خليج نابولي Polly arrives in Naples and is welcomed into the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, the world's oldest marine... Audio
- مغادرة الوادي Polly says goodbye to Ranger Tomas at the visitor centre and lifts off west out of Yosemite, leaving behind... Audio
- درب التبانة فوق غلاسيير بوينت Polly watches sunset from Glacier Point and stays for the Milky Way, looking through a park astronomer's... Audio
- نصف قبة Polly climbs the 1,500-metre north face of Half Dome on rising thermals with a flock of white-throated... Audio
- الصقر الغطاس Polly tries to copy a peregrine falcon's dive after seeing one launch from El Capitan, learning about the... Audio
- السكويا Polly visits Mariposa Grove and climbs into the canopy of the Grizzly Giant, a giant sequoia nearly 3,000... Audio
- ركوب مع الحارس توماس Polly rides shotgun with Ranger Tomas Rodriguez through Yosemite for a morning, learning how rangers... Audio
- فوق الوادي Polly arrives at Yosemite Valley from the air, taking in the U-shaped glacial geology, El Capitan with... Audio