C1 · Stretch yourself
Rich, natural texts about places, history and ideas.
- La crevette qui a un soleil dans sa pince A small ocean shrimp snaps its claw so violently that it produces a flash of heat nearly as hot as the... ? Quiz included Audio
- La Main Ouverte du Port Polly arrives in New York Harbor by ferry and studies the Statue of Liberty up close, a gift from France... Audio
- Deux espèces que personne n'avait nommées, trouvées sur une falaise Scientists in Montenegro have described two snail species new to science, found on limestone cliffs in a... Audio
- La guerre que l'Australie a perdue contre les émeus In nineteen thirty-two the Australian military was deployed against emus devastating the wheat crop in... Audio
- Les chimpanzés, semble-t-il, ont des accents A new study of more than eleven thousand recorded calls finds that young chimpanzees in different parts of... Audio
- La banque qui prête contre du fromage An Italian bank stores and ages more than half a million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, accepted as... Audio
- Pourquoi ta carte se tromperait avant midi Satellites tick at a different rate than clocks on the ground, and without a deliberate correction your... Audio
- La lueur que ta peau n'arrête jamais d'émettre Human skin gives off a faint light around the clock, invisible to the eye, as a Japanese team confirmed by... Audio
- Ce qui porte vraiment tes mots à travers un océan Almost everything sent between continents travels not through satellites but through cables lying on the... Audio
- L'hôtel qui traverse les frontières pendant ton sommeil On a European night train, a traveller falls asleep in one country and wakes in another, with the Alps... Audio
- La rivière que Séoul a cachée pendant un demi-siècle Seoul spent decades entombing a river beneath a highway, then reversed course and dug it back into the... Audio
- Ce que le dimanche exige encore An adult granddaughter returns home for Sunday paella and discovers that her octogenarian grandfather's... Audio
- La ville qui vit dans un seul immeuble Almost the entire population of Whittier, Alaska lives inside a single fourteen storey building, reached... Audio
- Un café, deux pays In the Belgian Dutch town of Baarle, the international border runs straight through streets, houses, and... Audio
- Le château que son roi a à peine vu Bavaria's King Ludwig the Second poured a fortune into a fairy tale castle he would inhabit for barely a... Audio
- Marcher sur le fond de la mer Twice each day, the tide withdraws for kilometres along the Wattenmeer coast, inviting walkers onto the... Audio
- Ton téléphone n'est pas mort. Il a juste froid. A phone that shows forty percent battery and then dies the moment you step into the cold has not run out of... Audio
- Dix kilomètres d'altitude Passenger jets cruise about ten kilometres up not for the view but because that is where thin air starts... Audio
- Le miel qui a survécu aux empires Honey sealed inside Egyptian tombs thousands of years ago remains perfectly edible today, and the reason... Audio
- Le poulpe qui a faussé compagnie à son enclos An octopus named Inky vanished from a New Zealand aquarium overnight, and the ingenious route he took to... Audio
- Le cercle et le bateau du matin The Ring of Brodgar at dusk, then the small practical business of leaving an island, done in four sentences... Audio
- Le grain de quatre-vingt-dix jours In a bar in Kirkwall, a flat dark bannock turns out to be the reason the islands were farmable at all. Audio
- Le rassemblement sur les récifs Grey seals are hauling out on the low rocks before the pupping season, and the questions Polly has been... Audio
- Construite avec ce qu'ils avaient On Lamb Holm, two army huts hold a chapel that prisoners of war made out of scrap, and the only honest... Audio
- Le village sous la tempête At the Bay of Skaill, a guide with a carrying voice explains a village that a storm returned to the light... Audio
- La chaise près du feu A guesthouse above the harbour, an argument about what counts as a quiet room, and a chair whose whole... Audio
- Le bateau arrive Polly lands at Stromness off the morning boat and works out, one question at a time, how a place with no... Audio
- La brume se referme derrière elle On her last afternoon, Polly climbs high over the whole island one more time before fog rolls in from the... Audio
- Un village branché sur un volcan Walking through the village, Polly finds the same underground heat that cooked lunch also fills a giant... Audio
- Le repas enterré à l'aube Beside a steaming lake, Polly watches a cook lower sealed pots into holes heated only by the volcano below,... Audio
- Un cratère, deux couleurs Polly finds an ancient volcanic crater holding two lakes side by side, one blue and one green, joined... Audio
- L'oiseau que l'on a cru perdu deux fois Deep in an old laurel forest, Polly searches for the priolo, a tiny grey and pink bird found nowhere else... Audio
- Les deux derniers jardins d'Europe Polly lands on a terraced hillside where one of only two working tea plantations left in Europe still uses... Audio
- Neuf îles, trois plaques Polly arrives over São Miguel, the largest of the nine Azores islands, and finds a coastline of black... Audio
- Départ aux premières lueurs Polly says goodbye to Berta on the watchtower at dawn and lets the river lead her out of Albarracín. Audio
- Le berger à la porte At dawn a flock of sheep pours through the old town gate, and Polly joins the shepherd, his mastiff and the... Audio
- La rivière qui entoure la ville Polly spends a slow day down on the Guadalaviar, the river that wraps the town like a moat, and shares dusk... Audio
- Les animaux peints des roches rouges In the pine forest of red stone outside town, Polly finds paintings of animals made by human hands... Audio
- La muraille qui grimpe la montagne Polly climbs the great wall above the town to a square stone watchtower and learns who built it more than a... Audio
- Berta et les maisons penchées An old stone marten who lives inside the town walls shows Polly the crooked lanes of Albarracín, including... Audio
- La ville dans le bras de la rivière Polly follows a looping river into the hills of eastern Spain and finds Albarracín, a pink town stacked... Audio
- Polly prend le bus One nervous first ride, a capybara who has seen it all, and the exact moment a new neighborhood starts... Audio
- Polly demande son chemin Twenty minutes of proud wandering, one patient owl, and the discovery that a single question is worth more... Audio
- Polly commande un café A rainy afternoon pushes Polly into the corner cafe, where a badger with a bow tie, a first coffee order,... Audio
- Polly au marché Berta keeps her promise and walks Polly through the Saturday market, where a spiky fruit, a chatty goat,... Audio
- Polly rencontre quelqu'un On moving day, Polly meets Berta the bear watering her geraniums, and a chat over the fence turns into a... Audio
- La baleine qui a parcouru quinze mille kilomètres Polly learns about two humpback whales who swam 14,000+ km from Australia to Brazil, breaking the world... Audio
- Gravir le Lieu le Plus Aride Polly arrives at ESO's Paranal Observatory in the Atacama, the driest place on Earth, where four enormous... Audio
- Vladivostok Polly arrives in Vladivostok at the end of the Trans-Siberian's 9,289 kilometres, stretches her wings, and... Audio
- L'Amour Polly reaches the Russian Far East on the sixth day of the Trans-Siberian, sees the Amur River bordering... Audio
- Le Lac Baïkal Polly spends the fifth day of the Trans-Siberian running along Lake Baikal, the deepest, oldest, and... Audio
- Les Fuseaux Horaires Polly explores the dining car on the fourth day of the Trans-Siberian and learns that the whole train runs... Audio
- Traversée des Oural Polly crosses the Ural Mountains, the geographic boundary between Europe and Asia, on the third day of the... Audio
- Les Forêts de Bouleaux Polly wakes up on the second morning of the Trans-Siberian crossing the birch forests of European Russia.... Audio
- Gare de Iaroslavski Polly boards the Rossiya, the flagship train of the Trans-Siberian Railway, at Moscow's Yaroslavsky... Audio
- Adieu aux Pâtes Polly says goodbye to Pasta the octopus, who presses one arm against the glass exactly opposite where... Audio
- L'Éditeur de Lui-Même Polly learns that octopuses edit their own RNA in real time, tuning their nervous systems to their... Audio
- Pizza et le Long Déjeuner Polly takes the long lunch with Chiara at a Neapolitan pizzeria, learning the protected rules behind... Audio
- La Peau Qui Voit Polly watches Pasta find food under a coloured plate even though octopuses are colour-blind through their... Audio
- Le Corps qui Pense Polly watches Pasta solve an acrylic maze using two arms independently. She learns that two-thirds of an... Audio
- Le Bocal Polly watches a giant Pacific octopus named Pasta open a screw-top jar to retrieve a live crab. She learns... Audio
- La Baie de Naples Polly arrives in Naples and is welcomed into the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, the world's oldest marine... Audio
- Quitter la Vallée Polly says goodbye to Ranger Tomas at the visitor centre and lifts off west out of Yosemite, leaving behind... Audio
- La Voie Lactée au-dessus de Glacier Point Polly watches sunset from Glacier Point and stays for the Milky Way, looking through a park astronomer's... Audio
- Demi-Dôme Polly climbs the 1,500-metre north face of Half Dome on rising thermals with a flock of white-throated... Audio
- Le Faucon Plongeur Polly tries to copy a peregrine falcon's dive after seeing one launch from El Capitan, learning about the... Audio
- Le Séquoia Polly visits Mariposa Grove and climbs into the canopy of the Grizzly Giant, a giant sequoia nearly 3,000... Audio
- En route avec le Ranger Tomas Polly rides shotgun with Ranger Tomas Rodriguez through Yosemite for a morning, learning how rangers... Audio
- Au-dessus de la Vallée Polly arrives at Yosemite Valley from the air, taking in the U-shaped glacial geology, El Capitan with... Audio
- Le Secret de la Pyramide de Sel Polly arrives at Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni where she meets Joaquín, a guide torn between tradition and... Audio
- Là où le ciel rejoint la terre Polly arrives at Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni salt flats where she meets Joaquín, a veteran guide facing a... Audio
- La Voix de la Montagne Polly helped Kaspar Brunner discover that his musician's dystonia enabled a revolutionary echo-based alpine... Audio
- Symphonie de Pierre Polly helps Kaspar Brunner discover his musician's dystonia enables revolutionary echo-based alpine music,... Audio
- Le Son du Silence Polly helps Kaspar Brunner discover that his musician's dystonia enables him to create revolutionary music... Audio
- Résonance et résistance Polly meets Emma Hartley, a researcher studying alpine acoustics, who helps Kaspar discover his musician's... Audio
- L'Écho Brisé Polly meets Emma Hartley, a British doctoral student studying alpine acoustics, who suggests that Kaspar's... Audio
- La Chambre d'Écho Polly meets Emma Hartley, a British doctoral student studying alpine acoustics, who suggests that Kaspar's... Audio
- Murmures dans la Brume Polly arrives at Mount Rigi in Switzerland and meets Kaspar Brunner, an accomplished alphorn player... Audio
- La Boucle se Referme à La Boqueria Polly's investigation reveals an undercover operation targeting counterfeiters who've infiltrated... Audio
- Le Chasseur Devient la Proie Polly's investigation reveals an undercover operation targeting counterfeiters who've infiltrated... Audio
- L'Amère Saveur de la Trahison Polly's investigation reveals that Valentina is an undercover agent pursuing counterfeiters who've been... Audio
- L'Adieu de Polly à Buenos Aires Polly, a curious parrot, visits Buenos Aires and helps transform a rivalry at a tango festival into a... Audio
- Polly et la Mélodie de l'Unité Polly and her companions face an unexpected challenge when a rival group claims to host the true tango... Audio
- La Rivalité Inattendue Polly, Diego, and Isabel face an unexpected challenge when a rival group claims to host the true tango... Audio
- La Fuite Stratégique de Polly Polly the parrot helps Diego and Isabel counteract misinformation threatening a tango festival in Buenos... Audio
- L'Énigme du Tango Polly the parrot joins Diego and Isabel in Buenos Aires, where they learn of a potential plot to disrupt a... Audio
- Une Rencontre Tourbillonnante à La Boca Polly the parrot, exploring Buenos Aires, meets Isabel, a talented artist in La Boca, who is capturing the... Audio
- Polly et les rythmes du tango de Buenos Aires Polly the parrot arrives in Buenos Aires and meets Diego, a tango musician preparing for a local festival.... Audio
- L'Adieu dans la Ville Lumière In Paris, Polly helps Isabelle solve the mystery of a missing painting and returns it to the artist. They... Audio
- La Danse de la Découverte In Paris, Polly helps Isabelle solve the mystery of a missing painting and returns it to the artist. They... Audio
- Le Tournant Inattendu à Montmartre In Paris, Polly the parrot and Isabelle solve the mystery of a missing painting. Returning it to the... Audio
- La Poursuite sur le Pont des Arts In Paris, Polly the parrot and Isabelle solve the mystery of a missing painting by confronting a mysterious... Audio
- L'Énigme de la Peinture Disparue In Paris, Polly the parrot and Isabelle, a writer, meet Monsieur Dupont, an elderly artist, whose painting... Audio
- Le Secret de la Seine Polly and Isabelle embark on a walk along the Seine, where they meet Monsieur Dupont, an elderly artist.... Audio
- Polly atterrit dans la Ville Lumière Polly the parrot arrives in Paris, the City of Light, and lands in a charming café in Le Marais. There, she... Audio
- Les Secrets de Marrakech Révélés Polly the parrot and Fatima, guided by a mysterious map, explore the hidden depths of Marrakech, uncovering... Audio
- La Révélation du Marché Caché Polly and Fatima, guided by a mysterious map, uncover a hidden courtyard and a secret market in Marrakech.... Audio
- Un Tournant dans le Labyrinthe Polly and Fatima, guided by a mysterious map, uncover a hidden courtyard in Marrakech. As they continue... Audio
- Le Secret de la Fontaine Murmurante Polly and Fatima, guided by a mysterious map, uncover a hidden courtyard in Marrakech. They decipher an... Audio
- La Carte Mystérieuse et la Porte Secrète Polly and Fatima, following a mysterious map, discover a hidden courtyard in Marrakech. They uncover an... Audio
- Une Rencontre Fortuite Polly the parrot, alongside Fatima, continues to explore Marrakech, where they encounter an elderly... Audio
- Polly dans les Rues Enchantées de Marrakech Polly the parrot arrives in Marrakech, where she meets Fatima, a traveler trying to navigate the city's... Audio
- Réflexions Sous les Étoiles Polly and Amir reflect on their adventure under the stars, cherishing the lessons learned and the deepened... Audio
- Les Secrets de la Tombe Inside the lost tomb, Polly and Amir discover a chamber filled with ancient treasures. However, the tomb is... Audio
- La Tromperie du Désert Despite initial frustration, Polly and Amir manage to find the hidden entrance to the lost tomb as night... Audio
- Dans le Désert Polly and Amir journey into the desert, guided by the clues from the box, to find the entrance to a lost... Audio
- L'Énigme du Masque Enchanté In Venice, Polly the parrot and historian Isabella continue their quest to uncover a legendary document.... Audio
- Un Manuscrit Mystérieux Polly, a curious parrot, arrives in Venice and notices a young woman named Isabella, who holds a mysterious... Audio
- Le Voyage Vénitien de Polly Polly, the curious parrot, arrives in Venice, a city of canals and rich history. As she takes in the sights... Audio
- Adieu à Marrakech Polly says goodbye to Marrakech, having helped uncover a treasure that preserves the city's history, and... Audio
- Le Secret Révélé Polly and her friends solve a riddle that leads them to a hidden key, unlocking the treasure chamber and... Audio
- Une Course Contre la Montre Polly, Leila, and Omar team up to find the treasure, racing through Marrakech as obstacles arise, including... Audio
- À la rencontre du conteur Polly meets Adil, a storyteller in Marrakech, and learns about the tale of the lost treasure of Sultan... Audio
- Arrivée dans la Ville Rouge Polly arrives in the vibrant city of Marrakech, soaking in the sensory-rich atmosphere of Jemaa el-Fnaa and... Audio
- Polly et le Langage des Anciens Polly, the curious parrot, delves into the mystery of Echoing Canyon's cryptic echoes. Guided by local... Audio
- Polly et l'énigme du Canyon Résonnant Polly the parrot, exploring the American Southwest, discovers a mysterious echo in Echoing Canyon that... Audio