Reading in English at level B1

You understand clear texts in standard language on topics you know: work, leisure, travel. You follow the description of events, feelings and wishes in a personal letter.

• A1
• A2
• B1
• B2
• C1

This is how each text begins at level B1:

• CustomsThe pumpkin as heavy as a car

  Half Moon Bay is a town on the coast of California. Every year on Columbus Day, a Monday in October, it holds a famous weigh-off. The full name is long: the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. The organizers call it the Super Bowl of pumpkin contests.

• ScienceWhy is the sky blue and the sunset red?

  Look up on a clear day, and the sky is blue. Look at the sun in the evening, and it is yellow, orange or red. It is the same sun and the same light. So where do the two colors come from?

• Short story · SakiThe Open Window

  Framton Nuttel was a nervous young man. His doctors told him to rest, so he went to stay in a quiet village in the country. His sister gave him some letters of introduction. “You will bury yourself there,” she said, “and speak to nobody, and you will mope. Your nerves will be worse than ever.”