Reading in English at level C1

You understand long, complex texts, literary or technical, and you catch the nuances of style and the meaning between the lines.

• A1
• A2
• B1
• B2
• C1

This is how each text begins at level C1:

• CustomsThe pumpkin as heavy as a car

  Half Moon Bay is a town on the California coast that calls itself the World Pumpkin Capital, and with some reason: about a dozen local farms grow 2,000 to 4,000 tons of pumpkins a year. On Columbus Day, a Monday in October, it hosts the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off, which its organizers describe as the Super Bowl of pumpkin contests.

• ScienceWhy is the sky blue and the sunset red?

  At noon on a clear day the sky is a deep, even blue. By evening the same sun is a red or orange disk low over the horizon, and the clouds around it burn the same colors. Nothing has happened to the sun in between. The light has simply taken a different route to reach you.

• Short story · SakiThe Open Window

  “My aunt will be down presently, Mr. Nuttel,” said a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen. “In the meantime you must try and put up with me.”