B1 Dutch stories with audio

B1 · Finding your flow

Polly's weekly adventures and real-world stories.

De race waar de kaas altijd wint Once a year in England, people chase a wheel of cheese down a dangerously steep hill, and the cheese almost... Sports Audio
Twee gloednieuwe diersoorten, elk zo groot als een vingernagel Scientists in Montenegro just described two snail species new to science, found on limestone cliffs in a... Current events Audio
De dag dat een echt beestje een computer stukmaakte In nineteen forty-seven, engineers found an actual moth stuck inside a giant computer, taped it into their... Tech Audio
De garnaal met een zon in zijn schaar A small ocean shrimp snaps its claw so fast that it creates a flash of heat nearly as hot as the surface of... Science Audio
Het huis verdeeld tussen twee landen In a small town on the Belgian-Dutch border, some houses sit in two countries at once, and the front door... Travel Audio
Het leger dat verloor van vogels In nineteen thirty-two the Australian military was sent against emus eating the wheat crop in Western... History Audio
Chimpansees hebben accenten A new study of more than eleven thousand recorded calls found that young chimpanzees in different parts of... Current events Audio
Het internet ligt onder water Almost all international internet traffic travels along cables lying on the sea floor, which break... Tech Audio
Het dier dat kubussen maakt Wombats are the only known animal to produce cube shaped droppings, and the corners are formed by uneven... Science Audio
De stad die in één gebouw woont Almost every resident of Whittier, Alaska lives inside a single fourteen storey building reached through a... Travel Audio
Deze vogel slaapt terwijl hij vliegt Frigatebirds stay in the air for days over open ocean, and researchers put recorders on their heads to find... Science Audio
De lunch die een heel land eet In the Dominican Republic the main meal lands at midday, it is almost always the same three things, and the... Food Audio
Je kaart zou tegen de lunch al fout zijn Satellite clocks tick faster than clocks on the ground, and if nobody corrected for it your phone would... Tech Audio
Je gloeit. Niemand kan het zien. Human skin gives off a faint light all day long, and a Japanese team photographed it in a sealed dark room. Science Audio
Dit blauw bestaat op één plek A stony beach in the Dominican southwest, one pebble that is blue all the way through, and the single... Geography Audio
Een arm die kan proeven Octopus suckers contain special receptors that let an arm taste whatever it touches, even in total darkness. Science Audio
De grootste cheque ooit in de atletiek A brand new athletics championship this month paid its winners more than the sport has ever offered before. Current events Audio
Een computer leren walvis te spreken Researchers are using artificial intelligence to search for real structure inside the clicking patterns of... Tech Audio
De trage hartslag van bomen Laser scans at night revealed that trees pulse gently every few hours, possibly pumping water through their... Science Audio
Bloemen om drie uur 's nachts At three in the morning, Bangkok's biggest flower market is more awake than midday, and it never really... Travel Audio
De cirkel en de ochtendboot The Ring of Brodgar at dusk, then the small practical business of leaving an island, done in four sentences... Travel Polly adventure Audio
Het graan van negentig dagen In a bar in Kirkwall, a flat dark bannock turns out to be the reason the islands were farmable at all. Restaurant Polly adventure Audio
De verzameling op de klippen Grey seals are hauling out on the low rocks before the pupping season, and the questions Polly has been... Family Polly adventure Audio
Gebouwd van wat ze hadden On Lamb Holm, two army huts hold a chapel that prisoners of war made out of scrap, and the only honest... Work Polly adventure Audio
Het dorp onder de storm At the Bay of Skaill, a guide with a carrying voice explains a village that a storm returned to the light... Daily Life Polly adventure Audio
De stoel bij het vuur A guesthouse above the harbour, an argument about what counts as a quiet room, and a chair whose whole... Hotel Polly adventure Audio
De boot komt binnen Polly lands at Stromness off the morning boat and works out, one question at a time, how a place with no... Greetings Polly adventure Audio
Tienduizend atleten, één openingsavond The 2026 Asian Games, hosted jointly by Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, bring together roughly ten thousand... Current events Audio
De bank die alleen kaas aanneemt An Italian bank keeps a vault holding more than half a million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, accepted as... Food Audio
Je batterijpercentage is een gok A phone's battery percentage is not a direct measurement, but an estimate calculated from voltage and... Tech Audio
Dit strand bestaat uit afval A sparkling beach in Northern California is made entirely of old dumped glass, smoothed into colorful... Travel Audio
Nergens een vierde verdieping In much of East Asia, elevators skip the number four entirely, because it sounds exactly like the word for... Travel Audio
De mist sluit zich achter haar On her last afternoon, Polly flies high over the island one more time before fog rolls in and hides it... Nature Polly adventure Audio
Een dorp aangesloten op een vulkaan Polly finds the same underground heat that cooked lunch also fills a giant public pool and warms homes,... Nature Polly adventure Audio
Avondeten, bij zonsopgang begraven Polly watches a cook lower sealed pots into holes heated only by the volcano below, where dinner cooks for... Nature Polly adventure Audio
Eén krater, twee kleuren Polly finds one huge old crater holding two lakes side by side, one blue and one green, joined underneath... Nature Polly adventure Audio
De vogel die tweemaal verloren werd gewaand Polly searches an old laurel forest for the priolo, a tiny grey and pink bird found only here, once thought... Nature Polly adventure Audio
De laatste twee tuinen van Europa Polly finds one of only two working tea plantations left in Europe, started after disease wiped out the... Nature Polly adventure Audio
Negen eilanden, drie platen Polly arrives over São Miguel, the largest of the nine Azores islands, and learns that three tectonic... Nature Polly adventure Audio
Spider Rock At the place where the canyon splits, Polly finds a tall tower of red stone standing alone, and she does... Travel Polly adventure Audio
De enige weg naar beneden A Diné guide brings visitors down into the canyon on horseback, and Polly learns that people live and farm... Travel Polly adventure Audio
Regen op de rand A summer storm makes waterfalls on the canyon walls for one hour, fills the dry sand with water, and waters... Travel Polly adventure Audio
De paarden van de bedding Polly wakes to thunder from a clear sky. It is horses, running on the sand, and the walls make twenty sound... Travel Polly adventure Audio
De huizen in de wand Polly finds old stone rooms built high inside a hollow in the cliff, and a squirrel tells her people have... Travel Polly adventure Audio
Waar de wanden overeind komen The canyon walls grow much taller, Polly finds dark stripes made by water, and swallows show her how to... Travel Polly adventure Audio
De lage muur Polly lands at a famous canyon in Arizona, but the walls are small. A raven tells her the canyon grows as... Travel Polly adventure Audio
Vertrek bij het eerste licht Polly watches one last sunrise with Berta and follows the river out of town. Travel Polly adventure Audio
De herder bij de poort Polly follows a flock of sheep, a shepherd and his big mastiff dog to the high meadows. Travel Polly adventure Audio
De rivier die om de stad heen stroomt Polly has a slow day at the river and meets a fox at dusk. Travel Polly adventure Audio
De geschilderde dieren van de rode rotsen Polly visits the red rocks in the forest and finds animal paintings that are thousands of years old. Travel Polly adventure Audio
De muur die de berg beklimt Polly flies up the old wall to the watchtower and learns its thousand year story. Travel Polly adventure Audio
Berta en de scheve huizen Berta, an old stone marten, shows Polly the crooked streets and a famous leaning house. Travel Polly adventure Audio
De stad in de arm van de rivier Polly follows a looping river and finds Albarracín, a small pink town in the hills of Spain. Travel Polly adventure Audio
Eén café, twee landen In one small town, the border between Belgium and the Netherlands runs straight through streets, houses and... Geography Audio
Je berichten reizen onder water Almost everything you send across an ocean travels through cables lying on the sea floor, not through... Tech Audio
Het strand dat in de nacht blauw gloeit On some warm coasts, the sea lights up electric blue when you touch it. The light comes from billions of... Science Audio
De gastlanden marcheren door For the first time, three countries share a World Cup, and so far all three hosts are off to a flying start. Current events Audio
Het kleinste eiland op het grootste podium Curacao, a Caribbean island smaller than many cities, became the tiniest nation ever to reach a World Cup. Current events Audio
Avondeten gekookt door een vulkaan On a green island in the Azores, cooks lower a pot into a hot hole in the ground and let the earth slowly... Food Audio
Het kasteel waar de koning nauwelijks woonde A Bavarian king built a fairy-tale castle on an alpine crag, slept there only a handful of nights, and left... History Audio
Wandelen over de bodem van de zee Twice a day the North Sea pulls back for kilometres, and people walk barefoot across the bare seabed before... Nature Audio
Waarom je telefoon doodgaat in de kou Your phone shows forty percent battery, then dies in the snow. The battery is not empty. It is cold, and... Tech Audio
De stad die een rivier opgroef For fifty years, Seoul hid a river under an elevated highway. Then the city tore the highway down, and the... History Audio
Tien kilometer hoog Passenger planes cruise about ten kilometres above the ground. That number is not random: it is where the... Tech Audio
Oermensen gedijden in het regenwoud Scientists once thought ancient humans avoided rainforests. New evidence from West Africa says they thrived... History Audio
De dag dat de zon uitging This week, northern Spain watched the first total solar eclipse over mainland Europe in twenty seven years. Current events Audio
De Verenigde Staten bereiken de volgende ronde in eigen land As a host nation, the United States won its opening matches and advanced early to the knockout stage of the... Current events Audio
Het kleinste land ooit op een WK Curacao made history as the smallest nation ever to play at a World Cup, even after a heavy loss to Germany. Current events Audio
Waarom honing van drieduizend jaar oud nog eetbaar is Honey jars from Egyptian tombs three thousand years old are still edible. The chemistry behind a food that... Science Audio
De tenniswedstrijd die drie dagen duurde The longest tennis match ever played: Isner vs. Mahut, Wimbledon 2010, eleven hours, three days, a final... Sports Audio
De octopus die het slot kraakte An octopus called Inky escaped his aquarium tank at night through a drain pipe, and what it reveals about... Science Audio
Het hotel dat rijdt terwijl je slaapt On a European night train, you fall asleep in one country and wake up in another, with the Alps outside... Travel Audio
Openingsavond in het Azteca The World Cup came home to Mexico City, and the oldest stadium in the tournament shook for the very first... Current events Audio
De laatste trein In Tokyo, the trains stop around midnight. Tomas learns this five minutes too late, and discovers where the... Travel Audio
Polly neemt de bus Polly boards the bus downtown for the first time, with a patient capybara at the wheel and one nervous... Audio
Polly vraagt de weg Polly gets lost looking for the library and learns that asking is faster than wandering. Audio
Polly bestelt een koffie Polly finds a corner cafe, orders a coffee with milk, discovers churros, and stays for a while by the window. Audio
Polly op de markt Berta shows Polly the neighborhood market. Polly asks about an unfamiliar fruit, buys apples, and learns... Audio
Polly ontmoet iemand Polly arrives on a new street, meets Berta the bear over the garden fence, and they agree to meet again at... Audio
Vladivostok Polly arrives in Vladivostok at the end of the 9,289-kilometre Trans-Siberian, stretches her wings, and... Travel Polly adventure Audio
De Amoer Polly reaches Khabarovsk on the sixth day of the Trans-Siberian, sees the Amur River bordering China, and... Travel Polly adventure Audio
Het Baikalmeer Polly spends the fifth day of the Trans-Siberian running along Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake on... Travel Polly adventure Audio
Tijdzones Polly explores the dining car on the fourth day, learning that the whole train runs on Moscow time across... Travel Polly adventure Audio
De Oeral Oversteken Polly crosses the Ural Mountains, the dividing line between Europe and Asia, on the third day of the... Travel Polly adventure Audio
De Berkenbossen Polly wakes up on the second morning of the Trans-Siberian, watching the birch forests of European Russia.... Travel Polly adventure Audio
Station Jaroslavski Polly boards the Rossiya at Moscow's Yaroslavsky Station to begin the 9,289-kilometre, seven-day... Travel Polly adventure Audio
Afscheid van Pasta Polly says goodbye to Pasta the octopus and flies out of Naples toward her next destination. Nature Polly adventure Audio
De Redacteur van Zichzelf Polly learns that octopuses edit their own RNA in real time, building a brain that is different in each... Nature Polly adventure Audio
Pizza en de Lange Lunch Polly has the long Italian lunch with Chiara at a Neapolitan pizzeria, learning the protected rules of... Nature Polly adventure Audio
De Huid Die Ziet Polly watches Pasta find food under a coloured plate even though octopuses are colour-blind through their... Nature Polly adventure Audio
Het Lichaam Dat Denkt Polly watches Pasta solve a maze with two arms working independently. She learns that two thirds of an... Nature Polly adventure Audio
De Pot Polly watches Pasta open a screw-top jar to catch a crab, learning that octopus arms taste what they touch... Nature Polly adventure Audio
De Baai van Napels Polly arrives in Naples and is welcomed into the world's oldest marine biology institute, where she meets a... Nature Polly adventure Audio
De Vallei Verlaten Polly says goodbye to Ranger Tomas and flies west out of Yosemite, watching a peregrine hunt swifts on her... Nature Polly adventure Audio
De Melkweg Boven Glacier Point Polly watches sunset from Glacier Point and stays for the Milky Way, looking through a park astronomer's... Nature Polly adventure Audio
Half Dome Polly rides thermals up the 1,500-metre north face of Half Dome with a flock of swifts, reaches the summit,... Nature Polly adventure Audio
De Duikende Valk Polly tries to copy a peregrine falcon's dive from El Capitan, learning how the falcon's third eyelid and... Nature Polly adventure Audio
De Sequoia Polly visits Mariposa Grove and perches on the Grizzly Giant, a giant sequoia nearly 3,000 years old,... Nature Polly adventure Audio
Rijden Met Ranger Tomas Polly spends a morning in Ranger Tomas's truck, learning how he tracks bear feeding in wildflower meadows... Nature Polly adventure Audio
Boven de Vallei Polly arrives at Yosemite Valley from the air, takes in its U-shaped glacial geology, watches climbers on... Nature Polly adventure Audio
De lege mok First day at a new office, a small lesson about asking before assuming. Work Audio
Nummer zevenenveertig A small injury, an old magazine, and a waiting room that teaches patience. Health Audio
De trein naar Granada An overheard phone call on the train turns a long trip into a kind of company. Travel Audio
De verkeerde boekwinkel A simple coffee order leads to a strange conversation about a bookshop that doesn't exist anymore. Food Audio
Verdwaald in Lissabon A wrong turn on a steep street becomes the best part of the trip. Travel Audio
Kamer 304 heeft uitzicht A late check-in turns into a small gift when the hotel runs out of rooms on the lower floors. Hotel Audio
Een tafel voor één A traveler eats alone in Madrid and discovers the waiter is the real star of the meal. Restaurant Audio
De Verrassingswedstrijd Polly, Diego, and Isabel face an unexpected challenge when a rival group claims to host the true tango... Polly adventure Audio

B1 Dutch stories

B1 · Finding your flow

Read it, then talk about it.