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B1 · Familiar topics

Pieces on familiar subjects with the common tenses, frequent collocations, and a little idiom. Enough structure to stretch you, enough support to keep going.

Every piece comes with word notes, narrated audio, and an annotator you can ask about any sentence. No sign-in needed.

01
TECHB1

How a Vending Machine Knows Your Coin

A vending machine checks a coin's size, speed, and metal in a fraction of a second before it decides whether to accept or reject it.

by Kosk·6 min read
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02
SCIENCEB1

Why the Sky Is Blue and the Sunset Is Red

The sky changes color during the day because sunlight is made of many colors that travel through the air in different ways.

by Kosk·5 min read
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03
CULTUREB1

The Bamboo Cutter and the Shining Child

An old bamboo cutter raises a girl from the moon as his own daughter, and one autumn night, he learns he must give her back.

by Jiro Ooba·7 min read
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04
CULTUREB1

The Island of Thunder: A Demon's Story

Every story has a winner and a loser — but the loser rarely gets to speak.

by Jiro Ooba·10 min read
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05
CULTUREB1

The Grateful Crane

A crane saved from the snow came back as a young woman with a gift she could give only once.

by Jiro Ooba·5 min read
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06
CULTUREB1

Why Tokyo Sounds Like Tokyo

The city has its own grammar of sound—jingle bells, train chimes, the soft cough of a vending machine waking up.

by Haruki Kobayashi·4 min read
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