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C1 reading · Advanced

5 stories to read, listen to and understand.

قصص المستوى متقدم

  1. 1

    The Attention Economy

    اقتصاد الانتباه

    In 1971, the economist Herbert Simon made a remarkably prescient observation: "A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention." Half a century later, his words read less like a prediction than a description of daily life. With billions of posts, videos and notifications competing for our gaze, attention has become one of the most valuable commodities on the planet.

    2 min read 5 questions
  2. 2

    Rethinking Failure

    إعادة التفكير في الفشل

    Few words carry as much emotional weight as "failure". From an early age, many of us are taught to fear it: red marks on homework, disappointing exam results and the quiet embarrassment of falling short. Yet a growing body of research suggests that our aversion to failure may be inhibiting the very learning we hope to achieve.

    2 min read 5 questions
  3. 3

    The House of Wisdom

    بيت الحكمة

    In the ninth century, while much of Europe was struggling through a period of political fragmentation, Baghdad was arguably the intellectual capital of the world. At the heart of this flourishing scholarly culture stood the Bayt al-Hikma, or House of Wisdom — a library, translation centre and academy that attracted scholars from across the known world.

    2 min read 5 questions
  4. 4

    Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

    تحويل مياه البحر إلى مياه شرب

    Although around 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by water, less than one percent of it is fresh water readily available for human use. For countries in the Arabian Peninsula, which have virtually no permanent rivers and minimal rainfall, this scarcity has long been a defining challenge.

    2 min read 5 questions
  5. 5

    The Curious Power of Placebos

    القوة الغريبة للعلاج الوهمي

    In a typical clinical trial, one group of patients receives a new drug while another receives a placebo: a pill that looks identical but contains no active ingredient. If the drug group improves significantly more, the treatment is deemed effective. What is remarkable is how often the placebo group improves too.

    2 min read 5 questions