The mirrors that lit up a dark Norwegian town
Witness History

The mirrors that lit up a dark Norwegian town

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 7, 20269 min
  • Documentary

In October 2013, people in the small Norwegian town of Rjukan experienced winter sunshine for the first time in history. This was thanks to the arrival of an unusual invention - giant mirrors high up on one of the mountains that make up the deep and narrow valley where Rjukan sits. They reflected the sun directly down to the town square – to the joy of local people who had previously lived through long, dark winters. Lars Bevanger speaks to inventor and artist Martin Andersen. Witness History is a short BBC World Service po...

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B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 29%A2 25%B1 31%B2 15%C1 0%
  • 85% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 154 words a minute: a natural pace.
  • 28 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

Hello and welcome to Witness History from the BBC World Service with me, Lars Pervanger. If this is already one of your favourite podcasts, please feel free to skip ahead to get to today's programme. But if it's your first time listening to us, here's what you need to know. Witness History takes you back to fascinating moments in history by hearing from people who

0:21

are there. New episodes come out every weekday and are just nine minutes long. If you like the the sound of that, make sure to subscribe and turn on your push notifications so you never miss a show. Today, I'm taking you back to midday on the 30th of October 2013. In the small Norwegian

0:43

town of Røkang, people are excitedly gathering in the main square to experience something they have never witnessed at this time of year before – sunshine. I think people were excited the whole week because there was a lot of movement in town, there was a lot of attention, there was a lot of cameras.

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