World News for Students of English

29-05-2026 15:00

In the 560s, people in northern Italy ran away from scary invaders and hid in a lagoon. This safe place became the city of Venice.

To build heavy stone houses on the soft mud, workers pushed thousands of wooden poles deep into the ground. Because there was no air in the mud, the wood didn’t rot. Later, they built stone canals and bridges to connect the islands. Venice had no fields for farming, so the people had to buy and sell things to survive. Venice became a very rich and powerful trading city because it connected Europe with Asia. Famous travelers like Marco Polo brought back silk and spices. Today, Venice is no longer a trading power but a famous tourist destination. The city has big problems because the sea level is rising, and there are often floods. Also, modern motorboats are slowly destroying the old wooden poles.

Difficult words: invader (a person or an army which enters a country by force), lagoon (an area of water separated from the sea by sand or coral reefs), rot (to fall apart over time).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.