Petit & the Towers – L2T – Second Language Tech

First Sentences

196 Words

Philippe Petit is a man from France.

He walks on a wire.

The wire is very thin.

He walks high in the air.

He is not afraid.

Philippe has a dream.

He wants to walk between two tall buildings.

The buildings are in New York City.

They are called the Twin Towers.

The Twin Towers are very tall.

Many people work in the towers.

No one walks between the towers.

It is very high.

It is dangerous.

Philippe makes a plan.

The plan is secret.

He works with his friends.

They work at night.

They bring a long wire.

It is morning.

The sun comes up.

Philippe steps onto the wire.

He walks slowly.

He smiles.

People look up.

They see a man in the sky.

More people come.

They are very surprised.

Philippe walks back and forth.

He sits on the wire.

He is happy.

The police come.

Philippe stops walking.

He comes down safely.

People love Philippe.

He is on the news.

People see his picture.

The Twin Towers are gone now.

People remember Philippe.

They remember the man in the sky.

Philippe makes people smile.

He follows his dream.

His story is beautiful.

Level 1 Reader

670 Words

A Man with a Dream

Philippe Petit is a man from France. He is not like other people. He does something very special. He walks on a wire. A wire is like a rope. It is very thin. He walks high in the air. He is not afraid.

Philippe has a big dream. He wants to walk on a wire between two very tall buildings. The buildings are in New York City. They are called the Twin Towers.

The Twin Towers

The Twin Towers are very, very tall. They are in the center of the city. Many people work in the towers. The towers are 400 meters high. They are like mountains in the sky.

No one ever walks between the towers. It is too high. It is too dangerous. But Philippe wants to do it. He thinks, “I must do it. I feel it in my heart.”

The Plan

Philippe makes a plan. It is a secret plan. He tells his friends. “We will do it very early in the morning,” he says. “We must go into the towers. We must take a wire. We must not get caught.”

Philippe and his friends work at night. They wear worker clothes. They carry heavy things. They go to the top of the towers. They bring the wire. It is very long and very strong.

They wait. They check the weather. There is no rain. There is no strong wind. It is a good day.

The Walk

It is morning. The sun is coming up. The people in the city are going to work. But high in the sky, something amazing is happening.

Philippe steps onto the wire. He is 400 meters in the air. He walks. One step. Two steps. He smiles.

People on the street stop. They look up. “What is that?” they say. “Is it a bird? Is it a man?”

“Yes,” they say. “It is a man! A man is walking in the sky!”

The Crowd Grows

More and more people come. They look up. They point. They cannot believe their eyes. A man is walking between the towers. There is no net. There is no rope to hold him. Just the wire. Just his balance pole.

Philippe walks slowly. He turns. He walks back. He sits on the wire. He lays down on the wire. He smiles. He is happy.

The Police Come

The police come. They go to the top of the towers. They say, “Come down! This is not safe!”
But Philippe does not stop. He is in his world. He is on the wire.

He walks one more time. Then he comes back. He steps off the wire. The police take him. But they are smiling too. They know this man is special.

After the Walk

Philippe is not put in jail. The people love him. The city says, “You must do a show in the park.” Philippe agrees. He is happy.

The walk is on the news. It is in the newspaper. People all around the world see the photos. They see Philippe walking in the sky. It is like a dream.

Why Did He Do It?

People ask, “Why did you do it, Philippe?”
He says something like this: “Because it is beautiful. Because it is magic. Because I want to make people smile.”

Philippe is not a normal man. He is an artist. He uses the sky like a stage. He makes people look up. He shows them something amazing.

The Towers Are Gone

Many years later, the Twin Towers are not there. A sad thing happens. The towers fall. People cry. They miss the towers.

But people remember Philippe. They remember the day a man walked in the sky. It was a happy day. It was a day of wonder.

Philippe’s Gift

Philippe gives the world a gift. His gift is joy. His gift is beauty. He shows that dreams are possible. Even the biggest dreams. If you have a dream, follow it. Be brave. Be strong. And always, always walk with love.

Level 2 Reader

588 Words

A Dream in the Sky
On the morning of August 7, 1974, something amazing happened in New York City. People walking to work stopped and looked up. High above the ground, between the two tallest buildings in the city, a man was walking on a wire.

His name was Philippe Petit.

Who Is Philippe Petit?
Philippe Petit is a French man. He was born in 1949 in France. When he was young, he loved the circus. He also loved climbing, magic, and walking on ropes. He learned to become a tightrope walker — someone who walks on a rope high in the air.

Philippe liked to do things that were dangerous and exciting. He didn’t want to do shows in circuses. He wanted to walk in special places, like between famous buildings.

The Twin Towers
In the 1970s, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were the tallest buildings in the world. They stood in New York City. Each tower was over 400 meters tall and had more than 100 floors.

One day, Philippe saw a picture of the Twin Towers in a magazine. Right away, he had an idea. He wanted to walk on a wire between the two towers. Many people thought it was impossible — and illegal. But to Philippe, it was a dream.

Planning the Walk
Philippe and his team planned for many months. They visited New York many times. They studied the towers and how people worked there. Philippe even dressed like a construction worker to go inside the buildings.

The team had to carry heavy equipment up to the roof — a strong wire, ropes, a long balancing pole, and tools. They worked secretly at night. They used a bow and arrow to shoot a small rope from one tower to the other. Then they pulled the heavy wire across.

By morning, everything was ready.

The Walk Begins
At 7:00 a.m., Philippe stepped out onto the wire. He was 417 meters above the ground. There was no net. No safety line. Only Philippe, the wire, the wind — and the sky.

People on the street screamed. Some were scared. Others were amazed. A crowd gathered below. They couldn’t believe their eyes.

Philippe walked slowly. He smiled. He danced. He even lay down on the wire and looked up at the sky. He walked across the wire eight times in 45 minutes.

The Police Come
Soon, the police arrived on the roofs of the towers. They shouted, “Get off the wire!” But Philippe didn’t listen. He wasn’t finished yet.

Finally, after almost an hour, Philippe walked to one side. The police arrested him. But they didn’t stay angry for long. They were impressed.

One officer said, “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

The World Watches
Philippe became famous. People around the world saw pictures of his walk. Some called him crazy. Others called him brave. But everyone remembered the man who walked in the sky.

Later, the city decided not to punish Philippe. Instead, they gave him a pass to do a free show for children in Central Park.

More Than Just a Walk
Philippe’s walk was not about money or fame. It was art. It was a way to show people what is possible. He once said, “Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion.”

The Twin Towers are gone now. They were destroyed in 2001. But Philippe’s walk is still remembered. It was one of the most beautiful and daring acts ever done on a wire.

Level 3 Reader

624 Words

A Walk in the Sky: Philippe Petit’s High Wire Act

In 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit shocked the world by performing one of the most daring and illegal stunts in modern history. He walked on a wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York City—without permission and without any safety gear. His performance, often called “the artistic crime of the century,” became legendary.

The Dream Begins

Philippe Petit was not a traditional performer. He did not enjoy working inside theaters or on safe stages. He was a street artist, magician, juggler, and above all, a high-wire walker. As a teenager, he became fascinated with tightrope walking. One day in 1968, while reading a magazine at the dentist’s office, he saw a picture of the twin towers being planned in New York City. Immediately, he had a dream: he would one day walk between them.

From that moment on, Petit began planning. He practiced on wires tied between trees and buildings in France. He even performed illegal wire walks between the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and between the pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. But none of these compared to what he imagined in New York.

Planning the Impossible

The World Trade Center’s twin towers were nearly 417 meters tall—more than 100 stories each. The space between the buildings was about 42 meters. The wind could be strong. The buildings moved slightly in the air. And of course, the towers were heavily guarded.

Petit knew this performance would have to be a secret. He and a small team of helpers spent months preparing. They visited the towers many times, pretending to be workers or journalists, taking photos and measuring distances. They built a model of the towers to plan how to stretch the wire. Everything had to be perfect.

On the night of August 6, 1974, Petit and his team secretly entered the South Tower with heavy equipment hidden in boxes. At the same time, another team entered the North Tower. They worked all night to prepare the wire. Using a bow and arrow, they shot a fishing line from one tower to the other, then slowly pulled heavier ropes and finally the steel cable across.

The Walk

At 7:15 a.m. on August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit stepped onto the wire. Below him were the streets of New York, hundreds of meters down. No net. No harness. Just a long balancing pole and his skill.

He walked across the wire not once, but eight times. He danced, he knelt, he lay down on the wire. He even stopped to talk to a seagull. Office workers, construction teams, and eventually police officers all watched in shock and amazement. Traffic stopped. Crowds gathered.

Police shouted for him to come down. He teased them by going back and forth on the wire. After 45 minutes, he finally walked back to the South Tower, where police arrested him immediately.

Aftermath and Legacy

Instead of punishing him harshly, the city of New York treated Petit like a hero. Charges were dropped on the condition that he perform a show for children in Central Park. His daring act had won the hearts of millions.

Philippe Petit became famous around the world. He wrote books, gave lectures, and continued to perform high-wire acts in many countries. But nothing ever matched the danger, beauty, and brilliance of that morning walk between the twin towers.

Years later, in 2001, the towers were destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11. For many people, remembering Petit’s walk is a way to celebrate the life and energy those towers once held. It reminds us that art can be powerful, fearless, and unforgettable.

Extensive Listening

Level 1 Audio