We use the ‘Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level Formula’ to present scores as per US grade level. See all the grade levels here. Following articles, stories and features are appropriate for people at reading level of Grade 10 (Age 15-16 years). More information about Flesch–Kincaid readability tests can be found here.
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A New Ancient Civilisation
Where: Central Asia May 19, 2001: Imagine people living in large apartment complexes made out of bricks. Their city may have been a major stop for silk traders that is why they were well off, decked in gold and semi-precious stone jewellery and using fine ceramics utensils. Bronze axes were among the implements used for cutting and carvings on alabaster (white marble) and bone were used as decoration pieces. Doesn’t sound all that different from what we see around us today, does it?...
Messing Up, Alphabetically
November 4: Central Asian countries that proclaimed independence after the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) disintegrated in 1991 are not merely beset by the usual political and economic uncertainties that mark all new nations. They are uncertain about their alphabets too. At the root of all this confusion is an identity crisis that the countries are suffering. Messing Up, Alphabetically [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] Take Azerbaijan, for instance. Since most people here speak Azeri, verbal communication is not a problem....
Pope Benedict XVI Completes Weeklong Tour of Holy Land
Where: Nazareth, Israel May 15, 2009 : Pope Benedict XVI, head of the worldwide Catholic Church, made a weeklong trip to the Middle East, touring the Holy Land in a bid to promote peace and unity in the region. The pope prayed at some of Christianity’s most sacred destinations and visited Muslim and Jewish holy sites. He also visited Israel’s Holocaust* memorial and saw the conditions in which Palestinian refugees live. In the birthplace of Jesus Christ, Bethlehem (in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory) the pope appealed for a separate state for Palestinians....
India Votes for Stability, Not Change
Where: New Delhi, India May 16, 2009 : The results of India’s general elections, the largest democratic elections in the world, were announced on May 16, 2009.The Indian National Congress party won 205 of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha (the House of the People, or the lower house of the Indian Parliament). This was its best performance in the last 25 years. The party and its coalition partners, who make up the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won a total of 261 seats, only 12 short of an absolute majority....
Fossil of Giant Snake Found in South America
Where: Cerrejon, Colombia February 4, 2009 : ‘Nature’ journal reports that the snake, named ‘Titanoboa cerrejonensis’ by the scientists who found the remains, would have had a 13-metre-long body and weighed 1,140 kilograms, making it the largest snake on record. A mathematical ratio between the size of vertebrae and the length of the body in living snakes was used by the team to estimate the size. The world’s heaviest snakes, green anacondas, weigh only 250 kilograms, and the longest, reticulated pythons, measure 10 metres at the most....
Building a Giant Lie
February 5: The earthquake that struck Gujarat, one of India’s most prosperous states, will go down as among the worst since India gained independence. Both in terms of the numbers of people killed (about 50,000 are feared dead) and the scale of destruction wrought, it has few contemporary parallels. The images of prosperity in cities such as Ahmedabad have been reduced to the symbols of a wasteland – rubble, dust, twisted steel and wire. Building a Giant Lie [Illustration by Shinod A P] A real tragedy, say many of us, but follow it up with a resigned look and statement about the “fury of natural disasters”....
Dead Poet's society
October 28: Do any of these names make your heart sing a sonnet – Oliver Goldsmith, Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, Byron? All of them are famous poets of England of long ago. But where has the poetry of these poets gone today? Is it only to be confined to a select few intellectuals, the older generation, and to the dusty cobwebbed shelves at home? Dead Poet’s society [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] Will the younger generation sweep aside the lyrics of Madonna and Michael Jackson and read classical English verses that are literally poetry-in-motion?...
Hunting for Planets in Earth's Galaxy
Where: Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA March 7, 2009 : The USA’s space agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) launched its Kepler Telescope successfully from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The telescope is designed to search for planets orbiting stars other than the Sun in our galaxy, the Milky Way. William Borucki, principal science investigator of the mission, said, “Even if we find no planets like Earth, that by itself would be profound. It would indicate that we are probably alone in the galaxy....
Terror Blasts in Assam on New Year's Day
Where: Guwahati, Assam, India January 7, 2009 : A series of blasts rocked Guwahati, the principal town of India’s northeastern state of Assam, on January 1, 2009. Six people died, and 50 were injured. The terrorists who planned the explosions got past New Year’s Day security arrangements with alarming ease. Police said the first blast took place near a hospital, the second near the famous Kamakhya temple, and the third at Bhangaghar, one of Guwahati’s upmarket areas, and home to many of its shopping malls....
Fiji's President Revokes Constitution
Where: Suvo, Fiji April 10, 2009 : Fiji’s Court of Appeal declared that President Ratu Josefa Iloilo’s military government was illegal. Three judges of the Court of Appeal ruled that the president should appoint an independent caretaker prime minister to dissolve Parliament and call a general election. In retaliation, the President revoked the constitution and sacked the judges. He also declared a public emergency and decreed that fresh elections will not be held for five years....