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 7 (Age 12-13 years). More information about Flesch–Kincaid readability tests can be found here.
267 items in this section. Displaying page 11 of 27
World's First Space Tourist
May 11: The world’s first paying space tourist is back on earth after a week-long joyride in space. On Sunday, May 6, American millionaire Dennis Tito and two Russian cosmonauts landed back on earth, as their space capsule gently parachuted down onto the barren steppe in Kazakhstan. World’s First Space Tourist [Illustration by Shinod AP] Emerging unsteadily from the capsule, the exhilarated 60-year-old Tito, who is also a former NASA rocket scientist, said the trip was the culmination of a lifelong dream....
Assam's Boys Shine in Asian Cricket
July 22: Two young boys have done the impossible in Assam. They have pushed politicians and the continuing violence, out of the media spotlight. Both boys are stars of the Indian under-15 cricket team. One of them, Palash Jyot Das, is the son of a bank employee. The other, Mrigen Talukdar comes from a poor family. There’s nothing remarkable about their backgrounds. Much is remarkable about their achievements, though. While Palash is Asia’s best batsman, Mrigen is Asia’s best bowler....
Peru's Barefoot Librarians
Twelve year-old Leonardo Herrera had never seen a book in his life although he knew how to read. He and his friends used to carve letters and numbers on cactus leaves after seeing their teacher do the same on small blackboards. He belongs to poor peasant family in Bambamarca in Peru. His family grows maize and potatoes in a place which is 12,000 feet above sea-level. But Leonardo wanted to see what a book looks like....
Man Who Could Make The Taj Disappear
August 12: Franz Harary is the magician. He has a simple wish: he wants to make the Taj Mahal disappear. Nothing doing, says the Indian government. Harary is an American magician. His specialty is making huge monuments disappear. In ten years, he has done things no other magician has dared do before. In Hawaii he moved a volcano two miles out to sea. In Japan, he made the Tokyo Bay Bridge vanish. At Cape Kennedy in the USA, he made the NASA space shuttle vanish....
Chimp Traits
Do you think chimps are chumps? If the answer is yes, then you are in for a surprise – because chimps or chimpanzees are actually very, very intelligent. Chimpanzees are the most intelligent of the ape family. It was known that chimpanzees use tools intelligently to obtain food. They use rocks to crack open nuts or use sticks to dig the earth for choice insects and termites. Once a chimpanzee learns a certain method he/she teaches it on to all the other chimps in the area....
The Taziyas of Old Delhi
I was wandering in the crowded streets of Chandni Chowk, the heart of purani Dilli or Old Delhi. Until India gained independence in 1947 and a new Delhi came up, it was the ‘only’ Delhi. For close to 300 years, it had been the seat of Mughal power and culture, especially when it came to cuisine. And that is what drew me to that place! I had taken the day off to savour Chandni Chowk’s famous parathas and the juicy sweet jalebi at the famous 200-year-old sweet shop, Ghantewala....
Ramadan: The Month of 30 Fasts
Ramadan (or Ramzan) is a very special month for Muslims, people of the Islamic faith. Muslims are people who follow the Islamic religion propagated by the Prophet Mohammed in the seventh century. Muslims believe that it was in this month that Allah revealed the holy book of the Muslims, the Koran (or Quran) to the prophet Mohammed. The Quran says that the fast of Ramdan is important as it tests devotion and faith. So believers fast from sunrise to sunset every day during the entire month of Ramdan....
The Quake that rocked Gujarat
Where: Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India February 5, 2001 : It was 8.45 am on January 26, 2001. A day when the country was celebrating Republic Day. Like their counterparts across India, the people of Ahmedabad, in the western state of Gujarat, were settling down to watch the Republic Day Parade on television. Basant Rawat was one of them. Suddenly the earth began to shake under his feet. Basant ran out of his house. And, the sight that greeted him seemed to be straight out of an action film – Tagore apartments, a five-storeyed building, 400 yards from his house, collapsed like a pack of cards, says a report in ‘The Telegraph’....
Whose River?
Whose River? This is a true story. Villages around the famous tiger reserve of Sariska in Rajasthan, had always faced droughts and water shortages. So the villagers, along with an NGO, decided to build small check dams called johads to trap rainwater. The men and women of all the villages gave voluntary labour and even contributed their own money to build the johads. The water table slowly began to rise. Forests began growing again....
No Monkey Business
Bandar, Bandariya and Baby Bandar were ready for their show. Come Sunday morning and their tamasha would begin in a congested and busy Bombay suburb witnessed by an excited group of children. Raju, the Bandarwala, would announce his arrival with the familiar drumbeat and sound of ghungroos. Sometimes he even brought along a sleepy black bear. Each week it was the same routine. Dressed in dotted pyjamas with a shiny red sleeveless jacket and a Wee Willy Winkey cap edged with tiny bells, Bandar cartwheeled and somersaulted backwards and forwards....