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 25 of 27
The Famous Five
Meet the “Famous Five” — Arjun Bansal, Vijay Kumar, Shruti Chandrsekhar, Arvind Thiagarajan and Sundeep Venkataraman. These five teenagers have just got jobs in the Research & Development wing of the India branch of Lucent Technologies — the famous American company. The teenagers were handed offers of employment in the company recently. They can join the company as soon as they complete their graduation. The Famous Five [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] But first, they had to score the highest marks in a test done to discover the “best and brightest minds” in the cities of Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad....
All for One
February 26: What happens when someone in authority takes advantage of the position that he is in, to harass someone weaker? In India, more often than not, the victim ends up doing nothing about it. Why not? Fear forces him or her to keep quiet. But not everyone believes in living up to the image of the powerless Indian. And when that ‘someone’ turns out to be an entire village, generally thought to be unchanging, it demands our attention....
Say Cheese!
My nephew was six when he received the first whiff of a peachy odour, later identified to him as Parmesan cheese. A gift from a “foreign returned” relative, the cheese by the time it came home had got slightly rancid. But all the same, he gobbled it up with relish. There was never a dull moment thereafter and he started ferreting out large chunks of cheese and butter from sundry fridges without as much as a whey and what-for....
The Chief Minister and the Butterfly
Where: Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India July 1, 2000: Indian politicians are mighty people, especially when they are in power. Even Nature trembles before their arrogant minds. Some years ago, when India was ruled by a Congress-I government, its environment minister decided to build a guest house in Manali. Why not, you may ask. It’s a nice place. But there was one small problem – he wanted to have the course of a river changed so that he could have his guesthouse exactly where he wanted it....
Death Sentence for Makers of Killer Baby Milk in China
Where: Shijiazhuang, China January 22, 2009 : The Sanlu Group is the largest producer of baby milk powder in China. The toxic substance melamine, which is used in the manufacture of resins, was added to raw milk so that it would appear to be higher in protein content. Six babies died as a result of drinking the milk and around 300,000 more took ill in September 2008. Around 900 tonnes of contaminated milk left the Sanlu dairies with the knowledge of the top management....
Flooded by disaster
July 31: Monsoon in Orissa has meant only one thing in the recent past: floods. It’s no different this year. Floods have left 85 lakh people in over 15,000 villages homeless. The official death toll: 80. And one lakh hectare of crops have been submerged. About 5,000 kilometres of roadways, 500 kilometres of the national highways, and piped water supply sources to 61 towns have been submerged, causing widespread chaos and distress. As happens in such situations, water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, malaria and jaundice have affected more than 15,500 people, says a report in...
Simayal's Women
September 30: Rows and rows of fresh vegetables and fruits: cabbages, cauliflowers, tomatoes, peas, bananas, apricots and apples in clean surroundings. That’s some of the stuff that greets Delhi-ites at the government-run ‘Mother Dairy’ outlets, which have mirrors on their walls to give a rich sense of plenty to buyers, at reasonable prices. No wonder, these outlets are great favourites with consumers. Ever wondered where the outlets’ seemingly never-ending source of fresh produce comes from? There are many different sources and one of them happens to be Simayal, a remote mountain village in the Kumaon region of Uttar Pradesh (UP)....
Every Ball You Bowl, Every Shot You Play
July 31: A spy will be hired to keep a watch on the activities of cricket players in Pakistan. This decision has been made by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The idea is to prevent the players from fixing any more matches. The spy will shadow the team, stay in the hotel and keep an eye on the cricketers. Like who they meet, where they go, and when they return to the hotel. So anxious is the PCB that the job is well done, that it has decided to keep the identity of the spy a complete secret....
A Penalty Kick into Disaster
Where: Kandahar, Afghanistan July 22, 2000: It was the strangest football match that the Pakistani team had ever played. There they were in the city of Kandahar, in Afghanistan, for a match with a local team. Every sportsperson knows that home teams always get a lot more support than the visiting team, and is even prepared for it. But none of the Pakistani players were quite prepared for what happened to them on the football ground....
A Tale of Two Wonders
Where: USA and India June 24, 2000: In the first week of June, Indian newspapers wrote about two very different kinds of success stories. Both involved youngsters — one 12 year old and another teenaged boy. One was in the United States, the other was in Madurai (Tamil Nadu), India. But both proved that their success had very little to do with the education system. It had more to do with their desires and determination....