Reading Suggestion-1
Article Name: Is the James Webb Space Telescope “Too Big to Fail?”
Author Name: Leonard David
Source: Scientific American
Category: Science
Summary for this article:
This is a detailed scientific piece that deals with the problems facing the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. Overall, an informative piece based on why this project is being delayed, this article does not pose a challenge in terms of difficulty level but it challenges you by providing you a different context and reading material. Inter-spread with scientific details (and being a fairly lengthy read), the article challenges you to maintain focus and make sure you can absorb all the information offered by it.
Words to learn from this article:
Daunting: Intimidating
Acumen: Sharpness, Cleverness
Rumblings: An early indication or rumour of dissatisfaction or incipient change.
Reading Suggestion-1: Click to read full article
Reading Suggestion-2
Article Name: Do secularism and gender equality really go hand in hand?
Author Name: Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins
Source: The Guardian
Category: Sociology
Summary for this article:
This is a terrific article from a reading comprehension perspective. The article is based on the topic of secularism (the principle of separation of the state from religious institutions) and gender equality. The author highlights that one notion held for long is that: One long-held assumption is that gender equality is an enduring principle of secularism, characterized by the separation of the political from the religious and the public from the private.
He then goes to discuss the work of Joan Wallach Scott, and her new book, Sex and Secularism. In this book, the author Joan Wallach Scott goes on to challenge the above notion and states that: The notion that equality between the sexes is inherent to the logic of secularism”, she argues, “is false”.She provides her reasoning for the same.
The author then goes on to challenge her reasoning in the last part of the article and points out the flaws in her reasoning. Overall, this is an absorbing read that is going to challenge you as well as provide you ample new terms to explore.
Words to learn from this article:
Counterintuitive:contrary to intuition or to common-sense expectation
Repudiation: Rejection of a proposal or idea.
Presumption: An idea that is taken to be true on the basis of probability.
Contending: Asserting
Emancipation: Freedom, Liberation
Islamophobic: It is an intense fear or hatred of, or prejudice against, the Islamic religion or Muslims,
Reading Suggestion-2: Click to read full article
Reading Suggestion-3
Article Name: 2017 killed off an old political lie – that the young don’t care
Author(s) Name: Zoe Williams
Source: The Guardian
Category: Politics
Summary for this article:
The article highlights that the vote for Jeremy Corbyn (A UK Politician) proved a new generation wants change. And if the change does not come 2018 could look a lot like 1968, which means we will be regressing.
People believe that youngsters and millennials don’t care about politics and are not concerned about anything. They don’t show any interest in Politics at all. This was a fact believed by many in the pre-Trump and pre Brexit era.
As per the article, this was proven incorrect in 2017 in UK. 60% of the 18- to 24-year-olds who voted did so for Jeremy Corbyn, on a turnout that was up 16 percentage points on the 2015 election, and accounted for most of the boost in numbers. The main reason for this was that the Labour party is identifying itself as the movement that embraces youth and doesn’t fear it – as the party of modernity not stasis, the future, not the past.
The author states that if there’s an election in 2018, we should expect broad-based direct action: sit-ins and strikes, unions and students cooperating in the (French) spirit of 68, protests, vigils, UK Uncut-style happenings. The “secular cycle” and the “father and son cycle” show that history repeats itself and it might repeat in 2018. The conclusion states that politics must remember the only principle that gives it meaning: that of progress, of each generation using its energy to build for the next.
Words to learn from this article:
Aggrieved: Discontented, unhappy
Nihilists: A person who believes that life is meaningless and rejects all religious and moral principles.
Realism: Practicality
Arbitrariness: Randomness
Rectitude: Righteousness, goodness, virtue
Staggering: Astonishing, amazing
Receptacle: Container, vessel
Torpor: Lethargy
Reading Suggestion-3: Click to read full article
