Free Grade 7 Reading Comprehension Worksheet & Answers

In the year 1900, a group of Greek sponge divers sought shelter from a violent storm near the tiny island of Antikythera. While exploring the rocky sea floor, they stumbled upon an ancient Roman shipwreck overflowing with marble statues, glassware, and jewelry. Among the glittering treasures was an unassuming, encrusted lump of bronze. Decades later, when x-ray technology was invented, scientists peered inside the lump and were astounded. It contained a highly complex network of interlocking precision gears. Now known as the Antikythera Mechanism, this 2,000-year-old device is considered the world’s first analog computer. The ancient Greeks used it to accurately track the cycles of the solar system, predict eclipses, and even schedule the ancient Olympic Games. Nothing of its technological complexity would be seen again until the invention of mechanical clocks in 14th-century Europe.

Tardigrades, affectionately known by biologists as “water bears,” are microscopic, eight-legged invertebrates that live in water. While they may look like plump, clumsy caterpillars under a microscope, they are renowned for being the most resilient animals on planet Earth. Tardigrades can survive in the most extreme environments imaginable. If a tardigrade is exposed to boiling water, the crushing pressure of the deep ocean, or even the frozen vacuum of outer space, it enters a state of suspended animation called “cryptobiosis.” In this state, the tardigrade expels almost all the water from its body and curls into a dehydrated ball. Its metabolism drops to less than 0.01% of normal. A tardigrade can remain in this dormant state for decades, instantly reviving as soon as it is exposed to a drop of water.

In 1873, the author Jules Verne published the famous novel Around the World in Eighty Days. Most people believed that traveling the globe in such a short time was pure science fiction. However, in 1889, a daring 25-year-old investigative journalist named Nellie Bly decided to prove the world wrong. Sponsored by the New York World newspaper, Bly packed a single travel bag and boarded a steamship headed for Europe. Traveling by ship, train, rickshaw, and even a burro, she navigated through England, Egypt, Japan, and across the Pacific Ocean. Despite monsoon storms and severe train delays, Nellie Bly arrived back in New York in just 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes, setting a breathtaking new world record and becoming a global icon for independent women.

The gale-force winds shrieked against the thick glass panes of the isolated lighthouse. Below, the furious Atlantic Ocean battered the rocky cliffs, sending plumes of icy spray dozens of feet into the air. Thomas, a veteran lighthouse keeper, wiped the condensation from the window and squinted into the gloom. The automated electrical generator had failed two hours ago, plunging the treacherous coastline into total darkness. Knowing that a cargo ship was due to pass the reef at any moment, Thomas grabbed a heavy brass oil lantern. With trembling hands, he began the grueling climb up the spiraling iron staircase. He knew that the small, flickering flame of the oil lantern was a poor substitute for the electric beacon, but tonight, it was the only thing standing between the ship and utter disaster.

In the mid-19th century, traveling from the East Coast of the United States to California was a brutal six-month journey by wagon. To unite the sprawling country, the U.S. government authorized the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1862. The monumental project was divided between two companies: the Union Pacific, building westward from Nebraska, and the Central Pacific, building eastward from California. The labor was grueling. Thousands of workers, many of whom were Chinese immigrants, blasted tunnels through the solid granite of the Sierra Nevada mountains using volatile explosives. Finally, on May 10, 1869, the two rail lines met at Promontory Summit, Utah. A ceremonial “Golden Spike” was driven into the final tie, officially connecting the continent and reducing the cross-country travel time from six months to a single week.