Free · A1 to C2 · Audio included

Graded English Reading Practice: Free Stories and Articles, A1 to C2

Short original texts written for each CEFR level, from simple A1 descriptions to C2 literary stories. Every text has its key words explained, a listening mode that highlights each sentence, an optional reading timer and comprehension questions with explanations.

30 texts
160 questions
12 topics

Choose your level

Reading practice by CEFR level

A1Beginner · 5 textsA1 English readingFamiliar names, everyday words and very simple sentences: signs, labels, short notes and basic personal details.A2Elementary · 5 textsA2 English readingShort, simple texts on everyday topics: messages, menus, adverts and short stories written with common vocabulary.B1Intermediate · 5 textsB1 English readingThe main points of clear texts on familiar subjects such as work, school and travel, and straightforward connected stories.B2Upper-intermediate · 5 textsB2 English readingArticles, reports and contemporary novels with a good degree of independence, including different opinions and lines of argument.C1Advanced · 5 textsC1 English readingLong, demanding texts, including literary and specialised writing, together with their implied meaning, style and nuance.C2Proficient · 5 textsC2 English readingVirtually any written English with ease, including abstract, structurally complex or highly idiomatic texts.

Not sure which level to choose? Take the free English level test.

Library

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A13 min · Everyday lifeMy New NeighborRosa can't use her new phone and her young neighbor Lin can't cook, so every Wednesday they help each other.A13 min · TravelA Day at the MarketPriya is on vacation in a new town, and she spends a happy Saturday morning at the busy market.A12 min · NatureAll About PenguinsPenguins are birds, but they can't fly, and some of them live in warm places.A13 min · Everyday lifeSunday LunchEvery Sunday, Grandma cooks lunch for the whole family, but today is her birthday, so everybody else is in the kitchen.A13 min · Everyday lifeMy BikeArjun can't ride to school with his friends because he doesn't have a bike, but then his mom opens the garage door.A23 min · TravelThe Wrong TrainKofi jumps on a train to his sister's birthday party, but half an hour later he can see the sea from the window.A23 min · BiographyMarie Curie: A Life in ScienceWomen in Poland could not study at the university then, so young Marie Curie moved to Paris and began a life in science.A23 min · RomanceThe Café on the CornerEvery Saturday, Leila studies Spanish at the café on her corner, until one busy morning the owner asks a young man to share her table.A23 min · Everyday lifeThe First MarathonAfter one minute of running for the bus, Hamid is out of breath, so his daughter has a big idea: the city marathon in October.A23 min · Everyday lifeA Letter to My Future SelfFifteen-year-old Camila writes a letter to herself at twenty-five about her family, her big plans and the things she hopes will never change.B14 min · MysteryThe Note in the Library BookAn old note falls out of a second-hand book of poems, and Nora decides to keep an appointment made forty years ago.B14 min · TechnologyA Week Without My PhoneNadia gives her smartphone to her mom for a week and keeps a diary of a missed bus, quiet evenings and one very lonely Friday.B14 min · ScienceHow Bees TalkBees can't speak or draw maps, yet they can still tell each other where to find flowers, and they do it with a dance.B14 min · Everyday lifeThe VolunteerFelix only wants to finish his twenty volunteer hours at a community kitchen, but a girl about his age changes the way he sees the people there.B14 min · ScienceWhy We YawnEveryone yawns, even babies before they are born, and yawns spread from person to person, but scientists still can't say exactly why we do it.B24 min · HorrorThe Lighthouse KeeperAlone on a rocky island, a new lighthouse keeper finds an old logbook with a strange line at the end of every entry.B24 min · HistoryThe Machine That Changed ReadingHow books went from rare treasures to everyday objects: the story of Gutenberg's printing press and of the printers in Asia who came first.B24 min · BusinessThe Bakery That Closed on WednesdaysWhen Lucia's tired bakery team tries a four-day week, her brother predicts disaster, the regulars complain and the numbers tell a surprising story.B24 min · TravelThe City That Sleeps in the AfternoonDaniel has planned every minute of his month in the south, until he discovers that between two and five, the whole city closes its doors.B24 min · NatureThe Secret Life of OctopusesThree hearts, blue blood and arms that seem to think for themselves: meet a clever animal that is a closer relative of the snail than of any fish.C14 min · PhilosophyThe Ship of TheseusAn ancient puzzle about a ship rebuilt plank by plank raises a surprisingly modern question: what makes anything, including you, stay the same?C14 min · ScienceThe Uses of ForgettingFrom nonsense syllables to eyewitness memory, the science of forgetting suggests that losing information is not always a failure and can even help us learn.C14 min · NatureLetters from the IceFrom a research camp on a vast ice sheet, a glaciologist writes to her brother about ancient air, a storm, a new baby and what the ice remembers.C14 min · BusinessSpoiled for ChoiceMore options should make us freer, so why can a supermarket shelf feel like a test? An essay on choice overload, regret and the wisdom of good enough.C14 min · Everyday lifeThe Night ShiftAt two in the morning, a night nurse meets a retired bus driver who once drove tired nurses home, and his story follows her onto the morning bus.C24 min · PhilosophyThe TranslatorA meticulous translator meets a word that no dictionary can explain, and finding the right English for it means facing a loss she has avoided naming.C24 min · PhilosophyIn Praise of BoredomBoredom has become optional for perhaps the first time in history, and this essay asks what we might be losing by escaping it so easily.C24 min · HistoryThe Mapmaker's DaughterIn an eighteenth-century harbor town, a mapmaker's daughter must finish her late father's chart of the bay and decide whose name it will carry.C24 min · HistoryThe Last SpeakerA linguist spends eleven weeks recording the last speaker of a language whose verbs must say how the speaker knows what she knows.C24 min · PhilosophyOn WalkingWhy do so many ideas seem to arrive on foot? A reflective essay on walking, thinking and the quiet freedom of going nowhere in particular.

Why graded reading works

You learn a language fastest from input you mostly understand. When almost every word in a text is familiar, the few new ones are easy to work out, and you meet grammar in its natural setting instead of in isolated rules.

Graded texts keep the difficulty at your level. Read several at your level, a few just above it, and then move to real books, where the Okuzeka Reader explains any word in its sentence.

Want the rules behind what you read? English grammar lessons with quizzes.

FAQ

Questions about reading practice

Which level should I start with?

Start at your CEFR level or one step below it. If you understand almost every sentence without help, move up. If you need to check many words in each paragraph, go down a level. The free level test gives you a starting point.

Are the texts free?

Yes. All texts, audio and questions are free and work without an account. Your progress is saved in your own browser on the My Learning page.

How does the listening mode work?

It uses your browser's built-in speech voices. It reads the text one sentence at a time and highlights the sentence being read; you can change the speed or tap a sentence to hear it again.

Where do these texts come from?

They were written for Okuzeka's reading library and reviewed for level, accuracy and natural English. They are original texts, not adapted or shortened versions of other books.

What is a good reading speed?

Learners usually read more slowly than native speakers, and that is fine. Use the timer to compare yourself with your own earlier results rather than with others, and always choose understanding over speed.

Keep going with a real book

Open a book or your own PDF in the Okuzeka Reader, tap any word you don't know and see what it means in that sentence. Save new words as flashcards while you read.

Open the Reader Browse books