Enter the 2023 Short Story Competition Here
Ariana Fais has lots of books on her shelf but one takes pride of place（显要位置）. It's her own story, The Unexpected Friendship, which was published after she won the Kids News Short Story Competition a few years back as a Grade 2 student. Now aged 11 and in Grade 5, Ariana is a writer of stories and poetry. As well as her Short Story Competition victory in 2020, Ariana was a runner-up（亚军） in last year's event. And she's already tossing around（辗转不安） new plot ideas for this year.
About the Short Story Competition
The Kids News Short Story Competition runs from May 1 to 26 and is free to enter. The competition has four age groups: Kindergarten to Year 2;Years 3-4;Years 5-6 and Years 7-9．Stories must be between 250 and 750 words for students in Kindergarten to Year 4 and between 500 and 1,000 words for students in Years 5 to 9.
A group of judges, led by award-winning author Jackie French, will choose the winning entries, with short stories of the first prize winner in each age category published into a printed book with a personally designed cover.
For the first time, each age category winner will also receive a Harper Collins Children's Books Mentorship, which will include personalized feedback（反馈） on their story from the Harper Collin s editorial team and the chance to ask them about writing and publishing. Teachers can submit their students' entries using the online entry from below.
Fashion always influences people, Isabella Springmuhl Tejada from Guatemala, one of the first professional fashion designer with Down syndrome, is proving that fashion goes beyond normal limits.
Tejada who discovered her hobby in childhood said, "I think that fashion design is in my blood." After all, her grandmother had a studio where she produced Guatemalan-style clothing. And, when she was young, Tejada's mother gave her fashion magazines to read. Tejada spent hours of her childhood reading the magazines and designing paper dresses for her dolls. By the time she reached high school, Tejada had decided to enter the world.
After being refused by several fashion schools because of her Down syndrome, Tejada found her own path. She signed up for a clothing-making course, where she began to make clothing for "worry dolls", finger-sized traditional Guatemalan dolls. And she created life-sized dolls and dressed them in the colorful clothes that she's now famous for. This-design experience greatly helped Tejada. She fell in love with traditional Guatemalan patterns and colors. She explained, "I'm lucky to work with traditional cloth, inspired by our culture and representing our country."
Tejada also pioneered fashion design for people with Down syndrome. She said, "It is difficult for people like me to find suitable clothes. We can be shorter or weaker. That's why I decided to design clothes that would be perfect for people with Down syndrome."
Tejada has created her brand, Down to Xjabelle. The new brand took off right away. It made it all the way to London Fashion Week. And the great designer has plans for the future as well. Tejada said, "I want people all over the world to know my designs and to know that people with Down syndrome can do what they set out to do. I want to be able to live on my own."
Fragile. Oversensitive. Glued to their phones. Is this what comes to mind when we think of the teens of this generation? While this may be true, there might be more to this generation of teens than what is generally perceived.
Never before have the lives of any generation of teens been as flooded with mobile technology and social media as the teens of this generation. The popularity of social media has led to a world in which teens have to participate in Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, or else cause the social anger of their friends, some of whom communicate primarily via those online platforms. As compared to their parents or grandparents who were likely less connected and more isolated, these teens are constantly exposed to the highlight reels（高光时刻） of many in their social circles and beyond. It is no wonder that the self-esteem and mental health of this generation's teens have taken a hit.
Moreover, the teens today are more individualistic. This is in contrast to the kampong spirit of their parents' and grandparents' days. Gone is the friendship among neighbours who are friendly with one another and quick to offer a helping hand when they see another in need. In its place, we have teens who may not even have a clue as to who lives in the unit next to theirs, much less offer a friendly no d or wave when they happen to cross paths with a neighbour.
Yet, the effects of technology on this generation of teens are not all bad. Arguably, the very connectedness that social media brings about has led to being more progressive. Logging onto platforms where people of all walks of life gather means that one is exposed to those people and their distinctive ways of life. In comparison, the parents or grandparents of this generation of teens probably did not have the same opportunity to get to know people outside of their social circles at their age, and are thus more likely to have fixed, stereotypical（刻板的） opinions of people different from them. This generation of teens, on the other hand, has the chance to use this technology to understand the variety and diversity out there.
Pretending sickness may get harder. Slipping a day off work by nervously coughing down the phone to your boss might not work. Very soon your company might be able to tell whether your symptoms are real, just from your voice.
An Indian research team tried to tell a "cold voice" from a healthy voice. Their research makes use of the fact that human speech, like any musical instrument, does not produce single frequencies of sounds. Even the best trained singers cannot hit pure notes like those from tuning forks. The dominant notes in the human voice are instead accompanied by a series of higher pitch（音高） tones.
Together these sets of notes fit into mathematical patterns called harmonics（和声）, with tones having frequencies that are multiples of the original note. For example, the pitch of the second harmonic note is twice the frequency of the main note and so on. The loudness of these harmonics in speech tends-to fa de as they proceed up the frequency scale. The team reasoned that infection with a cold might change how this decline happened.
To find out, the scientists made use of an unusual resource: recordings of the voices of 630people in Germany, 111 of whom were suffering from a cold. Each was asked to count from one to 40 and describe what they did at the weekend. They also read aloud a fable The North Wind and the Sun, which has been a popular text for speech research since 1949．By breaking down each person's speech into its spectrum（声谱） of component wavelengths, the researchers could identify the dominant frequency and the harmonics in each case. They then used machine-learning to analyse the relationships between the loudness of these harmonics and found patterns that could distinguish the cold voices from the healthy voices.
The team's diagnosis of cold voice shows a 70% accuracy. Faced with another dull Monday at the office, would you take the risk?
Radar is an electronic device that detects planes, ships, coastlines, landmarks, and even storm clouds. The name radar comes from the first letters of the words "radio direction and ranging". As the human eye uses light waves to see, radar "sees" with radio waves. Without radar, planes could not land safely in bad weather and ships could not move safely in thick fog.
In the 1800s it was discovered that radio waves could be reflected from objects. But scientists did not make great advances in radar research until the 1930s, when the world was threatened by war. It has been used widely in almost every conflict（冲突） since then.
Echoes make it possible for radar to work. When a beam of radio waves is sent out, it strikes an object and returns an echo. This echo is picked up by radar and recorded on a screen similar to television screens. On the screen an observer sees a flash and that can show the direction and distance of the object.
Airport control towers use radar to guide planes in for safe landings. Almost all large ships depend on radar to prevent collisions with icebergs or other ships. Weather forecasters "see" the size, direction, and speed of storms on radar screens. Astronomers can even use radar to measure accurately the distance from the earth to the moon. Thus, the device has helped achieve major advancements.
It guards us against possible enemy attacks. We have ballistic missile（弹道导弹）warning systems that can warn us against attacks when missiles are more than 1,000 miles away. Other radar systems can also warn us against enemy aircraft and even spying space satellites.
A．The measurement is now highly accurate.
B．Police track speeders in radar-equipped cars.
C．The device can be used in a wide range of fields.
D．It is therefore especially valuable to shippers and travelers.
E．During World War II many countries used radar effectively.
F．Today radar is used by commercial airliners and weather forecasters.
G．Strengthening national defense is one of radar's most important functions.
Sixteen years ago, I learned an important life lesson in the back of a New York City taxi cab.
I jumped in a taxi, and we 1 for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane, when, suddenly, a black 2 jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver 3 his brakes. The car slipped and nearly missed the other car! The driver of the other car 4 us and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was actually 5 .
So, I asked him, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost 6 your car." This is when my taxi driver told me about what I now call "The Law of Garbage Trucks." "Many people are like Garbage Trucks, running around full of garbage, full of 7 , full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage 8 , they need a place to dump it, and if you let them, they'll dump it on you. When that happens, don't 9 it personally. 10 , just smile, wave, and move on. You'll be 11 because you did so."
Wow! That really got me considering how often I let Garbage Trucks run right over me. And, how often do I then take their garbage and 12 it onto other people? It was that day I 13 ,"I'm not going to do it any more." Since then, I have started to see Garbage Trucks everywhere. I see the 14 they're carrying... I see them coming to drop it off. And like my Taxi Driver, I don't make it a 15 thing; I just smile, wave, and move on.
Roujiamo, also called rougamo, is one of the most popular Chinese snacks. Despite its （compare） to a hamburger, it carries far more geographical and historical meaning.
Roujiamo is （close） associated with the north-central city of Xi'an, in Shaanxi province. Since 202 BCE. Xi'an has been both the eastern terminal of the Silk Road and the capital for 13 more-or-less successive Chinese （dynasty）.
Traditionally, Roujiango mainly consists of two parts--the flatbread and the filling. The meat preparation used to make the filling for roujiamo dates back the Warring States period. The introduction into China of Central Asian-style flatbreads, like the kind used in roujiamo, in general, （owe） to Ban Chao, a Chinese general who spent over 30 years battling union of nomadic（游牧的） tribes to regain control of the farthest western reaches of China. The flatbread bun, called baijimo, takes its name from is today known as Beiji township. There exist differences between the flatbreads used to r different districts in Shaanxi. For example, the flatbread used for Tongguan roujiamo is unlike used in the Xi'an style. Tongguan roujiamo, （name） after a town that, in days long past, guarded a strategic pass roughly 120km east of Xi'an.
Despite its tasty flavor, it's risky （eat） on the go. Proper roujiamo is filled to bursting, regardless of the potential consequences for one's clothes and dry-cleaning budget.
When I was in middle school, my family moved to Seattle, where my parents started their new business--a small grocery store downstairs my house. As a girl of shy and reserved nature, I had to take a fresh start to fit into the sophisticated city life.
One sunny day, my school announced an exciting event, a talent show for the local food bank. Students were encouraged to showcase their unique talents in front of the public in the city hall on National Day. A buzz of excitement filled the school as everyone began preparing for the big day. Deep down, I felt a spark of curiosity and a desire to participate. However, my self-doubt held me back, "I don't have any special skills to share."
Days turned into weeks, and the talent show drew closer. I couldn't shake the upsetting feeling until one day Emma, one of the most popular girls in my class, came to me while I was helping in the grocery store after class. "How about singing together in the talent show?" She grinned, "I heard you singing a tune, along the way back home. I can't help following you here." Gosh, I couldn't believe my ears. Emma, with personality and popularity, acknowledged my little talent. Since Emma had the world's prettiest voice, I felt like being favoured by fortune.
"You two? The talent show for the food bank?" My mum bent towards us and her face lit up. "Abig occasion." Then a light bulb seemed to go in her head. "Why not practise right now upstairs? I bet you'll be a perfect match." Winking at us, she seemed to know we were thinking alike.
Emma and I embarked on rehearsing almost every single day after school. We brainstormed, exchanged ideas and rehearsed the scene. As the days rolled by, I was feeling pretty good about our act. But the day before the performance, Emma called that she had an acute stomachache and was not in any shape to perform.
注意：1．续写词数应为150左右；2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I was completely knocked out by the news. Finally came the big moment. |
