2020 Kids News Short Story competition
Kids News is starting its 2020 Kids News Short Story competition and wants to read all your wonderful stories. Kids News edtior Kamahl Cogdon has encouraged all kids to enter and get all their creative stories down on paper.
"Last year we received almost 2,000 entries and the stories were great," Ms Cogdon said. "We have some very creative young minds across Australia and we are looking forward to reading more of their fantastic stories this year."
How to enter
● Entry to the competition is free and open for children from Kindergarten to Year 9 studying in an Austrian school. One entry per person.
● All entrants(参赛者)must get permission(许可)from their schools and parents before entering this competition.
● Entrants can choose any topic they want.
● Entries must be submitted (提交) through the online competition form located at www.kidsnews.com.au.
● The competition starts at 9 am on Monday, May 11, 2020, and ends at 5 pm on Friday, July 3, 2020.
Age categories:
Kindergarten to Year 2: entry must be between 250 and 750 words.
Years 3-4: entry must be between 250 and 750 words.
Years 5-6: entry must be between 500 and 1,000 words.
Years 7-9: entry must be between 500 and 1,000 words.
Prizes
Winners will get the following prizes:
First prize (one for each age category)
10 copies of your winning short story published into a printed book with a personally designed cover.
Apple iPad --valued at $529
HarperCollins Book Pack--valued at $100
Second prize (one for each age category)
HarperCollins Book Pack -valued at $100
Third prize (three for each age category)
HarperCollins Book Pack--valued at $30
Several years ago, KenKeegan organized a gathering in Las Vegas, with a group of architects involved, who were asked what it would take to design a public school which used 50 percent less energy, cost much less to build and obviously improved students learning. "I think half of them fell off their chairs," Keegan says.
Keegan is in charge of the management school facilities for Clark County, Nevada, a district roughly the size of Massachusetts. By 2028, 143,000 additional students will enter the already crowded public-education system. Keegan needs 73 new schools to house them. Four architecture teams have nearly finished designing primary school prototypes. With the intention of constructing their schools in 2019, the district will assess how well the schools perform before allowing the winners to conduct their designs in 50 to 70 new buildings.
Green schools keep emerging all over, but in Clark County, which stands out for its vastness, such aggressive targets are difficult because design requirements like more natural light for students go against the realities of a desert climate. "One of the biggest obstacles is getting the right site orientation," Mark. Mc, a director at SH Architecture, says. His team recently completed a high school in Las Vegas. "You have the same building, same set of windows, but if its orientation is incorrect and it faces the sun, it will be really expensive to cool."
Surprisingly, the man responsible for one of the most progressive green-design competitions has doubts about ideas of eco-friendly buildings. "I don't believe in the new green religion," Keegan says, "Some of the building technologies that you put forward are impractical. I'm only interested in those that work." But he doesn't mind if some green features inspire students. He says he hopes to set up green energy systems that allow them to learn about the process of harvesting wind and solar power. "You never know what's going to start the interest of a child to study math and science," he says.
Chinese Culture Shown to the World with Love Li Ziqi, a short video blogger specializing in traditional Chinese cooking and handicrafts has gained worldwide popularity.
Li has about 20 million followers on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter，plus 7 million followers on overseas social media networks. Many foreigners say they have got to know traditional Chinese food culture via her channel.
It is the spirit of craftsmanship (技艺) behind her works that makes Li's video clips attractive. She strictly follows the authentic traditional steps and procedures in making traditional Chinese food and handicrafts, such as peach flower wine and silk, and goes to great lengths to ensure her videos are accurate. Sometimes she spends several months producing one of her videos.
Li has been inheriting (继承) traditional Chinese culture in a rather creative way. A closer look at her videos will show that they are never with any "analysis" that makes people feel bored. They just show the audience each and every detail of traditional Chinese culture so that the latter knows how Chinese live their beautiful and elegant lives. It is that universal appeal that makes her works so attractive. Thanks to Li's efforts, many intangible cultural heritages that only existed in memories and written records now appear before our eyes. Via her short videos, Li presents the image of a beautiful and friendly China.
With the growth of the Chinese economy, people overseas are showing more interest in traditional Chinese culture. Li has shown how to satisfy that interest in a good way, namely showing the best parts of traditional Chinese culture with her heart.
To effectively present the beauty of Chinese culture to the world, we need more Li Zigi.
We lead very busy lives and we too easily forget how hard it was for us to focus on homework when we were in school. Now that we have jobs to do, food to buy and cook and other errands(差事) to run, even I sometimes think it would be a welcome change to have to sit down and quietly read and write with no distractions. But, in case you don't remember - homework is pretty much every child's least favorite thing to do. In the age of Netflix, Snapchat and wifi, the distractions are almost endless. It can sometimes almost be too hard to even keep up with all the new tech advances our kids are using, so how can we make sure that those advances take a back seat to our children's education? Here are some ideas.
There's no point in stopping the reality that young people are going to focus on their phones and tablets instead of other things at times. Your best way is to accept, actually the tech sector continues to be the most profitable and fast-growing industries and that's unlikely to change fast. There are ways to use technology to help your kid do homework. Ask your teacher and school staff what apps and websites they're using to teach lessons and supplements(补充) them with at-home activities as well.
Even though technology has changed, the basics haven't. If you want to read, write and think properly, you need to have peace and quiet and the ability to focus, right? Well, your kids are just the same.Try and find a space in your home to enable your kids to do work away from televisions, the Internet or other distractions. Let me be clear: this shouldn't be a prison.I feel like I'm my most productive working alone in an office or at a busy cafe with my headphones on. Getting lost in other realities helps my creativity grow. Placing kids in isolation(独处) can often have a harmful effect and doesn't always equal being more productive.
I feel like "getting engaged(参与)" is always a big part of my advice for parents on just about everything. How can you make sure your children are being successful if you have no idea what they're doing? How can you be sure they're doing it right if you don't know what is the correct answer? What do they need? You should be in touch with their teachers, have a sense of where the lessons are going, what kinds of tasks are being given and what success looks like in the classroom.
Knowing all of that is key to your child's success, especially when matched with some encouraging praise and helpful tips on how he can keep going. Thinking about how your child is best motivated(激励) by other things and using those methods here reasonably isn't a bad idea.
And if by chance you're having trouble solving that Math problems or understanding a sentence, don't fear – you're not alone. Use the school staff, other parents or friends as your support. Better to seek help than do nothing.
We all know that homework isn't exactly the most entertaining way anyone spends their time. And sometimes we can't help but feel that since we left school, we're done with homework forever. But the circle of life plays out in all times and it's up to us to make sure that we pass on the lessons we've picked up and that while homework might seem dull, it's how we build skills, learn real lessons and get on the road to greatness. That greatness is on the inside, it's up to us as adults to enable the young people to bring it out. The key to achieving greatness is to take a lifelong learning.
Here's the scenario(场景): You've got an article to write on an interesting topic. You have more than enough time to meet your deadline and an editor lined up to perfect your words. There's one big problem, though. The words won't come. You've got writer's block. And your deadline, which seemed generous at first, is starting to close in on you. Every writer has been there. What can you do about it?
Science says that's when writers are most creative and least likely to be distracted. But when you're completely stuck, going straight into writing first thing in the morning might not work. Why not start your day with something you're excited about? It'll be more fun and make you feel productive.
Smoothly as the morning unfolds, writer's block may linger(逗留). While faced with it, we find the best approach is to break your task up into chunks. With this one little step, you've accomplished something and you're one step closer to meeting that deadline. Then, do some reading, make a list of any ideas you find interesting, and use your list to create a rough outline. The draft may still need some polishing, but you're most of the wav there now!
Besides, writing is more than putting words on paper. It's also about thinking. You should feel free to walk away when you need to have some quality "thinking time". If you use these breaks to do something productive, you won't think of it as time wasted. You'll get fresh air and exercise—which are both known to be good for creativity—and your colleagues will thank you.
A. Take a walk outside with a pen and paper.
B. You've been staring at a blank page for days.
C. That can help to reduce the difficulty of writing.
D. Here's an idea: offer a coffee run for your colleagues.
E.Start with something small, like creating a new folder.
F.Writers are often told they should write early in the morning.
G.Turn it into sentences and paragraphs and you'll have a draft.
Juan Manuel Ballestero was a 47-year-old sailing enthusiast, who currently lived in Porto Santo, Portugal. When the COVID-19 pandemic (流行病) outbreak started to take its hold, Ballestero began to 1 across the Atlantic 10 reach his 90-year-old dad in the middle of March.
"I didn't want to 2 like a coward (懦弱的人) on an island where there were no 3, Ballestero said. "My father is 90 years old and I'm 4 his health, especially during the pandemic."
The journey wasn't without any trouble. Although he'd 5 necessities and fuel before leaving the Portuguese island in his boat, he 6 to make a stop at Cape Verde in mid-April to pick up more supplies and fuel. 7, authorities in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean refused his request to dock (停靠). So, the 8 sailor carried on his journey in hopes that he'd get to see his dad, unsure of what to 9 as the world battled with the pandemic. He said, "The love for my father kept me 10 in these situations. I learned about myself; this voyage gave me lots of 11 He finally reached the port of his 12 Mar del Plata and was able to 13 his 90-year-old father after his COVID-19 test 14 came back negative (阴性的)— just in time for Father's Day.
Ballestero proves how the love for his father has no 15 even in such a difficult time.
During the teenage years, many young people can at times be difficult to talk to. They often seem(dislike) being questioned. They may be(willing) to talk about their work in school. This is a normal(develop) at this age, though it can be very hard for parents to understand. It is part of (become) independent. They try to be adult while they are sill growing up. Young people are usually more willing to talk if they believe that questions (ask) out of real interest and not because people are trying to check up on them.
Parents should do their best to talk to their sons and daughterstheir schoolwork and future plan should not push them to talk if they don't want to. As they try to be adult, (teenager) may experiment with drugs, alcohol or smoking, so parents should(careful) watch for any sign of unusual behaviormay be connected with these and get help if necessary.
It was a rainy November morning. Overcome with anger I knew if I didn't leave the house soon I would lose my temper with my husband, Joe. As rain came down in sheets, Joe offered to take me to work. I struggled into my jacket, seized my bag and teaching plans and ignored him.
He insisted and reached for his boots. I looked at the piles of newspapers and the dirty dishes still on the table. "Don't you have enough to do？I can take care of myself." I stormed out, not even kissing him good-bye. Joe shouted after me not to take the shortcut.
Joe and I had been eagerly looking forward to our retirement when heart a attack that past spring forced him to leave his job earlier than we had planned. As the medical bills mounted we realized I would have to continue working full-time while Joe stayed home and took over the housework.
The new arrangement was a disaster. Exhausted after a day of full work, all I wanted was hot homecooked meal and a good night's sleep. However, what greeted me at the table was a microwave package. Sometimes he would serve oatmeal for several nights in a row. One night when I dragged myself to bed, I was terrified to discover Joe had turned our white sheets blue: He told me he had found out how to save on water, soap and electricity. He patted his blue trousers and announced proudly washing everything together was just the secret.
Ten minutes later, ignoring Joe's warning I turned off the main route. I thought it hadn't rained enough to flood the road, but as I rounded the corner water rushed across my path. After a few feet, the car got stuck. I opened the door and water poured in. I hurriedly closed the door. I couldn't risk walking in this. Almost 20 minutes passed. The car began to shake. I got frightened to death when I heard three long honks.
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
Looking over my shoulder, I stared into the flashing lights of a truck.
Paragraph 2:
I screamed that I couldn't make it.
