Write a winning story!

       You could win ￡1,000 in this year’s Fiction Prize and have your story printed in Keep Writing magazine. Ten other lucky people will win a cheque for ￡100.

       Once again, we need people who can write good stories. The judges, who include Mary Littlejohn, the novelist, Michael Brown, the television reporter, and Susan Hitchins, the editor of Keep Writing, are looking for interesting and original stories. Detective fiction was extremely popular last year, although the competition winner produced a love story. You can write down about whatever you want but here’s some advice to start your thinking:

       Write about what you know

       This is the advice which every writer should pay attention to and, last year, nearly everyone who wrote for us did exactly that. Love, family, problems with friends ---- these were the main subjects of the stories. However, you need to turn ordinary situations into something interesting that people will want to read about. Make the reader want to continue reading by writing about ordinary things in a new and surprising way.

       Get your facts right

       It’s no good giving a description of a town or explaining how a jet engine works if you get it wrong. So avoid writing anything unless you’re certain about it.

       Hold the reader’s attention

       Make the beginning interesting and the ending a surprise. There is nothing worse than a poor ending. Develop the story carefully and try to think of something unusual happening at the end.

       Think about the characters

       Try to bring the people in your story alive for the reader by using well-chosen words to make them seem real.

       Your story must be your own work, between 2,000 and 2,5000 words and typed, double-spaced, on one side only of each sheet of paper.

       Even if you’re in danger of missing the closing date, we are unable to accept stories by fax or email. You must include the application form with your story. Unfortunately your story cannot be returned, nor can we discuss our decisions.

       You should not have had any fiction printed in any magazine or book in this country ---- a change in the rules by popular request ---- and the story must not have happened in print or in recorded form, for example on radio or TV, anywhere in the world.

       Your fee of ￡5 will go to the Writers’ Association. Make your cheque payable to Keep Writing and send it with the application form and your story to:

       Keep Writing

       75 Broad Street Birmingham

       B12 4TG

       The closing date is 30 July and we will inform the winner within one month of this date. Please note that if you win, you must agree to have your story printed in our magazine.

1.How should writers deal with ordinary situations while writing?

A. They should make them appealing to readers.  

B. They should copy others’ ideas.

C. They should change some facts to make them interesting. 

D. They should describe them as they are.

2.What shouldn’t a writer do?

 A. Making the contents interesting. 

B. Getting the facts right.

C. Meeting the deadline. 

D. Making the end ordinary.

3.Writers should present their works in the following ways except that ____________.

A. they should write originally

B. they can type their stories as they like

C. they should follow some rules

D. they should hand in their stories in time

4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Late stories can be faxed if necessary.                            

B. Entry needs no fee.

C. Winners can have their stories printed in other magazines.  

D. All stories should be presented by mail

New Annotated Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Price: ￡28.00

Publication Date: 30/11/2006

Publisher’s description:

Collect Doyle’s fifty-six classic short stories, arranged in the order in which they appeared in late-nineteenth-and-early-twentieth-century book editions, in a set complemented by four novels, editor biographies of Doyle, Holmes, and Watson as well as literary and cultural details about Victorian society.

Breaking Ground by Daniel Libeskind

Price: ￡16.00

Publication Date:11/10/2006

Brief description:

This is a book about the adventure life that can offer each of us if we seize it, and about the powerful forces of tragedy, memory and hope. For Daniel Libeskind, life’s adventure has been through architecture, which he has found has the power to reshape human experience. Although often relating to the past, his buildings are about the future. This biology of one man’s journey brings together history, personal experience, our physical environment and a fresh international vision.

In the Shadow of No Towers by Art Spiegelman

Price: ￡16.00

Publication Date:02/09/2006

Brief description:

On 11^th September 2001, Art Spiegelman raced to the world Trade Center, not knowing if his daughter Nadja was alive or dead. Once she was found safe---in her school at the foot of the burning towers---he returned home, to mediate(反省) on the trauma(创伤), and to work on a comic strip(连环漫画). In the Shadow of No Towers is New Yorker Art Spiegelman’s extraordinary account of “the hijacking(劫机) on 9.11 and the following hijacking of those events” by America.

Light on Snow by Anita Shreve

Price: ￡14.00

Publication Date:07/10/2006

Publisher’s description:

This is the 11^th novel by Anita Shreve, the critically accepted bestseller. A moving story of love and courage and tragedy and of the ways in which the human heart always seeks to heal itself.

Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

Price: ￡20.99

Publication Date:11/08/2006

Brief description:

Camping in the garden, riding bikes through the woods, climbing trees, picking wildflowers, running through piles of autumn leaves… these are the things childhood memories are made of. But for a whole generation of today’s children the pleasures of a free-range childhood are missing, and their indoor habits contribute to obesity, attention disorder and childhood depression. This book shows how our children have become increasingly distanced from nature, why this matters and how we can make a difference. Richard Louv is chairman of the Children and Nature Network and co-chair of the National Forum on Children and Nature. He is the author of seven other books and has written for newspapers and magazines including the New York Times and the Washington Post.

1.Who is the writer of the latest book published among the four books?

A．Arthur Conan Doyle                     B．Daniel Libeskind

C．Art Spiegelman                         D．Anita Shreve

2.If one wants to know something about Victorian society, he or she may read____.

A．Light on Snow                          B．In the Shadow of No Towers

C．Breaking Ground                        D．New Annotated Sherlock Holmes

3.Which of the following refers to tragedies?

A．Light on Snow　＆　Breaking Ground

B．Light on Snow ＆　In the Shadow of No Towers

C．In the Shadow of No Towers ＆　Breaking Ground

D．New Annotated Sherlock Holmes　＆　In the Shadow of No Towers

4.Which book is based on a real big event?

A．Breaking Ground                        B．In the Shadow of No Towers

C．Light on Snow                          D．Last Child in The Woods

5.Who has also written for newspapers and magazines according to the text?

A．Arthur Conan Doyle.                     B．Daniel Libeskind

C．Art Spiegelman                         D．Richard Louv

Astronauts on shorter shuttle missions often work very long days. Tasks are scheduled so tightly that break times are often used to finish the day's work. This type of schedule is far too demanding for long missions on the International Space Station (ISS). ISS crewmembers usually live in space for at least a quarter of a year. They work five days on and two days off to mimic the normal way they do things on Earth as much as possible. Weekends give the crew valuable time to rest and do a few hours of housework. They can communicate with family and friends by email, internet phone and through private video conferences.

While astronauts cannot go to a baseball game or a movie in orbit, there are many familiar activities that they can still enjoy. Before a mission, the family and friends of each ISS crewmember put together a collection of family photos, messages, videos and reading material for the astronauts to look at when they will be floating 370 kilometers above the Earth. During their mission, the crew also receives care packages with CDs, books, magazines, photos and letters. And as from early 2010, the internet became available on the ISS, giving astronauts the chance to do some "web surfing" in their personal time. Besides relaxing with these more common entertainments, astronauts can simply enjoy the experience of living in space.

Many astronauts say that one of the most relaxing things to do in space is to look out the window and stare at the universe and the Earth. Both the shuttle and the ISS circle the planet several times each day, and every moment offers a new view of the Earth's vast land mass and oceans.

1.What does the word "mimic" in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A．copy             B．find              C．change           D．lose

2.Which of the following best describes the families of the astronauts on the ISS?

A．They are impatient and annoyed.           B．They are worried and upset.

C．They are caring and thoughtful.             D．They are excited and curious.

3.In the final paragraph, the author shows that astronauts ________.

A．love to see the Earth from space            B．find living in space a bit boring and tiring

C．regard space life as common               D．get more pleasure in space than on the Earth

4.The passage mainly discusses how astronauts ________.

A．work for longer missions in space           B．spend their free time in space

C．observe the Earth from space              D．connect with people on the Earth

When the lazy days of summer arrive and the schedule is filled with swimming，camp，and family vacations，it can be a challenge to find time for learning. But kids’ reading skills don’t have to grow cold once school’s out. Here are some ways to make reading a natural part of their summer fun：

Explore your library. Visit your local library to borrow books and magazines that your kids haven’t seen before. Many libraries have summer reading programs, book clubs, and reading contests(比赛) for even the youngest borrowers. With a new library card，a child will feel extra grown­up by borrowing books.

Read on the road. Going on a long car trip？Make sure there are some books at the back seat. When you stop driving，read the books aloud. Get some audio books in libraries and listen to them together during driving time.

Make your own books. Pick one of your family’s favorite parts of summer—whether it’s baseball，ice cream, or the pool—and have your child draw pictures of it or cut out pictures from magazines. Stick(粘贴) the pictures onto paper to make a booklet(小册子)and write text for it. When you’re done，read the book together. Reread it whenever you like!

Keep in touch. Kids don’t have to go away to write about summer vacation. Even if your family stays home，they can send postcards to tell friends and relatives about their adventures(冒险经历). Ask a relative to be your child’s pen pal and encourage them to write each week.

Keep up the reading habits. Even if everything else changes during the summer，keep up the reading habits around your house. Read with your kids every day—whether it’s just before bedtime or under a shady tree on a lazy afternoon. And don’t forget to take a book to the beach！Just brush the sand off the pages — it’s no sweat!

1. The purpose of the passage is to________.

A. encourage parents to read

B. give advice on raising kids

C. raise a good summer reader

D. suggest places for vacations

2.If you drive on a long trip in summer，you can________.

A. visit the local library and join book clubs

B. borrow some audio books to listen to

C. keep in touch with friends by sending postcards

D. read your own picture books with your son

3.By saying “Just brush the sand off the pages—it’s no sweat”，the author means________.

A. taking away the sand on the book is very difficult

B. a special book is needed when you’re reading on the beach

C. one can remove the sand on the book with a brush easily

D. there’s no trouble reading even on the beach

4.Who are the possible readers of the passage?

A. Parents.                         B. Students.                                 C. Teachers.                       D. Editors.

5.Which statement(阐述) is true according to the text?

A. During summer vocation, kids’ reading skills must grow cold.

B. Kids have to go away to write about summer vacation.

C. With a library card，a child will feel extra grown­up by borrowing books.

D. Because everything else changes during the summer，it is hard to keep up the reading habits.

Rosa liked making up stories. She was so __1__ that her classmates believed her from time to time. In fact, the whole class believed her! At first she supposed it was __2__. Now, as she got up to __3__ before the class, She knew that make –believe stories had some way of coming back to make you sad.

Rosa’s parents were separated. Nine months out of the year, Rosa lived with her mother in an apartment on Anderson Street. But when summer __4__, she went to her father’s farm in Arizona.

The farm was great! Rosa rode horses and __5__ with some farm work. Her father, however, was so __6__ that he couldn’t find time to go places with her. When she arrived each summer, her father would __7__ her at the airport and take her out to eat. And the day she went back to the __8__ he would always buy her a present.

When summer came to a close, Rosa __9__ to her mother. At school she heard lots of stories her friends told about their family trips. Rosa wished she had a __10__ to talk about.

Not long after __11__ began, Rosa was looking through travel magazines in the school library. They talked about many exciting __12__, like England and Germany. When Rosa’s friends asked what she had done that summer, she made up something that was not __13__. Remembering the travel magazines she had looked at, she told her classmates that she and her father had gone to __14__.

When the class began studying England, Mr. Thomas asked Rosa to tell all the things she could __15__ about her trip to England!

1.                A．afraid          B．worried         C．sure D．happy

2.                A．joke           B．fun            C．turn D．game

3.                A．talk            B．teach           C．show D．travel

4.                A．passed         B．arrived         C．lasted    D．changed

5.                A．made          B．played          C．helped   D．did

6.                A．weak          B．pleased         C．busy D．lonely

7.                A．show          B．visit            C．meet D．send

8.                A．farm           B．city            C．family    D．school

9.                A．wrote          B．called          C．moved   D．returned

10.               A．family          B．school         C．teacher   D．farm

11.               A．meeting        B．school         C．summer   D．talk

12.               A．people         B．cities           C．languages D．places

13.A interesting     B. true            C. long              D. same

14.               A．England        B．Germany       C．farm D．home

15.               A．think           B．see            C．remember     D．read