1 . How to win a creative writing competition

I’ve judged a lot of competitions for young writers, and the following advice may give you the chance of winning one.

●Cut your first paragraph.

It’s amazing how many stories are improved by simply covering up the first paragraph. You may just want to warm up.     1     Well, that information is not as important as you think. It can wait.

●Keep it simple.

    2     Writers in the older age groups try to show how well they can use fancy words. The younger writers are better at telling a story. Which do you think is more important? If you’re in the older age group category, you might find it a tricky question. It isn’t.     3     All those fancy words, complicated constructions... cut them.

●    4    

If you want to write about Harry Potter, or a footballer or celebrity, adjust it. Change the name. Change the situation. Make your own character and try exaggerating an aspect of the personality to make your point striking.

●Write an ending.

The great film director Alexander Mackendrick said, “If you’ve got a beginning, but you don’t yet have an end, then you’re wrong.” I suggest you come up with your ending first.     5    

3 . An ancient, interdependent relationship that contributes to food systems and ecosystem stability across the globe could be changing.

Many flowering plants can self-pollinate (自花传粉), or transfer pollen between their own blossoms for seed generation and reproduction, but most of these plants have relied on pollinators such as butterflies and bees to reproduce. Now — during declines reported in many pollinator populations — a new study on the evolution of one flower species’ mating system has revealed a remarkable change that could worsen the challenges faced by the plants’ insect partners.

The flowers reproductive evolution may be linked to environmental changes such as habitat destruction and rapid ongoing decreases in pollinator biodiversity, according to Samson Acoca-Pidolle, who led the study published December 19 in the journal New Phytologist.

Comparing seeds of wild field pansies (三色堇) collected decades ago in France with the plants’ modern descendants. Acoca-Pidolle and his colleagues discovered that today’s flowers are smaller and produce less nectar (花蜜) as a result of increased self-pollination, which has direct impacts on pollinator behavior.The pansies of the past self-fertilized less and attracted far more pollinators than those of the present, according to the study.

“It seems that it’s only traits (特性) that are involved in plant-pollinator interaction that are evolving, ” said Acoca-Pidolle. The changes could restrict the plants’ ability to adapt to future environmental changes and have implications for “all of floral biodiversity” — potentially decreasing flowering plants’ genetic, species and ecosystem variation.

“This may increase the pollinator decline and cause a negative feedback cycle,” study coauthor Pierre-Olivier Cheptou told CNN.” If plants produce less nectar, there will be less food available to pollinators, which will in turn accelerate the rate at which the animals’ numbers decrease“, he explained.

“The major message is that we are currently seeing the evolutionary breakdown of plant pollinators in the wild,” said Cheptou, an evolutionary ecologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and professor at the University of Montpellier.

4 . Lord Norman Foster, renowned as one of the world’s foremost architects, has devoted decades to redefining the concept of tall buildings. “What we’ve done is create a sense of identify drawn from real needs,” Foster said. “It’s not a fashionable idea, but generated from the realities we were in.” His masterpiece includes iconic structures such as the HSBC building in Hong Kong.   Now, he’s set his sights on Qatar.

Currently nearing completion and set to reach a height of 301 meters, Foster’s Lusail Towers are ready to claim the title of Qatar’s tallest buildings. Lusail Towers are intended to serve as a center for Qatar’s financial institutions, with four distinctive blocks, two standing at 70 stories and two at 50 stories.

But the construction itself wasn’t all plain sailing. To address the unique challenges presented by Qatar’s hot climate, Foster’s team had to depart from the materials commonly used in skyscrapers in cooler countries — part of what Foster called a decades-long quest to “reinvent the tall building.” The design combines advanced shading with ventilation (通风), while the towers’ surfaces are coated with “marine-grade”aluminum (铝) that wraps around the buildings, protecting the glass from strong sunlight while maintaining the views and still letting in natural light. Central to the project are special shading fins (鳍), which not only optimize views and natural lighting for occupants but reduce solar radiation by 70% compared to traditional all-glass towers.

While the towers are ready to become a recognizable landmark for Lusail, Foster believes that a city’s skyline reflects what lies beneath the surface. It was crucial to integrate the towers into a “low-scale master plan.” They are strategically positioned on top of a subway line and at the end of a commercial avenue linking the waterfront (滨水区) to the nearby football stadium. According to Foster, the ground features of the plaza will play a significant role in the objective of transforming the area into a lively public space for the future.