Attention, please! Reporters wanted!

Do you dream of being a reporter? Are you a good writer who loves the news? If so, you may have a chance to be a winner in the TFK Kid Reporter Talent Search.

We’re looking for 12 students from around the nation to be members of the TFK Kid Reporter team for the 2020~2021 school year.

Professional reporters from Time For Kids will decide who will be the winner. In the past years, TFK Kid Reporters have:

Interviewed national leaders, famous people and other newsmakers.

Written news, stories, reviews, and opinion pieces for Time For Kids.

Learned about the news business from prize-winning reporters who work at TIMES.

Appeared on television to talk about their work.

How to Enter

To apply （申请）, visit www.timeforkids.com and complete the official entry form. Be sure to read the official rules and share them with your parents or teachers, who must sign （签名）your entry form and send it to us by email. Entry forms must be sent by July 17, 2020. You must be 14 years old or younger on September 1, 2020.

Contest （比赛）opens: 10:00 a.m. on March 14, 2020

Contest deadline（截止时间）:12:00 p.m. on July 17, 2020

All entries must follow the official rules for consideration. See contest rules on the next page.

Our new foreign students are going to arrive very soon, and here are some ways to communicate with them politely.

How close do you stand when you talk to a friend? You can stand close to people in the Middle East but don’t stand too close to North Americans! Give them more personal space. Do you know how to touch people correctly? Chinese girls often walk arm in arm with their friends. South Americans sometimes hold your arm when they talk to you, so you can’t move away! But in Britain many people don’t like other people to touch them at all.

Do you look at people when you talk? In some places, it isn’t polite to look at people when you talk, but in other countries it isn’t polite to look somewhere else. In Britain and the USA, people usually look at each other when they talk.

And how do you say goodbye? That’s easy, wave（挥手）to say goodbye. But be careful! In Greece, it’s not at all polite! In fact, it’s very rude!

When you want to buy something, do you buy it new or second-hand? These days, buying second-hand items is becoming more popular.

Second-hand items are much cheaper than new ones, so people can save money. It’s also good for the environment. In 2020, the mass(质量) of all man-made materials became greater than that of every living thing on Earth. So it’s a better choice to reuse old things.

People can even find some “extinct” (绝版的) items, or items that are no longer made. For example, some people like to buy vintage items, including clothes and accessories (饰品). These items often go back 30 years or even more. But as long as they’re in good condition, people can still use them.

Second-hand items connect people. In this way, they sometimes pass on history and stories. Here are two examples.

Zhao Kaiqi, 22, college student, Harbin, Heilongjiang

I love buying books on Deja Vu, an online second-hand trading site. It’s a good choice for students like me. I can save a lot of money. It also brings me interesting experiences that I don’t have when I buy new books. One time, I found a note in a second-hand book. Its previous (之前的) owner left the note, hoping that I would enjoy the book. It was heartwarming to read. I want to do something like that in the future.

Kate, 25, writer, London, UK

I am a big fan of vintage items. They are special. I like items from the 1950s and 1960s. Vintage items carry stories from the past. Once I bought a bracelet (手链) with the words “Rose” and “Love, Jason”inscribed on it. It made me wonder about ___▲___ . I think looking for vintage items is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It doesn’t matter how rich you are, but whether you can find an item that fits you. It’s an interesting connection.

How did the sea horse get its name? It’s not hard to guess. The top half of the fish looks like a small horse.

Sea horses live in warm ocean waters all over the world. There are 32 different kinds of sea horses. Their sizes are quite different from one inch long to about one foot long. Because their fins are small, sea horses swim very slowly. They keep safe from other fish by hiding in plants and grasses. They can also change colours to keep themselves. Sea horses feed on live food, such as tiny shrimps. A sea horse has no teeth, so it eats the shrimp whole.

A sea horse keeps the same mate for its whole life, unlike most kinds of fish. And it’s the male sea horse, not the female, which gives birth to baby sea horses. How does this happen? Baby sea horses start out as eggs, which come from the female’s body. But the female places the eggs in the male sea horse’s pouch (育儿袋). The male carries the eggs for about three weeks until they hatch (孵化).

The number of sea horses is becoming smaller. Why is this happening? Some places where sea horses once lived have been filled in to make new land. Also, many sea horses are caught and kept in aquariums (水箱) where they can’t live long. The best place for a sea horse is the ocean. There it can find a mate and bring new sea horses into the world.

I was ten when I first sat with my grandmother behind the cashier desk (收银台) in her general store.     36     I quickly learned the importance of treating customers politely.

At first, I was paid in candy.     37     I worked after school, at weekends and during holidays. My father helped me set up a bank account.     38    

When I was 12, I did such a good job that I began to sell cosmetics (化妆品). I could look customers directly in the eye. Women would ask, “What colour do you think I should wear?” I translated what they wanted into make-up ideas.     39    

The job taught me a valuable lesson: To be a successful salesperson, you need to listen.     40     Now they are no longer women purchasing cosmetics from me. Instead, they are kids who tell me which toys they would like to see designed and developed.