1 . 2023 Illustration (插画) Competition

Enter the competition most respected and admired in the industry for creativity in illustration, the Communication Arts Illustration Competition. Selected by distinguished professionals, the winning entries will be distributed worldwide in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and on commarts. com, ensuring important exposure of the creations. Each winner will receive a personalized Award of Excellence, made from solid aluminum (铝), and an award certificate. Communication Arts’s Award of Excellence is one of the most desired awards. If chosen, winning places you in the highest ranks of your profession.

What To Enter With

Any illustration first published or produced from Jan. 2022 to Jan. 2023 is fit. Entries may originate from any country. Descriptions in English are necessary for the judges to read.

Entries Can Be Submitted In The Following Formats

Digital Images: RGB images in JPG format with a maximum file size of 2 MB. GIF images may be livelier, but would be turned down, and so would the PNG ones.

Motion Entries: In MOV, MP4 or MPG format, with a maximum file size of 500 MB.

Illustration Competition Categories & Entry Fees

For more categories (advertising, self-promotion, etc.), please download the category PDF.

Late Fees

Entries must be registered no later than Jan. 13, 2023. Entries registered after that date will be charged a fee of $10 each. No entries can be registered after Jan. 27, 2023.

2 . You may think that sailing is a difficult sport, but it is really not hard to learn it. You do not need to be strong. But you need to be quick. And you need to understand a few basic rules about the wind.

First, you must ask yourself, “Where is the wind coming from? Is it coming from ahead or behind or from the side?” You must think about this all the time on the boat. The wind direction tells you what to do with the sail.

Let’s start with the wind blowing from behind. This means the wind and the boat are going in the same direction. Then you must always keep the sail outside the boat. It should be at a 90° angle to the boat. Then it will catch the wind best.

If the wind is blowing from the side, it is blowing across the boat. In this case, you must keep the sail half way outside the boat. It should be at a 45°angle to the boat. It needs to be out far enough to catch the wind, but it shouldn’t flap (摆动). It shouldn’t look like a flag on a flagpole. If it is flapping, it is probably out too far, and the boat will slow down.

Sailing against the wind is not possible. If you try, the sail will flap and the boat will stop. You may want to go in that direction. It is possible, but you can’t go in a straight line. You must go first in one direction and then in another. This is called tacking (抢风行驶). When you are tacking, you must always keep the sail inside the boat.

4 . Become a World Ride Ambassador

Are you interested in empowering women around the world through mountain biking? Interested in going on a World Ride mountain biking trip? Looking to make more connections within your local bike community? If so, World Ride is looking for YOU!

For its second year, World Ride is looking to have 20 ambassadors help us spread our mission around the world!

Each ambassador is asked to raise $600 for World Ride over the course of this year

Active on social media and/ or in your bike community and willing to recommend us to your friends, family and followers

Willing to volunteer at / organize World Ride events in your area

Be inclusive of all riders and working on creating an inclusive bike community

Ambassadors can be anyone! We are an organization whose mission is to empower women, but we encourage everyone to apply!

Discount codes (码) and prizes from our sponsors(赞助商)

Discounts and possibly goodies(好东西) from World Ride

Discount on one World Ride trip per year

A network of amazing ambassadors from around the world

Ability to meet and plan trips with other ambassadors

We're looking for people who are experienced fundraisers; in your application please include examples of what you have done before for fundraisers. Don't have experience? Have no fear! World Ride provides training to ambassadors on how to fundraise!

For fundraising this year, we set up a fundraising rewards system——the more you help us, the more you receive!

Applications are now open. The deadline for applying is February 18. Get in touch if you have questions about our ambassador program!

7 . People refer to never forgetting how to ride a bike or throw a baseball as examples of “muscle memory”, the result of a motor learning.     1     It is a phenomenon that previously trained muscles acquire strength after a period of disuse.

Previous research has shown that the changes actually persist in the muscles themselves. In one study of mice, the results suggest that after nuclei in muscle cells multiply in response to an overload of training, those extra nuclei aren’t lost during subsequent periods of inactivity. They are retained (保留), essentially waiting to be reactivated. If you fell off the fitness wagon (马车) during the pandemic, don’t be frustrated. Once you have got additional nuclei, you are banking the capacity.     2     In fact, a recent study revealed that less than eight weeks of retraining were needed to regain your former fitness. It depends on how fit you were initially, how long the layoff was, how old you are and how long you’d been exercising.

    3     It means you still have a distinct advantage when it comes to regaining your former level of fitness. And the principle applies to both resistance training and endurance training. The best way to regain your muscle memory is to start at a level below what you were accustomed to doing, and then gradually increase in terms of duration, frequency, then intensity.     4    

Ultimately, muscle memory is a payoff for all the past work you put into learning a sport.     5     You will never know how much muscle memory you may have until you start training again.

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

As we know, the 14th National Games took place in the ancient capital Xi’an in Shaanxi Province in September, 2021. As the capital of 13 dynasties throughout Chinese history, the city has never been far from sports. It     1    (hold) a lot of sports events since the Western Zhou Dynasty, among which cuju is one example.

Cuju,     2     ancient Chinese competitive game, involves kicking a ball through an opening into a net. As the ancestor of football, cuju     3    (original) appeared in the famous Chinese historical work Zhan Guo Ce,     4     described cuju as a form of entertainment among the public. Later, cuju was commonly played in the army during the Han Dynasty. Liu Che, Emperor Wu of Han, was crazy about cuju     5     would set up a cuju field wherever his army went. He used cuju as a way of     6    (train) soldiers.

The     7    (early) record of women cuju players can date back to the Han Dynasty. We can see from some paintings women with their hair     8    (tie) waving their long sleeves (袖子) when playing cuju. At that time, various skills     9    (use) in playing cuju, mainly serving entertainment purposes.

As a way of national culture     10    (protect), cuju was listed as the first batch of China’s intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) in 2006.

9 . You signed up for soccer, and played every game of the season. Sure, you’re not the best player on the team, but most days you gave it your all. Do you deserve a trophy (奖杯)?

If the decision is up to Carol Dweck, the answer would likely be no. She’s a psychology professor at Stanford University, California. She says a player doesn’t have to be the best to get a trophy. But those who receive an award should have to work for it. She suggests trophies go to the most improved player, or the one who contributed most to the team spirit, as well as to those who play the best.

Others say that there’s no harm in giving awards to all kids who play a sport, regardless of how they played or whether or not they improved.

“I think we should encourage kids’ participation in sports,” says Kenneth Barish, a psychology professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York City. “A trophy is one way to encourage kids’ efforts.”

Barish argues that when we single out only the best or even the most improved players with a trophy, we are teaching kids the wrong lesson. We are sending the message that winning is everything. “Winning is only part of the equation (等式).” Barish told TFK. “Playing sports also teaches kids about teamwork and the importance of exercise.”

There will be plenty of opportunities for kids to learn about competition as they get older, says Barish. They’ll soon realize that only one soccer team wins the World Cup and only one football team wins the Super Bowl. For now, he thinks there’s nothing wrong with letting all kids who play a sport feel like winners. That means trophies for everyone.

From my point of veiw, the trophy has to stand for something. If we give a trophy to everyone, then the award has no value. Trophies should be given for particular reasons, such as improving in a sport, which teaches kids that adults value hard work and trying out best.