1 . 4 WRITING COMPETITIONS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Calling all high school student writers! If you’re looking for scholarships or ways to support your future education, look no further than writing competitions.
Below are 4 writing competitions for high school students. Check them now!
Scholastic Writing Awards
The Scholastic Writing Awards celebrate was created by students aged 13 and older in grades 7 through 12 across the country. You can submit(提交) all kinds of writing works, including science fiction, humor, short plays, and more.
Gold medal winners can earn a $10,000 scholarship, and silver medal winners can earn a$1,000 scholarship. The fee to apply is $7 for a single entry.
Young Lions Fiction Award
To apply for this award, any writer aged 35 or younger may submit a novel or collection of short stories. Each year, a group of experts including Young Lions members, writers, and librarians select the winner.
The winner of this award will receive a $11.000 scholarship.
NSHSS Creative Writing Scholarship
High school students of all ages can have access to this creative writing scholarship. Students can submit works (that have not been published before)in one or both categories (类别): poetry and fiction.
A prize of $2,000 ill be awarded to one student winner in each category.
We the Students Essay Competitions
This competition asks students to answer the question, “What are the important qualities of a citizen in your community in 21st century America?” in an essay between 500 and 800 words. Students must be US citizens between the ages of 14 and 19 to apply.
One national winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize and six runners-up will receive $1,250 each.
1. If you have created a short play, which competition is suitable for you to enter?| A．Scholastic Writing Awards. | B．Young Lions Fiction Award. |
| C．NSHSS Creative Writing Scholarship. | D．We the Students Essay Competition. |
| A．Scholastic Writing Awards. | B．Young Lions Fiction Award. |
| C．NSHSS Creative Writing Scholarship. | D．We the Students Essay Competition. |
| A．A club’s poster. | B．A teaching plan. | C．A school’s website. | D．A principal’s speech. |
China’s women’s basketball team was beaten by the United States in the final of the FIBA World Cup in Sydney. The silver medals that the Chinese were left with still represented their country’s best finish in the global showpiece in 28 years. Not since 1994 – in a tournament (锦标赛) held, like this one, in Australia – had they won a medal of any colour.
At the World Cup, China played a total of eight matches, winning six of them. They entered the final of a major international competition for the first time in almost three decades, before losing to defending champions the United States to finish runners-up for the second time in history.
China’s performance at the tournament received much attention from Chinese people both at home and abroad, especially as the final fell on the country’s National Day. Chinese flags were waved and the national anthem (国歌) was sung in the stadium, giving people a feeling that the team was playing on their home court.
Although losing the game, the team was met with praise and encouragement from Chinese netizens as people have walked away from a “medal-oriented” mentality, and started to accept more the spirit of sportsmanship and “perform your best” spirit. Many Chinese netizens said they were proud of the players for trying their best and fighting until the last minutes which showed the true sportsmanship. The mental strength and quality of the Chinese women’s basketball team are even more valuable than being the runner-up in the World Cup, they said. The Chinese women’s basketball team is already the champion in our hearts, commented an internet user.
“We should admit the gap in the strength between the two teams. However, the women basketball players have presented an exciting game, playing good defense and never hesitating to attack. I am so proud of them, and it is special our National Day.” said one Weibo user.
1. What makes this final most impressive?| A．Winning the six matches as a whole. |
| B．Entering the final competition of all time. |
| C．Meeting with our country’s National Day. |
| D．Receiving much attention home and abroad. |
| A．Surprised and upset. | B．Excited and inspired. |
| C．Annoyed and grateful. | D．Encouraged and curious. |
| A．The team won the silver medals after 28 years. |
| B．The match received amounts of attention globally. |
| C．China’s women’s basketball team entered the final. |
| D．Chinese flags and anthem sprang up in the stadium. |
| A．Our country’s National Day. | B．Our gratitude to the coach. |
| C．The FIBA World Cup history. | D．A special gift for the National Day. |
3 . Over the weekend, social media was excited about a heart-stopping gymnastic routine and we have UCLA athlete Katelyn Ohashi to thank. The routine itself is only ninety seconds long, but the 21-year-old athlete jumped, flipped, turned, and showed off her incredible talent across the floor to a combination of R&B and soul music. Ohashi earned a well-deserved perfect 10 from the judges and her performance eventually led the UCLA to victory at the end of the competition.
But the best part? This isn’t the first time she’s gone viral — it’s the second time in a year she’s achieved eye-catching fame, and it’s for good reason. At the 2018 Pac 12 Championships, Ohashi performed an awesome floor routine set to a combination of Michael Jackson’s hits.
Ohashi exudes (流露) joy in her performances, and she’s not afraid to smile widely when she knows she’s done well. It’s acceptable, because it’s clear she’s having fun, a rare sight in the field of professional sports. Born in Seattle, Ohashi did four years on the USA Gymnastic’s junior national team, and won the 2013 American Cup. But behind the scenes, things weren’t so great.
Ohashi was under intense pressure competing at the elite (精英) level. Fans told her she wasn’t good enough, and she was under pressure to be thin. Ultimately, she decided to walk away from elite gymnastics to become a college athlete. She underwent surgery for a broken back and two torn shoulders in 2014. These injuries kept her away from the sport until 2015 when she joined the UCLA Bruins gymnastics team for the 2015–16 season.
“There was a time when I was on top of the world, an Olympic hopeful. I was unbeatable until I wasn’t,” Ohashi said. “It hurt. But it also took me finding Ms. Val and the UCLA and having a different goal and path to follow, to finally find joy and love within the sport again, which I haven’t been able to feel in a long time.”
1. Which is closest in meaning to the phrase “gone viral” underlined in paragraph 2?| A．Become popular. | B．Appear suddenly. |
| C．Change surprisingly. | D．Succeed unexpectedly. |
| A．She was little-known until recently. |
| B．Her gymnastic skills improved in the UCLA. |
| C．She won her first victory in the UCLA. |
| D．Her gymnastic career wasn’t always full of joy. |
| A．Regretful. | B．Appreciative. | C．Humorous. | D．Confused. |
| A．Regain self-confidence |
| B．Battle against ill remarks |
| C．Go beyond physical limits |
| D．Rediscover joy of gymnastics |
Thin, average, and undisciplined, I was the underdog of the boys’ basketball tryouts (选拔赛) in seventh grade. Making the team was very important to me. Although I was extremely nervous, I truly thought I would make the team. But I went in overly optimistic, and quickly faced a cruel reality check.
When on the court, I huffed and puffed like an old man on his last legs; clearly, I was out of shape and having trouble keeping up. When it hit me that this was only the first day, and that there was a second to follow, I realized I would have to step it up in order to gain a spot on the team.
Unfortunately, day two went exactly like day one: I missed shots, passed badly like an out-of-breath fool. Hoping the coach was not watching all my bad moves, I had trouble keeping a positive attitude. Finally, Coach-who at five-foot-four usually seemed small, posted the lists of the Boys A and B Teams. Everybody quickly ran to catch a glimpse of the chosen few.
After scanning the list once, twice, three times, my name was nowhere. Although I had predicted the disaster that had now settled on me, with my head hanging. I slowly walked to the car. This experience definitely had not gone as I planned.
On the way home, I complained “How could that foolish boy is a better choice than me? And…”
“Adam!” my mom cut me off. “Why don’t you realize maybe you need a little more practice? You’d better go to basketball camps next summer.”
Although I did not want to believe her, I knew it was true. Failing to make the team was nobody’s fault but mine. Right then and there, in the middle of my anger, I realized I had to get my act together.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右：
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
Then I threw myself into as many basketball opportunities as I could find.
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Paragraph 2:
When I took part in the eighth-grade basketball tryouts,I was moderate,swift and strong.
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5 . As we age, even if we’re healthy, the heart just isn’t as efficient in processing oxygen as it used to be. In most people the first signs show up in their 50s or early 60s. And among people who don’t exercise, the changes can start even sooner.
“Think of a rubber band. In the beginning, it is flexible, but put it in a drawer for 20 years and it will become dry and easily broken,” says Dr. Ben Levine, a heart specialist at the University of Texas. That’s what happens to the heart. Fortunately for those in midlife, Levine is finding that even if you haven’t been an enthusiastic exerciser, getting in shape now may help improve your aging heart.
Levine and his research team selected volunteers aged between 45 and 64 who did not exercise much but were otherwise healthy. Participants were randomly divided into two groups. The first group participated in a program of nonaerobic (无氧) exercise—balance training and weight training—three times a week. The second group did high-intensity aerobic exercise under the guidance of a trainer for four or more days a week. After two years, the second group saw remarkable improvements in heart health.
“We took these 50-year-old hearts and turned the clock back to 30-or 35-year-old hearts,” says Levine. “And the reason they got so much stronger and fitter was that their hearts could now fill a lot better and pump (泵送) a lot more blood during exercise.” But the hearts of those who participated in less intense exercise didn’t change, he says.
“The sweet spot in life to start exercising, if you haven’t already, is in late middle age when the heart still has flexibility,” Levine says. “We put healthy 70-year-olds through a yearlong exercise training program, and nothing happened to them at all.”
Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association, says Levine’s findings are a great start. But the study was small and needs to be repeated with far larger groups of people to determine exactly which aspects of an exercise routine make the biggest difference.
1. What does Levine want to explain by mentioning the rubber band?| A．The right way of exercising. | B．The causes of a heart attack. |
| C．The difficulty of keeping fit. | D．The aging process of the heart. |
| A．Diet plan. | B．Professional background. |
| C．Exercise type. | D．Previous physical condition. |
| A．Middle-aged hearts get younger with aerobic exercise. |
| B．High-intensity exercise is more suitable for the young. |
| C．It is never too late for people to start taking exercise. |
| D．The more exercise we do, the stronger our hearts get. |
| A．Making use of the findings. | B．Interviewing the study participants. |
| C．Conducting further research. | D．Clarifying the purpose of the study. |
China beat South Korea 3-2 in the
Winning the championship for the ninth time 16 years later, the team beat twice-defending champions Japan 4-3 in a penalty shootout and entered the final, for
Media reported that head coach Shui Qingxia said at a press conference before the game that “the whole team is adjusting physically and mentally in preparation for
They
7 . Columbia high school girls’ soccer team had lost every game in the season until a new
Stuart Henley, a former soccer player and now a truck driver,
Obviously, the girls were onto something big in the new season. They
“Whatever brings you down will
| A．player | B．driver | C．colleague | D．coach |
| A．recognized | B．rewarded | C．reorganized | D．founded |
| A．applied | B．preferred | C．credited | D．adjusted |
| A．shooting | B．cheering | C．walking | D．observing |
| A．principle | B．dream | C．plan | D．virtue |
| A．found | B．decided | C．watched | D．liked |
| A．turned | B．divided | C．integrated | D．translated |
| A．styles | B．training | C．rules | D．game |
| A．embarrassing | B．unlucky | C．intense | D．unbeaten |
| A．awarded | B．denied | C．saved | D．limited |
| A．promotion | B．approach | C．solution | D．contribution |
| A．hopefully | B．officially | C．fortunately | D．eventually |
| A．brought | B．taught | C．left | D．reserved |
| A．participants | B．winners | C．opponents | D．partners |
| A．harmony | B．victory | C．company | D．dignity |
8 . The benefits of regular exercise are well documented but there’s a new bonus to add to the ever-growing list. New researchers found that middle-aged women who were physically fit could be nearly 90 percent less likely to develop dementia in later life, and as they did, it came on a decade later than less sporty women.
Lead researcher Dr. Helena Horder, of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said : "These findings are exciting because it’s possible that improving people's cardiovascular （心血管的）fitness in middle age could delay or even prevent them from developing dementia. "
For the study, 191 women with an average age of 50 took a bicycle exercise test until they were exhausted to measure their peak （最大值的） cardiovascular capacity. The average peak workload was measured at 103 watts.
A total of 40 women met the criteria for a high fitness level, or 120 watts or higher. A total of 92 women were in the medium fitness category; and 59 women were in the low fitness category, defined as a peak workload of 80 watts or less, or having their exercise tests stopped because of high blood pressure, chest pain or other cardiovascular problems.
These women were then tested for dementia six times over the following four decades. During that time, 44 of the women developed dementia. Five percent of the highly fit women developed dementia, compared to 25 percent of the women with medium fitness and 32 percent of the women with low fitness.
"However, this study does not show cause and effect between cardiovascular fitness and dementia, it only shows an association. More research is needed to see if improved fitness could have a positive effect on the risk of dementia and also to look at when during a lifetime a high fitness level is most important. " She also admitted that a relatively small number of women were studied, all of whom were form Sweden, so the results might not be applicable to other groups.
1. What is on the ever-growing list mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．Positive effects of doing exercises. |
| B．Exercises suitable for the middle-aged. |
| C．Experimental studies on diseases. |
| D．Advantages of sporty woman over man |
| A．To predict their maximum heart rate. |
| B．To assess their cardiovascular capacity |
| C．To change their habits of working out |
| D．To detect their potential health problems |
| A．It aimed to find a cure for dementia. |
| B．Data collection was a lengthy process. |
| C．Some participants withdrew from it. |
| D．The results were far from satisfactory. |
| A．More Women Are Exercising to Prevent Dementia |
| B．Middle-Aged Women Need to Do More Exercise |
| C．Fit Women Are Less Likely to Develop Dementia |
| D．Biking Improves Women's Cardiovascular Fitness |
98-year-old Zhang Hexian, better known as “Kung Fu Grandma”, has impressed Internet users
It wasn’t just Zhang Hexian
Internet users have expressed their respect for the “Kung Fu Grandma” and praised her for being so
10 . Once Popular Sports in Ancient Capital Xi'an
The ancient capital Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi province is holding the National Games. As the capital of 13 dynasties throughout Chinese history, the ancient city has never been far from sports. Starting from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, the city has held many sports events.
Cuju: Origin of modern soccer
Cuju was an ancient Chinese competitive game involving kicking a ball through an opening into a net. As the ancestor of soccer, it first appeared in the renowned ancient Chinese historical work Zhan Guo Ce（“Strategies of the Warring States”）, which describedCuju as a form of entertainment among the general public. Later, cuju was commonly played in the army for military training purposes, during the Han Dynasty.
Jiaodi: Chinese-style wrestling
Sumo, known as Japan's “national sport”, actually started in ancient China. Sumo was called jiaodi or jiaoli in ancient times. Ancient jiaodi,a Chinese-style wrestling, was performed by athletes wearing ox horns and wrestling with each other imitating wild oxen. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, jiaodi was highly favored by emperors. In the Tang Dynasty, jiaodi was part of military training and a kind of entrainment and athletic sports.
Jiju: Ancient polo
Jiju is a sport which uses a stick to hit balls while riding on a horse, pretty similar to modern polo. It was popular in the royal court and among common people in the Tang Dynasty. There were many fields for playing polo in the court and it was also a major military training program in the army. In the Tang Dynasty capital, there were formal polo courts, such as the stadium pavilion in Chang' an palace.
Archery
During ancient times, the origin of archery was closely related with hunting and defense. Ancient archery was not only an athletic event,a military training program, and an entertainment activity, but also part of education. As early as in Zhou Dynasty, the archery was listed as one of the six practical disciplines, also called the Six Arts, becoming an important and competitive form.
1. Which was popular in the army during the Han Dynasty?| A．Cuju. | B．Jiaodi. |
| C．Jiju. | D．Archery. |
| A．Only by riding a horse. |
| B．By hitting balls wearing ox horns. |
| C．By kicking a ball through an opening into a net. |
| D．By hitting balls while riding on a horse with a stick. |
| A．They were only for entertainment. |
| B．They all disappeared late gradually. |
| C．They were military training programs. |
| D．They all originated from Han Dynasty. |
