How do you feel about your Chinese? Is it good or bad? If you think youare good at Chinese, you can take part in the competition named the “Chinese Characters Dictation Competition (中国汉字听写大会)”. The competition became popular among teenagers. Let's know something about it.

    More and more computers and smart phones are used by teenagers. They spend too much time onthe Internet in playing or chatting. They are used to sending messages by computers and smart phones. As a result, some teenagers forget how to writethe Chinese Characters by hand. The teachers and parents are very worried about it. What can they do?

    Not long ago, they found an interesting game called the Chinese Characters Dictation Competition. The program was similar to the American show “National Spelling Bee”. In this program, middle school students competed among themselves and wrote down the Chinese Characters by dictation. Over two hundred competitors were from forty-six middle schools. The audiences(观众) loved this new kind of competition, too. They tried to write down the Chinese Characters while the competitors were writing them. Butthey found it was also difficult for them to write down all the Chinese Characters.

    Is it an interesting competition? Can you be the winner?

    Now you've finished three years of English study. There's one way to demonstrate(展示)

    what you've learned－take a test!

    Do you have any special methods you use to help you do better on a test? How well you do is often a matter of how well prepared you are. Here are some ways to make sure you're at your best on test days.

    Go to bed early. The night before a test is not the time to stay up watching TV. You want to be rested and wide-awake for test day.

    Have a good breakfast. Test day isn't a morning for donuts(面包圈). Nor is it a time to starve(挨饿) yourself. Eat plenty of low-sugar, high-energy food to keep your brain and body working their best.

    Be prepared. Make sure you have two pencils and anything else you were asked to bring.

    Watch the numbers. Make sure that the number of the items(项目) on your answer sheet matches the number of the question.

    Look over all the answer choices. Don't assume(假定) that choice A is correct until you've checked the others. You may find a better one. And it is wrong to eliminate(排除) any choice that you can see at once. You'll have a better chance of finding the right answer.

    Check the clock. Make sure you allow yourself enough time to answer every question and go back and check your answers. Don't spend too much time on any difficult question. Skip（跳

    读） it and come back to it later.

    Keep up with your schoolwork all year long. That's  how you get the skills you need for taking a test.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Karen often worries about her bad teeth.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Bob doesn't know how to deal with the used empty bottles.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Mike is going to have a holiday. He hasn't decided where to go.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Betty would like to own a shop that sells clothes she has designed.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Maria is going to have a baby, but she doesn't know how to be a good mother.

    Who are (A)_ at science in your class, girls or boys? Nowadays, girls start to show more interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects, according to a recent study by Cambridge Occupational Analysts (COA), UK.

    In the study, last year, (B) over 20,000 students who were in their final year in high school were surveyed. The number of girls considering university courses in STEM subjects has been larger than that of boys. Over a fifth of the girls surveyed said they were considering related jobs, (C)_ engineering and technology. Interest has also risen in mechanical (机械学的) engineering, electrical engineering and the sciences.

     (D)_.In the past, there were not nearly as many women as men  (E)_ STEM subjects or working in STEM related fields. Only 13% of people who graduated from university with STEM degrees were women. Now, there are about 22%.(F) In the past, only one eighth of the STEM jobs were held by women. This was partly because of the stereotype (刻板印象) that men are more suited to this work than women. Now it has been (G)_. Over 20% of the engineers are women in the UK.

    In fact, STEM subjects are fun and exciting. Studying science can benefit (使……受益) girls. “It opens girls up to fascinating careers,” Niki Yates, manager of GSK's UK Business, told The Daily Telegraph. She says(H) it is important to encourage young women to do these jobs. They will receive higher pay in these areas. More women in work also helps the economy grow.

    A friend of mine was fond of drawing horses. He drew the horses very well, but he always began at the tail. Now it is the western rule to begin at the head of the horse. That is why I was surprised. It struck me that it could not really make any difference whether the artist begins at the head or the tail or the belly(肚子) or the foot of the horse, if he really knows his business. And most great artists who really know their business do not follow other people's rules. They make their own rules. Every one of them does his work in a way peculiar( 奇特的) to himself; and the peculiarity means that only he finds it more easy to work in that way.

    Now the very same thing is true to literature(文学). And the question," How shall I begin?" only means that you want to begin at the head instead of beginning at the tail or somewhere else. That is, you are not yet experienced(有经验的) enough to trust to your own powers. When you become more experienced you will never ask the question, and I think that you will often begin at the tail- that is to say, you will write the end of the story before you have even thought of the beginning.