Get kids excited about reading and writing.

Enter our writing and drawing contest for a chance to win great prizes. Brought to you by Reader’s digest and Weekly Reader and noted children’s author Mary Pope Osborne(The Magic Tree House series).

Prizes:

A $500 U.S. Savings Bond

A library of books (valued at $ 125)

Great LeapFrog prizes including the Tag Reading System

A certificate signed by contest judge Mary Pope Osborne

Your submissions posted on ReadersDigest. com

How to enter

Children aged 5-12 should respond in words and/or pictures to the questions, “Your favourite has jumped out of the book to spend the day with you. Tell us: What happens next?”

One winner will be chosen for each age group：

Ages 5-6：Please submit a drawing no larger than 8.5cm x11cm and an essay written in child’s own words—may be dictated to an adult – of up to 50 words. Essay must be typed or written in blue or black ink.

Ages 7-9: Please submit an essay of up to 150 words. Essay must be typed or written in blue or black ink. Drawings welcome(but optional). Must be no larger than 8.5 cm x 11cm.

Ages 10-12: Please submit an essay of up to 350 words. Essay must be typed or written in blue or black ink. Drawings welcome(but optional). Must be no larger than 8.5 cm x11cm.

Entry should be mailed along with their name, age, mailing address and e-mail address to:

Read, Write, Win! Contest

Reader’s Digest Magazine

260 Madison Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10016

All entries must be postmarked by October 31, 2016.

1.What’s the purpose of the text?

A. To persuade readers to attend the contest.

B. To give information about the contest.

C. To get kids excited about reading and writing.

D. To give kids a chance to earn money.

2.Whoever wins the contest can ______.

A. gain a total of $625 in cash B. get a library of books valued at $ 500

C. see his work on ReadersDigest.com D. win a certificate to go to library

3.What’s the difference between Ages 7-9 and Ages 10-12 in request of entry?

A. The word number of the essay. B. The color of the submission.

C. The size of the submission. D. The form of the essay.

Despite gains in recent years，women still fall behind men in some areas of math achievement，and the question of why has caused heated argument. Now，a study of first and second graders suggests what may be part of the answer：Female primary school teachers who are concerned about their own skills could be passing that along to the little girls they teach.

Young students tend to model themselves after adults of the same sex，explained Beilock，an associate professor in psychology at the University of Chicago. Little girls may learn to fear math from the women who are their earliest teachers. Beilock and her colleagues studied 52 boys and 65 girls in classes taught by 17 different teachers. Ninety percent of the US primary school teachers are women，as was all of those in this study.

Students’ math ability was not related to teachers’ math anxiety at the start of the school year，but at the end of the year，the more anxious teachers were about their own skills，the more likely their female students—but not the boys—were to agree to that “boys are good at math and girls are good at reading”．In addition，the girls who answered that way scored lower on math tests than either the classes’ boys or the girls who had not developed such a belief，the researchers found.

After seeing the results，the researchers recommended that the math requirements for obtaining a primary education teaching degree should be rethought. “If the next generation of teachers，especially primary school teachers，is going to teach their students more effectively，more care needs to be taken to develop both strong math skills and positive math attitudes in these educators,” the researchers wrote.

“Girls who grow up believing females lack math skills wind up avoiding harder math classes. It keeps girls and women out of a lot of careers，particularly in science technology,” Beilock said.

1.We can learn from the first three paragraphs that ______.

A. teachers in US primary schools are mostly females

B. the students involved in the study are starters at primary school

C. young students usually follow example of their female teachers

D. it’s true that boys do well in math while girls do well in reading

2.We can we infer from the text?

A. Beilock’s study will bring about a primary education revolution.

B. Girls’ lack of confidence in math skills affects their future jobs.

C. The performance of the students changed little during the process of the study.

D. The researchers argued that current primary school education needed improving.

3.What’s the suggested solution to the phenomenon mentioned in the text?

A. Using different approaches to excite students’ interest in math.

B. Reducing the number of situations that make teachers anxious.

C. Creating more chances for boys and girls to work together in class.

D. Improving teachers’ math skills and changing their math attitudes.

4.What’s the main idea of the text?

A. Girls may learn math anxiety from female teachers.

B. Boys are free from the math anxiety of female teachers.

C. Primary school teachers have a far-reaching influence on students.

D. Students should learn how to hold positive attitudes towards math.

The word "OK" is the most frequently spoken all-purpose expression on the planet — and it's turning 176 years old on March 23, 2015. The term was born during a 19th-century abbreviation(縮寫) craze and went on to international fame with its own hand gesture.

Last year, Henry Nass, a 64-year-old retired English teacher, a New Yorker, had spent the last few weeks handing out cards championing "Global OK Day" in advance of the coming anniversary.

"No matter where people are from they use the word 'OK,' but they don't know where it comes from," says Nass. "The problem is because it's just, you know, OK."

The word is OK, perhaps, but its history is definitely better than average. Late etymologist Allen Walker Read traced the two-letter word to 1839, when editors at the Boston Morning Post signed off on articles as “all correct” with a simple word “OK”.

The word made it into print on March 23 of that year, in an article against a rival editor in Providence who had stated wrongly that a band of Bostonians heading to New York would pass through the Rhode Island capital (Providence).

"We said not a word about our team passing 'through the city' of Providence," the Morning Post reported. "O.K. — all correct."

The humor of the Providence-Boston joke has been lost to history — but the word OK took off from there, soon connoting(隱含) agreement, acceptance, averageness, quality or likability.

By 1840, it served as a slogan for President Martin Van Buren's unsuccessful reelection campaign. “Old Kinderhook is OK,” posters stated, a reference to the eighth president's birthplace and his supporters' belief in his satisfactory performance.

1.Why did Henry Nass hand out cards?

A. To let people understand the history of the word “OK”.

B. To call on people to use the word “OK” properly.

C. To appeal to people to celebrate OK Day.

D. To attract people’s attention.

2.What does the author want to convey in Paragraph 4?

A. The history of the word “OK” is known to average people.

B. The history of the word “OK” is unfamiliar to people.

C. People frequently use the word “OK” in history.

D. People are fond of the word “OK” in history.

3.What does the underlined phrase “took off” in Paragraph 7 probably mean?

A. Got off B. Set up

C. Moved off D. Became popular

4.We can learn from the text that Kinderhook is of the eighth American president.

A. the name B. the birthplace

C. the policy D. the belief

Almost every day we come across situations in which we have to make decisions one way or another. Choice, we are given to believe, is a right. But for a good many people in the world，in rich and poor countries, choice is a luxury, something wonderful but hard to get, not a right. And for those who think they are exercising their right to make choices, the whole system is merely an illusion, a false idea created by companies and advertisers, hoping to sell their products.

The endless choice gives birth to anxiety in people’s lives. Buying something as basic as a coffee pot is not exactly simple. Easy access to a wide range of everyday goods leads to a sense of powerlessness in many people, ending in the shopper giving up and walking away, or just buying an unsuitable item(商品) that is not really wanted. Recent studies in England have shown that many electrical goods bought in almost every family are not really needed. More difficult decision-making is then either avoided or trusted into the hands of the professionals, lifestyle instructors, or advisors.

It is not just the availability of the goods that is the problem, but the speed with which new types of products come on the market. Advances in design and production help quicken the process. Products also need to have a short lifespan so that the public can be persuaded to replace them within a short time. The typical example is computers, which are almost out-of-date once they are bought. This indeed makes selection a problem. Gone are the days when one could just walk with ease into a shop and buy one thing; no choice, no anxiety.

1.What does the author try to argue in Paragraph l?

A. The practice of choice is difficult.

B. The right of choice is given but at a price.

C. Choice and right exist at the same time.

D. The exercise of rights is a luxury.

2.Why do more choices of goods give rise to anxiety?

A. People are likely to find themselves overcome by business persuasion.

B. Shoppers may find themselves lost in the broad range of items.

C. Companies and advertisers are often misleading about the range of choice.

D. Professionals find it hard to decide on a suitable product.

3.By using computers as an example, the author wants to prove that___________.

A. products of the latest design flood the market

B. competitions are fierce in high-tech industry

C. everyday goods need to be replaced often

D. advanced products meet the needs of people

4.What is this passage mainly about?

A. The opinions on people's right in different countries.

B. The problems about the availability of everyday goods.

C. The helplessness in purchasing decisions.

D. The variety of choices in modern society.

When you’re dealing with a stressful situation or going through a hard time, people in your life can help you. When someone who cares knows what you’re going through, it helps you feel understood and not so alone. 1.. Problems seem smaller when you talk about them with the right person. You can do better and find out solutions more easily when you share your problems.

There are lots of different ways to get and give help. 2.. Other times you need advice on things. Help can be very easy, like a homework project. Or it can go on for a while, like teaching to bring up a failing grade or advising to get through a difficult personal situation.

It’s likely that you remember times someone helped you. 3.. Friends helped you get through sadness or deal with disappointment. Teachers might have guided you through the college application process. 4.. You might give a hand to your classmate who met difficulty.

Friends, parents, teachers and other adults can be great resources when you need help. There are also times when you need the extra help that a professional can provide best. Doctors can offer specialized help for a health problem. 5..

A. Having a right person means a lot.

B. Parents taught you to stop a bad habit.

C. Difficulties are everywhere in your life.

D. You need to learn to give help in the right way.

E. Sometimes you just want to hear an encouraging word.

F. Turn to the professional people for help when you need.

G. And you can also remember times when you helped others.

“Don’t talk to strangers ...” That is probably one of the ____ pieces of advice handed down from our parents. Yeah, they ____ well. Since there are bad people out there, it seems to be a good idea in order to help ____ us. And over the years we’ve learned how to keep our eyes ____ . We are used to making no eye contact with strangers.

___, the price that we pay for this ____ is that we grow up suspicious(表示懷疑的) of others and their motives. We tend to have a(n) ____ of strangers, which is neither necessary nor ______ as we grow older.

Most people out there are not sociopaths（反社會者). ____, most people are quite ____. What once protected us from bad people is now preventing us from establishing relationships with

___ people!

In general, you know that the random stranger standing next to you is very ____ to kidnap (綁架) you, yet the emotion of fear is ____ associated with talking to them. So you ____ do it. But you miss out on a lot by closing yourself off to new people like this.

Instead, you should actively ____ that people in general are friendly. Why? Because they are. Most people actually are nice. We are ____ creatures, and we welcome interactions with others. Think about it: when a stranger starts a(n) ____ with you, how do you usually ____ ?

Besides, you never know who you might ____. The person standing behind you in a line could one day be your best friend. It ____. But even if it's not that extreme, you never know if that person has a job opportunity for you, or is just a cool person who you would enjoy having a brief conversation with.

1.A. shortest B. worst C. longest D. best

2.A. meant B. planned C. spoke D. worked

3.A. inspire B. instruct C. change D. protect

4.A. up B. open C. down D. shut

5.A. Especially B. Thankfully C. Unfortunately D. Uncertainly

6.A. safety B. health C. power D. delight

7.A. anger B. pain C. shame D. fear

8.A. important B. obvious C. humorous D. reasonable

9.A. In case B. In fact C. At times D. At first

10.A. brave B. friendly C. smart D. patient

11.A. bad B. famous C. good D. common

12.A. ready B. Unlikel C. eager D. unwilling

13.A. still B. never C. only D. even

14.A. always B. often C. sometimes D. seldom

15.A. doubt B. assume C. guess D. decide

16.A. living B. complex C. unique D. social

17.A. meeting B. experiment C. argument D. conversation

18.A. listen B. connect C. react D. devote

19.A. hurt B. forget C. meet D. benefit

20.A. happens B. depends C. affects D. fails