NYT Summer Reading Contest是紐約時(shí)報(bào)自2010年起，每年夏天都會(huì)舉辦的讀寫競賽，至今已經(jīng)是第15屆，目前已經(jīng)有來自全世界各地的8萬多名中學(xué)生參與。紐約時(shí)報(bào)作為美國乃至世界知名的新聞報(bào)刊平臺(tái)，其舉辦的比賽具有很高的含金量。如果同學(xué)們能在比賽中獲得認(rèn)可，不僅能證明自己的英文寫作能力，還可以提升自己的學(xué)術(shù)、創(chuàng)意寫作背景。The 15th Summer Reading Contest第十五屆夏季讀寫比賽要求學(xué)生選擇2024年在 紐約時(shí)報(bào) 上發(fā)表的任何內(nèi)容，如新聞、散文、論文、視頻、音頻、攝影等，針對感興趣的內(nèi)容寫一篇評(píng)論文章。

今年夏天，為了慶祝比賽成立 15 周年，也為了給比賽帶來一些改變，主辦發(fā)將嘗試一些新的東西：學(xué)生可以像往常一樣通過提交簡短的書面回復(fù)來參賽，也可以制作一個(gè)高達(dá) 90 分的視頻秒長。

適合學(xué)生

全球13-19歲在讀初中、高中對該競賽感興趣的學(xué)生們均可參加。

●美國、英國地區(qū)參賽的學(xué)生：年齡13~19歲

●其他地區(qū)的參賽學(xué)生：年齡16~19歲

（紐約時(shí)報(bào)內(nèi)部工作人員的直系親屬禁止參賽）

比賽時(shí)間

2024年6月7日-8月16日期間，為期10周

每周一次，每人每周僅可提交一份作品，參賽學(xué)生可連續(xù)10周每周投稿。

競賽內(nèi)容

自競賽開始的每周五，官網(wǎng)置頂位置會(huì)詢問同樣的兩個(gè)問題：

— “What interested you most in The Times this week?”

— “Why？”

學(xué)生可以任意選擇紐約時(shí)報(bào)上發(fā)布的任意主題下的article、essay、video、interactive、podcast or photograph來發(fā)表自己的全英文看法和見解文章，不能超過1500個(gè)字符，約250詞。

比賽意義

激勵(lì)中學(xué)生洞察身邊的世界，思考自己在世界中的位置，并通過寫作來提升傳達(dá)自身想法的能力。

當(dāng)學(xué)生們能夠做到閱讀一個(gè)國家的主流報(bào)刊時(shí)，除了理解報(bào)刊上的字面意思外，還能了解一系列報(bào)道背后的信息、暗示和隱喻，才能真正做到理解一個(gè)國家的公共輿論。

含金量非常高的文科類世界級(jí)讀寫競賽。紐約時(shí)報(bào)自2010年開始，每年夏天舉辦競賽，針對世界各地的中學(xué)生。目前全球已有超過6萬名中學(xué)生參與競賽。

紐約時(shí)報(bào)系列比賽項(xiàng)目多樣，受眾廣泛，報(bào)名流程簡單，留給同學(xué)們的創(chuàng)意發(fā)揮空間也很充足。即使不能獲獎(jiǎng)，這樣的寫作經(jīng)歷也能使學(xué)生的各方面寫作能力都得到鍛煉和提高。

獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)設(shè)置

比賽總共10周，每周都有得獎(jiǎng)機(jī)會(huì)，獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)分為：

Winner（每周1位）

Runner-up和Honorable mentions

（每周若干位）

每周贏得競賽的學(xué)生作品和姓名將被發(fā)表在紐約時(shí)報(bào)官網(wǎng)上

往屆獲獎(jiǎng)作品

Your Steak Is More Expensive, but Cattle Ranchers Are Missing Out

“This is ridiculous! Beef is now $15 a pound, twice what I paid before! It has to be all the relief checks handed out by Biden that are causing inflation!” my uncle asserted, echoing the misinformation he had gotten from social media. Born in China and immigrated to West Virginia over 20 years ago, my uncle has seen his fair share of economic ups and downs. But somehow, he often blames “socialist” welfare policies.

I dismissed his wild guess. With my rudimentary Econ knowledge, I knew it had to be something other than the 5 percent Consumer Price Index increase that was causing the hike in beef prices. “Your Steak Is More Expensive, but Cattle Ranchers Are Missing Out” by Julie Creswell not only confirmed my hypothesis, but also enlightened me to the real reason behind it.

It turns out Big Four meatpackers have been monopolizing the supply for years. Despite the surging demand of post-pandemic consumption, ranchers have seen little profit increase while meat processors are making as much as $1,000 in profit per head of cattle instead of the normal $50 to $150. Meatpackers don’t have incentives to increase production “as they make more money on fewer head counts.”

I told my uncle the real reason behind the beef price hike, and he said it made sense. Thanks to Ms. Creswell, my uncle will be wondering when a Senate antitrust investigation of meatpackers will solve the problem, rather than blaming “socialist” policies, next time he buys another expensive steak.

The Best Way to Respond to Text Messages

They say texting is easy, but through the eyes of an avid overthinker, it is an unsolvable, ever-tipping scale between “too much” and “not enough.” In his essay “The Best Way to Respond to Text Messages,” Todd Levin explores the struggle of responding to a text to show enough emotion while preserving genuineness. As Mr. Levin suggests, Apple’s new “HA HA” tapback feature may help make responding easier, until it doesn’t. Because it doesn’t take long before people read into it. Is the joke not funny enough to warrant an emoji? Does the tapback mean the other person wants to end the conversation?

In the pandemic age, overthinkers are hopelessly faced with a million text dilemmas, reading into two-dimensional letters and cartoon emojis. We sit with our thumbs hovering over the screen, spamming the letters “H” and “A” over and over like we are just exploding with laughter, while we sit tight lipped, back hunched, eyes dry from glazing over the screen for hours. Because the joke isn’t really that funny, is it? Or at least not as funny as our text reaction suggests. Because the joke is just letters printed on a screen, or a blurry meme you’ve already seen. Perhaps the problem isn’t how many “HA”s you should be typing out, but the emotional numbness we feel from being online so much that we forget what it is to really laugh. Apple can introduce a million features to combat texters’ overthinking, but no amount of “HA”s will ever seem genuine enough until our feelings are.