Preface

更新时间：2010-08-24 11:56 作者：Shanda Literature

Minfong Ho, a famous author known to most of the Singaporeans, made the following comments regarding the articles that have passed the first round of selection in an English writing contest jointly held by Shanda Literature Corporation and the World of English: “I wonder if English is being taught too academically in China - the texts alluded to tend to be dated and verbose, so the students seem to adopt a style that is too flowery and sentimental. Still, the overall standard is quite high, and it's admirable that students of English as a foreign language, can write so well. ”

To prepare for the launch of [www·sdl·sg], Shanda Literature Corporation and The World of English have jointly held a national English writing contest on one of Shanda's websites, [www·rongshuxia·com]. Rongshuxia is one of the earliest and most influential literary websites in China that enjoys great popularity. The World of English, launched in 1981, is a leading magazine for English learning in China. It is most famous for the quality translation pieces that it has been presenting to the English learning society of China for sharing and for discussing. The English writing contest jointly held by the two influential parties has drawn attention from thousands of candidates. The selected articles, in a way, are representing the higher end of English level in the population.

Here we are presenting the 55 articles that have passed the first round of selection from the English writing contest to the readers at [www·sdl·sg]. We hope you will read the articles and help us to do the ranking. Your voting will be an important reference to the judging team. The prizes include the following:

First Prize: 1

Second Prizes: 2

Third Prizes: 3

Honorable Mentions: 10

We will announce the final result of the contest on Sept. 10, 2010. Please vote before the end of August, 2010. You will see how close your judgment is to that of the professional judging team headed by Minfong Ho.

P·S· Here is a piece of information that might be useful to our readers of [www·sdl·sg]: Minfong Ho's, most beloved and acclaimed books: Sing to the Dawn, Rice Without Rain and The Clay Marble, are available in hard copies in the local market of Singapore.

Sing to the Dawn, First Prize, Council of Interracial Books for Children (1975)

Rice Without Rain, First Prize, National Book Development Council of Singapore (1988), Parents Choice Award (1990), Best Books for Young Adults, American Library Association (1991)

The Clay Marble, Best Children's Book (USA) (1991), Best Books selection, Parents Magazine (1992), Notable Children's Trade Books in the Language Arts (1992), Children's Book of Distinction, Hungry Mind Review (1992)