Is the art of conversation dying? The other day, my wife   1  two teenage children did something we haven’t    2  for ages. It didn’t require the Internet, a TV screen, batteries… or anything else for that matter. But we all   3  it so much we’re thinking of doing it again sometime.
We had a conversation. The kind of real, live conversation that was   4  when I was growing up, but which seems all too rare these days. Today we have chat rooms, text messages, e-mails but we seem to be losing the   5  of communicating face-to-face. We all know  6  young people are out on a date(约会）these days, they spend most of that time   7  their mobile phones. And teenagers nowadays seem to   8  communicating with their friends by sending text messages rather than actually   9  to them.
If we carry on like this，in the future, we’ll lose the use of our   10 . What do you think? E-mail me, and who knows? Maybe we could even have a real conversation about it!

Are only clever and good-looking students happy in the school? Best-selling ___31___ Xiao Nizi (Nini) doesn’t think so.
“___32___ has his own place in the sky." she said.  "We're all special in our ownways.”
Nini, from Hunan, writes stories about young people in the school. Her books,___33___ Devils Kiss and Un-e on Midsummer’s Night, are very ___34___ with students.
In her stories, the main characters arc usually common girls who are neither pretty ___35___ smart. But they always win the love of a Prince Charming(白马王子)，or___36___ successful stars.
"It’s not because of luck."' said Nini. ""They are ___37___ honest and they don't lie. They know what they arc good___38___ and work hard to realize their dreams. "
Nini herself is like one of the characters in her stories. She was a shy girl at school. But she thought a lot and liked languages, and that made her ___39___ to be a writer. She hopes her stories ___40__ make more kids happy.
【小题1】A. writer        B. reader         C. speaker
【小题2】 A. Nobody     B. Everyone      C. Someone
【小题3】A. as           B. for example    C. such as
【小题4】 A. successful    B. popular        C. funny
【小题5】 A. nor          B. or            C. but
【小题6】A. become      B. make         C. take
【小题7】 A. still          B.only         C. ever
【小题8】 A. at           B. for           C. with
【小题9】A. deciding      B. to decide      C. decide
【小题10】 A. can          B. must        C. need

Are you nervous when you stand in front of the public? Are you afraid to make a speech?
Li Jun, a middle school boy, felt shy when he was making a speech the other day. Li had thought it would be quite easy to speak in front of   1  classmates.
"I was wrong. It was very different and much  2  than talking to my classmates during playtime," Li said. "I tried, but it was really difficult to speak. I felt like a mute (哑巴) and wanted to leave the classroom   3  "
Li is not alone. Many middle school students now have the same   4  : they can talk about their ideas freely   5  their best friends after class, but can't speak in public. According to Zhou Hong, a teacher from a university, the main reason is that schools in China pay more attention to writing instead of  6 .
Zhou hopes schools can give students more chances to open their   7 , such as speech competitions, English corners and class discussions. Students can join in any one they want to. 8  he also gives some advice to students. "During your free time you should  9  more. When you're speaking in public, take it easy. Just imagine you're talking to nobody and speak up your ideas clearly," Zhou said. "That   10  a fine public speech and you'll feel confident. "

Is money everything? At present some people think that         is everything. Some of them even         their lives for it. Money has its most useful         on the poor, but once a person has a rich life, a lot more money doesn't mean more       .

 If money was        , all millionaires would have true love, true friendship, good health and a long life.        , this is not always true.

Nothing else is more        than the three words “I love you”. But can            be bought？I’m afraid not. Love means to give, not to take. To every person, health and long life are            the most valuable things. Well, can health and a long life be bought with money? The answer is “No”.

Of all the longest living people in the world,         of them are millionaires. True friendship can't be bought       . Many other things         be bought with money: knowledge, life and happiness and so on. Just think, if a person         these things at all, is the money still useful? No matter how much money you have, it is still not enough         you a happy person if you have no one to laugh       , no one to cry for. Now, do you think money is everything?