Dear knowledgable,

　　My best friend, Mei, has a problem．There is a really 　　1　　 English speech contest for our whole city next month．Our classmates want her to represent the class in the school 　　2　　．Everyone is sure she will win．It’s probably true．Mei is very clever, and can speak English really well．In fact, she 　　3　　 comes top in the school exams．The 　　4　　 is that she is very shy．She doesn’t want to let her friends 　　5　　, but she’s terrified of speaking in front of other people．

　　She is my best friend, so she can tell me that she’s shy．　　6　　 she can’t tell everyone that．I don’t think they would believe her．I can’t think of any good advice to give her．But you always 　　7　　 up with good solutions to people’s problems．What do you think I should tell Mei?What do you think I should tell the rest of the students?

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阅读理解

　　When she turned ten, my daughter decided I was no longer good enough to provide input on anything useful．Then, in high school she took a parenting class．

　　“Mum, I need your idea,” she told me．“What are the skills you need to be a good parent?” she asked, pencil pointed over her homework．

　　Skills? I’d always thought of parenting as requiring patience, understanding and kindness．And I was pretty sure those were characteristics(性格), not skills．

　　“Hang on, I know this one,” I told her, thinking fast．Looking at the wall calendar(日历), I noted that my next seven days included two appointments(约会), 20 minutes each, three forms to hand in at two different schools and a cover for the pool to pick up．“Organizational(组织的)skills,” I answered．“It also helps if you can drive－and have the ability to be in two places at once．”

　　“Got it,” she said．“What else?”

　　I thought about the school year：school fees(学费), class pictures, running shoes．Not to mention weekly shopping－the bill for which was growing as fast as the kids．

　　“Financial(理财的)skills,”I said．“You’ll have to plan your money－especially if you end up with two birthdays in one pay period．You must be good at math, too．”

　　“Money and math make sense,”she said．“Anything more?”

　　“You also need a good memory,”I continued．“At any given time, you may remember birthdays, names of people and who likes apples or who can’t stand grape juice．”

　　I talked and talked．My daughter’s pencil moved quickly as she tried to keep up with what I was saying．Her homework finally finished．My daughter told me about a new parenting-skill project(项目)．“We’re getting dolls programmed to cry from time to time．We have to keep them with us all the time and take care of them．It’s to show us how hard it is to be a parent．”

　　I thought if students would come up with a doll that throws things around and shouts at the top of its voice, that might give them an idea of the patience, understanding and kindness that parenting requires．

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