When I spent the summer with my grandmother, she always sent me to a store with a long shopping list. How could I hope to find all these things? In the store, there was a tall lady with black glasses on her nose. There wasn't a smile on her face.

    “Excuse me,” I said. She looked down and said, “I'm Miss Bee.”

    “I need to get these.” I said, holding up my list. “So? Go to get them. ” Miss Bee pointed to some shelves. “There's no one here, only you and me, so get yourself a basket and get all these things yourself.”

    That summer I visited Miss Bee twice a week. Sometimes she gave me wrong change. One afternoon I corrected her, “That bag of beans is only twenty-nine cents!”She just looked at me over her glasses and changed the price. Going to the store was more like going into battle. I got into the store just like General Patton getting into North Africa.

    Soon I learned how to find the product on the shelf… At the end of the summer, the shopping trip only took me 15 minutes. Before I left, I stopped in the store to get some candy.

    “All right, little girl,” she said. “What did you learn this summer?” Before I could answer. Miss Bee laughed and said, “I know what you think of me. Well, I don't care! My job is to teach every child some life lessons. When you get older you'll be glad you ever met Miss Bee. Haha!...”

    I didn't think of her words. Years passed, one day my daughter came to me with her homework. “It's too hard,” she said. “Could you finish my math problems for me?”

    “If I do it for you, how will you ever learn to do it yourself?” I said. Suddenly, I was back at that store and I knew what I learned from the old lady that summer.

Tony is a new member (成员) of the Reading Club. He makes some new friends in the club.

Dear Sad Betty,

Thank you for your letter. I hope my3 can be of some help to you! I know you are in a bad situation, but never doubt(怀疑) 4 ! Please believe you have a 5 IQ like other common students. Since I worked as Agony Aunt ten years ago, I have 6 many students like you. They seem not to make any progress(进步) in 7 although they are very hard-working. So I understand how you are feeling.

Everyone is 8 others and everyone is good at different things. So you shouldn't 9 yourself with others, although I know it will be not easy.

I know you must be very hard-working, but 10 your learning methods (方法)aren't suitable (适合的) for you. If you aren't sure about it, why not 11 your math teacher for help? It's a better way to tell your math teacher about your 12 and your learning methods. I believe he or she would like to help you and 13 you some learning methods that suit you better. You can also study together with your classmates who are good at math. Team study is 14 helpful.

As for your elder brother, you can talk with him in a friendly way. 15 it doesn't work, ask your parents for help.

In a word, the most important thing is not to doubt yourself. I believe you can make it!

Agony Aunt