Have you ever made your friends angry or unhappy because of your words? Do you have ________ asking people to reply to your requests (请求)? If so, maybe your English isn’t polite. Now let’s ________ how to speak in a right way!

Could you give me five minutes? VS Go away!

You’re really busy with studies, ________ your classmate needs your help. Though you’re too busy to do anything else, you shouldn’t just say “Go away!” You can keep everyone happy ________ saying “Could you give me five minutes?”

Excuse me. VS Move out of the way.

________ someone to “move out of the way” is not polite. Saying “excuse me” will help you get the ________ you want and there won’t be any trouble.

I’m afraid I can’t. VS No.

It can often be ________ to refuse an invitation from a friend. People will think it is not polite to ________ say “No”. The next time you have to refuse an invitation, you’d better say, “I’m afraid I can’t.”

Would you mind...? VS Stop it!

A boy is talking on the phone loudly in the ________. Would you like him to stop? It’s not a good idea to shout “Stop talking on your phone in the cinema!” You’d better say, “Would you mind not using ________ phone in the cinema, please?”

You never know where life will lead you. When I was a young boy, I got ________ up my nose one time. After that I ________ wanted to get in the water again. I thought swimming was not for me.

One day, I ________ my skateboard and broke my leg so badly, and the doctors said I could never really skateboard again. They said swimming was the only ________ that would be good for me.

Well, I gave it a ________. Every week, I got a little ________ and hated swimming a little less, I worked at it so much that one day my high school swimming coach asked me to ________ the school team. You can imagine how that made me and my family feel ________ I was so afraid of the water before!

Much to everyone’s surprise, I won third place in the city finals. ________ is a big part of my life now. You never know which road life will take you down. Look at me—a swimmer!

For this reason, I say: don’t limit (限制) your ________. And remember, life is a swimming pool. Jump in and start swimming! You might be surprised where you end up.