Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to  31  in order to pay the high tuition for my brother and me. They don’t act in the 32 ways that I read in books or I see on TV. In their opinion, “I love you” is too 33 for them to say. Sending flowers to each other on Valentine’s Day is even more out of 34.
One day, my mother was sewing a quilt. I sat down beside her. “Mom, I have a question to ask you. Is there _35  between you and Dad?” I asked her in a very low voice. She didn’t answer immediately. She  36  her head and continued to sew the quilt.
I was very worried because I thought I had _37_ her. I was 38_ and I didn’t know what I should do. But at last I heard my mother say the following words:
“Susan,” she said thoughtfully, “Look at this thread．Sometimes it __39_, but most of it disappears in the quilt. The thread really makes the quilt _40__. If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread．It can hardly be seen _41 , but it’s really there. Love is 42_.”
I listened carefully but I __43_ her until the next spring. At that time, my father suddenly _44 seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month. When they returned from the hospital, they both looked __45_. It seemed both of them had had a serious illness. After they were back, every day in the morning and dusk, my mother helped my father 46__ on the country road．
“Dad, how are you feeling now?” I asked him one day.
“Susan, don’t _47  me.” he said gently. “To tell you the truth, I just like walking with your mom.”_48_ his eyes, I know he loves my mother deeply.
Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and 49 . But from this experience, I understand that love is just _50_ in the quilt of our life. Love is inside, making life strong and warm.

Pierre is a 25-year-old penguin at the California Academy of Sciences. Due to his old age, he was going bald, which made him feel too cold to swim in the pool. Therefore, biologists at the academy had a wetsuit created for this penguin to help him get back in the swimming pool.
Unlike marine mammals, which have a layer of fat to keep them warm, penguins depend on their waterproof feathers. Without them, Pierre was unwilling to jump into the swimming pool and ended up trembling on the side of the pool while his 19 peers played in the water.
"He was cold; he would shake," said Pam Schaller, a senior biologist. Schaller first tried a heat lamp to keep Pierre warm. Then she got another idea: if wetsuits keep humans warm in the cold Pacific, why not make one for Pierre?
Schaller designed the suit, which covered Pierre’s body and had small openings for his flippers.
“I would walk behind him and look at where there were any gaps, and cut and refit and cut and refit until it looked like it was extremely suitable,” she said.
One concern was that the other penguins would reject Pierre in his new suit, but in fact, they accepted his new look. He swam freely and got along with others well, although he was the only penguin with a black stomach.
Schaller couldn’t say for sure whether the wetsuit allowed Pierre to recover his fine feathers, but “certainly we were able to keep him comfortable during a period of time that would have been very difficult for him to stay comfortable”.
Pierre will take off his suit after his new feathers grow back.
【小题1】Pierre felt too cold to swim in the pool because of _____.

People do not analyze every problem they meet. Sometimes they try to remember a solution from the last time they had a   21  problem. They often accept the opinion or ideas of other people. Other times they begin to act without   22 ；they try to find a solution by trial and error.   23  .，when all of these methods   24  ，the person with a problem has to start analyzing. There are six    25  in analyzing a problem.
   26  the person must recognize that there is a problem. For example, Sam's bicycle is broken, and he cannot ride it to class as he usually does. Sam must see that there is a problem with his bicycle.
Next the person must   27   the problem. Before Sam can repair his bicycle, he must know why it does not work. For example, he must determine the parts that are wrong.
Now the person must look for   28  that will make the problem clearer and lead to  possible solutions. For example, suppose Sam   29   that his bike does not work because there is some thing wrong with the brakes(刹车).   30  , he can look in his bicycle repair book and read about brakes,   31  his friends at the bike shop, or look at his brakes carefully.
After studying the problem, the person should have   32  suggestions for a possible solution. Take Sam as an example   33 ，his suggestions might be: tighten or loosen the brakes; buy new brakes and change the old ones.
In the end, one   34  seems to be the solution to the problem. Sometimes the __35__ idea comes quite   36  because the thinker suddenly sees something new or sees something in a   37   way. Sam, for example, suddenly sees there is a piece of chewing gum（口香糖）stuck to a brake. He   38   finds the solution to his problem ：he must___39___the brake.
Finally the solution is tested .Sam finds that his bicycle   40  perfectly. In short he has solved the problem.

The Hand
Thanksgiving Day was near. The first grade teacher gave her class fun work to draw a picture of  36  for which they were thankful.
Most of the class might be  37   to be economically(经济上) poor, but still many would  38   a big holiday dinner with turkeys and other traditional goodies of the season. These, the teacher thought, would be the   39   of most of her students’ art. And they really were.
But Douglas made a   40   kind of picture, for Douglas was a different kind of boy. He was the teacher’s true child of pity and love,  41  and unhappy. As other children played at break, Douglas was likely to stand close by her side. One could only guess the pain Douglas felt  42   those sad eyes.
Yes, his picture was different. When he was  43  to draw a picture of something for which he was thankful, he drew a  44  ---nothing else. Just an empty hand.
His picture brought out the heated  45  of his classmates. Whose hand could it be? One child guessed it was the hand of a farmer because farmers  46   turkeys. Another suggested a police officer’s because the police protect and  47   people. And so the discussion went --- until the teacher   48   forgot the young artist.
  49 the children had gone on to do other work, she   50 Douglas’ desk, bent down, and asked him whose hand it was. The little boy looked away and said in a very low voice, “It’s yours, teacher.”
She recalled the  51    when she had taken his hand and walked with him here and there and how  52   she had said, “Take your hand, Douglas, and we’ll go outside.” or “Let me show you how to hold your pencil.” or “Let’s do this together.” Douglas was most   53   for his teacher’s hand.
Brushing aside tears, she went on with her work.
In fact, people  54   not always say “Thanks”. But they would remember the hand that  55   .

My mother has been a true inspiration to me and changed the way I look at life. Since my birth she has made it evident that I would become ___16___ and that I would be one of the great ones. She has taught me that I can do anything if I put my ___17___ to it.
As a young boy, I struggled to achieve tasks that came ___18___ to others. I had problems with writing, reading and especially speaking. I didn’t talk the way ___19___ kids did and did not respond to questions or stay alert（警觉的）to my surroundings. My reading was poor ___20___ with teachers helping me, and my speech was hard to ___21___. My writing was not at the ___22___ it should have been. Even simple things like knowing my left from my right or being able to snap my fingers (弹手指) were ___23___.
My mother ___24___ all my challenges and as a professor with a PH.D, decided to ___25___ the situation early in my development. She didn’t want me to ___26___. After a while, we did indeed get over all the problems that had ___27___ me. She spent hours every day ___28___ me everything I needed to know, determined to help me learn. ___29___ her I would not be anywhere close to the level I am now.
In addition, she gave ___30___ for my life. She told me what to do and what not to do. Her expectations have always been high ___31___ she knows that I can do it. For that, I thank her. She would not allow her son to be incapable. She never ___32___ on me, and to this day she tells me education is a must. I will be a ___33___ person if I continue to follow her lead. She encourages me to study hard for my ___34___ and attend college.
She used her gifts as a ___35___ to help a child—her child—and now I have the opportunity to become something.