Valentine’s Day was the time my father chose to show his love for the special people in his life. Over the years I fondly (天真地) thought 21 him as my “Valentine man”.
My first memory of the 22 he could bring to Valentine’s Day came when I was six. That morning at the breakfast table I found a card and a gift-wrapped package at my chair. The card was 23 “Love, Dad” and the gift was a ring with a small piece of red glass to 24 my birthstone, a ruby (红宝石). There is 25 difference between red glass and rubies to a child of six, and I remember 26 that ring with pride that all the cards in the world 27 not surpass (超越).
28 I grew older, the gifts gave 29 to heart-shaped boxes filled with my 30 chocolate and always included a 31 card signed “Love, Dad”. In those years my “thank-you” became 32 of a perfunctory (敷衍) response. The cards seemed less 33 , and I took for granted that the Valentine would 34 be there. I had 35 my hopes and dreams in receiving cards and gifts from “significant others” and “Love Dad” just didn’t seem quite 36 .
His final card remains on my desk today. It’s a 37 of how special fathers can be and how important it has been to me to know that I had a father who continued a tradition of 38 with simple acts of understanding of the people in his life.
Those things never 39 , nor does the memory of a man who never 40 being my Valentine man.
21. A. of | B. about | C. up | D. over |
22. A. hope | B. magic | C. puzzle | D. present |
23. A. read | B. written | C. shown | D. signed |
24. A. recover | B. return | C. represent | D. remain |
25. A. much | B. little | C. great | D. less |
26. A. filling | B. keeping | C. wearing | D. staring |
27. A. could | B. needed | C. must | D. should |
28. A. Because | B. Since | C. Though | D. As |
29. A. room | B. way | C. honour | D. seat |
30. A. favorite | B. lovely | C. dear | D. precious |
31. A. usual | B. common | C. strange | D. special |
32. A. less | B. little | C. none | D. much |
33. A. important | B. beautiful | C. familiar | D. standard |
34. A. hardly | B. always | C. regularly | D. often |
35. A. lost | B. kept | C. placed | D. shared |
36. A. suitable | B. enough | C. effective | D. timely |
37. A. method | B. certificate | C. consequence | D. reminder |
38. A. love | B. pride | C. home | D. silence |
39. A. lose | B. die | C. cost | D. appear |
40. A. risked | B. imagined | C. tried | D. stopped |