One day a visitor came to Nasreddin’s house. “I am your cousin ___1.____ Konya,” he said, “and I have brought you a duck to ___2.___ the visit.” Nasreddin was ___3.___. He asked his wife to cook the duck, and served the visitor a ___4.___ dinner.

The next day another visitor arrived. “I am the friend of the man who brought you the duck,” he said. Nasreddin invited him in and gave ____5.___ a good meal. The next day another visitor arrived and said he was the friend of the friend of the man who had brought the duck. Again Nasreddin invited him in for a meal. ___6.___, he was getting a bit angry. ___7.___ seemed to be using his house as a restaurant.

Then another visitor came, and said he was the friend of the friend of the friend of the man who had brought the duck. He was ____8.___ in. Nasreddin’s wife brought some ____9.__ to the table and the visitor tasted it. “What kind of soup is this? It ____10.___ just like warm water.” “Ah!” said Nasrdddin. “That is the soup of the soup of the soup of the duck.”

Jim is an American boy. He likes __1__football matches, __2 __he hasn’t enough (足够的) money to buy tickets. He has to watch the matches __3__TV at home when he has __4__homework. He must go to school from Monday to Friday, so he missed (错过) a lot of important football matches.
A big football match would be held (举行) in the afternoon the next day. __ 5 __wanted to watch it very much. But he couldn’t. He would have a physics (物理) test in __6___afternoon.
"Can we have a video, mom?" Jim asked his mother __7___he went to school. "Then from our TV set you can record (录像) the match for me."
"I’m __8___we can’t afford (买得起) one," said his mother. The next morning Jim went home with a smile, __9___a new video. "But where did you get the money, Jim?" His mother asked in surprise.
"That’s __10 __, mom. I sold our TV set."

"Can I see my baby?" the happy new mother asked. When the baby was lying in her arms and she moved the cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped(吃力地喘着气). The doctor turned quickly and looked out of the hospital window. The baby had been born without ears. Luckily, time proved that the baby's hearing was perfect. Though the misfortune(不幸)happened to him, he grew into a handsome boy. Yet he felt ashamed when he communicated with others.
“You should get in touch with other young people,” his mother told him, with a kindness in her heart. The boy’s father talked with the family doctor about his ears. “Could nothing be done?” the father asked. “I believe I could give him a pair of outer ears, if they could be got,” the doctor replied.
Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, “You are going to the hospital, Son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need, but it’s a secret.” The operation is a big success. Later he married and entered the diplomatic(外交的)service. One day, he asked his father, “Who gave the ears? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him or her.”
“You could, my son,” said the father, “but the agreement was that you are not to know…not yet.”
The years kept their secret, but one of the darkest days did come. He stood with his father over his mother’s casket(棺材). Slowly, the father stretched forth(伸出) a hand
and raised the thick, reddish brown hair to reveal the mother had no outer ears.
"Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut," his father whispered gently, "and nobody ever thought mother less beautiful, did they?"
【小题1】Why did Mother gasp when she saw her newborn baby?