Sometimes, I doubt(怀疑) whether there is any love between my parents. Every day they are busy trying to 1 money. They don't act in the romantic(浪漫的) ways that I read in books or I see on TV. They never say, “I love you”. My father has a bad temper(性情, 脾气), and it is 2 for him to be angry in his daily life.

    One day, my mother was sewing a quilt (缝被子). I sat down beside her.

    “Mom, I have a question to ask you.” I said after a while.

    “What?” she asked, still working.

    “Is there 3 between you and Dad?” I asked her 4 a very low voice.

    My mother stopped her work and 5 her head with surprise in her eyes. She didn't answer immediately. Then she bowed(低下) her head and went on sewing(缝).

    I thought I had hurt her. At last my mother said: “Susan, look at this thread(线). Sometimes it appears, but most of the time, it disappears in the quilt. It makes the quilt 6 . If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen anywhere 7 it's really there.”

    I listened carefully but I didn't understand her 8 the next spring. My father suddenly got sick. My mother had to stay with him in the 9 for a month.

    After they got back, she helped my father walk slowly down the road every day. My father had never been so weak. “Dad, how are you feeling now?” I asked him one day.

    “Susan, don't worry about me.” he said gently. “I just like 10 with your mom.”

    Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. Now, I know that love is the thread that holds a family together.

    Donald was not very good at maths. He could not understand the teacher's 1. Even when the teacher explained something again, Donald still could not 2it. “Never mind,” Donald told himself. “I'm quite good at other 3. I cheat (作弊) in the maths exam, then I won't be in4.”

    “My deskmate Brian Smith is best at maths,” he thought, “and I'll be able to 5his answers.”

    The day of the exam came, and Donald sat 6Brian Smith, who always sat at the front of the 7. Donald carefully copied Brian's answers onto his own exam paper. At the end of the exam, the teacher 8the papers and graded (评分) them.

    Then she said, “Well, boys and girls, I've decided to give a9to the student who got the highest grade. It's 10for me to decide whom I will choose, however, because two students, Donald and Brian, got the 11grade.”

    “Let them share it.” one of the 12said.

    “I've thought about that,” the teacher said, “but I've chosen Brian.”

    Donald was 13when he heard this. He stood up and said, “That's not fair.”

    “That's 14,” the teacher said. “However, Brian's answer to Question 18 was 'I don't know.' Yours was 15do I.' ”

    For a period of month some time ago I became a vegetarian(素食者). Some people won't eat meat because they think it is 1to animals, or they care about their health. My reason is a little 2 : it is love.

    I simply wanted to remember my grandmother by not eating meat. My grandmother spent a large part of her life as a vegetarian, and some of my happiest childhood memories in Thailand were about sharing a 3 with her.

    In fact, as a child, I learned how to value food not from dishes my mother often cooked, 4from the simple dinner, my grandmother prepared. Often, dinner with Grandma would come with interesting stories she had known from her childhood.

    Grandma passed away more than ten years ago. Now I am an adult living in San Francisco, and Grandma's vegetarian suppers and 5 have become a past.

    But one morning, I suddenly thought that I could 6 hear the sound of my grandmother's voice because she had left me forever. So I decided to become a vegetarian for a month.

    In a city famous for its dining experience, this was 7. I 8 several dinner panics for fear of offending(冒犯) the hosts. I stopped walking by 9 where the smell of good cooking would be in the air. My best friend wondered if there was something wrong with me.

    Now, I 10 her way. I invited friends who wanted to taste vegetarian food. And as we ate, I told them stories I had known as a child.

    My father was a self-taught mandolin(曼陀林琴) player. He was one of the best players in our town. He could not 1 music. but if he heard a tune(曲子) a few times, he could play it, When he was young, he was a 2 of a small country music band. They played at local dances and the radio station.

    At home Dad often took out his mandolin and played for the family. We three children sang along.3 played the mandolin like my father. He could 4 your heart with the music that came out of that old mandolin, He seemed to shine when he was playing. You could see his 5 in his ability to play so well for his family.

    But Dad had to find another 6 in a factory later because the money he made at the band wasn't enough to 7 the family. Unluckily, he had an 8 one day and lost one finger, He couldn't play as 9 as before. From then on, every time we asked him to play, he would make up reasons to 10 down our request. However, we missed his performance so much. 11, he agreed and said, "Okay, but remember, 1 can't hold down on the strings(琴弦) the way I 12 to."

    When he played the old mandolin, it carried us back to a 13 ， happy time in our lives. Dad was that kind of man. 14 was what he was doing all his life. If he could give to 15 others, he would, especially his family. He was always there. sacrificing(牺牲) his time to see that his family had enough in their lives.