"What's the matter, mum?" As soon as I enter(进入) the door, I find that my mother is  1. It's unusual--she usually opens the door and welcomes me with 2.

     "She's dying," mum says sadly. I 3 what she says. The tulip(郁金香), mother's favourite, is dying.

    A month ago, we  4 into our new house and mum bought a very beautiful tulip. Mum liked it very much. 5 she was free, she would sit in her armchair beside the tulip and 6 its beautiful colour and inviting (诱人的) smell.

    She 7 it as a baby and looked after it 8. She put the tulip by window and moved it from one place to another to give the tulip enough 9. The first thing she did when she 10 every morning was to water the tulip. Mum also fertilized(施肥) it many times.

    She hoped that 11 great care, the tulip would become more and more beautiful and 12. But the tulip was dying because of  13  sunshine, water and fertilizer.

     It's 14 that mother loved the tulip. But this kind of love can be harmful. Love can sometimes 15 what you love.

    When I was a boy of twelve, I lived in South Carolina with my family. Every morning many 1 would come and rest in the trees and sing. There isn't any sound that can be 2 than the song of the birds. I decided to 3 a young bird and keep it in a cage so that I could have my own musician. I finally caught one and put it in a cage. The bird was 4 and cried loudly, but finally it became quiet in its new home. I felt happy and 5 my little musician carefully, giving it food and water.

    The next day, the bird's mother flew to the cage with food in her mouth. The baby bird 6 up everything she brought. But the following morning, I found it lying on the bottom of the cage, dead. I was very 7! What had happened?

    Arthur Wayne, a famous scientist, happened to hear me crying over the death of my bird. He told me the 8. "A mother bird, finding her young child in a cage, will sometimes bring it poisonous food. She thinks it's better for her young to 9 than to live in a cage."

    Since then, I never catch any birds or put them in a cage. All the birds have the right to 10 in the sky.