Last Christmas while staying with my parents, I 21 across some old love letters that my parents wrote to each other. These letters were all pilled up in a basket, dirty and 22 With dust. 23 to read and sort them, I asked them if I could take the letters back to my Illinois home. They agreed.
As I carefully opened each letter, all of them delicate with age, I discovered a new page 24 unknown to me in this private chapter of my parents’ lives.
My father used to 25 in the army. So his letters were full of frontline 26 of the things about the war. Each of my mother’s letters was marked 27 her 1944 dark red lipstick kiss. I was 28 to these letters like a magnet (磁铁).
Just six weeks after our Christmas visit, Daddy became very 29 . and was hospitalized. This time, he was fighting a 30 kind of war. As I sat by his bedside, we discussed the 31 . He told me how much receiving those lipstick-kissed letters had 32 to him when he had been so far from home.
It so happened that the next day would he February 14. From the 33 letters I chose the card my father had sent Mother in 1944 and brought it to my father’s bedside.
At his bedside, I joked with him, saying 34 , “Today is Valentine’s Day, don’t you want to send Mother a present?” He became more 35 when I handed him the old 36 . He carefully opened it and took out the card, and when he 37 it, his eyes were filled with tears.
My father, in a voice tight with 38 read the loving 39 he’d sent to my mother fifty-six years earlier. And this time, he could read it to her 40 .
21. A. came B. hit C. drew D. fell
22. A. hidden B. covered C. buried D. filled
23. A. Pretending B. Suggesting C. Preferring D. Deciding
24. A. recently B. occasionally C. previously D. usually
25. A. work B. study C. serve D. report
26. A. accounts B. documents C. introductions D. occupations
27. A. with B. for C. of D. as
28. A. devoted B. abandoned C. thrown D. drawn
29. A. depressed B. dead. C. dangerous D. ill
30. A. typical B. traditional C. different D. familiar
31. A. wars B. illnesses C. letters D. prescriptions
32. A. meant B. intended C. planned D. said
33. A. divided B. sorted C. separated D. updated
34. A. sadly B. angrily C. softly D. loudly
35. A. curious B. enthusiastic C. fantastic D. positive
36. A. Christmas card B. envelope C. basket D. lipstick
37. A. found B. wrote C. recognized D. missed
38. A. astonishment B. sorrow C. sickness D. emotion
39. A. story B. message C. speech D. motto
40. A. in brief B. in private C. in danger D. in person