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