【推荐1】Christmas was near a season that we took seriously in our house. But a week or so before the 25th, my father would give each of his children $20. This was the 1970s, and $20 was quite a bit of money．

But I saw it________．My father trusted me to have the________ to spend money wisely. Even better, he gave me the ________to get it. On a very basic level ，my father was giving me a shopping spree（狂欢）every year. But he was also giving me charge over my own fun, trusting my ability to manage money and making me feel like a/an________. He didn't buy me Sherlock Holmes, but he gave me the means to walk into the bookstore and choose it for myself, so it felt like a gift from him．

My mother had a/an ________for giving me what I needed, usually   right at the moment I needed it most. This was when I was 25, I________at being an adult on my very first try. I had quitted my ________job but had no new one. But when my mother paid me a visit, I________a good show, telling her I had started my own company．

My mother knew that I was trying hard and failing at that time. It wasn't until ________she left that I noticed at the foot of my bed an envelope thick with _______．She knew how ________I needed it．She knew that if she had just shown up with groceries，or offered to pay my rent, she would have made me feel much ________．The cold，hard cash meant she was helping me. And, funnily enough, the________with which she gave the gift felt like she was giving me space to________my life and preserve my dignity．My mother and father both did the same thing. One was giving me the means to take my own decisions，and the other was giving me a second ________ when those decisions had cost me dearly．

【推荐1】Fifteen years ago, Karibeeran Parameshvaran and his wife Choodamani both considered killing themselves after their three children died. The three—a son and two daughters-were______59and 12 at the time. They were among the approximate 230000______of a tsunami（海啸）in the Indian Ocean.

On December 26, 2004, a______earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia. The quake caused______waves that reached not just Indonesia, but also India and 10 other countries. More than 6000 people were______in India’s Nagapattinam district, where the Parameshvaran family lived.

Days after the storm, the______walked from their town in southern India to______villages. “We could see many children ______on the road. ______, they have lost their parents,” Choodamani told reporters with the Reuters news agency.” I thought, I lost my children, why don’t I______these children and give them shelter.

At first, Choodamani and her husband brought four orphans（孤儿）home.______, they turned their home into an orphanage. They called it Nambikkai, which means “hope” in the Tamil language. Within days, the number of orphans under their care______from 4 to 36.

The couple had a______purpose in life. They went on to______45 orphans at Nambikkai. They used their own money to set up two buildings to______them.

Many of the older children have ______Nambikkai. Sangeetha，now 21，was one of the tsunami orphans. She has come back to work at Nambikkai after completing her studies in information technology. She says she came back “to serve the______.”

Karibeeran，now 54，looks back on his and Choodamani’s lives with a sense of______.He said，“This job will continue for a______，as long as the earth is moving，because we want to______our own children.”

【推荐3】My father had a union job at a film-processing lab, and layoffs — and eventual rehirings — were common during the 1960s. My mother, however, _______ the family’s finances, and each layoff was extremely ________ . She worked, but money was tight as she ______ to pay the rent and the other bills until my dad was rehired. She always managed to protect my sister and me from the financial_______, and we never knew the extent of her worries.

_____one spring, when I was 10, during one of my father’s layoffs, I could______my mother was dispirited . I decided that I would _____my mother by buying her a special Mother's Day gift. My sister had a friend whose mother owned an exclusive boutique（高档精品店） , the Agins, near San Vicente and 6th Street,______was known for its high-end fashions and style. My mother, who couldn't _____to shop there, occasionally mentioned the store in tones of _____.

One day after school I rode my bike to the Agins. I introduced myself to Sylvia Agins and told her I was looking for a Mother's Day present. I remember that she didn’t talk down to me. She   _____me like a valued customer. She asked me what my mother would like. I told her I wasn't sure.

After wandering to the back of the store, she returned with a box. She opened it,______an Italian handbag _____of supple leather. “How much money do you have?” she asked.

“Twelve bucks ,” I said.

“You're in _____, ” she told me. “It's only $11. You have a dollar left over for the card. ”

She______the purse and thanked me for my business.When my mother opened the gift the next Sunday morning, she stammered（结巴地说） in an accusatory tone, “Where did you get this?” “I bought it at the Agins,” I said.

It wasn’t until many years later, when I learned that the purse was _____ several hundred dollars, that I _____just how wonderful Sylvia Agins had been to me. My mother, who carried the purse for many years until it was _____repair, is now 90. “Do you know what really______me to this day?” my mother said. “Letting you have the purse for just a few dollars was incredible enough. But the fact that she let you leave the store with a dollar for the card was a touch of_________ that I'll never forget.