When I was 10, my mum said to me, “Listen, Frank. I think you should learn the piano. You will become a great piano player-famous, popular, and have a lot of fans.”

That ________ nice. But for me, the problem was that I didn’t want to play the piano. It just didn’t sound like a “man” thing to do. My friends would ________ make fun of me for life if I told them that I would take some piano lessons! ________ months, I had no idea what to do. I couldn’t say no to my mum’s offer because I wouldn’t hear the end of it from her if I did. And I couldn’t say yes ________ it would be a disaster (不幸) for me if my friends found out.

Several weeks later, I decided to take piano lessons anyway, but I kept it a ________ from all my friends. Every Saturday at five o’clock, I told them I had to go home and “wash my dad’s car”. I was ________ that they might ask me questions. Luckily, they never did.

Two weeks ago I was with my friend Tony at his birthday party. We had cake, played games, and ________ a movie. One thing led to another (自然而然), and I sat myself down at Tony’s piano and played Happy Birthday for ________. Tony’s jaw dropped (Tony目瞪口呆)! Then, everybody came to the piano and began to listen to my ________. They had a good time. As for me, the piano didn’t make me less of a man (少男子气概)—it made me feel like a ________!