“Can I see my baby?” asked the happy new mother. Unluckily, she found her baby had been born without ________ when it was in her arms, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Time proved that the baby’s hearing was very good. He got on well with his classmates. But one day, he rushed home and ________ to his mother with tears in his eyes, “A big boy called me a freak (怪胎).”

As the boy ________ he developed a talent for art and music.

The boy’s father had a meeting with the family doctor. “Could ________ be done?” He asked the doctor, “I believe I could graft (植入) a pair of outer ears if you could get ________,” the doctor said. They tried to find a person who was helpful for the young man.

However, two years went by, nobody wanted to ________ the young man ears. Then one day, his father said to the son, “You’re going to the hospital, mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But we must keep it a secret who the person is.” The operation was a great success, and a new person appeared. His cleverness and hard work ________ him a very successful person. He married and lived a happy life.

Time kept the secret, but the day did come. The young man stood with his father ________ his mother’s body. Slowly, the father put out a hand and raised the thick, brown hair. To his surprise, the son found his mother had no outer ears.

“Mother said she was glad she ________ needed to cut her hair,” his father said in a low voice, “and nobody ever thought mother less beautiful, did they?”

Real ________ lies not in what is done and known, but in what is done but not known.