A little boy who had no parents lived with his grandmother. One night their house caught a ______. The grandmother tried to save the little boy asleep upstairs, but ______ in the smoke and fire.

A crowd gathered around the burning house. The ______ cries for help were so loud, but no one seemed to know what to do in front of the ______ fire.

______, a stranger rushed from the crowd and circled to the back of the house. And he found an iron pipe that could reach an upstairs window. He disappeared for a minute, then, ______ with the boy in his arms. Among the cheers of the crowd, he ______ the hot pipe as the boy hung around his neck.

A few weeks later, a public hearing was held in the town hall to decide ______ could care for the boy. Each person wanting the child was allowed to say a few ______. The first man said, “I have a big farm.” The second man said he was a ______ and that he could give the child the best education himself. Finally, the ______ man in society said, “I have a lot of money. I can give the boy everything he wants.”

In the end, from the back seat stood up a stranger. Reaching the front of the hall, he stood directly ______ the little boy. Slowly the stranger took out his ______ from his pockets. The little boy had been looking to the floor ______ then he looked up. The man’s hands were terribly scarred (疤痕). Suddenly the boy cried. Here was the man who had ______ his life. With a rush the boy threw himself around the stranger’s neck and held on for life.