第二节： 完形填空(共20小题;每小题1分，满分20分)

　　阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从21—40各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

　　(根据台州市2009年高三年级第一次调考试改编)

　　We always celebrated my Dad’s November birthday on Thanksgiving Day, even after he entered a nursing home. As years went on, these events took on a(n) 21 meaning – a traditional birthday party for Dad, and a personal 22 for all that he had done for me in my life.

　　When we knew that it might be Dad’s 23 birthday, the whole family decided to come together for a huge birthday celebration at the nursing home. It was a crowded party __24_all of us sitting around him. Dad was a wonderful 25 , and here was a biggest audience he’d ever had.

　　During a quiet moment, I announced that it was now Dad’s turn to 26 stories from us. I wanted everyone to tell Dad what we loved about him. 27 , we told stories from our hearts, 28 Dad listened with wet, flashing blue eyes. We 29 all kinds of lost memories – stories about when we were little, stories about when Dad was young and stories that are shared as family 30 . Even the littlest grandchildren couldn’t 31 to tell their grandfather why they loved him. For a man who had been kind to so many people in his life, here was our 32 to honor him.

　　A few months later, at Dad’s memorial service, we fully realized what we had given Dad that night. Those were the stories people normally tell at a 33 . They are told, then, full of tears, with the hope that the departed will somehow hear the outpouring of love._34_ we had given those loving 35 to Dad when he was 36 , told through laughter, accompanied by hugs and joy. I’m sure the stories and memories 37 over in his mind during his last months and days.

　　Words do 38 , and they are enough. We need to say them, to speak them 39 to the ones we love, for everyone else to hear. That’s the way to 40 love, and our chance to honor a person in life.