My childhood memories involve sitting with my dad in his study every night. When he came home from work, he would put his _________items away: his watch, wallet, comb and car keys which would always _________the same spot on the table.

Dad's _________was jade green. He bought it when he married Mum, which made it two years older than I was. Every night, he would smile, and hand me the comb: “Be a good girl and help Daddy _________it, OK?”

I would excitedly turn the tap on, and brush it with a used toothbrush. When I _________returned it to Dad, he would smile at me, and place it on top of his wallet.

Two years later, I started primary school. That was_________Dad's business wasn't doing so well, He didn't come home as _________as he used to, and when he did, it was always late and I'd already be in bed. So the uncomfortable silence between Dad and me _________.

Now 28，I've _________from college and got a job. One day last year, Dad came home early. I helped him carry his bags into his__________. When I turned to leave, he said: “Hey, would you like to help me clean my comb? It's been a while since I __________cleaned it.” I looked at him a while, then took the comb, and headed to the sink. It hit me then: why, as a child, helping my dad clean his comb was such a joy. That routine meant that my dad was home early to spend the evening with Mum and me. It meant a happy and loving family. With __________in my eyes, I brushed it with an old toothbrush.

When I __________the clean comb back to him, Dad looked at it, smiling, and then carefully put it on his wallet. But this time, I had noticed something different: Dad has __________. He has wrinkles next to his eyes when he smiles, yet his smile is still as __________as before.

An old, disconnected black telephone stands in the town of Otsuchi, Japan. The phone has been ________ by at least 25, 000 people since the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. People have come to convey their feelings to ________ loved ones.

Calling it “the phone of the wind”, Itaru Sasaki set up the phone in his garden, on a small ________ with a commanding (居高临下的) view of the calm sea. The garden is ________ to all, and there is a ________ placed by the phone, the fourth such one to be used. Many people have left ________ for their loved ones on the books.

Located on the Sanriku Coast, Otsuchi was ________ by the tsunami (海啸) of March 2011. In the town, 1,285 people ________ or went missing, about 10 per cent of the town’s population.

“Come home ________. From your father, mother and grandparents.”

Sasaki found this message in the autumn of 2013, and eventually ________ the family who had written it. They were ________ their son, who went missing in the ________. The mother expressed her ________ to Sasaki, saying: “I have no idea what I have been doing since that moment. Time has stood still for me.”

Sasaki said messages have ________ as time has passed. People have started to ________ the deaths of their loved ones, ________ things such as “Please watch over us from heaven.”

________ people lost in the earthquake and tsunami, families who lost a loved one in an accident are ________ coming to honor their memories of that person. “The telephone is not ________, but people feel like their departed loved ones are there listening on the ________ end of the line,” Sasaki said.

Even to this day, I still remember the very moment when I first waved my ping-pong paddle in primary school. At that time, I was _________ and few classmates would like to talk to me. I felt _________, always wandering on the playground. On a bright Sunday afternoon, I _________ a coach playing ping-pong with some children on the playground. He walked towards me and said in a caring tone, “Hello, boy, may I ask why you are in low spirits?” What he said was actually an _________ to my heart, for it was the first time that I could feel _________. Knowing my circumstance, he asked, “Would you like to learn ping-pong?” I originally thought it was at least a good idea to take up this sport to _________ time during my lonely days. So I joined his team without _________. However, never could I imagine that the practice process was indeed a _________.

I spent all my _________ time learning skills of playing ping-pong and sometimes even got __________. More than once I wanted to give up, but my coach kept encouraging me. Much to my __________, my team members saw my efforts and never looked down upon me. I didn’t let my coach and my team down either, winning the champion in a national competition after six years of practice. Now, in high school, I am still the shortest, but most __________. My classmates regard me as their role model and I don’t feel lonely anymore.

But for my coach’s help, I would not have got rid of loneliness. Walking on the __________ again, with the words of my coach “No __________, no sweet” echoing in my mind, I have decided to __________ his kindness to brighten more lives.