There was a time when I thought my dad didn’t know a thing about being a good father. I couldn’t   ______ him ever saying the words “I _______you.” It seems to me his only purpose in life was to say “No” to anywhere I wanted to go and anything I wanted to do, including getting a _________Some parents bought their kids cars when they got their driver’s licenses. Not my dad—he said that I’d have to get a job and buy my own.

So that is what I did. I got a job at a very nice restaurant and _______every penny I could and________I had enough to buy my car, I did! The day I brought that car home, my dad was the first one I wanted to________it off to. “Look, dad, a car of my own. If you ever want a ride, I’ll only________you five dollars.” I offered with a smile. “I see,” was all he said.

One day, there was something wrong with my father’s truck. So he needed a ________to work. The sun wasn’t even up when we left the house, _______it was already getting warm out. It was going to be a(n) ________day. As I dropped my dad off, I_______him, dressed in his work clothes, getting his _____ from the truck (车尾箱) of my car. Watching his sun weathered face, and even from a distance I could tell there were ________lines than I ever remembered being there before. I realized how hard my dad works for the family. My father is a cement finisher (水泥修整工).

In that instant, it_________to me that he actually got down on his hands and knees to sweat over hot concrete (混凝土) to make a living for his family. And he did this day in and day out, however hot it got. Never, not once, had I heard him _____   about it. To him we were “worth” it. And never once did he “ _____” us for it.

When he closed the trunk, his tools set off to the side, he walked over to my window to     _____me five dollars. I rolled down the window and said “Good-bye, dad. Keep your five dollars. It’s my ______. Don’t work too hard. I love you.”

His _______ met mine, then glanced away in the direction of his waiting tools, he_______ his throat and said, “Oh, and… me, too.”

On the last day of last September, my sister sent me a message: "The 1196 weather service will come to an end. So, if you want to listen, today is the last ________.”

For 20 years, a caller could dial 1196, select an area and then hear the weather forecast. read by a computer-spliced (电脑合成的) version of my father's ________ . This was 20th-century service that continued into the 21st century . Dad has bee dead for 19 years , so it would be________by the weather app soon.

I had ________ listened to the weather service, hearing it only not long after Dad died. Dad made most of the ________—thousands of words and phrases—after he had cancer. I often followed him to the radio station in my spare time. He would sit in a soundproof (隔音的) room, _______ his list of words with headphones on. He pronounced each word in three variations (变化). He________ the job and it reminded him of his previous work as a radio journalist. The familiar headphones and the precise pronunciation all took him back to his working life. And he was ________ of his voice. It sounded strong still and held its fine timbre (音色) ________ he was in poor health.

The whole recording was really a large project with many sessions. In the end, Dad was too ________ to go to the recording room. ________, the sound engineer came to my parents' house to ________ the last parts. Birds could be heard singing in these parts. I wondered then if these unexpected sounds would ________ some   picky callers to the weather service.

Finally, I ________the number for the last time. A well-spoken robot, ________ in my father’s voice, made me ache. It was another goodbye, so long after the last goodbye.

I was at a store the other day. The young woman ahead of me in _________ couldn’t pay for her items, and I _________ to pay for them. Though she _________,when she left, the cashier (收银员) thanked me for my offer. She said, “We all need to _________ each other like that. We don’t do enough of that!” I _________ agreed and walked out of the store feeling so _________.

I seem to have many kindness moments in the _________. I go there a lot to pick up _________ for my dad. The other day I was talking with the woman at the _________ and when she realized who my __________ was, she asked about him and I __________ her in. Then she thanked me for caring for him, which was so __________. Dad’s had so many health problems that I’ve almost forgotten how he was before. It was nice to be __________ of that. She was so understanding and encouraging, which really gave me the __________ I needed.

I’ve also been praying lately to be __________ with myself and my dad. Whenever I __________ to do that, our day seems much better. The other day we watched Forest Gump together. We both love that __________, and it seemed to open him up. He doesn’t __________ much with me but he did that day, and it made me __________. It really means a lot to me. That was his __________ to me that day.