I learned how to accept life as it is from my father. 【C1】______ , he did not teach me acc

eptance when he was strong and healthy, but rather when he was 【C2】______ and ill.

My father was 【C3】______ a strong man who loved being active. But a terrible illness 【C4】______ all that away. Now he can no longer walk. And he must sit quietly in a chair all day. Even talking is 【C5】______ . One night, I went to visit him with my sisters. We started 【C6】______ about life, and I told them about one of my 【C7】______ . I said that we must very often give things up 【C8】______ we grow: our youth, our beauty, our friends, but it always 【C9】______ that after we give something up, we gain something new in its place. Then suddenly my father 【C10】______ up. He said, "But, Peter, I gave up 【C11】______ ! What did I gain？" I thought and thought, but I could not think of anything to say. 【C12】______ , he answered his own question. "I 【C13】______ the love of my family. " I looked at my sisters and saw tears in their eyes along with hope and thankfulness.

I was also 【C14】______ by his words. After that, when I began to feel irritated at someone, I 【C15】______ remember his words and become 【C16】______ . If he could replace his great pain with a feeling of love for others, then I should be 【C17】______ to give up my small irritations. In this 【C18】______ , I learned the power of acceptance from my father.

Sometimes I 【C19】______ what other things I could have learned from him if I had listened more carefully when I was a boy. For now, though, I am grateful for this one 【C20】______.

【C1】______

A．Afterwards

B．Therefore

C．However

D．Meanwhile