阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

　　When I was in seventh grade, I was a candy striper (志愿护士助手) at a local hospital in my town. Most of the time I spent there was with Mr. Gillespie. He never had any 16 , and nobody seemed to care about his 17 .

　　I spent many days there holding his hand and talking to him, 18 anything that needed to be done. He became a close friend of mine, 19 he responded with only a (n) 20 squeeze of my hand. Mr. Gillespie was in a coma (昏迷).

　　I left for a week to vacation with my parents, and when I came back, Mr. Gillespie was 21 . I didn't have the 22 to ask any of the nurses where he was, for fear they might 23 me he had died.

　　Several 24 later, when I was a junior in high school, I was at the gas station when I noticed a familiar face. When I 25 who it was, my eyes filled with tears. He was 26 ! I got up the nerve to ask him if his name was Mr. Gillespie. With a (n) 27 look on his face, he replied yes. I 28 how I knew him, and that I had spent many hours talking with him in the hospital. His eyes welled up with tears, and he gave me the warmest hug I had ever 29 .

　　He began to tell me how, 30 he lay there comatose, he could hear me talking to him and could 31 me holding his hand the whole time. Mr. Gillespie 32 believed that it was my voice and 33 that had kept him alive.

　　Although I haven't 34 him since, he fills my heart with 35 every day. I know that I made a difference between his life and his death.

16. A. visitors

17. A. interest

18. A. talking about

19. A. so that

20. A. occasional

21. A. dead

22. A. right

23. A. cheat

24. A. days

25. A. realized

26. A. great

27. A. happy

28. A. apologized

29. A. dreamed

30. A. because

31. A. notice

32. A. hardly

33. A. humour

34. A. forgotten

35. A. joy B. relatives

B. requirement

B. looking for

B. even though

B. tight

B. mad

B. chance

B. tell

B. weeks

B. wondered

B. alive

B. uncertain

B. remembered

B. shown

B. if

B. feel

B. immediately

B. encouragement

B. called

B. regret C. patients

C. condition

C. pointing out

C. soon after

C. satisfactory

C. gone

C. nerve

C. remind

C. months

C. heard

C. successful

C. nervous

C. explained

C. wanted

C. unless

C. imagine

C. firmly

C. touch

C. missed

C. respect D. friends

D. thought

D. helping with

D. just as

D. warm

D. excited

D. time

D. warn

D. years

D. asked

D. lucky

D. proud

D. admitted

D. received

D. as

D. appreciate

D. wrongly

D. treatment

D. seen

D. sympathy