I never saw my father home from work late or ill, nor did I ever see my father take a “night out with the boys.” He had no hobbies but just take care of his family.

    For 22 years, since I left home for college, my father called me every Sunday at 9:00am. He was interested in my life--how my family was doing. The calls even came when he and my mother in Australia, England or Florida.   

    Nine years ago when I bought my first house, my father, 67 years old, spent eight hours for three days, painting my house. He would not allow me to pay someone to have it done. All he asked was a glass of iced tea, and that I hold a paintbrush for him and talk to him. But I was too busy, and I could not take the time to hold the paintbrush, or talk to my father. 

    Five years ago, my 71-year-old father spent five hours putting together a swing set(秋千) for my daughter. Again, all he asked was that I get him a glass of iced tea, and talk to him. But again, I had laundry(要洗的衣服) to do, and the house to clean. The morning on Sunday, January 16, 1996, my father telephoned me as usual, this time he had seemed to have forgotten something we had discussed the week before .I had to get to church, and I cut the conversation short. 

    The call came at 4:40 a.m. That day my father was sent to hospital in Florida. I got on a plane immediately, and I vowed (发誓)that when I arrived, I would make up for the lost time, and have a nice long talk with him and really get to know him. I arrived in Florida at 1:00 a.m. but my father had passed away at 9:12 p.m. This time it was he who did not have time to talk, or time to wait for me. 

    In the years since his death I have learnt much about my father and even more about myself. As a father, he never asked me for anything but my time. Now he has all my attention, every single day. 

    It was raining heavily. I had to wait inside the supermarket like a lot of other people did. A little girl and her mother were waiting, too. The girl looked like 5 or 6 years old. She made me think of my daughter Alice. They are about the same age.

    After a few minutes, the girl got bored and she said to her mom, "Mom, let's run through the rain!"

    "No, dear. We'll wait until it slows down a little." said Mom.

    This young child waited about one more minute and said again, "Mom, let's run through the rain!"

    "We'll get wet if we do," her mom said.

    "No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said.

    "This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"

    "Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer (癌症), you said, 'We have got through (已经熬过) this, and then we will get through anything!'

    All of the people stopped talking. It was a time when innocent trust (纯真的信任) could grow into faith (信心). The mom thought for a minute and said "You are right, sweetheart. Let's run through the rain! If we get wet, maybe we just need washing." Then they ran out.

    They got wet. But some people followed them  ▲  .

    And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

    In fact, all decisions come down to choosing whether to open a door or to close it. I have learned that opening a door always makes life more interesting.

    A few years ago, I was living in a small world. I worked as a teacher in a very small high school. My life was quite simple. Then one day I had an opportunity to teach in a large school. The students there came from different countries. But the school was far away from my village. So I asked myself, "Should I go to that strange place to teach? Or should I stay at home?" In my home town I was safe and comfortable.

    Finally, I decided to go. I thought this was the best decision in my life. In that large school, I learned a lot about very different cultures. I also found that just a smile or a hug could make people understand each other. My new students made me feel welcome. We had a lot of fun. It was wonderful to live in a very different area of the country. So I was lucky that I didn't close the door to the chance, or I would miss all of those wonderful experiences.

Tomorrow I'll be one of the first students to travel into space. I'm so1 ! The spaceship will2 the earth at 9 a. m. It'll take us to the moon. I can't wait!

The moon is about 380,000 kilometers3 the earth. It'll take us about four days to4 there. There's no gravity(重力) in space, so we can5 around in the spaceship. We'll have to tie(绑) ourselves to our6 so that we won't float (飘浮) away in our sleep! Without gravity, our bodies may get7 , so we'll have to do exercise every day.

When we arrive, I'm going to walk on the moon. I'll have to8 a spacesuit(太空服) to help me breathe(呼吸)9 there's no air on the moon. I'm going to take many photos if my10 still works there. I'm looking forward to it.

At the 17th Paralympic Games(残奥会) in Paris, Liu Yu, a 35- year- old disabled swimmer, was1 after winning the third place in the women's backstroke 50m(女子50米仰泳).

Liu was born with illness and couldn'2 . She had to use a wheelchair and stayed in a children's hospital.3 , the elder kids in the hospital cared for this young girl. Like her 4 , they taught her to be strong.

At the age of 15, Liu had the chance to learn how to swim and showed her talent in the pool." I loved the feelings of 5 and was not scared at all. It was so wonderful to move 6 without having to use legs."

Staying 7 is the key to her success."I was 24 years old then and it was so tiring to stay in the water six hours a day. But I never 8 and finally made it."

In 2019, she was 9 by the National Team. This year, she won a bronze medal(铜牌).

" Although it's my last Paralympic Games, I'm happy with this result." said Liu."I want to tell people that no matter what happened to you, never10 and you will finally succeed!"