The day before yesterday, when Peter's family were having dinner, Father raised an interesting question, "Was there anything in our past that we feel ashamed of, guilty about, or regretted? Maybe we can find ways to say sorry, or take some action to right any wrongdoing.”This seemed like a very private matter, but Peter thought about it carefully the whole night.

 Peter remembered an incident from middle school. In his school, there was a worker, Neil Stone, who none of the kids liked. One night, Peter and two of his classmates decided to play a trick on him. They found a can of red paint, and wrote on the school main road in bright red: Neil Stone is a fool! The next day, the whole school saw these words. Within two hours, Neil had Peter and his two classmates in his office. His classmates said that they had done it but Peter lied,denying the truth. No one ever talked about it.

 This morning, Peter went back to his middle school. Neil Stone is still working there. “Sorry, Neil. Do you still remember what happened ten years ago? I want you to know that I did it.”"I knew it!" Neil laughed. They had a good laugh and a lively discussion. Neil's closing words were: “Peter, I always felt bad for you because your classmates got it off their mind, and I knew you were carrying it around all these years. I want to thank you for visiting me… for your sake.”

 Peter knows that no matter how difficult the situation is, it is never too late to clear up the past and make a fresh start.

    A man was mending a street lamp when he saw a pretty young woman and three children get into a car which was in the garden of a house near him. He saw that the car had a flat tyre, and tried to warn the woman, but it was too late—she was already driving the car out of the garden, and into the busy street. When she had got there, she stopped the car at the side of the street, got out and looked at the flat tyre. The children stayed in the car. Very soon another car stopped, and the driver offered to help her. The young woman accepted his offer, and the man changed the tyre for her.

    When she had thanked him and he had gone, she drove the car back into the garden, got out with the children and went back to her work in the house –with clean hands.

    Years ago, I lived in a building in a large city. The building next door was only a few feet away from mine. There was a woman who lived there, whom I had never met, yet I could see her seated by her window each afternoon, sewing or reading.

    After several months went by, I began to notice that her window was dirty. Everything was unclear through the dirty window. I often said to myself, "I wonder why that woman doesn't wash her window. It really looks terrible."

    One bright morning I decided to clean my flat, including washing the window on the inside.

    Late in the afternoon when I finished the cleaning, I sat down by the window with a cup of coffee for a rest. What a surprise! Across the way, the woman sitting by her window was clearly seen. Her window was clean!

    Then it dawned on me. I was always criticizing(批评) her dirty window, but all the time I was watching hers through my own dirty window.

    That was quite an important lesson for me. How often had I looked at and criticized others through the dirty window of my heart, through my own mistake?

    Since then, whenever I wanted to judge(评判) someone, I asked myself first, "Am I looking at him through my own dirty window?"

    Then I try to clean the window of my own world so that I may see the world around me more clearly and correctly.

    John is thirteen now. He began to study in a middle school two years ago. His home is in a village and it's nearly five kilometres away from the school. He has to get up early in the morning. After quick breakfast he has to run to school and get there on time. His father hopes to borrow some money to buy a bike for him, but John knows his mother is always ill and that his father spends much money on medicine. He doesn't agree with his father and keeps running there every day. Now he's very strong. He is never late for class and his teachers often praise him.

    Last week there was a sports meeting in his school. John ran faster than any other boy in the boys' 800—metre race, 1, 500—metre race and 3, 000—metre race. The whole school knew him. He was happy. He told his grandma about the good news as soon as he got home.

    "I broke two school records today, Granny, "called out the boy.

    To his surprise, the old woman wasn't happy. She thought for a while and I'm sorry to hear that. But we have no money to pay for them, you know!

    Mary was ill yesterday. She went to see a doctor.

    "Doctor, I'm not feeling 1 at the moment," she said. "Every time I do my homework at night, I feel 2. If I walk to school, I have to sit down and 3  for ten minutes."

    The doctor looked 4 Mary carefully. At last he said, "5 serious, but I'm afraid you are 6 too much."

    "I don't understand. What do you mean?" asked Mary. "I mean you eat too much 7 ,"said the doctor.

    "Oh! You mean I'm too 8. That's a problem," said Mary. "What should I do if I don't want to be heavy?"

    "The answer is easy," said the doctor. "If you want to be thinner and healthier, you 9 eat a lot of food and you also should take more 10."