One day, my father and I were in line to buy tickets for the circus(马戏表演). And a family was standing in front of us.

    The family had eight children. Their clothes were not expensive but clean．The children talked about the clowns(小丑), elephants, monkeys and other things excitedly. It was their first time to go to the circus.

    The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly answered, “I want eight children's tickets and two adults' tickets, so I can take my family to the circus.”

    The ticket lady said the price. The man's wife lowered her head and there was no smile on the man's face. He quietly asked, “How much did you say?”

The ticket lady said the price again. The man didn't have enough money. How could he tell his eight kids the bad news? My dad put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground．(In fact, we were not rich!) Then my dad said, “Excuse me, sir, this dropped out of your pocket.”

The man knew what was going on. He looked into my dad's eyes, held my dad's hand in his, and took the $20 bill. “Thank you, sir, thank you. This really means a lot to me and my family.”

    My father and I went back home. We didn't go to see the circus that night, but we didn't care.

A Trip to the Forest

    One day Bob took two of his friends into the mountains. They put up their tents and then rode off to a forest to see how the trees were growing.

    In the afternoon when they were about ten kilometers from their camp（营地）, it started to snow. More and more snow fell. Soon Bob could hardly see his hands before his face. He could not find the road. Bob knew there were two roads. One road went to the camp, and the other went to his house. But all was white snow. Everything was the same. How could he take his friends back to the camp?

    Bob had an idea. The horses! Let the horses take them back! But what would happen if the horses took the road to his house? That would be a trip of thirty-five kilometers in such cold weather!

    It was getting late. They rode on and on. At last the horses stopped. Where were they?

    None of them could tell. John looked around. What was that under the tree? It was one of their tents!

    Once upon a time there was an old man. He was really good at fishing. One day, he was fishing on the bank of a river. Soon he caught a full basket of fish. Just at that time, a child came and said to him, "Can you give me the fishing rod(钓鱼竿) in your hands? The old man looked up at him and said, "I can give you a full basket of fish." But the child shook his head. The old man was surprised and asked, "Why do you want the rod instead of the fish?"

    "Oh! You know it doesn't take long to eat all the fish in a basket. But if I have the fishing rod, I can go fishing by myself and I won't be afraid of not having any fish to eat."

    You may certainly think that the child is very smart. Wrong! If he doesn't know how to fish, he cannot eat any fish, even if he has the fishing rod. It's useless to only have a fishing rod. Fishing skills are more important than the fishing rod.

    Too many people think that if they have "a fishing rod" in their life, they will no longer fear the wind and rain. In fact they will make the same mistake like the child in the story.

    I made a pledge(发誓) to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.

    The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting (引用) a Biblical(圣经的) passage about husbands being thoughtful(体贴的) of their wives. Then he went on to say. "Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love. "To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change

    And it did. Right from the moment I kissed Evelyn at the door and said, "That new yellow sweater looks great on you."

    "Oh, Tom, you noticed," she said, surprised and pleased, maybe a little puzzled.

    After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, "Evelyn's been alone here with the kids all the week and now she wants to stay with me." We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.

    So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that's how the whole vacation passed. I made a new pledge to keep on remembering to choose love. There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. Last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.

    "What's the matter?" I asked her.

    "Tom," she said in a voice filled with distress, "do you know something I don't?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "Well…that checkup(体检)I had several weeks ago… our doctor…did he tell you something about me? Tom, you've been so good to me…am I dying?"

    It took a moment for it all to sink in. Then I burst out laughing.

   "No, honey, "I said, wrapping her in my arms." You're not dying; I'm just starting to live."

    Mrs. Brown, who lived alone in the Bridge Block, was asking for help because of his missing cat. "My baby has been missing for over a month now, and I want him back so badly," said Mrs. Brown. She said that Clyde, her 12-year-old cat, didn't come home for dinner more than a month ago. Although he was old and weak, Mrs. Brown loved him a lot. The next morning, he didn't appear for breakfast either. After Clyde missed an extra-special lunch, she called the police.

    When the policeman asked her to describe Clyde, she told him that Clyde had beautiful green eyes, had all his teeth but was missing half of his left ear, and was twelve years old and totally white. She then told the officer that Clyde was about a foot high.

    "Is Clyde your child or your pet?" the officer doubtfully asked. "Well, he's my cat, of course,"Mrs. Brown replied. "Lady, you're supposed to report missing PERSONS, not missing CATS," said the irritated policeman. "Well, who can I report this to?" she asked. "You can't. You have to ask around your neighborhood or put up flyer （传单）replied the officer.

    Mrs. Brown figured that a notice board would work a lot better than a piece of paper on a telephone pole. There was an empty billboard at the end of her street just off the highway. Cars only passed by smoothly between 2 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. The rest of the day, the highway was so full of drivers that no one moves. She took most of the money out of her savings account and rented the notice board with $3,000 for a month.

    The month has passed, but Clyde has not appeared. Because she has almost no money in savings, Mrs. Brown called the local newspaper to see if anyone could help her rent the notice board for just one more month. She is waiting but, so far, no one has stepped forward.