Last Friday a storm swept through two villages in the New Territories, destroying(摧毁)  fourteen homes. Seven others were so badly damaged that their owners had to leave them, and fifteen others had broken windows or broken roofs. One person was killed, several were badly hurt and taken to the hospital, and a number of other people received light hurt.

    In total, over two hundred people were homeless. Mr Tan said that the storm began early in the morning and lasted for over an hour. “I was eating with my wife and children when we heard a loud noise,” he said. “Several minutes later, our house fell down on top of us. We tried our best to climb out but then I saw that one of my children was missing. I went back inside and found him safe but very frightened.”

    Mrs. Woo said that her husband had just left for work when she felt that her house was moving. She ran outside at once with her children. “There was no time to take anything,” she said. “A few minutes later, the roof came down.”

    Soldiers helped to take people out of the flooded(水淹的) area and the welfare department(福利机构) brought them food, clothes and shelter.

    My father was 44 and knew he wasn't going to make it to 45. He wrote me a letter and hoped that something in it would help me for the rest of my life.

    Since the day I was 12 and first read his letter, some of his words have lived in my heart. One part always stands out. "Right now, you are pretending to be a time killer. But I know that one day, you will do something great that will set you among the very best." Knowing that my dad believed in me gave me permission to believe in myself. "You will do something great." He didn't know what would be, and neither did I, but at times in my life when I've felt proud of myself , I remember his words and wish he were here so I could ask, "Is this what you were talking about , Dad ? Should I keep going ?"

A long way from 12 now, I realize he would have been proud when I made any progress. Lately, though, I've come to believe he would want me to move on to what comes next: to be proud of , and believe in , somebody else. It's time to start writing my own letters to my children . Our children look to us with the same unanswered question we had. Our kids don't hold back because they're afraid to fail. They're only afraid of failing us. They don't worry about being disappointed. Their fear —as mine was until my father's letter —is of being a disappointment .

    Give your children permission to succeed. They're waiting for you to believe in them. I always knew my parents loved me. But trust me：That belief will be more complete , that love will be more real, and their belief in themselves will be greater if you write the words on their hearts："Don't worry; you'll do something great ." Not having that blessing from their parents may be the only thing holding them back.

    Mr. Green lives in a village. He has a few farms and is the richest there. And he has pigs, chickens, cows and sheep. He works in the fields with some workers, and his wife had to do all the housework at home. So she is very busy and asks her husband to employ( 雇) a girl to help her, but he doesn't agree.

    "There are so many chickens, dear," said the woman one day. "I can't look after them at all."

    "That's easy," said Mr. green." There's Mr. Black's farm outside our enclosing walls (围墙).We'd better make a few holes in the walls and the chickens will go to his farm through them and eat his vegetables."

    And soon Mr. Black found it. He told Mr. Green and his wife about it. They promised they would stop their chickens doing it but they didn't keep their promise at all. Mr. Black thought for a while and found a way. He put nearly 20 eggs near the holes one afternoon. And that evening, when Mrs. Black was counting her chickens, she called out on her farm, "Oh, I'm lucky today! I've found twenty eggs on my farms."

    Of course, Mrs. Green saw it herself. And the next morning Mr. Black found all the holes had been stopped up(堵死).

    I taught high school for years and had the joy of knowing many wonderful kids. One student, Scott Wood, was especially close to my heart. What I taught was Creative Writing. Scott wrote quite well His talent is beyond the teacher's ability to teach. He was able to express through his written words well and it enabled me to light his way a little.

    Scott and other students were often in my home, at my kitchen table, sharing supper .It was amazing to me that what I said to them about life and love, and making time for the important things influenced them in their daily life. I watched them use these lessons they learnt in their lives as I followed their lives after graduation. Scott, especially, did this, and still does this today.

    Recently I told him I feel particularly down these days. I couldn't stop thinking about the sad and unpleasant things in the life. Here is what he emailed back to me.

    I remember you coming into the class one day late .You continued to tell all of us hat you were late because of very special reason. It had snowed the night before but instead of cleaning the ice off your windows in the car, you let the car heater lake cane of t and you sat and watched in wonder as he water slowly started flowing down your window. I think about this a lot when the weather begins getting cold, how most of us miss the simple treasure-ice melting. Life is full happiness and sadness. But every day is a gift, right? Life is not a lack of beauty, but lack of the find the beauty .Is that not what you always told us? That is how you lived and that is how you toll t to live.

    Ice melting. I do not remember his thing but, thinking back, it seems very true. That is what I believed, that is what I taught.

    You know, just to make it clean, an "ice -melting moment "to me is that moment you stop time for-you stop everything for -because it is too precious to miss .Scott, my student long ago, made me remember to never be too busy to stop the world, stop the clock for the magical moments in our daily lives.