It is nice to hike with kids, but you must know something about hiking if you want to take a happy, relaxing trip.

    Start early, know what to do in a heavy rain and carry sunglasses. Take snacks, toilet paper and a bag with you. Take a whistle(口哨) for kids. You may use it if children run away.

    Find a partner. Kids are naturally competitive, and you can use this to your hike. They will try to do better than each other when they go hiking. They also will keep each other interested in something new.

    Do something easy. It's good to play easy games. You can say "Does anybody see anything red that matches my shirt?" Kids will be easy and happy to answer this kind of questions.

    If you aren't excited, they won't be either. When your kids find something they are interested in, you must show your interest in it, too.

    Ann wanted to play in the city orchestra (管弦乐队), but she was nervous (紧张的). She thought it might be too difficult. The first day she was so nervous, and she could hardly breathe. After a few rehearsals (排练), she could comfortably play along with everyone else. She found that there was no reason to be nervous and began to enjoy herself.

    In rehearsals, Ann became friends with Danny. Danny sat next to her and always helped her. Ann often asked him questions about music. Danny's parents were musicians. They started teaching Danny music when he was only five years old. Ann couldn't imagine playing the violin at that age.

    Ann's another friend in the orchestra was Marie. After rehearsal, Marie would tell Ann funny stories. Though Marie was much older than Ann, the two became good friends.

    The orchestra was rehearsing music for a concert. Ann invited some of her friends at school to come. Though they didn't understand music, they promised to come. They all liked Ann and wanted to cheer her. Ann's family also planned to go to the concert. Ann looked forward to the event, and she hoped it would not rain on the night of the concert.

    On the night of the concert, Ann was excited. Danny and Marie both told her that the concert would be fun. Ann knew that she would enjoy it. The conductor (指挥) Mike was nervous. Ann was surprised because she knew that he conducted many big concerts all over the world. After the concert was over, the conductor seemed happy. He said the orchestra gave a fine performance.

    A man from a big city with a new cart（马车）and a beautiful pair of horses was driving along a country road . He did not give much attention to where he was going. Very soon he knew he lost his way, but he kept on driving hoping he would meet someone or find his way back.

    It was a long way. For many hours he kept on driving. When it was almost dark he saw a farmer who was working in a field. He stopped and shouted, “Hello, farmer!” “Hello, yourself!” the farmer answered, still working.

    “Where does this road go?”

    “I have never seen it go anywhere. It always stays where it is.” said the farmer, without stopping his work.

    “How far is it to the next town?” said the stranger, with a little louder voice.

    “I don't know. I've never measured (测量) it .” Answered the farmer.

     By the time the city man was getting angry. “What do you know? You're the biggest fool I've seen.”

    The farmer stopped and turned and looked for a while at the man. Then he said, “Maybe I do not know much, perhaps I'm a fool. But at least I'm not lost.”

    One windy spring day, I noticed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites. Colorful creations of different shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds flying and dancing. As the strong winds blew against the kites, a string (线) kept them in control.

    Instead of blowing away with the wind, they rose against it to achieve great heights. They shook and pulled, but the restraining (控制的) string and the cumbersome (笨重的) tail kept them in control, facing upward and against the wind. As the kites struggled against the string, they seemed to say, "Let me go! Let me go! I want to be free!" They rose beautifully even when they fought the restriction of the string. Finally, one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose (松散的). "Free at last," it seemed to say. "Free to fly with the wind."

    Yet freedom (自由) simply put it in the control of an unkind wind. It fell down to the ground and landed in a mass of weeds and string against a dead bush. "Free at last", free to lie powerlessly in the dirt, to be blown helplessly along the ground, and to stop lifelessly against the first obstacle (障碍物).

    How much like kites we sometimes are. The Heaven gives us adversity (逆境) and rules, rules to follow from which we can grow and get strength. Some of us break away from the rules so hard that we never reach the heights we might get to. We keep part of the rules and never rise high enough to get our tails off the ground.

    Let us each rise to the great heights, knowing that some of the rules that we may be angry about are in fact the strong force that helps us achieve.

    A son took his old father to a restaurant for an evening dinner. His father was very old and weak. So while his father was eating, he always dropped(落下) food on his clothes. Many people in the restaurant watched him in disgust(厌恶地), but his son kept quiet.

    After he finished eating, his son quietly took him to the washroom, washing the food and the other dirty things carefully. When they came out, the whole restaurant was watching them in silence.  The son paid the waiter for their food and started walking out with his father.

    At that time, an old man in the restaurant called out to the son and asked him, "Don't you think you have left something behind？"

    "No sir, I haven't," the son replied.

    "Yes, you have! You left a lesson for every son and hope for every father," the old man said.

    The restaurant went silent. No one said anything.