A

    When I was a little kid, a father was like the light in the fridge. Every house had one, but no one really knew what either of them did when the door was shut.

    My dad left the house every morning and always seemed glad to see every one again at night. He opened the jar of pickles when no one else at home could. He was the only one in the house who wasn't afraid to go into the basement by himself. 

    Whenever it rained, he got into the car and brought it around to the door. When anyone was sick, he went out to get the prescription(处方) filled. He set mousetraps. He cut back the roses so the thorns(刺) wouldn't hurt you when you came to the front door. He oiled my roller skates, and they went faster. When I got my bike, he ran alongside me for at least a thousand miles until I got the hang of it. He signed all my report and cards. He took a lot of pictures, but was never in them. He tightened up Mother's sagging(松垂的) clothesline every week or so.

    I was afraid of everyone else's father, but not my own. 

    Whenever I played house(玩过家家), the mother doll had a lot to do. I never knew what to do with the daddy doll, so I had him say, “I'm going off to work now,” and threw him under the bed.

    When I was nine years old, my father didn't get up one morning and go to work, he went to the hospital and died the next day. 

    There were a lot of people in the house who brought all kinds of good food and cakes. We had never had so much company before.   

    He never did anything; I didn't know his leaving would hurt so much.

Washing the Apples

    Mrs. Smith has a shop in the town. There are all kinds of fruit in her shop. She's friendly to the customers and never fools^① anyone. So the customers like to buy fruit in her shop, and she gets more and more money.

    One day, the apples she sold were all fresh and nice. She remembered her son Steve liked them best, so she brought some home for her son. After lunch, she went out and left the apples on the table. That afternoon Steve came back from school, he felt very hungry. He looked for something to eat and found some apples on the table. “Great! They are my favorite.” he cried and ate a lot. Mrs. Smith got home after she closed her fruit shop. When she saw Steve, she asked him, “Did you have the apples? ” Her son answered, “Yes. And I ate lots of them.” “Did you wash them? “Oh, I forgot. I was too hungry^②. What should I do? ”

    A few minutes later, Mrs. Smith found her son kept on drinking water.

    “Are you thirsty? Why are you drinking so much water?” asked the mother.

    “No, Mom.” answered the boy, “I want to wash the apples in my stomach with the water.”

    Like many high school graduates, Maggie Doyne didn't go straight to college. She decided to travel and arrived in western Nepal in 2006. A war had just ended there and left many children living on the streets. They were often forced to work at hard physical jobs for little money.

One day, while walking down a country road, Doyne saw a little girl breaking up rocks. She soon learned that 7-year-old Hima sold the rocks to support her family. With deep sadness, she decided to pay Hima's tuition(学费) for school. Encouraged by the changes in the child, Doyne thought, "If we can help one child, why not 10？"

    Doyne felt that the street children's greatest need was a home. She found a piece of land for sale and bought it with $5,000 she saved from years of babysitting (当临时保姆). In 2008 the Kopila Valley Children's Home was set up. With the help from the community, another goal was reached in 2010—the Kopila Valley School. Over 350 children now attend the school and over 50 live in the home.

    Today, Doyne lives in the home and is "mum" to the kids.

    Patrick Johnson, an artist for the Washington Post, found some treasure in his new house-35, 000 dollars in a place where no one could see it. Although he had car and house payments in his head, he still decided to return all of the money to the previous(先前的)owner of the house, Mr Williams. Would you had done the same？

    Just hours after he had bought the house, Patrick came into the small house, where he was planning to lay out his tools and hang things up. He looked up and saw a little hole in the wall. He didn't know what it was inside, so he walked towards the wall. It was very dark inside, but an old box caught his eye." I caught the thing. It was heavy. I thought it might be some pieces of wood, "he said. Actually it was not. It was filled with lots of dollar bills. But he and his wife knew they had to return the money to Mr Williams.

    "I've got two boys and we teach them to be honest and to do what is right. I knew this was a teachable moment that I would never get back again, "Patrick said to his wife." So I thought we would do something honest with it. It's been a great thing for us and our kids."

When Grace Berbig was 7 years old, her mom became ill. Every day, Grace and her two younger sisters would write letters 1 of messages of love. These letters brought joy to their mom.2 their mother passed away three years later. After that, their father often reminded them that3 was a choice, and that it was their job to turn the heartbreaking(令人心碎的) event into4 positive(积极的). 

When Grace got into high school, she5 many organizations to offer help to others, but she6 felt like she was doing enough. "I want to7 a special way for people to help. Everyone can be a part of it, no matter 8 they have money or not. "

In October, 2018, Grace9 a club named Letters of Love at her high school to support children in fighting serious illnesses 10 letter-writing and craft-making. 

To her surprise, more than 100 students11 at the first club meeting. Letters of Love grew so fast that Grace had to raise money online to help cover the 12 of craft-making materials the next year. 

Now, Letters of Love has grown to more than 25 13 with over 1, 000 members. They 14 support for more than 60, 000 patients in children's hospitals around the world. 

Grace took a gap year(间隔年)before she started college so that she could focus on Letters of Love and15 other projects, including publishing a children's book. 

"The goal of the book is to tell children that they are never too young to change the world, "Grace said. 

The Chongyang Festival is an important and famous Chinese festival. It is celebrated on the {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(nine)day of September in the lunar (阴历) month. In 2021, it falls {#blank#}2{#/blank#}October 14th.

The festival has a history of more than 1,700 years. The number nine is {#blank#}3{#/blank#}highest odd number(奇数). In China, it is believed that two nines meeting together stand for a long life. So it is a special holiday for Chinese people {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(show) love and respect for their elders. People hold many kinds of {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (activity) in honor of old people, wishing them a long life and good health.

The festival comes during the golden days of autumn. On the day, people {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(tradition) drink chrysanthemum(菊花) wine, eat special cakes {#blank#}7{#/blank#}climb mountains. They also carry a kind of plant called dogwood. People in ancient times {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(consider) that the plant could drive the illness away in winter and stop them from {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(catch) by evil spirits.

Since you have known about Chongyang Festival and {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(it) traditions, why not step out and make the festival this year special? Write to us and share your stories.