I never saw my father home from work late or ill, nor did I ever see my father take a “night out with the boys.” He had no hobbies but just take care of his family.

    For 22 years, since I left home for college, my father called me every Sunday at 9:00am. He was interested in my life--how my family was doing. The calls even came when he and my mother in Australia, England or Florida.   

    Nine years ago when I bought my first house, my father, 67 years old, spent eight hours for three days, painting my house. He would not allow me to pay someone to have it done. All he asked was a glass of iced tea, and that I hold a paintbrush for him and talk to him. But I was too busy, and I could not take the time to hold the paintbrush, or talk to my father. 

    Five years ago, my 71-year-old father spent five hours putting together a swing set(秋千) for my daughter. Again, all he asked was that I get him a glass of iced tea, and talk to him. But again, I had laundry(要洗的衣服) to do, and the house to clean. The morning on Sunday, January 16, 1996, my father telephoned me as usual, this time he had seemed to have forgotten something we had discussed the week before .I had to get to church, and I cut the conversation short. 

    The call came at 4:40 a.m. That day my father was sent to hospital in Florida. I got on a plane immediately, and I vowed (发誓)that when I arrived, I would make up for the lost time, and have a nice long talk with him and really get to know him. I arrived in Florida at 1:00 a.m. but my father had passed away at 9:12 p.m. This time it was he who did not have time to talk, or time to wait for me. 

    In the years since his death I have learnt much about my father and even more about myself. As a father, he never asked me for anything but my time. Now he has all my attention, every single day. 

    Jane Goodall is a famous scientist. For more than 40 years, Goodall lived mostly in Tanzania in East Africa, studying chimpanzees(黑猩猩).

    As a young child, Jane Goodall was interested in animals. She grew up in the English countryside and was always climbing trees or riding horses.

    When Jane was 23, she got a chance to go to Africa. Even though she had never been to college, she got a job with a famous scientist named Louis Leakey.

    One day Louis Leakey said he needed a volunteer. He needed someone to go to a lake in Tanzania to study a kind of chimpanzees. Jane was excited.

    On July 16, 1960, she began her exploration(探索).At first, the chimpanzees ran away from Jane. But with the passing of time, they got used to her being around.

    Every day, Jane would follow the chimpanzees, taking notes on their behaviour. She learned many new things about chimpanzees. She watched how a chimpanzee made a tool. She learned how some chimpanzees became good leaders. She watched animals get angry and get upset. She wrote everything down so others would understand animals as she did. She learned that if you pay really close attention to animals, you will understand what they are "saying".

    In ancient Greece, Socrates was a knowledgeable philosopher(哲学家). One day one person met him and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?". "Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test(三重过滤测试). Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the Triple Filter Test. The first filter is truth. Have you made absolutely(完全地) sure that what you are about to tell me is true? ""No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and…". "All right," said Socrates. "So you don't know whether it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?" "No, on the contrary…". "So, "Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness(有益性). Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?" "No, not really." "Well," said Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me?"

One hot summer day, I bought a small boat when my family spent vacation enjoying the beaches of beautiful Gulf shores(岸). Both of my daughters played {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(happy) all day in the boat. Later the little one got tired. So I took her to our tent on the sand as my elder girl still played in the boat. But{#blank#}2{#/blank#}boat my elder daughter in was gradually moving far out from the shore. I called to her to come closer to the shore and she seemed to be {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (worry) and afraid. All she could do was to paddle(用桨划船) hard to one side, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}the boat was just making small circles.

I stood as far out in the water and kept {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(shout) instructions to her. Luckily, some{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(visitor) in a boat not far from her noticed and started to help her immediately.

I'm not a good swimmer but I decided to have a try. I didn't stop swimming until I couldn't feel {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(I) moving. But I always kept my eyes on her.{#blank#}8{#/blank#}the help of these kind people, I finally made my way back pulling her and calming her.

So far, I {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(learn) through the experience that maybe we think we are not strong enough sometimes, but{#blank#}10{#/blank#}we trust ourselves and take the first step, we'll have all the power we need.

 When shopping for clothes, my mother and I have always disagreed on what fits me well. To me, if it zips, it fits. My mom, however, usually tells me I need a bigger size.

 When I was a teenager, I wanted to dress like my friends, but my body size made it impossible. When mo m told me something didn't suit me, or I needed a bigger size, all I heard was that my body was wrong.

 To avoid arguments, we stopped going shopping together. This continued until  I got engaged(订婚) last year and needed to buy some clothes. When I tried on a blouse. my mother looked at me, and I knew what was coming." You need a bigger size," she said.

 There was no bigger size. I tried to hold back my tears. Maybe I could buy it alone, of course, but my mom is my favorite person to hang out with The idea of looking for a wedding dress without her seemed just as scary as taking her with me.

 And so the day came. As I tried on a simple white dress. I saw tears in my mom's eyes. " You look beautiful! " she told me. Nothing could have shocked me more.

 This one didn't zip up at the back and I did actually need a bigger size, but my mother didn't say that. She just told me how beautiful I looked. In that moment, all the argument s in the past ended. We didn't buy a dress that day.

 We decided to see more, which I would never have predicted.

A few weeks later, we found the perfect dress. We both loved it as soon as I put it on. And during those few weeks, mom and I also found the perfect fit for our shopping relationship.