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.

    As the taxi leaves, my father stands at the living room window looking out, watching me move off into the darkness, at 4:30 a. m. His grey hair is untidy from sleeping.

    Moments ago, he got up to carry my bag for me and went into the cold open air.

    He thanked me for a daughter's cooking and for having traveled so far to spend the holiday with him. I told him that I worried about he would feel lonely again in the empty house.

    "I have my plans," he said, in the moments before I walked out the door.

    When I arrived 10 days ago, I felt it was quiet and lifeless in the house. Then my brothers and I came and filled the rooms. But, now, they're gone, I am the last to leave.

    As the taxi began to move, I watched the lights go off, but my father didn't leave. Even though he couldn't see me in the dark, he stood by the window watching, beside the tree. It was a fresh tree. He buys one every year for the new year.

    The life is hard for my father: my mother died years ago, and now his children are far from home, our selfish choices taking us from one end of the country to the other, the life of the tree, cut for Christmas, is short; my father's is long and strong. But both of them are tall and straight.

    I leave behind two trees: one with silver-grey hair, the other still freshly green.

    Night after night, a wolf walks around a group of sheep, looking for one of them to eat, but the shepherd (牧羊人) and his dogs always make him go away.

    But one day, the wolf finds the skin (皮)of a sheep. He puts the skin carefully over him. Then he walks into the group of sheep.

    The shepherd thinks that the wolf is one of his sheep, and makes the wolf eat the grass with the sheep, and even lets him sleep with the sheep.

    For many days and nights, the wolf eats and sleeps very well. The wolf enjoys himself very much. But one day, the shepherd wants to sell one of his sheep at the market. He finds the biggest and fattest sheep and brings him into town. Can you guess who it is? It is the wolf!

    When he didn't become famous, Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists in the world, lived a hard life, wearing casually. Someone reminded him he should have a decent(得体的) coat so as to enter the society.

    He said, "I'm unknown. Even if I wear more handsomely, no one will know me. "A few years later, Einstein became a world-famous scientist, who still wore casually. The man again reminded he should have a coat made quickly, or it would disagree with the fame of a great scientist. Einstein said with a smile, "Now, even if I wear ragged(衣衫褴褛的)clothes, people will know me."

    Sometimes, he even wore a sports shirt and a pair of sandals to the University of Berlin when he worked as a professor in Germany. His friends didn't agree with him, but he said jokingly, "If the bag is better than the meat inside, it will be a bad thing."

    Indeed, many a time, if we don't adorn(修饰;装饰) ourselves from the appearance but let the skeleton(骨架;骨骼) of the spirit stand up, we won't fall over in this world.

    One day, John read an advertisement in a newspaper. It said "Wanted. The best salesman in the world." John thought he was a great salesman and went to ask for the job. "I'm the best salesman in the world," he said to the manager. "Give me the job."

   "You must prove you're the best," the manager said.

   "OK I will," John said.

   "Good." The manager took several boxes of sweets out of his desk." Last week I bought a thousand boxes of sweets. If yon can sell them all before the end of the week, yon can have the job," said the manager.

   "That's easy," John said. He took the boxes of sweets and left the office.

    Every day and all day he went from shop to shop, trying to sell the sweets. But he couldn't sell one. The sweets were too bad for him to sell. At the end of the week he went back to the manager." I'm sorry, sir," he said," I was wrong about myself. I'm not the best salesman in the world, but I know who is."

   "Oh" said the manager. "Who?"

   "The person who sold you a thousand boxes of the sweets."