There is a hiking trail (远足小径) near Sara's home. The trail begins at the foot of the mountain and leads all the way to the top. One day, Sara and her father planned to go on a hike. Sara had packed lunches earlier that morning. Her lather filled their backpacks with other things and they set out!

    As they started up the trail, Sara's father pointed out many different plants along the trail. He showed Sara the difference between the leaves of an aspen tree and a spruce tree. Sara was glad that her father knew so much! She always learned something whenever they went on a hike.

    "Look over there," Sara said in a low voice. They had just turned a comer on the mountain trail. Lying in the grass next to the trail was a small baby deer(鹿). It looked at them with wide eyes, but it did not move.

    "Where is its mother?" Sara asked. "Do you think we should stay here and watch it?"

    "That's a good idea," answered her dad. "We must not go any closer, though." As they sat down and unpacked their lunch, Sara asked her dad why they couldn't go any closer to the deer. He explained that sometimes, if the mother smelled humans too close to her baby, she would be too afraid to come back. Sara and her father agreed that they would wait for the mother to come back, but that they would not get too close to the deer.

    Soon a larger deer walked slowly up to the baby deer. The mother and baby ran quickly down the trail.

    Sara and her father packed up their things and continued up the mountain. They knew that the deer was now safe.

    There are many kinds of love. For me there is a kind of unusual love, which I call "soft love". Both my parents love me very much. Now I'd like to thank my father for giving me so much soft love. He has his own way to communicate with me.

    My father works at a university as a teacher. He is very strict with his students. He puts his heart into his work. All of his students love him. At home he is both a good husband and a good father. He is strict with me, too, so I am afraid of him. There is one thing that I will never forget.

    At the end of last term, my scores were lower than ever before, so I was very worried about it. My father came to my room and saw the report card. At that time, I was afraid that my father would be angry with me. But to my surprise, he left the room without any words. I couldn't help crying.

    The next day, when I got up, I found a letter. I opened it, and it was written by my father, "Dear daughter, I know that studying is hard work, but you won't give it up, will you? I believe that you can be the best. Now I want to give you some pieces of advice: ⒈Where there is a will, there is a way. ⒉Practice makes perfect. ⒊It's no use crying over spilt milk." After I read the letter, I couldn't say a word. So I wrote, "Dad, I can do it! Thank you!"

    I think that the soft love between my father and me makes us even closer!

    The cold wind blew strongly outside. Amaya was warm in her house, thinking about an article she'd read at school. The article was about kids who helped out their communities, and she thought it would be really cool to help her own town, Harvard.

    The only problem was that she wasn't sure how to help. In the article, the kids had grown food for people who needed food, but it was winter. She couldn't start a garden. Amaya was deep in thought when her mom said it was time to go shopping.

    As they drove along the road, Amaya saw a family walking on the sidewalk( 人 行 道 ), wearing only light jackets. How cold they must be! That gave her an idea! She could collect winter coats, hats and gloves for people who needed them.

    She shared her idea with her mom, who thought it was great. But how would they spread the idea to get plenty of winter clothing? Amaya decided to talk to her teacher, because then she could share her idea with her classmates at least.

    Ms. Monroe agreed when Amaya talked about her idea. They decided to call the project Hats in Harvard. Then they wrote a letter explaining the project. Ms. Monroe even said she could help Amaya talk to the headmaster about  it, so they could get the whole school to join in it. They met with the headmaster during lunch time. He was excited about the idea, and said he would make sure copies(复印件) of the letter went home with all the students.

    They collected enough winter clothing in only one week. Then they left the clothes around two parks, so families who needed clothes could get them there. Three days later, Amaya and her mom went shopping again. She saw the same family that had given her the idea for Hats in Harvard. This time, though, the family looked nice and warm in some new coats, hats and gloves. Amaya felt warm in her heart, and was very glad she could help others.