I like fishing. Every Sunday I get up early and 1 a bike to a river.

    This morning my 2 wants to go with me after breakfast. We go by car first and then walk to the3. After we get there, we sit down and I start to 4. In two hours, I catch nothing.

    “All right, let 5 have a try.” she says. She 6six big fish in half an hour.“I'll go home and I'm going to cook them for 7You8take the bus home,” she says.

    I stay by the river but catch only an old shoe. I feel a little 9 with myself.10is the fisherman in the family? My wife or I?

    It was in autumn. A woman was ill. She 1 in the hospital. Her husband died ten years ago. She had no sons 2 daughters. Nobody 3 her. She felt very 4 .There was a tree outside her room. She saw the leaves fall down. Day after day, there were fewer and fewer leaves 5 the tree. The woman was very sad. She didn't want to eat or drink. She became worse day by day. She got a strong feeling of death. One day, she said, "When the last leaf falls down, I 6 die."

    An old artist knew that. He decided 7 this woman. One night, all yellow leaves fell down. The artist painted a green and yellow leaf and then put it in the tree. The next morning, 8 the woman looked out of the window and saw the last leaf, she was filled with 9. She wanted to be alive. She didn't want to fall down like 10 leaves. From then on，she became better and better and lived well.

    Don't give up your hope at any time.

    When I was twelve years old, my family lived next to a forest. Every evening, mockingbirds(知更鸟) would come and rest in the trees and sing. I enjoyed 1singing so much that I decided to catch a young bird. In this way, I 2 hear it sing for me every day.

    I finally managed3 one and put it in a cage. At first, the bird was very frightened, so it fluttered(扑腾)in4 new home all the time. Several days later, it was used 5 in this new home.

    The next day, the little bird's mother flew to the cage with 6food in her mouth. The baby bird looked very happy and ate everything 7the mother brought to it. I was so happy to see this, for the mother knew how to take care of her baby8than me.

    But9the bird morning, I found it died. I was terribly10and cried at once. I didn't know 11happened.

    Arthur Wayne, my father's friend, was a famous ornithologist(鸟类学家). She 12my father at that time.13she knew the whole thing, she explained to me," If a mother mockingbird finds her baby14in a cage, she will bring it poisonous berries(毒梅).She thinks it's better for her baby to die than to lose freedom."

Since then I 15any living animal in a cage. All living things have a right to live free.

    I'm sure many great people think about how they can make a difference in the world. In fact, sometimes little things can make a really big difference. I learned this 1 one day five years ago with my father, when I was just acting like myself—a nine-year-old kid.

    Papa came home late from work after 9 p.m. and he looked even more tired than usual. His eyes were already half-closed. I followed him to his bedroom. Papa 2 up the stairs, slowly lifting his feet one after the other. I was afraid that I would have to start pushing him. Fortunately, he 3 it to the bedroom on his own.

    Papa sat down on the bed and started removing his shoes and socks. "How was work?" I asked cheerfully.

    "Oh, it was OK," he replied. "It's just that I'm tired." "Oh, um……you want me to leave?"

    Papa gave me a tired 4 that made me more comfortable. I made me feel like he wasn't going to scold me, as he often did when I made some 5.

    "No," he said kindly, "of course I don't want you to leave."

    I opened my mouth and started 6 out the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch. Papa always loved it when I did that, and he started laughing loudly. I was happy that I had made my father laugh so much.

    "Did you like it?" I asked. "Of course I did," he said. "Did you know that 7you make me laugh, you make me feel a lot better?"

    I was  8that I could really do a thing like that.