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. 

    ① My little sister is spoilt(宠坏的). She has Dad wrapped around her finger. If I had done or said some of the things that she does when I was her age, I would have been in big trouble. Not her- she's Daddy's girl. She's three.

    ②An example: Dad asked her to get his glasses from the kitchen. My sister said, “You've got legs. You get them.” When he asked again, she said, "Benny's got legs. He can get them. "Mum and Dad thought she was funny. I just thought she was rude.

    ③One night she woke Dad and said she dreamed that "Benny was fighting a witch (巫婆)."Mum and Dad let her sleep in their bed the rest of the night. I never slept in their bed- not that I would have wanted to. She is so spoilt.

    ④One time at the beach after she'd been playing in the surf with Mum, my sister shouted that an "octopus's tentacles" had bitten (咬) her. Dad laughed his head off. It wasn't that funny. She was certainly imagining. I knew that's what she thought as I'd done a project on animals for school.

    ⑤She likes to do homework when I do mine. She sits next to me and pretends to write pages of homework. It's just letters such as the letters in her name that she repeats for row after row. Mum says she's just trying to be like me but it drives me crazy when I'm trying to fix my attention on my work.

    ⑥She took her favorite book, Animalia, to Kindy(幼儿园) this morning. When dad and I collected her from Kindy this afternoon, a boy had taken her book out of her locker and was being really careless with the pages. I could tell she didn't like him having her book. I took the book off the boy and told him to treat books nicely. My sister looked very happy.

    ⑦Later my Dad told me that my sister admires me. I guess that's pretty cool.

    One day King Henry was hunting in a forest. Towards evening he told his men to ride home by the main(主要的) road while he went home by another.

    As he came out of the forest, he saw a little boy. "Well, my boy," said the king. "Are you looking for your father?" "No, Sir," answered the boy. "I am looking for the king. They say he is hunting in the forest." Oh, if that is your wish, "said King Henry, "I'll take you to the place where you will see him."

    The boy got up and sat behind the king. On the horse, the king and the boy began to talk. "They say that King Henry always has many men with him," said the boy. "How can I know which he is?" "Oh, it's easy. All the other men will take off their hats, but the king will keep his on." "Do you mean that the one with his hat on will be the king?" "Of course." Soon they came into the main road. The king's men greeted the king by taking off their hats. "Well, my boy," said King Henry, "Which do you think is the king now?" "I don't know," answered the boy," it must be either you or I, because we both have our hats on"

    There is an old man in a house. In the house there are many mice. The old man has a cat. Every day the cat catches the mice and eats them. One day, the old mouse says "All mice must come to my room this evening. We must find a way to deal with the cat." All the mice come. Many mice speak but they don't know what to do. At last a young mouse stands up and says "We must put a bell on the cat. When the cat comes near we can hear the bell and run away. So the cat can't catch us." "Who can put the bell on the cat" asks the old mouse. But no one answers.

    A man came home from work late, tired, to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.

    "Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?"

    "If you must know, I make $20 an hour."

    "Oh," the little boy answered, with his head down. He thought for a moment, looked up and said, "Daddy, could you lend me $10?"

    The father was angry, "If you asked for the money to buy a toy or some other things, then go straight to your room and think about why you are being so selfish (自私的)!"

    The little boy quietly went to his room and closed the door. After about an hour or so, the father calmed (平静) down, and started to think, "Maybe he really needs to buy something and he didn't really ask for money very often." So he went to the little boy's room.

    "Sorry! Maybe I was too hard on you just now." said the man, "Here's $10."

    "Oh, thank you, Daddy!" he said happily. Then, the boy took out some coins. When the father found that the boy already had money, he got angry again.

    "Why do you want more money since you already have some?" the father shouted angrily.

    "Because I didn't have enough, but now I do." the little boy said, "Daddy, I have $20 now. Could I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."