It is believed in some ways that the daughter is father's lover. But my experience has taught me in a different way. For a long time, my father has been a very vague figure（模糊的形象）to me. He was a man of few words, tall but slim and nothing else.

 When I was in primary school, my father was never there to pick me up, and he never came to any of my parent-teacher meetings. He was always busy doing projects. I remember when I was in middle school and my head was badly hurt in a PE class. During my operation, my father was nowhere to be found. This hurt me most. At that moment, I considered my father as a cold-blooded man who did not care about me at all.

 But things seemed different at my high school graduation ceremony, where I was chosen to represent my class and give a speech. My father, once again, told me he had a business trip in a place outside the city and would be unable to show up（露面）.“Don't come. I will be very nervous if I see you,”I told him.

 I remember my speech went smoothly. After the ceremony was over and I was about to leave. I suddenly noticed a familiar（熟悉的）looking man sitting in a corner of the hall. It was my father! I was so surprised that I rushed to him with tears（眼泪）running down my face. "Well done,"he said. His eyes were also filled with tears.

Later, I found out that my father had managed to finish his work by staying up late, and he drove for eight hours to get back. He had been sitting in the corner because he didn't want me to see him. My father remembered every word in my speech.

 For much of my life, I described my father was a cold-blooded man who only cared about his work. But when I thought deeply about this, it was obviously（明显地）not true. At my graduation ceremony. I could feel my father's deep love. The fact is that seeing is not believing, and seeing may not be the fact if we don't perceive（感知）the world with our hearts and minds. There's no doubt that life doesn't lack（缺少）love, but sometimes our eyes have trouble seeing it.

    In fact, at the time they seemed to be ordinary events, but now everything seems different. I had spent 10 years away from the place where I was born. Even though I made the decision to leave my country by myself, I miss a lot of things now. The person that brought me the happiest memories is my best friend. She is the greatest person in the world, and I am not exaggerating(吹嘘). She is kind, funny, polite, and always willing to listen,  and has been a great friend. I always recall (回想) events from our childhood. I think about the school where we met in the first grade and went on until the 5th grade. I think about the talks we had and the things we did together. If someone wants me to describe our friendship, I'd say we have been close friends for 17 years and we never got angry with each other. It's amazing,  isn't it? I haven't been able to do that with anybody else. Sometimes I even feel guilty(有罪的). I miss her more than my own brothers and sisters. And of course besides those memories, my kids are number one in my life. I have plenty of beautiful memories with them, especially when they were born, which also turned out to be a sad moment for both of them, because they were premature babies(早产儿). Anyone, who has had an experience with a premature baby, can figure out what I mean.

B

    Fraser is four years old. He has autism(自闭症). He lives in his own world. Everything is very difficult to him. He doesn't want to play with other children. He doesn't want to say any words to others. His parents are worried about him.

    Then Billy, a cat, comes. It helps Fraser go out of his world.

When Billy sees Fraser, it runs to him quickly. It sits beside Fraser with its paws on Fraser's legs. They seem to be old friends. Fraser says, "This is our cat. He can come to live with us." "I know our life changes," says Fraser's mother.

    Billy stays with Fraser all the time. They play together, listen to the story together and sleep together. When Fraser walks in the garden, Billy is never far away. When Fraser is unhappy, it always lies beside him.

    It seems crazy. But Billy is like Fraser's angel. Fraser changes a lot. The doctor says he is getting better. He doesn't have to see the doctor now.

    If you have no special plans for your holidays, why not spend your time helping others?

    Don't listen to people who say the young people today often think only of themselves. It's not true at all. More and more people in the USA volunteer to spend their school holidays working for others. And they don't do it for money. Here are some of their stories.

Alice Hamilton, 17

    I'm going to help the Forest Centre build new hiking paths in the mountains. It's going to be terrific—I'll spend the whole summer living in the tent and breathing the clean mountain air. I'm going to sleep under the stars. It'll be a nice sport, and I'll be able to do something good at the same time.

Jason Moore, 18

    This summer, I'm going to volunteer with Special House Program. They build good, low-cost houses and sell them to families that are not very rich. They'll teach me what to do, so I'll help people and also have a chance to learn how to build houses.

Trish Anderson, 16

    I'm going to teach kids who have trouble reading. I'll work for a program called Reading For Life. Every day, I'm going to help kids choose and read books that they like. I want to be a teacher and I love children and reading, so this is going to be a great experience for me.