It was raining heavily. I had to wait inside the supermarket like a lot of other people did. A little girl and her mother were waiting, too. The girl looked like 5 or 6 years old. She made me think of my daughter Alice. They are about the same age.

    After a few minutes, the girl got bored and she said to her mom, "Mom, let's run through the rain!"

    "No, dear. We'll wait until it slows down a little." said Mom.

    This young child waited about one more minute and said again, "Mom, let's run through the rain!"

    "We'll get wet if we do," her mom said.

    "No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said.

    "This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"

    "Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer (癌症), you said, 'We have got through (已经熬过) this, and then we will get through anything!'

    All of the people stopped talking. It was a time when innocent trust (纯真的信任) could grow into faith (信心). The mom thought for a minute and said "You are right, sweetheart. Let's run through the rain! If we get wet, maybe we just need washing." Then they ran out.

    They got wet. But some people followed them  ▲  .

    And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

    It was a cold night in Washington, D.C., and I was heading back to the hotel when a man came to me. He asked if I would give him some money so he could get something to eat. I'd read the signs: “Don't give money to panhandlers (乞丐）.” So I shook my head and kept walking.

    I wasn't prepared for a reply, but he said, “I really am homeless and I really am hungry! You can come with me and watch me eat!” But I kept on walking.

    I couldn't forget what happened to me that day for the rest of the week. I had money in my pocket and it wouldn't have killed me to hand over a dollar or two even if he had been lying. On a very cold night, no less, I thought the worst of a fellow human being. Flying back to Anchorage, I still couldn't help thinking of him.

    I was the writer of a weekly garden column (专栏）at The Anchorage Daily News. One day, out of the blue, I came up with an idea. Bean's Cafe, the soup kitchen in Anchorage, feeds hundreds of hungry people every day. Why not try to get all my readers to plant one row in their gardens for Bean's? Plant a row and take it down to Bean's. Clean and simple.

    We didn't keep records back then, but the idea began to take off. People would call me when they took something in. Those who only grew flowers gave them away. Food for the spirit.

    In 1995 , the Garden Writers Association of America ( GWAA) held their meeting in Anchorage and alter learning of Anchorage's program, Plant a Row for Bean's became Plant a Row for the Hungry. The idea was to have every member of the Garden Writers Association of America write or talk about planting a row for the hungry.

    As more and more people started working with the program, many companies gave free seed to customers and had the logo (商标）seen in public.

    Garden editor Joan Jackson raised more than 30,000 pounds of  fruits and vegetables her first year, and showed the public how the program could really work. Texas fruit farms gave away food to their local food bank alter hearing about Plant a Row. Today the program continues to grow.

    I am shocked that millions of Americans are threatened by hunger. If every gardener in

    America - and we're seventy million strong - plants one row for the hungry, we can make a difference in the number of neighbors who don't have enough to eat. Maybe then I will stop feeling guilty (愧 疚) about walking past a hungry man I could have helped.

    "Why do I live? Why do I wish for anything, or do anything? Is there anything in my life that will not be destroyed by my death?" Like Leo Tolstoy, the famous Russian writer, many people ask these difficult questions. Tolstoy spent his whole life trying to answer these difficult questions.

    As a young man, he thought people could achieve perfection if they tried hard enough. So he worked very hard to be the best in everything. He thought that he would find meaning and truth in success.

    In 1850s. Tolstoy wrote his first stories. He wrote about his life in the army. He also told stories about his childhood. These works were published and Tolstoy became a well-known writer.

    He earned the respect he always wanted. Many rich and smart men met and talked with Tolstoy. Some of them were writers like him. They talked a lot about faith (信仰) and the meaning of life. But soon Tolstoy recognized that these men were not perfect. Now he knew they could not answer his questions about faith.

    So in the 1860s, Tolstoy tried a different way to find the meaning of life. He opened a school for the children of his serfs-the people who worked on his land. These workers were very poor. He wanted to help them because he thought they were more honest than the rich people he knew.

    Tolstoy learned a lot from his workers. He understood how they worked hard to support their families. He began to believe that marriage and family would give his life meaning. So in 1862, Leo Tolstoy married a young woman named Sonya Behrs.

    The next 15 years were the best years of Tolstoy's life. It was during this time that he wrote his most famous books-War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Many experts say that War and Peace is one of the greatest books ever written. In these books, Tolstoy believed humans should live a simple life and take care of their families. Tolstoy thought this would satisfy him and bring him happiness.

    Leo Tolstoy is still a very respected writer today. His faith and writings have influenced many people all over the world.