血浓于水

亲爱的母亲：

今年的七月不一样，因为父亲没交待下静悄悄的离开了我们。只委托黄师傅留下一首“年年今日再相见”便走了。歌未唱，人先逝。父亲想借此首歌来缅怀过去的往事。
父亲年轻时在外奔波，与我们相处时日不多，造成父子缺乏沟通，关系自然疏远，互不了解。长大后我们就离乡背井，在外自找生活，各忙各的。直至父亲远离我们了才感触良多。血浓于水，父亲始终还是父亲。若生前来不及叫“爸爸”，这辈子会遗憾终生。所以做父子或夫妻时要把握时机，也要把握因缘，因缘消逝才想做就来不及了。祝：万事如意。

Grateful To Life

Once President Roosevelt’s house was broken into and lots of things were stolen. Hearing this, one of Roosevelt’s friends wrote to him and advised him not to take it to his heart so much. President Roosevelt wrote back immediately, saying, “Dear friend, thank you for your letter to comfort me. I’m all right now. I think I should thank God. This is because of the following three reasons: firstly, the thief only stole things from me but did not hurt me at all; secondly, the thief has stolen some of my things instead of all my things; thirdly, most luckily for me, it was the man rather than me who became a thief ...”

It was quite unlucky for anyone to be stolen from. However, President Roosevelt had such three reasons to be so grateful. This story tells us how we can learn to be grateful in our life.

Being grateful is an important philosophy of life and a great wisdom. It is impossible for anyone to be lucky and successful all the time so long as he lives in the world. We should learn how to face failure or misfortune bravely and generously and to try to deal with it. If so, should we complain about our life and become frustrated and disappointed ever since then or should we be grateful for our life, rise again ourselves after a fall? William Thackeray, a famous British writer, said, “Life is a mirror. When you smile in front of it, it will also smile and so will it when you cry to it.” If you are grateful to life, it will bring you shining sunlight. If you always complain about everything, you may own nothing in the end. When we are successful, we can surely have many reasons for being grateful, but we have only one excuse to show ungratefulness if we fail.

I think we should even be grateful to life whenever we are unsuccessful or unlucky. Only by doing this can we find our weakness and shortcomings when we fail. We can also get relief and warmth when we are unlucky. This can help us find our courage to overcome the difficulties we may face, and receive great impetus to move on. We should treat our frustration and misfortune in our life in the other way just as President Roosevelt did. We should be grateful all the time and keep having a healthy attitude to our life forever keep having perfect characters and enterprising spirit. Being grateful is not only a kind of comfort, not an escape from life and nor thinking of winning in spirit like Ah Q. Being grateful is a way to sing for our life which comes just from our love and hope.

When we put a small piece of alum into muddy water, we can see the alum can soon make the water clear. If each of us has an attitude of being grateful, we’ll be able to get rid of impulse, upset, dissatisfaction and misfortune. Being grateful can bring us a better and more beautiful life.

未尽反哺心

亲爱的母亲：

一场的交通意外便夺走了我们亲爱的父亲。至今我心里还未能平复，唯恨自己在父亲有生之年未尽点孝心。回想起念宽柔一小时，父亲不惜为了孩子们，刻意向星马鞋厂老板借车回拉庆家载我们一同去学校。虽然次数不多，但显现出他对子女的厚爱。当时我们年少无知，体会不出，也不懂得感恩，只会自豪与高兴。当父亲年事已高时，动作反感也怠慢了。我们应该尽点孝，反哺心；住在同一个屋檐下，出席同一个宴席，载送父亲以保进出平安。可是这么简单的事我们并没做到。“慈乌失其母，哑哑吐衰音，昼夜不飞去，经年守故林。夜夜夜半啼，闻者为沾襟；声中如告诉，未尽反哺心.” 我们虽是人，切不如一只鸦。衰哉！祝安康。

Youth

Youth is not entirely a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means the temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite of adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than in a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self – distrust, fear and despair – these bow the heart and turn the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement at the stars and the star like things, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing child – like appetite for what – next, and the joy of the game of living.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self – confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

In the central place of your heart there is a wireless station, so long as it receives message of beauty, hope, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, from man and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

When the wires are all down, and all the central places of your heart are covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, are you grown old indeed.

歌颂我的父亲

亲爱的母亲：

父亲来自贫苦家庭，自小失去了父母的关爱又受教育不多，所以这辈子生活过得崎岖清苦。但他具有坚强的毅力及节俭朴素的生活。在饮食方面他从未在意。虽然如此，他对外人特别的慷慨大方，从不计较。他热心公益，活跃于社团立下不少公德。只要有任何乐捐，他都会义不容辞。能舍能得，甘愿做，欢喜受。他以有限的学问与能力尽力去做多少事，无视小善而不为。他是一位应该受子女尊敬与歌颂的一位父亲。祝：幸福快乐。

The Cobbler Happiness

A cobbler passed his time in singing from morning till nigh; it was wonderful to see, wonderful to hear him; he was more contented in making shoes than was any of the seven sages. His neighbor, on the contrary, who was rolling in wealth, sung but little and sleepless. He was a banker; when by chance he fell into a doze at day break, the cobbler awoke him with his song. The banker complained sadly that Providence had not made sleep a saleable commodity, like edibles or drinkables. Having at length sent for the songster, he said to him, “How much a year do you earn, Master Gregory?”

“How much a year, sir?” said the merry cobbler laughing, “I never reckon in that way, living as I do from one day to another; somehow I manage to reach the end of the year; each day brings its meal.”

“Well then! How much a day do you earn, my friend?”

“Sometimes more, sometimes less; but the worst of it is, and, without that our earnings would be very tolerable, a number of days occur in the year on which we are forbidden to work; and the curate, moreover, is constantly adding some new saint to the list.”

The banker, laughing at his simplicity, said, “In the future I shall place you above want. Take this hundred crowns, preserve them carefully and make use of them in time of need.”

The cobbler fancied he beheld all the wealth which the earth had produced in the past century for the use of mankind. Returning home, he buried his money and his happiness at the same time. No more singing; he lost his vice, the moment he acquired that which is the source of so much grief. Sleep quitted his dwelling and cares, suspicions and false alarms took its place. All day, his eye wandered in the direction of the treasure; and at night, if some stray cat made a noise, the cat was robbing him. At length the poor man ran to the house of his rich neighbor; “Give me back,” said he, “sleep and my voice, and take your hundred crowns.”