Mr Hunt came from a poor family. He had three brothers and two sisters. His father worked hard but wasn't paid much. And his mother did all the housework at home. They were both able but they couldn't get enough money for their family.

    Mr Hunt was at school for only three years and he had to stop to help his parents though he was good at his lessons. When he was sixteen, he came to the city and began to work in a small factory. He learned from an old worker and became a skilled worker. The old worker liked him and married his daughter to him. The young man did not have his own house and had to live with his parents-in-law. His mother-in-law always thought he was poor and often chattered(喋喋不休).So the young man tried to save everything and hoped to have his own house.

    It was one fine Sunday. The old woman wanted to have a picnic on top of the hill. She told Mr Hunt to drive her car. But sometimes she told him to turn left and sometimes to turn right. The young man had to listen to her. At a crossing, the lights were red but she made him turn left. The policeman stopped them and told the young man to give his license to him.

    "If I did wrong, sir," said Mr Hunt, "it was my mother-in-law's fault. She was driving the car though she sat behind me!"

    One day, when I arrived at school, an ice cream truck was parked in the schoolyard. Ice cream men usually drove their trucks to primary schools. I had never thought one ice cream truck would come to bring ice cream to us older kids. When I went up to the truck, I was quite surprised to hear the man call out, "Free ice cream!" To make sure of his words, I asked, "I'm sorry. What did you say?"" Free ice cream. Choose whichever you like," he said, smiling.

    After I was certain that the man was just giving away the ice cream, I talked with him for a long time. He told me that his dream was to travel around, giving away ice cream, and that's what he was now doing. With his mother's support, he kept doing what he loved even during hard times. Now, some large companies were helping him with his plan.

    The man said he wanted to encourage people to do exactly what their hearts told them to do during their lives. I kept asking him, "So your dream was just to drive around and give away ice cream? It seems like a very unusual goal." "Yes, just meeting people and making them smile," he replied. At that point he handed me my ice cream. I thanked him, but what I got from him was much more than just ice cream. It can't easily be expressed in words. I believe what he was doing is exactly what great people do all the time: small acts of big love.

—Tom and Jack.

A lesson from Dad

    When he was 11 years old, he loved fishing by the lake near his family's house in New Hampshire.

    On the day before the bass(鲈鱼)season began, he and his father1in the evening. When his fishing pole bent over(弯曲), he knew something2was on the other end. The boy skillfully lifted it from the water. It was the largest fish he had ever3, but it was a bass.

    The boy and his father looked at the handsome fish. The father looked at his watch. It was 10 p.m.-two hours4the bass season began. The father looked at the fish, then at the boy.

    "You'll have to5, Son," he said.

    "Dad!" cried the boy.

    "There will be other fish," said his father.

    "Not as big as this one," cried the boy.

    He looked around the lake.6other fishermen or boats were anywhere around. He looked again at his father's stern(坚决的)face. He knew that it was7to change his decision. He slowly lowered the fish back into the water.

    That was thirty-four8ago. Today, the boy is a successful architect(建筑师)in New York City. He has never caught such a large fish again, 9he does see that same fish again and again-every time he faces a question of right or wrong. His father taught him the practice of doing right is10.

    Do we do right when no one is watching？

    Great changes have taken place in family life because of science and industry(工业). In the past, when most Americans lived on farms, the typical family had many children. In a farm family, parents and their children often lived with grandparents. Usually, uncles and aunts lived nearby. But when industry became more important than agriculture in American life, families became smaller because industry requires workers who are ready and able to move off the land and move again whenever necessary. And large families cannot move from place to place as smaller families. So, at present people tend to have smaller families.

    In the future, because of industrialization, a typical family will be required to move even more often than now, so families will be even smaller. The typical family may remain childless and consist only of a man and a woman. A small number of families may take raising children as their chief work. At the same time they may also raise other people's children, leaving those families free to move from job to job.