There was a young man who was in trouble. He went bankrupt (破产) and his wife went away from him. From then on, failure was all that he had seen. Struggling (斗争) with this, he went into the forest alone. There, he met an old man who had lived there for a long time. He shared his story with the old man and asked, “Can you give me one good reason not to give up?”

“Look,” the old man said, “Do you see that fern (蕨类植物) and bamboo there?”

“Yes.” the man answered.

“When I planted the fern and bamboo seeds (种子), I watered them carefully. Within a few days, the fern quickly grew from the land,” the old man went on.

“However, I watered the bamboo seed for years, it still didn’t sprout. But I didn’t give up and continued looking after it. In the fifth year, a small sprout came out of the land. Within six months, the tree grew a hundred feet tall.”

“The little bamboo tree had been growing underground in the past four years, developing a root (根) strong enough for its ground growth in the fifth year. If it hadn’t done this, it would not be so strong. So you know, all the time you were struggling, you were actually growing strong roots.” the old man said. Finally, the man thanked the old man deeply. Then he left the forest with the hope for life.

One day, a lovely girl found two weak birds while she was walking in the woods. She took them home and put them in a small cage (笼子). 【小题1】 Every morning they greeted her with a beautiful song. The girl loved them very much and wanted their singing to last forever.

【小题2】 The larger and stronger of the two birds flew out of the cage. The girl watched worriedly as it circled high above her. She was afraid that it would fly away and she would never see it again. So when it flew close, she grasped (抓住) at it wildly. She was very happy that she held it tightly (紧紧地) in her hand! 【小题3】 She opened her hand and was surprised to find the bird was dead.

She noticed the other bird jumping up and down in the cage. She could feel that it wanted to be free. It hoped to fly in the clear, blue sky. She lifted it from the cage and let it fly in the air.

【小题4】 She watched the bird circling once, twice, three times. 【小题5】 It sang the sweetest song she had ever heard.

The fastest way to lose love is to hold it tight. The best way to keep love is to let it fly.