One day, a man was walking along a road with his son Peter. The father said, “Look! There’s an old axe(斧头) ________ the ground. Pick it up and ________ it in your bag.” Peter ________, “No! It will waste my time.” His father said ________ but he picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the father ________ the axe and with the money he bought some strawberries. The father and the son went on walking. The sun was hot in the ________. They soon ran out of their water, and there wasn’t a house or even a tree for them to have a ________. Peter felt too ________ and thirsty(渴) to walk on. At this time, his father gave Peter a strawberry and he ate it ________. After a while, his father gave him ________ strawberry and once again, his son put it in his ________ at once. And so they went on. The father gave his son strawberries ________ he ate them. Peter asked, “Dad, how ________ strawberries do we have now?” “You ate up all the strawberries, Peter!” his father said, “My dear son, if you picked up that axe, you would have your own strawberries to ________. Always remember the lesson: If you don’t worry about the ________ things, you’ll find it difficult to do the great things.”

In the last months of his life, I moved my Dad from a hospital to a local nursing home. I spent as much time as I could visiting him there. Cancer had already damaged his body. I could tell my Dad only had a few ______ left to live.

During one of those visits, I walked into his room only to find him in a deep sleep. I sat by his side wishing for more time with him and also ______ that I hadn’t made the most of all the years we did have together.

I got up and walked out. Though the nurses took good care of him, there was an air of ______ and loneliness in this place. ______ many people were approaching the end of their lives here and many visitors had the same regrets that I did.

Finally, I reached the door and walked outside. A rain was starting to fall and it ______ my mood. Just then, I saw a woman in a wheelchair (轮椅) struggling to move herself out of the rain. I quickly walked over and helped push her ______. She said thanks and gave me the most beautiful smile I’d seen. At that moment I felt a light shine into my mind and a(n) ______ feeling return to my heart. I walked back out, let the rain wash over me, and ______ that even if Dad died, the love we shared would still go on.

I still think of that moment of loving-kindness often. It ______ me that while we might not be able to live ______ moment to the fullest, we can still value the moments we do.

One Saturday afternoon, my daughter Alice asked me, “ Are all people the same even if they are different in color?”

I thought for a minute, and then I said, “I’ll explain, ___you can just wait until we make a quick __ at the grocery store（杂货店）. I have something ___to show you.

At the grocery store, we ___some apples — red, green and yellow ones. Back home, I told Alice, “It’s time to ___your question.” I put one apple of each ___on the table. Then I looked at Alice, who had a ___look on her face.

“People are like apples. They come in all ___colors, shapes and sizes. On the ___, some of the apples may not ___look like the others.” As I was talking, Alice was checking each one carefully. Then, I took each of the apples and peeled（削皮）them, ___them back on the table, but in a different place.

“Okay, Alice, tell me which is which.”

She said, “I ___tell. They all look the same now.” “Take a bite of each one. See if that helps you __ which one is which.”

She took big bites, and then a huge smile came across her face. “People are ___like apples! They are all different, but once you ___the outside, they’re pretty much the same on the inside.”

She totally got it. I didn’t need to say or do anything else.