My grandfather had a small farm. He also worked in a factory.

One autumn, he promised to help his neighbor harvest their corn, but after harvesting (收割) his own corn, Grandpa’s little corn picker (采摘机) broke. At the same time, the factory asked him to work for a longer time than before. He had to leave the farm before the sunrise (日出) and didn’t get home until the sunset (日落). It now seemed impossible to help his neighbor.

One night, Grandpa decided that he wouldn’t let his neighbor’s harvest rot (腐烂) in the field. Without a machine, he’d harvest it by hand.

“When do you think you’d have time to do it?” asked my grandma. “Besides, it’s too dark.”

“I know of one night that I could do it!” he said. “There’s still one more full moon in October. If the weather is clear, I think I can do it. ”

And so a few days later, after a long shift (轮班) at the factory, my grandpa made his way to the field. The weather was cold but clear, and the moon was shining. He worked all night to keep his word. Sometimes, when I want to put off responsibilities (责任), I’d see my grandfather cutting corn in the light of the harvest moon. Behind him, row (行、排) after row of corn stocks (秸秆) stand in respect (尊重) for a man who keeps his word.

Once a king got two nice falcons (猎鹰) from his son. He had never seen such beautiful falcons before. He loved them so much and he ordered the best falconer (训鹰人) to train them to fly.

After several months, the king came to see how the training was going on. He found that one falcon had already been able to fly high in the sky, while the other was staying on the branch (树枝) of a tree quietly, just keeping still.

The king called all his falconers together and ordered them to try every way they could to make the other falcon fly. But none of them succeeded. One day, while the king was taking a walk in the forest, an idea came to his mind. Maybe someone who knew the natural environment well could solve this problem. He sent for a farmer who lived in the forest into his palace to train it at once.

The next morning, the king saw the other falcon flying above in the sky freely. “It is unbelievable!” shouted the king.“ How could you make it happen?”

The farmer replied, “It’s very easy. I just cut off the branch where the falcon rested.”

It is always the same to human beings. We all have “two flying wings” in our hearts as well, but we often seem not to notice them and stay where we are just for safety and comfort. We won’t realize we can fly so high and freely until the “branch” we are resting on breaks.