【推荐2】It was nearly midnight when my wife Rita and I were driving home from the University of Illinois, where our son Randy was a freshman. Rita was asleep in the passenger seat. I headed north, wondering what on earth had made us take the afternoon off to drive to the university and back, a six-hour round trip. All for nothing.

For weeks Randy had been telling me how much fun he was having in football matches. I suddenly got the idea to show up and cheer my son, like we did in high school.

Just several hours earlier, Rita and I had met him on the field. We watched the young go on to the field, warm up, and then…there was something wrong. Randy ran over. “We cannot hold a competition today. The other team doesn't have enough players,” he said. It was not a big deal. I tried to comfort myself. But I'd just driven three hours to get here and I'd had my heart set on seeing my son in action. Instead, we took Randy out for pie and coffee.

As I was driving on the road, a memory rushed back to me when I was a Boy Scout (童子军). Our team made a canoe (独木舟)   journey down the Fox River. My dad drove miles to see me. About a mile downriver we came to a bridge. I looked up and there he was. Dad was standing right on the bridge. He didn't shout like others. He simply waved until we passed underneath. But several miles later, on the next bridge, there he was again. And the one after that. And the next. My dad had taken the chance to show he was always with me.

At last I understood the most important thing I could do for my son — just be there, even if it meant driving a long way.

【推荐3】A long, long time ago, a terrible drought plagued the earth. Ten suns burned fiercely in the sky like smoldering volcanoes.   

The King of Heaven sent Hou Yi down to the earth to help. When Hou Yi arrived, he took out his red bow and white arrows and shot down nine suns one after another. The weather immediately turned cooler.     

One day, a charming young woman, Chang’ e, makes her way home from a stream, holding a bamboo container. A young man comes forward, and asks for a drink. When she sees the red bow and white arrows hanging from his belt, Chang’ e realizes that he is their saviour, Hou Yi. Inviting him to drink, Chang’ e plucks a beautiful flower and gives it to him as a token of respect. Hou Yi, in turn, selects a beautiful silver fox fur as his gift for her. This meeting kindles the spark of their love, and soon after that, they get married.     

Out of respect for the good deeds he has done, the Western Queen Mother rewards Hou Yi with an elixir (仙丹) , saying, “If you and your wife share their elixir, you will both enjoy eternal life. But if only one of you takes it, that one will ascend to Heaven and become immortal.”   

A wicked man named Feng Meng overhears this. He kills Hou Yi, runs to Hou Yi’s home and tries to force Chang’ e to give him the elixir. Without hesitating, Chang’ e picks up the elixir and drinks it all. Soon the elixir begins to have its effect and Chang’e feels herself being lifted towards Heaven.