The weather was not very good that night but, to our great delight. Dad came all the same. "Do you like peanuts?” Dad asked.

"Yes!" we all answered eagerly.

"But who can tell me what the peanut is good for?"

"It is very delicious to eat." my sister took the lead.

"It is good for making cooking oil, " my brother followed.

"It is inexpensive," I said, "Almost everyone can afford it and everyone enjoys eating it. I think this is what it is good for."

"Peanut is good for many things," Dad said, “but there is one thing that is particularly good about it. Unlike apples, peaches or pomegranates that display their fruits up in the air, attracting you with their beautiful colours，peanut buries its fruit in the earth. It does not show itself until yon dig it out when it is ripe and, unless you dig it out, you can't tell whether it bears fruit or not just by its frail stems above ground."

"That's true," we all said and Mother nodded her assent. "So you should try to be like the peanut." Dad went on, "because it is useful, though not great or attractive."

"Do you mean," I asked, "we should learn to be useful but not seek to be great or attractive?"

"Yes," Dad said. "This is what I wish to be."

We stayed up late that night, eating all the peanuts Mother had cooked for us. But Father's words remained vivid in my memory till this day.

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