A long time ago, there was a young man named Billy. Billy inherited the warm and good characteristics of his father. "My father had such a good personality. He was the horse-keeper of a funeral carriage."
"No matter how hard the work was, he always smiled. I got the habit of visiting the church cemetery from my father and of reading the newspaper, too."
"He said reading the newspaper would help my studying a lot. Sometimes, I take a walk to the church cemetery by myself. I learned a lot from my father." One day, he saw a tombstone while he was walking down to the church cemetery. "The man who was buried right here was miserable before he died."
"Even though he had a good job and made enough money for living, he got angry easily. Maybe he was too narrow- minded. For all of his entire life, he worried and got angry, then he was buried here." Billy went to another grave and saw another tombstone.
"This man right here was happy before he died, I guess. He was from a good family of high class. He spent his life enjoying everyday." Billy got close to the other grave and saw its tombstone.
"The man under this tombstone makes me sad. He spent all of his life hoping to come up with one extraordinary idea. One day, when he had the wonderful idea, he died from the shock. Maybe he is not resting peacefully even now."
Next, he came to another grave and saw the tombstone. "A very stingy woman lies in this grave. She used to tell her neighbor that she was raising a cat, but she just made the noise of a cat 'Mew, mew'. Maybe she was the stingiest woman."
He stopped in front of another tombstone and looked down. "In this grave, a young lady from a good family lies. She used to sing a song whenever she was at a party, but she sang the same song every time." He walked to the next grave.
"There is a widow here. She always said good things with her mouth, but she said bad things in her mind. She used to visit from house to house and say bad things about her friends and neighbors."
"Whoever was buried and stayed in their own caskets without moving a finger, then, they will be born again with good personalities. Some day, when the time to end my life comes, I will write down this on my tombstone, 'A Man with Good Personality'."
单词注释：
inherited v.继承;经遗传而得(inherit的过去分词)
例句：Is it because my father was a good student, and I inherited his intelligence?
funeral adj. 丧葬的，出殡的
例句: It was to be a funeral dirge , a farewell song to a dead friendship.
这将是一首葬礼挽歌，一首为夫去的友谊谱写的告别曲。
stingy adj. 吝啬的，小气的;有刺的;缺乏的
例句： I'm not a stingy person , and I can do more frankly.
我不是一个小气的人，但我可以做的更大度一些。
casket n. 小箱;骨灰盒;棺材