He was 11 years old and went fishing every chance he got from the dock at his family's cabin on
an island in the middle of a New Hampshire lake. On the day __1__ the bass (鲈鱼) season opened,
he and his father were fishing early in the evening, catching sunfish with worms. Then he tied on a
small lure (鱼饵) and practiced casting. When his pole bent over he knew something huge was __4__.
His father watched __5__ as the boy skillfully worked the fish alongside the dock. Finally, he very
carefully lifted the exhausted fish from the water. It was the largest one he had ever seen, __17__ it was
a bass. It was10 pm-two hours before the season opened. The father looked at the fish, then at the
boy.
"You'll have to __8__, son, " he said.
"Dad!" cried the boy.
"There will be other fish, " said his father.
"Not as big as this one, " cried the boy.
__9__ no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time he caught the fish, the boy
could tell by his father's firm voice that the decision was 11 . He slowly worked the hook out of the
lip of the huge bass and lowered it into the black water . The creature moved its powerful body and disappeared . The boy
thought that he would never again see such a great fish.
That was 34 years ago. Today, the boy is a successful architect in New York City. And he was
14 . He has never again caught such a magnificent fish as the one he 15 that night long ago. But
he does see 16 fish again and again every time he comes up against a question of principles. As his
father taught him, principles are simple matters of right and wrong. It is only the practice of principles
17 difficult. Do we do right when no one is looking?
We would if we taught to put the fish back when we were young. For we would have learned the
truth. The decision to do right lives fresh in our memory. It is a story we will proudly tell our friends and
grandchildren.