情感天地

    One hour of time

    A man came home from work late, tired and irritated（生气的，恼怒的）, to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.

    “Daddy, may I ask you a question?”

    “Yeah sure, what is it?” replied the man.

    “Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”

    “That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?” the man said angrily. “I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?” pleaded（恳求）the little boy.

    “If you must know, I make $20 an hour.”

    “Oh,” the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said: “Daddy, may I please borrow $10?”

    The father was furious（狂怒的）: “If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow

    some money to buy a silly（傻的）toy or some other nonsense（废话）, then you march（前进） yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work

    hard every day for such childish（孩子气的）behavior.”

    The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get

    even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some

    money? After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there

    was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn’t ask for money very often.

    The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.

    “Are you asleep, son?” He asked.

    “No daddy, I’m awake,” replied the boy.

    “I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier,” said the man, “It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation（恼怒）on you. Here’s $10 you asked for.”

    The little boy sat straight up, smiling. “Oh, thank you daddy!” He yelled（大叫）. Then, reaching under his pillow（枕头）he pulled out some crumpled（有皱褶的）bills. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to got angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his

    money, then he looked up at his father.

    “Why do you want more money if you already have some?” the father grumbled（抱怨）.

    “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied: “Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner

    with you.”