A-man-came-home-from-work-late

Amancamehomefromworklate,tiredandirritated,tofindhis5-yearoldsonwaitingforhimatthedoor.“Daddy,mayIaskyouaquestion?”“Yeahsure,whatisit?”repliedtheman.“Daddy,howmuchdoyoumakeanhour?”“That’snoneofyourbusiness.Whydoyouasksuchathing?”themansaidangrily.“Ijustwanttoknow.Pleasetellme,howmuchdoyoumakeanhour?”pleadedthelittleboy.“Ifyoumustknow,Imake$20anhour.”“Oh,”thelittleboyreplied,withhisheaddown.Lookingup,hesaid,“Daddy,mayIpleaseborrow$10?”Thefatherwasfurious,“Iftheonlyreasonyouaskedthatissoyoucanborrowsomemoneytobuyasillytoyorsomeothernonsense,thenyoumarchyourselfstraighttoyourroomandgotobed.Thinkaboutwhyyouarebeingsoselfish.Iworkhardeverydayforsuchchildishbehavior.”Thelittleboyquietlywenttohisroomandshutthedoor.Themansatdownandstartedtogetevenangrieraboutthelittleboy’squestions.Howdareheasksuchquestionsonlytogetsomemoney?Afteraboutanhourorso,themanhadcalmeddown,andstartedtothink:Maybetherewassomethinghereallyneededtobuywiththat$10andhereallydidn’taskformoneyveryoften.Themanwenttothedoorofthelittleboy’sroomandopenedthedoor.“Areyouasleep,son?”Heasked.“Nodaddy,I’mawake,”repliedtheboy.“I’vebeenthinking,maybeIwastoohardonyouearlier,”saidtheman,“It’sbeenalongdayandItookoutmyaggravationonyou.Here’sthe$10youaskedfor.”Thelittleboysatstraightup,smiling.“Oh,thankyoudaddy!”Heyelled.Then,reachingunderhispillowhepulledoutsomecrumpledupbills.Theman,seeingthattheboyalreadyhadmoney,startedtogetangryagain.Thelittleboyslowlycountedouthismoney,thenlookedupathisfather.“Whydoyouwantmoremoneyifyoualreadyhavesome?”thefathergrumbled.“BecauseIdidn’thaveenough,butnowIdo,”thelittleboyreplied.“Daddy,Ihave$20now.CanIbuyanhourofyourtime?Pleasecomehomeearlytomorrow.Iwouldliketohavedinnerwithyou.”翻译：一个人工作到很晚，带着疲惫与愤怒回到家里，却发现5岁大的儿子正在门口等他。“爸爸，我可以问你一个问题吗？”“当然，什么问题？”“爸爸，你一个小时赚多少钱？”“这不关你的事。怎么问这样一个问题？”父亲生气地说道。“我只是想知道。请告诉我吧，你一个小时赚多少钱？”小男孩乞求地说。“真想知道就告诉你吧，我一小时赚20美元。”“噢，”男孩说着，低下了头。接着，他抬起头来问：“爸爸，我可以借你10美元钱吗？”父亲生气了：“如果你问这个问题，只是为了借钱买无聊的玩具或其他没用的东西，那就赶紧回你的房间睡觉去。想想你怎么会这么自私。我每天工作这么辛苦，得到的竟是这样幼稚愚蠢的举动。”小男孩静静地走进自己的房间，关上了门。这个人坐下后，更加为这个男孩的问题生气了。这孩子怎么敢问这样的问题，就为了借些钱呢？大约过了一个小时，他才平静下来了，开始想：也许他真的需要这10美元买什么东西呢，他并不是经常要钱花。于是这个人走到小男孩的门口，打开了门。“你睡了吗，孩子？”他问。“没有呢，爸爸。我醒着，”男孩回答。“我在想，可能刚才我对你太严厉了，”父亲说，“经过漫长的一天，我把怒气都发到你身上了。这是你要的10美元。”小男孩坐直了身子，笑了：“噢，谢谢爸爸！”他忍不住呼喊起来。接着，他伸手到枕头底下，拿出一把皱巴巴的钞票。看到男孩已经有钱了，父亲又忍不住要发火。小男孩慢慢地数着钱，然后抬头看着父亲。“既然你已经有钱了，为什么还要更多钱？”父亲粗鲁地抱怨说。“因为我的钱不够，不过现在够了，”小男孩回答，“爸爸，我现在有20美元了，我可以买你一小时的时间吗？请你明天早点下班，我想和你一起吃晚饭。”