a man came home from work late, tired and irritated, 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 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, “if the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march 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 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 on you. here’s the $10you asked for.”

　　the little boy sat straight up, smiling. “oh, thank you daddy!” he yelled. then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. the man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. the little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father.

　　“why do you want more money if you already have some?” the father grumbled.

　　“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.”

　　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。”