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.” 
  
    一個人工作到很晚，帶著疲憊與憤怒回到家里，卻發(fā)現5歲大的兒子正在門口等他。 

    “爸爸，我可以問你一個問題嗎？” 

    “當然，什么問題？”

    “爸爸，你一個小時賺多少錢？” 

    “這不關你的事。怎么問這樣一個問題？”父親生氣地說道。 

    “我只是想知道。請告訴我吧，你一個小時賺多少錢？”小男孩乞求地說。 

    “真想知道就告訴你吧，我一小時賺20美元。” 

    “噢，”男孩說著，低下了頭。接著，他抬起頭來問：“爸爸，我可以借你10美元錢嗎？” 

    父親生氣了：“如果你問這個問題，只是為了借錢買無聊的玩具或其他沒用的東西，那就趕緊回你的房間睡覺去。想想你怎么會這么自私。我每天工作這么辛苦，得到的竟是這樣幼稚愚蠢的舉動。” 

    小男孩靜靜地走進自己的房間，關上了門。這個人坐下后，更加為這個男孩的問題生氣了。這孩子怎么敢問這樣的問題，就為了借些錢呢？大約過了一個小時，他才平靜下來了，開始想：也許他真的需要這10美元買什么東西呢，他并不是經常要錢花。 

    于是這個人走到小男孩的門口，打開了門。 

    “你睡了嗎，孩子？”他問。 

    “沒有呢，爸爸。我醒著，”男孩回答。

    “我在想，可能剛才我對你太嚴厲了，”父親說，“經過漫長的一天，我把怒氣都發(fā)到你身上了。這是你要的10美元。” 

    小男孩坐直了身子，笑了：“噢，謝謝爸爸！”他忍不住呼喊起來。接著，他伸手到枕頭底下，拿出一把皺巴巴的鈔票。看到男孩已經有錢了，父親又忍不住要發(fā)火。小男孩慢慢地數著錢，然后抬頭看著父親。 

    “既然你已經有錢了，為什么還要更多錢？”父親粗魯地抱怨說。 

    “因為我的錢不夠，不過現在夠了，”小男孩回答，“爸爸，我現在有20美元了，我可以買你一小時的時間嗎？請你明天早點下班，我想和你一起吃晚飯。”