智慧背囊 思想的珍珠-12-篱笆里的钉子

[00:03.80]Nail in the Fence篱笆里的钉子
[00:06.75]There once was a little boy who had a bad temper.
[00:11.12] His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that
[00:14.60] every time he lost his temper,
[00:16.90] he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.
[00:20.08]The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.
[00:25.33]Over the next few weeks,
[00:28.00]as he learned to control his anger,
[00:30.11]the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled¹ down.
[00:34.52] He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
[00:40.98]Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all.
[00:46.00]He told his father about it
[00:48.29]and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day
[00:53.54]that he was able to hold his temper.
[00:56.16]The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.
[01:03.58] The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.
[01:07.85] He said, “You have done well, my son,
[01:11.14]but look at the holes in the fence.
[01:13.90] The fence will never be the same.
[01:16.38] When you say things in anger,
[01:18.59]they leave a scar² just like this one.
[01:21.30]You can put a knife in a man and draw it out.
[01:24.37] It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry,
[01:27.64]the wound is still there.”

1 dwindled   

v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. 支持这个党派的人渐渐化为乌有。
• His wealth dwindled to nothingness. 他的钱财化为乌有。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 scar   

n.伤疤，伤痕，创伤

参考例句：

• This scar is from the bite of a dog.这是狗咬后留下的伤疤。
• The tragedy left a scar on her mind.这个悲剧给她造成精神上的创伤。