Lesson46 A Nicer Father
Charlie Yates was seventeen years old, and although he had left school, hepreferred living in his parents' house. He wanted to find a job, but henever seemed to get one. His father wanted him to leave home, but his motherwanted him to stay.
Charlie did not wash his hair very often, he shaved once a week, and hecould not stand wearing shoes, so his feet were always dirty.
Mr. Yates sometimes saw his son at weekends, and then he was always angrywith him. He used to say to him: "Why don't you shave everyday? Who wouldgive you a job with your dirty hair?" and so on. "But Father,'" Charliealways said, "I don't care about those things."One Saturday morning, while Charlie and his father were having their usualargument his father said to him, "You should be ashamed to live like that. Iwas brought up quite differently.
When I was seventeen, I was forbidden to stay out till three o'clock in themorning, and walk about the house with dirty feet, and grow a beard, andwear gold chains and behave like a ..."He went on and on until Charlie said kindly, "Poor Father. My grandfatherdied before I was born, so I never met him, but he must have been a terribleold gentleman.""Not at all!" Mr. Yates objected angrily. "I had a much nicer father thanyou'll ever have!"
shave 刮脸
beard 胡须
object 反对, 抗议
好父亲
查理十七岁了。尽管已经从学校毕业，他还是赖在父母的房子里。他想找份工作，但好像从没找到。他的父亲想让他搬出去，但他的母亲想让他留下来。
查理亚特不经常洗头，一周刮一次脸，而且他不能忍受穿鞋，所以脚总是很脏。
亚特先生有时在周末看到儿子，然后他总是对儿子很生气。他常常说：“你干吗不天天刮脸？头发那么脏，谁会雇你干活儿？”如此这般。
“可是父亲，”查理总是回答，“我不在乎那些。”
一个周六的早晨，在查理和父亲惯常的争论中，他的父亲说：“你应该为自己的生活感到羞耻。我受到的教养完全不同。当我十七岁时，不许在外呆到凌晨三点，不许脏脚四处走动，不许留胡子，不许戴金项链，不许举止像个……”
他喋喋不休，直到查理很同情地说：“可怜的父亲。祖父在我出生前就去世了，所以也没见过他，但他肯定是个讨厌的老头子。”
“才不是呢！”亚特先生怒气冲冲的反驳，“我的父亲比你的父亲好得多！” |