There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him to hammer a nail in the back fence every time he lost his temper. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day when he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

【日积月累】

hammer n. 铁锤，槌，锤子 v. 锤击，锤打

dwindle vi. 缩小，减少，逐渐变小

【参考译文】

钉子

有一个坏脾气的小男孩。他的爸爸给了他一盒钉子并且告诉他，每次他要发脾气的时候，就在后院的篱笆上钉一根钉子。第一天，男孩在篱笆上订了37根钉子。后来钉钉子的次数逐渐变少，他发现比起把这些钉子钉进篱笆，控制住情绪更容易些。最后，男孩一整天都没有发脾气的这天终于来临了。他告诉了爸爸这一切，爸爸建议男孩在能够控制情绪的每一天拔出一根钉子。一天一天过去了，男孩终于能够告诉他的爸爸，所有的钉子都拔出来了。爸爸牵着男孩来到篱笆边，说，“做得很好，我的儿子，但是看看篱笆上的这些洞，篱笆再也不是以前那样了。当你生气地说出事情的时候，他们就像这个篱笆一样，留下了一块伤疤。就像是你把刀子捅进了人身体，又拔了出来。说多少次对不起都是没有用的，伤口一直在这儿。语言上造成的伤口和身体上的伤口是一样糟糕的。”

【人生启迪】

人与人之间常常因为一些彼此无法释怀的坚持，而造成永远的伤害。如果我们都能从自己做起，开始宽容地看待他人，相信你一定会收到许多意想不到的结果——帮别人开启一扇窗，也就是让自己看到更完整的天空。