John wore the coat to school the next day and came home wearing a big grin. "Ho. did the kids like your coat?" I asked. "They loved it," he said, carefully folding it over the back of a chair and smoothing it flat. I started calling him "Lord Chesterfield" and "The Great Gatsby."
第二天约翰就穿着它去上学了。放学回来他笑逐颜开。我问他：“那些孩子觉得你的大衣怎么样？”“他们非常喜欢。”他一边说，一边在椅子背儿上把衣服仔细地叠起来，并甩手把它展平。我于是就开始叫他“切斯特菲尔德大人”和“了不起的盖茨比”。

Over the next few weeks, a change came over John. Agreement replaced contrariness, quiet, reasoned discussion replaced argument. He became more judicious, more mannerly, more thoughtful, eager to please. “Good dinner, Mom," he would say every evening.
在接下来的几周内，约翰慢慢地变了：变得听话而不再故意作对，遇事能心平气和地商讨而不再强词夺理。他变得更明事理、更有礼貌，也更体贴人了。他也乐于讨人欢喜。每天晚上都要说：“妈妈，晚饭好极了。”

He would generously loan his younger brother his tapes and lecture him on the niceties of behaviour; without a word of objection, he would carry in wood for the stove. One day when I suggested that he might start on homework before dinner, John -- a veteran procrastinator – said, “You’re right. I guess I will.”
他会很慷慨地把自己的磁带借给弟弟，并告诫他如何有良好的行为举止；他会毫无怨言地把烧炉子用的劈柴抱进来。有一天当我建议他在晚饭前开始做作业时，约翰这个一贯拖拉的家伙居然说：“您是对的，我想我会做的。”