There once was a little boy who had a bad temper.
His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost
his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.
The first day, the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the
next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails
hammered daily 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 that he was able to hold histemper. The days passed and the 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."
Bad temper/ expression /:
irritability, tendency to become angry easily
اخلاق بد، تند خویی
Gradually/adverb/:
progressively بتدريج، رفته رفته
Dwindled /past tense of the dwindle/:
diminish, decrease, wane رفته رفته كوچك شدن، تدريجا كاهش يافتن، كم شدن
Hold temper/expression/:
to stay calm when it would be easy to get angry
کنترل کردن عصبانیت
Wound/noun/:
injury; lesion; offense زخم، جراحت
