Listen, son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and the blond curls stickily wet on your damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside.

These are the things I was thinking, son: I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor.

At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread. And as you started off to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, 'Good-bye, Daddy!' and I frowned, and said in reply, "Hold your shoulders back!"

Then it began all over again in the late afternoon. As I came up the road I spied you, down on your knees, playing marbles. There were holes in your stockings. Ihumiliated you before your boy friends by marching you ahead of me to the house.Stockings were expensive ?nbsp;and if you had to buy them you would be more careful!Imagine that, son, from a father!

Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in, timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes? When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door."What is it you want?" I snapped.

You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me, and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither. And then you were gone, pattering up the stairs.

Well, son, it was shortly afterward that my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. What has habit been doing to me? The habit offinding fault, of reprimanding ?nbsp;this was my reward to you for being a boy. It was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too much of youth. It was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years.

And there was so much that was good and fine and true in your character. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn itself over the wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me good night. Nothing else matters tonight, son. I have come to your bedside in the darkness, and I have knelt there, ashamed!

It is a feeble atonement; I know you would not understand these things if I told them to you during your waking hours. But tomorrow I will be a real daddy! I will chum with you, and suffer when you suffer, and laugh when you laugh. I will bite my tongue when impatient words come. I will keep saying as if it were a ritual
: "He is nothing but a boy --- a little boy!" I am afraid I have visualized you as a man. Yet as I see you now, son, crumpled

and weary in your cot, I see that you are still a baby. Yesterday you were in your mother's arms, your head on her shoulder. I have asked too much, too much.

此文选自1935年5月美国《读者文摘》杂志。原文是最初登载在美国People's Home Journal杂志上的一篇文章。由W. Livington Larned进一步压缩。

这是一篇抒情色彩十分浓郁的自白体（monologue）散文，感情真挚,笔触深沉。

文章以“Listen, son:”开始，下面就是I am saying this as you lie asleep.... 说话人跟前就是他那早已入睡的孩子。第一段以Guiltily I came to your bedside.结束。当文章主人公走到熟睡的孩子身边时他的心情是沉重的、负疚的。

孩子有多大？为什么做父亲的有如此的歉疚感？在进入孩子房间以前我们的主人公又在哪里？他在做什么？又想了些什么？他进入孩子房间来到他身边时所做的第一件事是什么？这些在文章的第一段以巧妙的形式都做了交代。

作者所用的a stifling wave of remorse swept over me, guiltily 都很有分量。

文章第二段作者又将父亲的负疚感向前推进了一步。I had been cross to you. ... I scolded you... I took you to task for... I called out angrily等等。其中 cross是形容词，是生气的意思，took you to task是责备你的意思，二者在词典上都能查到。 这个句句子中有由because引起的表示原因的从句，有for not cleaning your shoes的动名词短语作状语，有when you threw some of your things on the floor中常有原因色彩的when...从句。

父亲一大早看儿子做什么都不顺眼。这不但从第三段的内容淋 漓尽致地表现出来，而且也从此段中多句均用you或and you开始重复相同的主语及结构中表现出来。

父亲的情绪并没有因为儿子亲切地对他说“Good-bye, Daddy!”而有所改变。他仍然绷着脸，以训斥的口气要儿子挺起胸来。

第四段中，即使到了Late afternoon,父亲也一直情绪恶劣，他甚至当着儿子同学的面羞辱他。

怎么个羞辱法呢？by marching you ahead of me to the house。

march一般常用来作名词，不及物动词。这里的 march则是另一个用法，它是作为及物动词用的，请看选自兰登书屋《韦氏美语学习词典》（Randone House: Webster誷 Dictionary of American English)的下列释义及例句 5 [~+obj.] to cause to march; 所举例子是：took her arm and marches her out the door. 而此段结尾部分是：and if you had to buy them, you would be careful！

这里虚拟语气的应用不是为了使语气婉转而恰恰相反，它不乏埋怨、威胁的成分。

第五段中儿子因为父亲的厉声呵斥，小心翼翼地走进父亲的书房，父亲却仍然怒气未消，嫌儿子进来打扰了他。

“What is it you want?” I snapped. 这句话还继续表现出父亲的不高兴。snapped比起said当然感情成分多了些，同一词典里snapped释义是to speak quickly and sharply,所举的例子有：The captain snapped at the first mate [used with quotations] “Mind your own business!” he snapped.

大家知道类似snapped作为said的同义词还有很多，它们能赋于枯燥的单词一些活力和生气。

下一段的描写更为细腻动人。儿子突然快步一下冲到父亲怀里，抱着父亲的脖子亲吻。这段里的隐喻用得特别感人。... and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither. 其中blooming用于指花朵盛开，wither用于指花朵凋谢，这里两者均用于指两个抽象概念——感情（affection）及不予理睬（neglect），可谓精心巧妙。意思是即使做父亲的没有给孩子应有的关爱，孩子心底里上帝赐予的炽热的爱父之心却丝毫没有减弱。

此段最后一句似乎使我们听到了孩子上楼梯时那轻快的脚步声（pattering）。

从这一刻开始父亲似乎猛然从恶梦中醒过来，陷入一种难以忍受的自责之中。

对儿子的责备及什么都看着都不顺眼的一天此时为自责所代替。做父亲的自责对儿子过于苛刻，对儿子以一个大人的尺度做过高的要求。

回过头来他陷入了深深的愧疚之中， 接着发誓要做一个名副其实的父亲，要懂得站在眼着的毕竟是一个孩子。

文章感情真挚，语言朴素，有很多可学之处。我们设身处地，如果事情发生在你身上，你会怎么把情况告诉别人呢？你能写得如此感人肺腑吗？

越是貌似简单的事越是不容易做。你是否也有同感？从这点上来讲，此短文可学之处是很多的，大家可以在阅读中慢慢去领会。