When Tom Howard was seventeen years old he was as tall as his father, so he began to borrow¹ Mr. Howard's clothes when he wanted to go out with his friends in the evening.

Mr. Howard did² not like this, and he always got³ very angry when he found⁴ his son wearing any of his things.

One evening when Tom came⁵ downstairs⁶ to go out, his father stopped him in the hall. He looked at Tom's clothes very carefully⁷.

Then he said⁸ angrily, “Isn't that one of my ties, Tom?”

“Yes, Father, it is,” answered Tom.

“And that shirt's mine too.”

“Yes, that's yours too,” answered Tom.

“And you're wearing my belt⁹!” said Mr. Howard.

“Yes, I am, Father,” answered Tom. “You don't want your trousers to fall down, do you?”

汤姆·霍德华十七岁的时候，长得和父亲一样高了，于是当他晚上和朋友一起出去时，就开始借父亲的衣服穿。

霍德华先生可不喜欢这样，当他发现他的儿子穿他的衣服时，总是非常生气。

一天晚上，汤姆下楼准备出去，父亲在门厅里拦住了他。他细细打量着汤姆的穿着。

然后他气呼呼地说：“汤姆，那不是我的一条领带吗？”

汤姆回答说：“是的，父亲，是你的领带。”

“还有那衬衫也是我的。”

“是的，衬衫也是你的。”汤姆回答说。

“还有呢，你连皮带也用我的。”霍德华先生说。

“是的，父亲，”汤姆回答说，“你不愿意让你的裤子掉下来吧？”