When Tom Howard was¹ seventeen years old he was as² tallas his father，so he began to borrow³ Mr．Howard's clothes when he wanted to go out with his friends in the evening．

Mr．Howard did⁴ not like this， and he always got⁵ very angry when he found⁶ his son wearing any of his things．

One evening when Tom came⁷ downstairs⁸ to go out， his father stopped him in the hall． He looked at Tom's clothes very carefully⁹．

Then he said¹⁰ angrily，“Isn't that one of my ties，Tom？”

“Yes，Father，it is，”answered Tom．

“And that shirt's mine too，isn't that one of my ties，Tom？”

“Yes，that's yours too，”answered Tom．

“And you're wearing my belt¹¹！” said Mr．Howard．

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

33．父亲的东西

汤姆·霍华德17岁的时候，长得和他父亲一般高了，于是当他想和朋友晚上一起出去时，就开始借穿起霍华德先生的衣服来。

霍华德先生可不喜欢这样，所以，当他发现儿子穿了他的什么衣服时，就总是十分恼火。

一天晚上，正当汤姆走下楼来要出去时，父亲在门厅里拦住了他。他细细地打量着汤姆身上的穿着。

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。”

他的父亲又继续问：“还有那衬衫也是我的，对吧？”

汤姆回答说：“是的，那也是你的。”

霍华德先生说：“还有，你连皮带也是用我的！”

汤姆回答说：“是呀，父亲。你总不希望让你的裤子掉下来吧，是吗？”