学进去

Daniel was always making excuses for forgetting to do things. His usual excuse was “I was too busy.”

Daniel’s parents were worried about him. “He shouldn’t go through life-making excuses all the time.” his father said. “No one will believe in him to do anything. He won’t be able to keep a job.”

“I don’t know what we can do.” his mother said.

“I have an idea.” his father said. “If this doesn’t work, nothing will.”

The next day was Daniel’s birthday. He was really looking forward to getting exciting presents. He woke up, wishing his parents give him a birthday present. But all the morning what they said was “Good morning, Daniel. Hurry, or you will be late for school.” There were no presents, not even a card. He was really disappointed.

“Never mind.” he thought. “There’ll be a surprise for me after school.” But there wasn’t. Sadly, he said to his parents at dinner. “Today’s my birthday.”

“Oh,” his father said. “So it is. I forgot.”

“So did I.” his mother said.

“How could you forget?” Daniel asked. “There must be a reason (理由).”

“Well, yes.” his father said. “We have a really good excuse for forgetting your birthday, Daniel. We didn’t remember your birthday because we were too busy.” Poor Daniel! He never had a stupid excuse for not doing something again.