Magical coat英语散文
My l4-year-old son, John, and I spotted the coat simultaneously. It was hanging on a rack at a secondhand clothing store in Northampton Mass, crammed in with shoddy trench coats and an assortment of sad, woolen overcoats -- a rose among thorns.
While the other coats drooped, this one looked as if it were holding itself up. The thick, black wool of the double-breasted chesterfield was soft and unworn, as though it had been preserved in mothballs for years in dead old Uncle Henry's steamer trunk. The coat had a black velvet collar, beautiful tailoring, a Fifth Avenue label and an unbelievable price of $28. We looked at each other, saying nothing, but John's eyes gleamed. Dark, woolen topcoats were popular just then with teenage boys, but could cost several hundred dollars new. This coat was even better, bearing that touch of classic elegance from a bygone era.
John slid his arms down into the heavy satin lining of the sleeves and buttoned the coat. He turned from side to side, eyeing himself in the mirror with a serious, studied expression that soon changed into a smile. The fit was perfect.
John wore the coat to school the next day and came home wearing a big grin. "Ho. did the kids like your coat?" I asked. "They loved it," he said, carefully folding it over the back of a chair and smoothing it flat. I started calling him "Lord Chesterfield" and "The Great Gatsby."
Over the next few weeks, a change came over John. Agreement replaced contrariness, quiet, reasoned discussion replaced argument. He became more judicious, more mannerly, more thoughtful, eager to please. "Good dinner, Mom," he would say every evening.
He would generously loan his younger brother his tapes and lecture him on the niceties of behaviour; without a word of objection, he would carry in wood for the stove. One day when I suggested that he might start on homework before dinner, John -- a veteran procrastinator - said, "You're right. I guess I will."
When I mentioned this incident to one of his teachers and remarked that I didn't know what caused the changes, she said laughing. "It must be his coat!" Another teacher told him she was giving him a good mark not only because he had earned it but because she liked his coat. At the library, we ran into a friend who had not seen our children in a long time, "Could this be John?" he asked, looking up to John's new height, assessing the cut of his coat and extending his hand, one gentleman to another.
John and I both know we should never mistake a person's clothes for the real person within them. But there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence for the world to see, for practising standards of excellence in though, speech, and behaviour, and for matching what is on the inside to what is on the outside.
Sometimes, watching John leave for school, I've remembered with a keen sting what it felt like to be in the eighth grade -- a time when it was as easy to try on different approaches to life as it was to try on a coat. The whole world, the whole future is stretched out ahead, a vast panorama where all the doors are open. And if I were there right now, I would picture myself walking through those doors wearing my wonderful, magical coat.
-
2023年经典人生的哲理语录集合68句
不要随随便便的爱了。因为有一种单身叫"宁缺勿滥",有一种单身只为等待某人。以下是小编帮大家整理的人生的哲理语录68句,欢迎阅读,希望能够对大家有所帮助。1、人生没有完美,花开花谢,人生的成熟,是意识的提升。世上有很多不平的事,关键是我们要拥有一颗平淡、平静...
-
2023年朋友圈文艺句子锦集90条
幸福是什么,幸福就是牵着一双想牵的手,一同走过繁华喧嚣,一同守候寂寞孤单;就是陪着一个想陪的人,快乐时一同笑,伤悲时一同哭;就是具有一颗想具有的心,反复无聊的日子不乏味,做着相同的事情不单调。以下是小编给各位读者分享的朋友圈文艺句子90条,供大家参考借鉴,希望可...
-
【实用】正能量语录42句
如果你体会到了成功的乐趣、进步的快乐,那请你努力去追求更大的乐趣、更多的快乐。以下是小编精心整理的正能量语录42句,希望能够帮助到大家。1、人无远虑,必有近忧。人好的时候要找一条备胎,人不好的时候要找一条退路;人得意的时候要找一条退路,人失意的时候要找一...
-
【精品】形容美好的句子15篇
在学习、工作乃至生活中,许多人对一些广为流传的句子都不陌生吧,不同的句子在语言环境中的意义和作用大有不同。你还在找寻优秀经典的句子吗?以下是小编为大家整理的形容美好的句子,欢迎阅读与收藏。形容美好的句子11、我发现苦难有许多好处,只是很少为人察觉。苦难...
相关文章
- 低碳生活英语写作范文:An activity about low carbon living
- Liu Xiang in a TV Commercial Film英语美文
- 英语作文:大学生村官 College Graduates Work as Village Offic
- 高中英语作文:My approach to difficulties in learning
- 奥运英语作文:中国跳水队(Diving into Gold: Chinas Dream Team
- 2015年英语四级作文真题预测A Magical Potion
- 英语作文OnFabricatingAcademicCredentials
- Unit 5 It must belong to Caral section A英语评课稿
- 《You Cant Judge a William by Its Cover》英语美文欣赏
- How I Finance My College Education英语作文