A man bought new trousers for a school reunion but found they were too long. When he asked his mother, wife, and daughter to shorten them, they were all too busy. Later, each felt bad and shortened the trousers by 10cm each, making them 30cm too short. At the reunion, the man laughed and said he must wear the trousers to show how loving his family is.

1. 我的新長褲 (My new pair of trousers)
[中文由老編西歪翻譯]
A man bought a new pair of trousers for his primary school mates’
reunion dinner. When he tried out at home, he found that the
trousers were too long by 10cm.
一位男子為了參加第二天小學同學晚宴 買一條新長褲 回家試穿後，
， ，
發覺褲子長了 10 公分。
He asked his mother to help him shorten the pants. His mother said
she could not do it as she was not feeling well and would like to rest

2. early.
他請求媽媽幫忙改短。媽媽說因為身體感到不舒服，想早點休息，沒
法幫忙改。
So the man approached his wife to shorten his pants. His wife said
she was very tired and had a lot of work to do that night, so she
could not help him to shorten the pants that night.
因此，男子走向他太太。太太說，她已經很累了，晚上還有很多事情
要做，當晚不能幫他修改。
Then the man asked his daughter. His daughter apologized for not
able to do it that night because she had agreed to go dancing with
her boyfriend
然而該男子就請求女兒。女兒為了沒時間修改感到抱歉，因為當晚已
經答應男朋友去跳舞。
"Ah well!" The man thought and decided he could wear his old
trousers to the reunion.
「呀！也罷！」男子想了想，他決定穿舊長褲去參加同學會。
Later that night, his mother thought to herself, "My son has been
very nice to me. I ' ll just help him to shorten his pants before
going to rest." So she shortened the pants by 10cm.
當天晚上，媽媽心想：「兒子平時對我很孝順，就寢前我一定要幫他
改好褲子。」於是，她將褲子改短了 10 公分。
Then his wife finished her work and thought," My husband knows I
am always very busy and seldom asked me to help him. I would

3. oblige him today." So she shortened the man ' s pants by another
10cm.
太太做完家事後想了想：
「老公知道我很忙，平時很少要求我幫忙。
今天非得幫他不可。」於是將先生長褲又改短了 10 公分。
His daughter came home from dancing, and thought, "Papa loves
me very much and when I declined to shorten his pants, he was not
angry at all! I would help him to shorten his pants." So she
shortened her daddy ' s pants yet another 10cm.
女兒跳舞回來想道：「爸爸非常愛我，拒絕為他改褲子也沒生氣，我
得幫他把長褲改短才是 於是
。」 ，她又將爸爸的褲子改短了 10 公分。
On the next day, the three ladies told the man that his pants were
shortened. He tried them on and found that his pants had become
shorter by 30cm!
第二天早上，三個女人都告訴男主人改短長褲的事。他試了一下，長
褲已經改短了 30 公分。
His reaction:He laughed heartily, and said, "I must wear this pair of
pants to show my schoolmates that my mum, my wife and my
daughter are such loving people."
他的反應是大笑，說：「我一定要穿這條褲子給同學看，我媽媽、太
太和女兒都是這麼可愛的人。」
At the dinner, his old classmates were very envious of his loving
family. His mother, wife and daughter were very happy to learn
about his classmates ' reaction.
餐會中，老同學們一致讚揚他的愛心家庭。他媽媽、太太和女兒知道

4. 了他同學們的反應也都很高興。
What would you do if it happened to you?
Have a good laugh, or start swearing?
如果這件事發生在你身上，你會怎麼樣？
「哈哈一笑」抑或是「口出髒話」？
Many of us have "High EQ" when dealing with people outside the
family, "Low EQ" when dealing with our own family members!
This is not an exaggeration at all.
我們許多人中與外人打交道時有「高 E.Q」 與家人相處時則
， 「低 E.Q」！
這絕對不是誇張。
諸位朋友！請在家中多一點耐心與幽默，家人快樂了，你自己也會快
樂的。
歡迎大家盡量引用與轉寄本篇文章，或許有人用得著它！
[註] 數據來自以下網頁 Data derived from the following website
http://vidyadaan.in/2011/02/25/ten-centimeter%E2%80%8F/