LittleTommywasdoingverybadlyinmath.Hisparentshadtriedeveryth

Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything—tutors, cards, special learning centers—in short, everything they could think of. Finally they took Tommy to a catholic school.

After the first day, little Tommy came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn’t kiss his mother hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread out all over the room and little Tommy was hard at work. His mother was surprised. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back to his room, without a word. In no time he was back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.

Finally, little Tommy brought home his report card. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books. His mom looked at it and to her surprise, little Tommy got an A in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity. She went to his room and asked, “Son, what was it? Was it the nuns?”

Little Tommy looked at her and shook his head, “No. ”

“Well then,” she asked again. “WHAT was it?”

Little Tommy looked at her and said, “Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed to the plus sign, I knew they weren’t joking. ”

小汤米数学学得很差。 他的父母什么都试过了——家教、卡片、专门的学习中心——总之，他们能想到的都试过了。 最后他们把汤米带到一所天主教学校。  

第一天过后，小汤米带着一副严肃的表情回到家里。 他没有亲他的母亲打招呼。 相反，他径直走进自己的房间开始学习。 书和纸在房间里摊得到处都是，小汤米正在努力地工作。 他的母亲很惊讶。 她叫他下楼去吃饭，他一吃完饭，就一言不发地回到自己的房间去了。 很快，他又像以前一样用功读书了。 这种情况持续了一段时间，日复一日，母亲试图弄明白发生了什么事。  

终于，小汤米把成绩单带回家了。 他悄悄地把书放在桌子上，然后上楼去看书。 他的妈妈看着它，让她吃惊的是，小汤米数学得了A。 她再也控制不住自己的好奇心了。 她来到他的房间，问:“儿子，那是什么?” 是那些修女吗?”  

小汤米看着她，摇了摇头，“不。”  

“那好吧，”她又问。 “这是什么?”  

小汤米看着她,说:“嗯,在开学的第一天,当我看到那个人钉加号,我知道他们不是在开玩笑。”