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. ”

小湯米數學學得很差。 他的父母什麼都試過了——家教、卡片、專門的學習中心——總之，他們能想到的都試過了。 最後他們把湯米帶到一所天主教學校。  

第一天過後，小湯米帶着一副嚴肅的表情回到家裡。 他沒有親他的母親打招呼。 相反，他徑直走進自己的房間開始學習。 書和紙在房間裡攤得到處都是，小湯米正在努力地工作。 他的母親很驚訝。 她叫他下樓去吃飯，他一吃完飯，就一言不發地回到自己的房間去了。 很快，他又像以前一樣用功讀書了。 這種情況持續了一段時間，日複一日，母親試圖弄明白發生了什麼事。  

終于，小湯米把成績單帶回家了。 他悄悄地把書放在桌子上，然後上樓去看書。 他的媽媽看着它，讓她吃驚的是，小湯米數學得了A。 她再也控制不住自己的好奇心了。 她來到他的房間，問:“兒子，那是什麼?” 是那些修女嗎?”  

小湯米看着她，搖了搖頭，“不。”  

“那好吧，”她又問。 “這是什麼?”  

小湯米看着她,說:“嗯,在開學的第一天,當我看到那個人釘加号,我知道他們不是在開玩笑。”