“Have you washed your hands and face?” Billy’s mother asked
him.
  “Yes,” he said.
  “Show me.”
  He showed his mother his hands.
  “They are dirty,” she said.
  “And your face is covered in dirt.”
  She pulled him into the bathroom. “Now wash your face and
hands,” she said.
   He did as she told him, but he hated doing it.
  “Are you afraid of soap and water?” his mother asked him.
  “No, I’m not afraid of them,” he said. “I just don’t like them.
I hate washing.”
  When he left the house he was clean. By the time he got to
school he was dirty again.
  “Look at you!” his teacher shouted. “Your face is dirty. If
your hands are dirty, too, you’ll be in trouble. Hold out your
hands.”

  Billy knew his hands were dirty. He quickly spit on one and
rubbed it on his pants. Then he showed it to the teacher.
  “That is not a clean hand, Billy,” she said. “It’s the dirtiest
hand in the class. I’m going to punish you.”
  Billy looked around the class. “It’s not the dirtiest hand in
the class,” he said.
  “All right, Billy,” the teacher said. “If you can show me a
dirtier hand, I won’t punish you.”
  With a smile, Billy quickly showed her his other hand.

           脏 手
  “你洗手洗脸了吗？”妈妈问比尔。
  “洗了。”比尔回答。
  “给我看看。”
  他把手伸出来。
  “手脏兮兮的，脸上也尽是灰。”妈妈说。
  她把比尔拉进卫生间对他说：“洗洗脸和手。”
  比尔照妈妈说的做了，但他讨厌这样做。
  “难道你害怕香皂和水吗？”妈妈问。
  “不，我不害怕它们，”比尔说，“我只是不喜欢它们，我讨厌洗
漱。”
  当比尔离开家时，他是干干净净的。可到了学校，他又变得脏兮兮的
了。
  “看看你！”老师冲他喊道，“脸是脏的，如果手也是脏的，你就会有
麻烦了，把手举起来。”
  比尔知道他的手很脏，他很快在一只手上吐了点口水并在短裤上擦了
擦，然后把手伸出来。
  “比尔，那可不是一只干净的手，”老师说道，“那是同学中最脏的一
只手，我得惩罚你。”
  比尔向班级四周看了看说：“这不是最脏的手。”
  “好的，比尔，”老师说道，“如果你能找出一只更脏的手，我就不罚
你了。”
  比尔笑了笑，很快地把另一只手伸向了老师。