【明報專訊】Angus was a chubby boy who had a bad temper. He always picked a fight and had nickel-and-dime arguments with his mom. That was especially the case while they were having a squabble about his lunch. Angus hated packing his own meal for lunch. Of course it was his mom who did the cooking.

"Oh mom I hate green pepper (青椒)! It makes my stomach turn!" Angus complained to his mom, pretending to vomit.

"Son it's good for your body! And you should do more exercise!"

"I hate exercise!"

No matter how Angus threw his tantrums, mom didn't give in.

One day, in protest, Angus didn't even get a nibble of the meal. Back home he didn't start doing homework, only fiddling around with the pens. Mom murmured, "Why didn't you like the meal? I didn't put green peppers in..." In a fit of temper, Angus suddenly blew up at his mom, "It's not only green peppers that I'm talking about! There're many others I don't eat. Mushrooms, beans... Anyway, I want school meals!"

At last mom gave the green light to her son's demand. Angus felt so exhilarated that he even dreamt about having a school meal, "Oh it's finger-licking good" He started sleep-walking!

There were healthy options among the school meals. But what Angus chose are all fried foods. When nobody is monitoring how you eat, it's easy for you to derail a healthy diet.

After a year or so, Angus became fatter and clumsier. His classmates often laughed at him ruthlessly. He went to the student health service and the doctor told him that he should eat less fried food since he was overweight!

Eventually he asked for mom's help.

"I told you. You shouldn't have had so much unhealthy food. More exercise is important."

"I know, mom! I regret what I've done. But what shall I do?"

"Listen! You should listen to advice from other people first. You can't always be correct. And don't be angry all the time!"

Angus nodded. He really learned a lesson and became more open-minded from then on.

◆Food for thought

Sometimes we make mistakes because we ignore other people's advice, especially that from someone older. Have you ever made such a mistake? How would you prevent that?

■Gear up

Fill in the blanks with words from the passage.

(1) Angus doesn't do __________ and eat a lot of __________ food.

(2) Angus is always __________ at his mom.

(3) A balanced __________ is one that includes different kinds of food, such as vegetables and meat.

(Answers on next text)

■Glossary

nickel-and-dime (adj) 微不足道的

tantrum (n) 脾氣

fiddle around with (phr v) 擺弄

blow up (phr v) 勃然大怒

[Smarties' Power English 第254期]