It was Saturday morning. There was no school, but Tom was still unhappy. His aunt Polly said he had to paint the fence (围栏). The fence was thirty yards long and three yards high. He hated boring work and loved to play. He also knew other boys in town would laugh at him. He didn't want to become a joke. Soon he had a wonderful idea and picked up his brush to start the work.
A moment later, Ben came with an apple in his hand.
"I'm going swimming," said Ben. "Do you want to come? Oh, you have to work, don't you?"
Tom was a little angry. "Of course not. I'm enjoying myself. Does a boy get a chance to paint a fence like this every day?" Tom said and went on painting.
Ben thought about this. He was watching Tom's every move and was getting more and more interested. After a while, he said, "Tom, will you let me do some painting?"
"No way! You see, Aunt Polly wants it to be beautiful. I'm the only one that can do it right," Tom said.
"Oh, please, Tom," begged (恳求) Ben. "I'll be really careful. Let me try. I'll give you half my apple in return. Wait, I'll give you all of it."
"That's a deal," said Tom. "But you must be careful." He gave Ben his brush with worry on his face but joy in his heart. He started to eat Ben's apple.
All day, boys came over and wanted to paint. When Ben got tired, Billy began to paint. He gave Tom his favorite kite. Then Johnny gave him twelve marbles, and so on.
That afternoon, Tom got lots of "treasure", and the fence got three coats of paint. Aunt Polly was so happy when she saw the nice fence that she gave him a large cake!
