There at a secondhand clothing store in Northampton Mass, my l4-year-old son, John, and I noticed the coat. While the other coats drooped（低垂）, this one looked as if it were　 41　 itself up. The coat was beautifully made, with a Fifth Avenue label and an　 42　 price of $28, which was popular just then with　 43　 , but could cost several hundred dollars new. John tried it on and the　 44　 was perfect.

John 45　 the coat to school the next day and came home with a big smile. “Did the kids like your coat?” I asked. “They loved it,” he said, 　 46　 folding it over the back of a chair and smoothing it flat. Over the next few weeks, a　 47　 came over John. Agreement replaced contrariness（作对）and　 48　 discussion replaced fierce argument. He became more mannerly and　 49　 , eager to please. He would generously lend his younger brother his tapes and lecture him　 50　 his behavior.

When I mentioned this　 51　 to his teacher and wondered what caused the changes, she said laughing. “It　 52　 be his coat!” Another teacher told him she was giving him a good mark not only because he had earned　 53　 but because she liked his coat. At the library, we ran　

54　 a friend. “Could this be John?” he asked surprisingly, 　 55　 John’s new height, appreciating the cut of his coat and holding out his hand, one gentleman to another.

John and I both know we should never　 56　 a person’s clothes for the real person within them. 　 57　 , there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence for the world to see and for 　58　 what is on the inside with what is on the outside.

For John, it is a time when it is as easy to try on different　 59　 to life as it is to try on a coat. The whole world, the whole future is stretched out ahead, a vast landscape　 60　 all the doors are open. And he could picture himself walking through those doors wearing his wonderful, magical coat.

There at a secondhand clothing store in Northampton Mass, my l4-year-old son, John, and I noticed the coat. While the other coats drooped（低垂）, this one looked as if it were　 41　 itself up. The coat was beautifully made, with a Fifth Avenue label and an　 42　 price of $28, which was popular just then with　 43　 , but could cost several hundred dollars new. John tried it on and the　 44　 was perfect.

John 45　 the coat to school the next day and came home with a big smile. “Did the kids like your coat?” I asked. “They loved it,” he said, 　 46　 folding it over the back of a chair and smoothing it flat. Over the next few weeks, a　 47　 came over John. Agreement replaced contrariness（作对）and　 48　 discussion replaced fierce argument. He became more mannerly and　 49　 , eager to please. He would generously lend his younger brother his tapes and lecture him　 50　 his behavior.

When I mentioned this　 51　 to his teacher and wondered what caused the changes, she said laughing. “It　 52　 be his coat!” Another teacher told him she was giving him a good mark not only because he had earned　 53　 but because she liked his coat. At the library, we ran　

54　 a friend. “Could this be John?” he asked surprisingly, 　 55　 John’s new height, appreciating the cut of his coat and holding out his hand, one gentleman to another.

John and I both know we should never　 56　 a person’s clothes for the real person within them. 　57　 , there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence for the world to see and for 　58　 what is on the inside with what is on the outside.

For John, it is a time when it is as easy to try on different　 59　 to life as it is to try on a coat. The whole world, the whole future is stretched out ahead, a vast landscape　 60　 all the doors are open. And he could picture himself walking through those doors wearing his wonderful, magical coat.