Tom lived by himself a long way from town. He hardly went to town, but one day he went into town to buy a few things. After he bought them, he went into a restaurant and sat down at a table. When he looked around, he saw some old people put glasses on before reading their newspapers. So after lunch he decided to go to a shop to buy himself one pair, too. He walked along the road, and soon found a shop. The man in the shop let him try on a lot of glasses, but Tom always said, "No, I can't read with these." The man became puzzled , and he said, "Excuse me, but can you read?" "No, of course I can't!" Tom said angrily. "If I could read before, do you think I would come here to buy your glasses?"