Jenny:Your uncle's a really nice man. Fancy taking so much time to show us around the town.
珍妮:你叔叔人真好，花那麼多時間，帶我們四處參觀這個城市。
Hedley:He's always been like that. He really is our favorite uncle.
赫德利:他向來都是這樣，他是我們最喜歡的叔叔。
Jenny:And everywhere we went everyone greeted him.
珍妮:無論我們去到哪裡，人人都跟他打招呼。
Hedley:Yes he's very popular round here because he's very friendly and always has a good word for everybody.
赫德利:沒錯，他在這裡很有人緣，因為他為人友善，而且總是說人家好話。
Jenny:If you follow his example, you won't go far wrong.
珍妮:假如你以他為榜樣，就不會錯到哪裡去。
Hedley: I'm trying, but he's a hard act to follow.
赫德利:我想啊，但要學他可不容易。
赫德利談到他的叔父：He's a hard act to follow。
A hard act to follow這成語出自美國的雜耍表演(vaudeville)，指「一場表演」或「一個表演項目」，例如：The clown act was the children's favorite (小丑的表演最受孩子歡迎) 。舞臺上，有人表演出色，贏得如雷掌聲，其後演出者要不被比下去，自然不容易，這叫做a hard act to follow，即「別人難乎為繼的表演」，常引申解作「珠玉在前，殊難企及」，那hard字可改為同義的tough或difficult，例如：(1) President Ronald Reagan was so popular with the Americans that his successor, George H. Bush, had a tough act to follow（雷根總統獲美國人愛戴，繼任的布希很難不黯然失色）。(2) He is a very talented painter. I think he will be a hard act to follow（他是位很有才華的畫家，我看日後不容易有人比得上）。
赫德利的叔叔有人緣，是因為He always has a good word for everybody。A good word是「好話」，成語not have a good word (to say) for somebody/something即「對某人/某事物沒有一句好評」，例如：The teacher is biased against Mary, and never has a good word to say for her（老師對瑪麗有偏見，對她從來沒有好評）。赫德利的叔父則不然，「平生不解藏人善，到處逢人說項斯」。
留意a good word用了單數形式。單數形式的word有時不是指「一個字」，而是指「說話」，這裡不妨再舉一例：May I have a word with you?（我可以和你談談嗎？）
