一件令我不安的小事
【內容提示】
有一件小事令你久久不安，一想起來就覺得對不起某人。這件事可能是：
①你要買錄音機，向父親要了100元錢。但你卻用這些錢請同學下了飯館。事後說把錢丟了，又要了100元。
②老師讓你做一件事，你推託說自己有病。結果，另一名同學辦這件事時出了車禍。
③有人到你住的地方出差，不知道去某處的路，問你時你本來知道卻說不知道。後來聽說由於延誤了時間該人錯過了一項經濟契約的簽訂機會。
請你寫一篇文章，寫這樣一件讓你不安的事。
【作文示範】
A Trifle① That Still Upsets Me
What about the sick old man in that cart②? Is he well now?Every time I think of what happened to me a year ago, I feel I was to blame③.
It was a Saturday evening, the third evening after my arrival at Zheng Ding Middle School. I was a new comer and knew little about the town. After supper, I went out for a walk alone. It was getting dark and few people were in the street. Suddenly a cart stopped and the man who pulled the cart came to ask me if I knew the way to the No. 1 Hospital.
I had heard of the hospital and I seemed to have been told that it was in the north of the town, but I was not quite sure. I looked at the sick old man lying in the cart and moaning④. Without hesitation, I told him the way to the hospital. Then he turned the cart round and soon it was out of sight. When I came back to the dormitory, I told my roommates what had happened. They told me that the No. 1 Hospital was in the southeast of the town. Only then did I realize that I had told the man the wrong way. I at once thought of the sick old man and felt upset⑤.
What would they do if they couldn＇t find the hospital? Would the sick old man survive⑥the journey? I couldn＇t think any more. I was too upset.
A year has passed. I am still worrying about the old man. Maybe I will never have a chance to make it up, but from then on I have never said a word that I am not sure of.
（選自《英語畫刊》高中版1996年第4期）
【詞語解釋】
①trifle [＇traifl] n．小事；瑣事
②cart [ka:t] n．手推車
③blame [bleim] n．責備
④moan [m+un] v．呻吟
⑤upset [)p＇set] a．不安；心煩意亂
⑥survive [s+＇vaiv] v．活下來；倖存
【寫法指要】
本文用插敘的方法寫作者自己因做錯一件小事而忐忑不安的有愧心緒。第一段首先用了兩個反詰句，然後點題：我該受到責備。第二、三段是插敘一年前發生的事。第四段又用了兩個反詰句，之後說：“我很不安”，與第一段呼應。最後一段用不同的表達方式再次重複自己受到的良心的譴責。