以小見大:我做對了嗎？-Did I Do the Right Thing?

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我做對了嗎？

【內(nèi)容提示】

一天，你和同學(xué)在買東西的時候碰見了你們的美國老師Mrs Brandenburg。她讓你們幫她買一些水果。你們路過一個水果攤時，女?dāng)傊饕贿呏钢奶O果一邊用英語喊“這蘋果很好”。可能是受了這位女孩純正英語的影響，Mrs Brandenburg要買這里的蘋果。問價錢時這位女孩說是6角8分一斤，但當(dāng)這位女孩稱蘋果時在電子秤上顯示的卻是8角6分一斤。你受著良心的驅(qū)使和這位女孩理論起來，女孩嫌你站在外國人一邊，說了一些侮辱你的話。你們離開水果攤后，外教知道了事情的真象，很感謝你，并說她由于不懂漢語，經(jīng)常讓人索高價。當(dāng)晚，你問自己，為了幫外國人而使這個女孩丟了臉，不知道這件事做得是否對。

【作文示范】

Did I Do the Right Thing?

The other day I was shopping with a classmate mine when we ran into our American teacher. Mrs Brandenburg asked if we might help her buy some fruits. We agreed.

As we passed a fruit stand, the girl owner suddenly shouted aloud in English, “They are very good.” Probably impressed by her pure English, Mrs Brandenburg decided to buy the apples which cost six jiao and eight fen a jin. She chose some and put them onto to electronic weight①. To my great surprise, the weight unexpectedly showed the unit price as eight jiao and six fen a jin.

I debated② with myself. Was I to be on Mrs Brandenburg＇s side to point this out, or should I be on the side of the girl and remain silent? Several seconds passed when conscience③ forced me to ask the girl to reweight④ the apples according to its actual price.

The girl looked unhappy.“Are you a Chinese?” she asked me angrily. “She is not your mother, is she?”

“I am a Chinese,”I replied, “and she is not your enemy, either, is she?”

After we left the girl, Mrs Brandenburg thanked us again and again, fully understanding what had happened. Then, with a little displeasure⑤, she told us she had always been overcharged⑥ just because she didn＇t know Chinese.

That night I couldn＇t go to sleep. It is true that foreign teachers in China earn much more than ordinary Chinese, but should they therefore be overcharged? But on the other hand was it right for me to disgrace⑦ a Chinese in front of a foreigner?

If you had been in my position, my dear friend, what would you have done?

（選自1987年2月3日《上海學(xué)生英文報》）

【詞語解釋】

①electronic [ilek＇tr&nik] weight 電子秤

②debate [di＇beit] v. 爭論；辯論；討論

③conscience [＇k&nM ns] n. 良心

④reweight[＇ri:＇weit]v. 再稱；重新稱

⑤displeasure [dis＇pleN ] n. 不愉快；不滿

⑥overcharge [＇ uv ＇tMa:dN] v. 要價太高

|⑦disgrace [dis＇greis] v. 使丟臉

【寫法指要】

本文作者記述了自己經(jīng)歷的一件小事。敘述中有議論，議論中有敘述。記敘時參和著對話，敘述真實生動；議論時結(jié)合著實際，論說頗為有力。這樣，記敘和議論有機地結(jié)合在一起，有利于文脈的貫通和題旨的闡發(fā)。雖然作者在文章中流露的是不知所措的思想，但是從作者的所為我們不難看出他是維護社會道德的衛(wèi)士，從小事中我們可以看到有關(guān)國格人格的大事。