有趣的競賽

「內(nèi)容提示」
    星期天，你要幫助父母干活，比如干家務或上地勞動。你妹妹和表弟或堂弟也要和你一起干。他們倆人因為干什么活或干多少活吵起了架。你讓他們進行比賽，你當裁判，最后獎勵勝者。結(jié)果兩人干得都很賣力，你難以裁決誰勝誰負。但你必須守信給他們獎品。于是你就決定給他們兩人一人一份獎品。
    「作文示范」
    An Interesting Match
    李玉英
    On Sunday morning， my sister， my cousin① and I went to the potato field， with a hoe（鋤）and a basket.
    When we got there， my sister and my cousin both wanted to dig， and they began quarrelling.“What on earth can I do？”I thought and thought， and then got a good idea. I stopped their quarrel and said，“Now we will have a digging match. Both of you will enter the match. I will act as the judge. I will give the winner a prize. Do you agree with me？”“OK. OK，”they both said， laughing and jumping. Then they took off their jackets and got ready.
    The match began. My sister dug first. You could see she was putting her heart into it. She began digging with the hoe. Some potatoes came out. I picked them up and put them into the basket. She was working so hard that before long she reached the end of the row. There was sweat on her face. I told her to stop. Then my cousin began working. He dug as hard as my sister.
    When the match came to an end， I looked at the two lovely children， and had some trouble in deciding who should get the prize. Both had worked hard. It would be unfair for me to say one of them had worked slowly. But I had to keep my promise.
    “Both of you dug fast，”I said.“One will get a new book and the other will get a new pen.”At these words， they both held up their thumbs②，saying，“Our elder sister is really good.” They laughed and jumped again. Though it cost me a new pen and a new book， I felt pleased， too.
    （選自《英語畫刊》高中版1996年第5期）
    「詞語解釋」
    ①cousin ['k）z+n] n.堂（或表）兄弟
    ②thumb [I）m] n.大拇指
    「寫法指要」
    本文作者講了自己在小弟妹們的競賽中當裁判、守信用的事，這是一種激勵孩子們有競爭意識的好辦法。文章前三段都是講述競賽過程的，是文章的鋪墊部分，直到倒數(shù)第二段最后一句才道出了文章的主題：I had to keep my promise.因此，才有最后一段弟妹對作者信任的稱贊。