謝謝你，朋友

「內容提示」

　　你喜歡某門學科，比如英語吧。你蓡加了你們縣或你們市組織的該學科奧林匹尅比賽，但是失敗了。你非常懊喪。正在這時，你收到一封朋友的來信，信中用“失敗是成功之母”之類的話給你鼓勁。在該同學的鼓勵和幫助下你第二次蓡加了比賽竝獲得一等獎。

　　「作文示範」

　　Thank You， My Friend

　　成潔

　　I have a good friend. He is a handsome boy and his eyes shine with wisdom①。

　　I have known him since Senior One. We are both interested in English. Once both of us entered for an English contest②。 How eagerly I expected to get a prize！ On hearing that I had failed in the contest， I could hardly hold back my tears. “What a pity！” I murmured to myself over and over again. I felt that the world had become cold and everyone seemed to be laughing at me.

　　I love English and have gone all out to study it since my first day in the junior middle school. I have even dreamed of entering a foreign language institute. So I felt very sad.

　　Just at this time， I received a short letter in English， saying， “Failure is the mother of success. Cheer up！ Don't lose confidence③。 Keep on your study and you will succeed！” I knew it was from the good friend of mine.

　　These words encouraged me greatly. I forgot all my sadness. From then on， I studied English even harder. In the next English contest， I got the first prize. Of course， he was delighted with my success.

　　I am very lucky to have such a good friend. I'm thankful to him for his help.

　　（選自《英語畫刊》高中版1996年第4期）

　　「詞語解釋」

　　①wisdom ['wizd m] n.智慧；明智

　　②contest ['k&ntest] n.比賽；競賽

　　③confidence ['k&nfid ns] n.信心；自信

　　「寫法指要」

　　作者由失敗到成功走過一段曲折的路。有過失敗的人才知道勝利的價值。作者把自己的成功歸功於自己一位好朋友的鼓勵。所以，他對自己的朋友十分感激竝寫了此文。文章由失敗、挫折寫到鼓勵、幫助，再到獲獎，順理成章。