All of a sudden, someone patted on my shoulder. I turned round and saw it was the 22nd candidate. She asked me what happened. I told her, “I did not have breakfast this morning, so my stomachache comes to me again. It is nothing serious.” Then I grudged a smile to her. She said, “I am the next one to be interviewed. You should endure the pain and prepare now.” After she went in the interview room, I coordinated my suit again and prepared for my turn. After a while, a staff managing the interviewees at the gate came in and said to me, “No. 24, something for you!” I opened the paper bag and saw a bottle of milk and a piece of bread! Needless to say, it was the girl, No.22, bought for me after the interview. I felt considerably warm all over my heart at that time, because I had not imagined she would be so nice to help me, her rival, in such a intensively competitive condition! After I ate the bread and drank the milk, I felt far better. I had no clue what healed my stomachache at that time. The food or the girl’s golden heart?
有人轻轻拍了一下我的肩,我抬头一看,是刚才和我搭话的22号。她问我怎么了,我说:“早上没吃饭,胃病犯了。没事。”然后勉强给她挤出一点微笑。她说:“下一个去面试的人就是我了,你也该做做准备了,稍微忍耐一下。”她进去后我也整理了一下西装,准备面试。过了一会儿,门口管理秩序的老师进来了,说:“24号,有人捎东西给你。”打开纸袋,我愣住了,里面是一袋牛奶和一小块面包!不用说,这当然是22号女孩面试结束后给我捎来的。一股暖流立刻布满了我的全身。在明争暗斗的气氛下她竟然给我这个竞争对手送来了“救命草”。我咬了几口面包,喝了那袋牛奶,胃疼也好多了。不知是因为那些微不足道的食品,还是因为女孩的细心与善良。

Finally, I outstood among all candidates and managed to be an editor in the company. The first day I went to work, to my surprise, I saw No.22, who was also one among the five employed! Except that I was a college graduate and she junior college graduate, the other three were also masters graduating form famous universities.
最终我从众多应聘者中脱颖而出,成了那家杂志的编辑。上班第一天我看到新招来的5个人中竟然有22号女孩。除了我是本科,她是大专生以外,其他3个人都是名牌大学的硕士。

I asked her why she would get employed. She said with smiles, “As with educational qualification, I could not compare with you. But that day when I bought you the milk and bread, an interviewer went to the washroom with loads of materials in hands. He asked me whether I could help him to copy those data while he was in the washroom. I helped him. After I came back to him, he asked me why I would take the food in hands. I told him the truth. Then I got employed miraculously.” At that moment, I came to realize that while the girl did the favor to me and the “stranger”, she also helped herself who did not possess comparable advantages.
那天,我问起22号应聘成功的原因,她笑了,说:“比学历,比能力我都不如你们。那天给你送牛奶和面包时面试团的一位老师刚好出来解手,他手里拿着一大堆资料,看样子他非常着急,说能不能帮他去复印一份回来。我就跑过去复印。回来时问我为什么手里提着这些东西,我把情况如实地告诉他。就这样,我阴差阳错地应聘成功了。”她在给我“救命草”、帮那位“陌生人”复印资料的同时,也拯救了没有任何优势的自己。

（ 作者: 来自小故事网 译者: 爱尔兰UCD 赖小琪）