Some people are lucky enough to be born with a good sense of direction and even if they have only visited a place once, they will be able to find it again years later.

    I am one of those unfortunate people who have poor sense of direction and I may have visited a place time after time but I still get lost on my way there. When I was young I was so shy that I never dared ask complete strangers the way and so I used to wander round in circles and hope that by some chance I would get to the spot I was heading for.

    I am no longer too shy to ask people for direction, but I often receive replies that puzzle me. Often people do not like to admit that they didn't know their hometown and will insist on telling you the way, even if they do not know it; others, who are anxious to prove that they know their hometown very well, will give you a long list of directions which you can not possibly hope to remember, and still others do not seem to be able to tell between their left and their right and you find in the end that you are going in the opposite direction to that in which you should be going.

    If anyone ever asks me the way to somewhere, I always tell them I am a stranger to the town in order to avoid giving them wrong direction but even this can have embarrassing results.

    Once I was on my way to work when I was stopped by a man who asked me if I would direct him the way to the Sunlight Building. I gave my usual reply, but I had not walked on a few steps when I realized that he had asked for directions to my office building. However, at this point, I decide it was too late to turn back and search for him out of the crowd behind me as I was going to meet with someone at the office and I did not want to keep him waiting.

    Imagine my embarrassment when my secretary showed in the very man who had asked for directions of my office and his astonishment when he recognized me as the person he had asked.

阅读下面的文字，完成下列小题。

    晋文公攻原，裹十日粮，遂与大夫期十日。至原十日而原不下，击金而退，罢兵。士有从原中出者，曰：“原三日即下矣。”群臣左右谏曰：“夫原之食竭力尽矣，君姑待之。”公曰：“吾与士期十日，不去，是亡吾信也。得原失信，吾不为也。”遂罢兵而去。原人闻曰：“有君如彼其信也，可无归乎？”乃降公。卫人闻曰：“有君如彼其信也，可无从乎？”乃降公。孔子闻而记之，曰：“攻原得卫者，信也。”

    文公问箕郑曰：“救饿奈何？”对曰：“信。”公曰：“安信？”曰：“信名、信事、信义。信名，则群臣守职，善恶不逾，百事不怠；信事，则不失天时，百姓不逾；信义，则近亲劝勉而远者归之矣。”

    吴起出，遇故人而止之食。故人曰：“诺。”令返而御。吴子曰：“待公而食。”故人至暮不来，起不食待之。明日早，令人求故人。故人来，方与之食。

    魏文侯与虞人期猎，明日会天疾，左右止文侯不听曰不可以风疾之故而失信吾不为也遂自驱车往犯风而罢虞人。

    曾子之妻之市，其子随之而泣。其母曰：“女还，顾反为女杀彘。”妻适市来，曾子欲彘杀之。妻止之曰：“特与婴儿戏耳。”曾子曰：“婴儿非与戏也。婴儿非有知也，待父母而学者也，听父母之教。今子欺之，是教子欺也。母欺子，子而不信其母，非以成教也。”遂烹彘也。

    楚厉王有警，为鼓以与百姓为戍。饮酒醉，过而击之也，民大警。使人止之，曰：“吾醉而与左右戏，过击之也。”民皆罢。居数月，有警，击鼓而民不赴。乃更令明号而民信之。

    李悝警其两和曰：“谨警！敌人旦暮且至击汝。”如是者再三而敌不至。两和懈怠，不信李悝。居数月，秦人来袭之，至，几夺其军。此不信之患也。

卫嗣公使人伪客过关市，关市呵难之，因事关市以金，关市乃舍之。嗣公谓关市曰：“某时有客过而予汝金，因遣之。”关市大恐，以嗣公为明察。

（《韩非子·外储说左上》，有删改）