100单词写就的完整短篇小说
写一篇短篇100单词都嫌多！
本来想新开一个栏目，一时想不到怎样开始。碰巧的是僧叔最近淘到了一波短篇小说，于是有了如下想法。
僧叔知道，群里有相当的一部分读的是中长篇小说。个人认为中长篇小说适合每天在一个固定时间阅读，然而对于碎片化的时间还是适合读一些短小精悍的短篇小说。所以，僧叔会在这个栏目底下发一些短篇，方便大家的碎片阅读。
今天给大家带来的是Jeffrey Archer的精选小说集的引言篇——UNIQUE。作者用实力证明：用短短100个单词也可以写出完整的短篇（包含小说三要素）。各位看官请欣赏！
先贴个作者大图，以示尊敬。
A CHALLENGE
Many years ago an editor from Reader’s Digest in New York invited me to write a 100-word story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. As if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, he insisted that it couldn’t be 99 words or 101.
Still not satisfied, he asked me to present the finished piece within twenty-four hours.
My first effort was 118 words, my second, 106, and my third, 98. I wonder if you can work out which two words I had to put back in. The result was “Unique,” which you will find on the next page.
It may interest readers to know, this is also 100 words.
UNIQUE
Paris, March 14, 1921.
THE COLLECTOR RELIT his cigar, picked up the magnifying glass, and studied the triangular 1874 Cape of Good Hope.
“I did warn you there were two,” said the dealer, “so yours is not unique.”
“How much?”
“Ten thousand francs.” The collector wrote out a check, before taking a puff on his cigar, but it was no longer alight. He picked up a match, struck it, and set light to the stamp.
The dealer stared in disbelief as the stamp went up in smoke. The collector smiled. “You were wrong, my friend,” he said, “mine is unique.”
注释
RELIT：relieve过去式，可以理解为重新点燃
magnifying glass ：放大镜
triangular 1874 Cape of Good Hope：下文可知为邮票的样式。
