I began working in journalism (新闻业) when I was eight. It was my mother’s idea. She wanted me to “make something” of myself, and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with the competition (竞争).
With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue. The crowds were there. There were two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union. For several hours I made myself easily seen, making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. When it was supper time, I walked back home.
“How many did you sell, my boy?” my mother asked.
“None.”
“Where did you go?”
“The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues.”
“What did you do?”
“Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post.”
“You just stood there?”
“Didn’t sell a single one.”
“My God, Russell!”
Uncle Allen put in, “Well, I’ve decided to take the Post.” I handed him a copy and he paid me a nickel(五分镍币). It was the first nickel I earned.
Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address adults with self-confidence, and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor, could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.
One day, I told my mother I’d changed my mind. I didn’t want to make a success in the magazine business.
“If you think you can change your mind like this,” she replied, “you’ll become a good-for-nothing.” She insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines. Whenever I said no, she would scold me.
My mother and I had fought
this battle almost as long as I could remember. My mother, dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people. But never did she expect that, forty years later, such a successful reporter as me would go back to her husband’s people for true life and love.
小题1:Why did the boy start his job young?
| A．He wanted to be famous in the future. |
| B．The job was quite easy for him. |
| C．His mother had high hopes for him. |
| D．The competition for the job was serious. |
小题2:From the dialogue between the boy and his mother, we learn that the mother was _______.
| A．excited | B．interested |
| C．ashamed | D．disappointed |
小题3:The phrase “this battle” in the last paragraph refers to
.
| A．the war between the boy’s parents |
| B．the arguing between the boy and his mother |
| C．the arguing between the boy and his customers(顾客) |
| D．the fight between the boy and his father |
小题4:What is the text mainly about ?
| A．The early life of a reporter. |
| B．The early success of a reporter. |
| C．The happy childhood of the writer. |
| D．The important role of the writer in his family. |
in the passage and the required words limit.
ber into his waffle iron(蛋奶烙饼烤模).So, he tried and the result looked something like the bottom of most sports shoes we see today. Still, when he took this idea to several existing shoe companies he was literally(确实地)laughed at. In fact, every single company turned him down. Though rather disappointed, Bowerman was determined and went on to form his own company, making NIKE athletic shoes.
overnight delivery(隔夜送货) was impossible. He sat for a long while wondering why. Why couldn’t there be reliable overnight mail delivery service? He decided to design one. Smith did just that and turned his design into a class project. His business professor thought it was not a good class project and gave him only a C. However, Smith refined the idea in that class project and eventually turned it into one of the first and most successful overnight mail services in the world——FedEx.
83. Nike athletic shoes came from Bill Bowerman’s idea of____________. （no more than 6 words）
cience and history.
e building of new, modern museums. In the States and Canada, there are more than 6000 museums, twice as many as there were 25 years ago.
me by writing opera, a form of performance combining singing, music on instruments, and drama.
mmon in operas written before his time.
a brand new political party is ruling the UK? Well, this could be die reality in 14 years if some of the predictions of 100,000 Britons are correct．
hat Labor will be back in power．
et．Two - thirds believe cosmetic surgery（整容手术） will have become
