I began working in journalism (新聞業(yè)) 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 (競爭).
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(五分鎳幣). 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.
小題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. |
小題2:From the dialogue between the boy and his mother, we learn that the mother was _______.
| A．excited | B．interested |
| C．a(chǎn)shamed | D．disappointed |
小題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(顧客) |
| D．the fight between the boy and his father |
小題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(蛋奶烙餅烤模).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(確實地)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(隔夜送貨) 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）
se the interest you could have earned by saving it. 
as food and rent. If you can hold onto a good percentage of the money you earn as a teen, going to college and buying a house will be much easier. ________________, the more time the money has to grow. If you are in your thirties without any savings, you will always have to struggle. The earlier you begin saving, the easier it is to create a nest egg. 
of the passage?