阅读理解
I began working in journalism(新闻工作)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.
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 highly visible,
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
nickle(五分镍币). It was the first nickle I earned.
Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address
adults with selfconfidence(自信), 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 goodfornothing." 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 journalist as me would go back to her
husband's people for true life and love.
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 fierce.
2. From the dialogue between the boy and his mother, we learn that the mother was________.
A. excited
B. interested
C. ashamed
D. disappointed
3. What did the mother do when the boy wanted to give up?
A. She forced him to continue.
B. She punished him.
C. She gave him some money.
D. She changed her plan.
4. What does the underlined phrase "this battle" (last paragraph) refer to？
A. The war between the boy's parents.
B. The argument between the boy and his mother.
C. The quarrel between the boy and his customers.
D. The fight between the boy and his father.
