I was 15 when I walked into McCarley’s Bookstore in Ashland. As I was looking at ___1___ on the shelves, the man behind the counter, ___2___, asked if I’d like ___3___. I needed to start ___4___ for college, so I said yes. I ___5___ after school and during summers for the lowest wages and the job helped pay for my freshman year of college. I would work many other jobs; I made coffee in the Students Union during college, I was a hotel maid and even made maps for the U. S. Forest Service. But selling books was one of the most ___6___. One day a woman asked me for books on cancer. She seemed fearful. I showed her almost ___7___ we had at that time ___8___ and found other books we could order. She left the store less ___9___. I’ve always remembered the ___10___ I felt in having helped her.
Years later, as a ___11___ in Los Angeles, I heard about an immigrant child who was born with his fingers connected, webline. His family could not ___12___ a corrective operation, and the boy lived in ___13___, hiding his hand in his pocket.
I ___14___ my boss to let me do the story. After my story was broadcast, a doctor and a nurse called, offering to perform the ___15___ for free.
I visited the boy in the recovery room soon after the operation. The first thing he did was to hold up his ___16___ hand and say, “Thank you.” I felt a sense of ___17___.
In the past, while I was ___18___, I always sense I was working for the customers, not the store. Today it’s the same. NBC News pays my salary, ___19___ I feel as if I work for the ___20___, helping them make sense of the world.
1. A. maps B. titles C. articles D. reports
2. A. the reader B. the college student C. the shop owner D. the customer
3. A. a book B. a job C. some tea D. any help
4. A. planning B. saving C. preparing D. studying
5. A. read B. studied C. cooked D. worked
6. A. boring B. surprising C. satisfying D. disappointing
7. A. anything B. something C. nothing D. everything
8. A. in need B. in all C. in order D. in store
9. A. worried B. satisfied C. excited D. puzzled
10. A. pride B. failure C. regret D. surprise
11. A. doctor B. store owner C. bookseller D. TV reporter
12. A. pay B. cost C. afford D. spend
13. A. shame B. honour C. horror D. danger
14. A. advised B. forced C. persuaded D. permitted
15. A. action B. program C. treatment D. operation
16. A. repaired B. connected C. injured D. improved
17 A. pleasure B. sadness C. interest D. disappointment
18. A. at the TV station B. in the Students Union
C. at the U. S. Forest Service D. at McCarley’s Bookstore
19. A. so B. and C. but D. because
20. A. readers B. viewers C. customers D. passengers
