Unit One
Text
college-age boys, unaware that making money
usually involves hard work, are tempted by an advertisement
that promises them an easy way to earn a lot of money. The
boys soon learn that if something seems too good to be
true, it probably is.
BUCKS THE EASY WAY
John G. Hubbell
ought to look into this," I suggested to our two college -- age sons.
"It might be a way to avoid the indignity of having to ask for money all
the time." I handed them some magazines in a plastic bag someone had hung
on our doorknob. A message printed on the bag offered leisurely, lucrative
5 work ( "Big Bucks the Easy Way ! " ) of delivering more such bags.
don't mind the indignity, " the older one answered.
"I can live with it, " his brother agreed.
it pains me," I said, "to find that you both have been panhandling
so long that it no longer embarrasses you. "
10 boys said they would look into the magazine--delivery thing. Pleased,
I left town on a business trip. By midnight I was comfortably settled in a
hotel room far from hame. The phone rang. It was my wife. She wanted to
know how my day had gone.
I enthused. "How was your day?" I inquired.
15 "Super! " she snapped. "Just super! And it's only getting started.
Another truck just pulled up out front. "
"Another truck? "
third one this evening. The first delivered four thousand Mont--
gomery Wards. The second brought four thousand Sears, Roebucks. I don't
20 know what this one has, but I'm sure it will be four thousand of something.
Since you are responsible, I thought you might like to know what's
happening. "
I was being blamed for, it turned out, was a newspaper strike which
made it necessary to hand--deliver the advertising inserts that normally
25 are included with the Sunday paper. The company had promised our boys $600
for delivering these inserts to 4,000 houses by Sunday morning.
of cake! " our older college son had shouted.
hundred bucks! " His brother had echaed, "And we can do the job
in two hours ! "
30 the Sears and Ward ads are four newspaper--size pages, " my wife
informed me. "There are thirty--two thousand pages of advertising on our
porch. Even as we speak, two big guys are carrying armloads of paper up the
walk. What do we do about all this?"
tell the boys to get busy, " I instructed. "They're college men.
35 They'll do what they have to do. "
noon the following day I returned to the hotel and found an urgent
message to telephone my wife. Her voice was unnaturally high and quavering.
There had been several more truckloads of ad inserts. "They're for depart--
ment stores, dime stores, drugstores, grocery stores, auto stores and so
40 on. Some are whole magazine sections.We have hundreds of thousands, maybe
millions, of pages of advertising here! They are crammed wall--towall all
through the house in stacks taller than your oldest son. There's only
enough room for people to walk in, take one each of. the eleven inserts, roll
them together, slip a rubber band around them and slide them into a plastic
45 bag. We have enough plastic bags to supply every takeout restaurant in
America ! " Her voice kept rising, as if working its way out of the range
of the human ear. "All this must be delivered by seven o'clock Sunday
morning. "
, you had better get those guys banding and sliding as fast as
50 they can, and I'll talk to you later. Got a lunch date. "
I returned, there was another urgent call from my wife.
you have a nice lunch?" she asked sweetly I had had a marvelous
steak, but knew better by now than to say so.
, " I reported. "Some sort of sour fish. Eel, I think."
55 "Good. Your college sons have hired their younger brothers and sisters
and a couple of neighborhood children to help for five dollars each.
Assembly lines have been set up. In the language of diplomacy, there is
'movement.'"
encouraging. "
60 "No, it's not, " she corrected. "It's very discouraging. They've been
at it for hours. Plastic bags have been filled and piled to the ceiling,
but all this hasn't made a dent, not a dent, in the situation! It's alinost
as if the inserts keep reproducing themselves ! "
thing, " she continued. "Your college sons must learn that
65 one does not get the best out of employees by threatening them with bodily
harm. "
an audience with son No. 1, I snarled, "I'll kill you if you
threaten one of those kids again! Idiot! You should be offering a bonus of
a dollar every hour to the worker who fills the most bags. "
70 that would cut into our profit, " he suggested.
"There won't be any profit unless those kids enable you to make all
the deliveries on time. If they don't, you two will have to remove all that
paper by yourselves. And there will be no eating or sleeping until it is
removed. "
75 was a short, thoughtful silence. Then he said, "Dad, you have
just worked a profound change in my personality. "
"Do it!"
"Yes, sir!"
the following evening, there was much for my wife to report. The
80 bonus program had worked until someone demanded to see the color of cash.
Then some activist on the work force claimed that the workers had no
business settling for $ 5 and a few competitive bonuses while the bosses
collected hundreds of dollars each. The organizer had declared that all the
workers were entitled to $ 5 per hour! They would not work another minute
85 until the bosses agreed,
strike lasted less than two hours. In mediation, the parties agreed
on $2 per hour. Gradually, the huge stacks began to shrink.
it turned out, the job was completed three hours before Sunday's 7
a.m.deadline. By the time I arrived home, the boys had already settled their
90 accounts: $150 in labor costs, $ 40 for gasoline, and a like amount for
gifts -- boxes of candy for saintly neighbors who had volunteered station
wagons and help in delivery and a dozen roses for their mother. This left
them with $185 each--about two--thirds the minimum wage for the 91 hours
they worked. Still, it was "enough", as one of them put it, to enable them
95 to "avoid indignity" for quite a while.
went well for some weeks. Then one Saturday morning my attention
was drawn to the odd goings-on of our two youngest sons.They kept carrying
carton after carton from various corners of the house out the front door
to curbside. I assumed their mother had enlisted them to remove junk for a
100 trash pickup. Then I overheard them discussing finances.
, we're going to make a lot of money! "
"We're going to be rich ! "
revealed that they were offering "for sale or rent" our
entire library.
105 ! No ! " I cried . "You can't sell our books ! "
"Geez, Dad, we thought you were done with them!"
never 'done' with books,'" I tried to explain.
you are. You read them, and you're done with them. That's it. Then
you might as well make a Iittle money frorn them. We wanted to avoid the
indignity of having to ask you for..."
buck n. (sl.) U. S. dollar
plastic/a. 塑料的
n. (pl.) 塑料
doorknob n. 门把手
leisurely /a. unhurried 从容的, 慢慢的
leisure n. free time 空闲时间, 闲暇
lucrative /a. profitable 有利的; 赚钱的
pain vt. cause patn to
panhandle /vi. (AmE) beg, esp. on the streets
delivery /n. delivering (of letters, goods, etc. ) 投递; 送交
enthuse/vi. show enthusiasm
inquire /vt. ask
super /a. (colloq. ) wonderful, splendid; excellent
snap vt. say (sth.) sharply 厉声说
insert /n. 插页
normally ad. in the usual conditions; ordinarily 通常
company n. 公司
echo /vt. say or do what another person says or does; re-
peat 附和; 重复
ad n. (short for) advertisement
inform /vt. tell; give information to 告知
porch /n. (AmE) veranda 门廊
armload n. as much as one arm or both arms can hold;
armful
walk n. a path specially arranged or paved for walking 人
行道
unnaturally ad. in an unnatural way 不自然地
quaver /vi. (of the voice or a sound) shake; tremble 颤抖
truckload n. as much or as many as a truck can carry
department store n. store selling many different kinds of goods in
separate departments 百货公司
dime /daim/n. coin of U. S. and Canada worth ten cents
dime store n. (AmE ) a store selling a large variety of low-
priced articles; variety store 廉价商品店; 小
商品店
drugstore /n. (AmE) a store that sells not only medicine, but
also beauty products, film, magazines, and
food 药店, 杂货店
grocery /n. a store that sells food and household supplies
食品杂货店
section /n. part or subdivision of a piece of writing, book,
newspaper, etc. ; portion (文章等的) 段落;
节; 部分
cram /vt. fill too full; force or press into a small space 把
…塞满；把…塞进
stack /n. an orderly pile, heap or group of things 一叠
(堆，垛等)
band n. flat, thin piece of material 带; 带状物
vt. tie up with a band 捆扎
rubber band n. 橡皮筋
takeout a. (餐馆) 出售外卖
range n. the distance at which one can see or hear (听觉,
视觉等的) 范围
marvel(l)ous /a. wonderful; astonishing
steak /n. 牛排；大块肉(或鱼)片
sour /a. 酸的
eel /n. 鳗鲡
diplomacy /n. 外交
encouraging /a. 鼓舞人心的
dent / n. a hollow in a hard surface made by a blow or
Pressure; initial progress 凹痕, 凹坑; 初步进展
reproduce vt. produce the young of ( oneself or one's own
kind) 生殖, 繁殖
bodily a. of the human body; physical
harm n. damage or wrong 伤害
vt. cause harm to; hurt
audience /n. the people gathered in a place to hear or see; a
chance to be heard 观众, 听众; 陈述意见的机会
snarl /vt. speak in a harsh voice 咆哮着说
bonus /n: an extra payment to workers 奖金
thoughtful a. given to or indicating thought 沉思的,思考的
cash /n. money in coins or notes 现金
activist n. a person taking an active part esp. in a political
movement 激进分子
work force n. total number of workers employed in a particular
factory, industry or area 工人总数; 劳动人口
competitive /a. 竞争的
organizer n. person who organizes things 组织者
mediation /n. 调解
party n. one of the people or sides in an agreement or ar-
gument 一方; 当事人
gradually ad. slowly and by degrees
gradual a.
shrink (shrank, shrunk) vi. become less or smaller 减少; 变小
deadline n. fixed limit of time for finishing a piece of work
最后期限
station wagon n. 小型客车，客货两用车
minimum /( pl min-- the smallest possible amount,number,etc. 最
ima or minimums) n. 低限度的量、数等
minimum wage n. the lowest wage permitted by law or by agree-
ment for oertain work 法定最低工资
odd a. strange; unusual
goings-on n. activities, usu. of an undesirable kind
carton /n.. a cardboard box for holding goods 纸板箱(或盒)
curbside /n. the area of sidewalk at or near a curb (curb : 人
行道的镶边石)
enlist /vt. obtain the support and help of; cause to join the
armed forces 取得…的支持和帮助; 征募
trash /n. waste material to be thrown away; rubbish 垃圾
pickup n. a small light truck with an open back used for
light deliveries 小卡车;轻型货车
overhear vt. hear by chance;hear without the knowledge of
the speaker(s) 无意中听到; 偷听到
finance /n. money matters; (used in pl. ) money; (science
of ) the management of funds 财政; 钱财; 金融
geez /int. 哎呀，呀
sale n. the act of selling sth.
Phrases & Expreasions
pull up bring or come to a stop (使)停下
a piece of cake (informal) sth. very easy to do
everi as just at the same moment as
know better than be wise or experienced enough not ( to do sth.)明事理
而不至于
be at be occupied with, be doing
make a dent (in) make less by a very small amount; reduce slightly;
make a f irst step towards success (in) 减少一点; 取
得初步进展
cut into reduce; decrease 减少
have no business have no right or reason 无权; 没有理由
settle for accept, although not altogether satisfactory (无可奈何
地)满足于
settle one's account pay what one owes 结帐
qite a while a fairly long time
draw (sb.'s)attention to make sb. notice, or be aware of
for sale intended to be sold
for rent available to be rented
be done with stop doing or using; finish 做完; 不再使用
may/might/could as well with equal or better effect 不妨, 还不如, 最好
Proper Names
Montgomery Ward / 蒙哥马利--沃德百货公司
Sears; Roebuck / 西尔斯--罗伯克百货公司