新发展研究生英语 综合教程 2 教师用书
of the Curtis Publishing Company. (Para. 6): When I got back home that afternoon, my mother was in a conversation with an executive of the Curtis Publishing Company.
conference (n.): a meeting at which formal discussions take place; discussion, consultation
e.g. (1) They sat down at the dinner table, as they always did before the meal, for a
conference. (2) Her employer was in conference with two lawyers and did not want to be interrupted.
7. “But have you got the grit, the character, the never-say-quit spirit it takes to succeed
in business?” (Para. 9): ―If you want to be successful in business, you must have the
personalities like courage, strength of character and determination of never stopping.‖
n.): the determination and courage to continue to do sth.
grit (e.g. If they gave gold medals for grit, she would be right up there on the winners’ podium.
8. He eyed me silently for a long pause, as though weighing whether I could be trusted
to keep his confidence, then spoke man-to-man. (Para. 12): He looked at me without
speaking for a long time as if he was wondering about whether I was worth of being trusted. Then he began to talk with me seriously.
a man-to-man conversation or meeting takes place between two men,
man-to-man:especially two men who meet to discuss a serious personal matter
e.g. (1) He called me to his office for a man-to-man talk.
(2) John and Peter had a man-to-man talk about the problem of their quarrel.
9. My mother said everyone in our house had heard of the Saturday Post and that, I,
in fact, read it with religious devotion. (Para. 13): My mother said that everyone of our family was familiar with the Saturday Post. What‘s more, she said that I was the most faithful reader of it. (In fact my mother was unfamiliar with the magazine for she mistakenly called it as the Saturday Post instead of the Saturday Evening Post.)
10. He showed me how to drape the sling over my left shoulder and across the chest so
that the pouch lay easily accessible to my right hand, allowing the best in journalism,
fiction, and cartoons to be swiftly extracted and sold to a citizenry whose happiness and security depended upon us soldiers of the free press. (Para. 15): He made a demonstration of the right way to handle the bag of magazines. Put the bag over my left
Career 职业生涯
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shoulder and hung it across my chest so that I could easily reach out my right hand for the magazines that the customers liked best, such as the selected journalism, fiction and cartoons. As to those citizens, we were just like soldiers because our magazines were closely related to their happiness and security.
drape (v.): hang clothes, materials, etc. loosely on sb./sth. e.g. I’ll drape this coat around your shoulders to keep you warm. citizenry (n.): the body of citizens of a state or country
e.g. (1) To love the country is to love its citizenry. This is fundamental.
(2) To make our citizenry more aware in general knowledge and current affairs will take time and sustained efforts.
11. It was 1932, the bleakest year of the Depression. (Para. 17): It was in 1932 that the
Depression seemed to be the most severe.
(a.): not hopeful or encouraging; cold and unpleasant
bleake.g. (1) After the crash of his business, the future was extremely bleak; nevertheless, he looked it in the face. (2) The weather can be quite bleak on the coast.
12. As a salesman for a soft-drink bottler in Newark, he had an income of $30 a week;
wore pearl-gray spats, detachable collars, and a three-piece suit; was happily married; and took in threadbare relatives. (Para. 17): My uncle worked as a salesman to sell soft-drink bottler in Newark with an income of $30 a week. He was usually wearing light gray covering over his shoes, the collars that could be taken off and three-piece suit. He got married and led a happy life. It was he who allowed us, his poor relatives, to stay with him.
detachable (a.): that can be taken off
e.g. There is a delicate cake tin with a detachable base.
: allow someone to stay in your house or country, especially when they are homeless
take inor in trouble.
e.g. The monastery has taken in 26 refugees.
(a.): old and thin because it has been used a lot
threadbaree.g. She sat cross-legged on a square of threadbare carpet.
13. Uncle Allen intervened. “I?ve been thinking about it for some time,” he said, “and
新发展研究生英语 综合教程 2 教师用书
I?ve about decided to take the Post regularly. Put me down as a regular customer.” I handed him a magazine and he paid me a nickel. It was the first nickel I earned. (Para. 28): Uncle Allen interrupted and said he had thought about this for a long time and now decided to be a regular customer of mine. He bought a magazine which was the first I sold.
intervene(v.): interrupt sb. when they are speaking; become involved in a situation in order
to improve or help
e.g. (1) Cathy intervened and told us to stop the discussion and summarize the results for
a report. (2) Do not intervene in the affairs of another country.
14. Afterwards my mother instructed me in salesmanship. I would have to ring doorbells,
address adults with charming self-confidence, and break down resistance with a sales talk pointing out that no one, no matter how poor, could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home. (Para. 29): Since then, my mother taught me some skills in selling magazines. She told me that I could ring doorbells and then greeted the adults with complete self-confidence that might impress them deeply. In order to make them find no way to refuse me, my mother told me that I had to assure them that it would be a great loss if they hadn‘t bought the Saturday Evening Post, no matter how poor they were.
(n.): skill in selling
salesmanshipe.g. (1) I was finally captured by his brilliant salesmanship and bought some products he advised to me strongly. (2) We want to invite you to give a talk on international salesmanship to students majoring in International Business.
15. “If you think I?m going to raise a good-for-nothing,” she replied, “you?ve got another
think coming.” (Para. 31): ―If you think I‘m going to bring you up to be lazy and useless,‖ she answered, ―you are wrong in thinking that.‖
good-for-nothing: a person who is lazy or irresponsible and has no skills.
e.g. She is really disappointed with her good-for-nothing fourteen-year-old son who barely knows eating the bread of idleness.
16. The one I most despised was, “If at first you don?t succeed, try, try again.” This was the
battle cry with which she constantly sent me back into the hopeless struggle whenever I
Career 职业生涯
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moaned that I had rung every doorbell in town and knew there wasn?t a single potential buyer left in Belleville that week. (Para. 32): One of my mother‘s maxims that I disliked most was ―If at first you don‘t succeed, try, try again.‖ It was the words that repeatedly sent me back to the struggle in which I found no hope at all. Even if I explained that I had rung all the doorbells in town and sensed that no one might come to buy the magazines at all, she would still insist on my trying again.
despise (v.): dislike and have no respect for sb./sth.
e.g. (1) You shall not despise a man because he is poor.
(2) When I think of the opportunities I lost before, I will despise myself for my cowardice.
battle cry: a word or phrase used by a group of people who work together for a particular
purpose, esp. a political one
e.g. Their battle cry will be: “Sign this petition before they sign away your country.”
17. Reading it with her own schoolteacher?s eye, my mother agreed that it was top-
drawer seventh grade prose and complimented me. (Para. 34): My mother read the
composition with an eye of a teacher, she also agreed it was an excellent seventh grade prose and praised me.
top-drawer (a.): of the highest social class or of the highest quality
e.g. The Potters may have plenty of money, but they don’t come out of the top-drawer.
18. Writers did not have to trudge through the town peddling from canvas bags, defending
themselves against angry dogs, being rejected by surly strangers. (Para. 36): Writers
didn‘t need to make their way through out of the town to sell magazines. Then they didn‘t need to defend themselves from being attacked by those angry dogs and to worry about being turned down by those unfriendly strangers.
trudge (v.): walk slowly or with heavy steps, because you are tired and/or carrying sth.
heavy
e.g. In the early morning the casualties began to trudge into the dressing-station.
): bad-tempered and rude
surly (a.e.g. He found his partner to be very disagreeable. Frequently he was the worse for liquor which made him surly.
19. So far as I could make out, what writers did couldn?t even be classified as work. (Para. 36): As