推车里推着，后面还绑了个大枕头。车轮子老是掉下来，但我用鞋跟把它敲回去，然后再继续走。我下定决心绝不让我的孩子像我小时候那样常常失去自己的家。
5.But at the newspaper office, there were no jobs available. Recession.So I got an idea. I asked if I might buy advertising space at wholesale and sell it at retail as a \但是报社里没有现成的工作。经济萧条啊! 于是，我想到了一个主意。我问我是否可以将广告版面先以批发价买下来，然后再作为“购物者专栏”以零售价把它卖出去。他们同意了。
6.The newspaper column idea worked. I made enough money for the house payment and to buy an old used car. Then I hired a high school girl to look after my children from three to five each
afternoon. When the clock struck three, I grabbed my advertising samples and flew out of the door to drive to my appointments. 报纸专栏的主意成功了。我挣到了足够的钱来支付房款，并买下了一辆旧汽车。然后，我雇了一名女中学生，每天下午3点到5点帮我照看孩子。当时钟敲三点时，我就抓起广告样品，飞奔出门，驱车去见事先约好的客户。
7.But on one dark rainy afternoon every advertising prospect I had worked on turned me down when I went to pick up their ads.然而，有一天下午，天色昏暗，还下着雨。当我去取他们的广告时，那些我一直在全力说服的广告委托人个个都拒绝了我。
8.\Commerce and the owner of a big drugstore, didn't advertise with me. His store was the most popular in town. They respected his judgment. \
advertising,\“为什么?”我问。他们说，他们注意到商会会长、一家大药店的老板鲁本?阿尔曼没有在我这里登广告。他的店在镇上是最受欢迎的。他们尊重他的判断。“你的广告肯定哪儿有问题。”他们这样解释道。
9.My heart sank. Those four ads would have been enough for the monthly house payment. Then I thought, I'll try to speak with Mr. Ahlman one more time. Everyone loves and respects him.
Surely he'll listen. Every time I'd tried to approach him in the past, he had refused to see me. But I knew that if he advertised with me, the other merchants in town would follow his lead. 我的心一沉。那四份广告的收入本来足够支付房子的分月付款的。接着我想，我要试着再去找阿尔曼先生谈一次。人人都爱戴他尊重他。他肯定会听我谈的。以前，每次我试图去见他，他都拒绝见我。不过我知道，如果他让我做他的广告，镇上其他的商人也会跟着这样做的。 10.As I walked into Mr. Ahlman's drugstore, he was there at the prescription counter. I smiled my best smile and said, \work for a moment so that I can tell the other merchants what you think?\当我走进阿尔曼先生的药店时，他正好在处方柜台那儿。我露出了我最迷人的笑容对他说：“阿尔曼先生，人人都尊重您的意见。请您花点时间稍稍看一下我的作品，如让我把您的看法告诉别的商人，行吗?”
11.Without saying a word he firmly shook his head, \他一言不发，只是坚定地摇了摇头表示“不行!”
12.Suddenly all of my enthusiasm left me. I made it as far as the beautiful old soda fountain at the front of the drugstore, feeling that I didn't have the strength to drive home. I didn't want to sit at the soda fountain without buying something, so I ordered a Coke. I wondered desperately what to do. Would my babies lose their home as I had so many times when I was growing up? Was my English teacher wrong? My eyes filled with tears. 突然，我所有的热情一下子全离我而去了。我只走到药店前端那台漂亮的冷饮柜旁边，就觉得连驾车回家的力气也没有了。我不想坐在冷饮柜边上却什么也不买，于是就掏钱要了杯可乐。我绝望地在想下一步该怎么办。难道我的孩子们就这样失去他们的家，就像我从小到大那样常常无家可归吗? 难道我的英语老师错了吗? 我的眼中噙满了泪水。
13.A soft voice beside me said, \a lovely gray-haired lady. I poured out my story to her, ending it with, \everyone respects so much, refuses to look at my work.\我身边传来一个柔和的声音：“怎么啦，亲爱的?”我抬起头来，看到一位可爱的灰发女士充满同情的脸庞。我向她倾诉了我的遭遇，最后我说：“可是，人人都很敬重的阿尔曼先生，却不肯看一眼我的作品。” 14.\her hands and carefully read my column all the way through. Then she stood up, looked back at the prescription counter and in a commanding voice, said, \was Mrs. Ahlman! “让我看看那个购物者专栏。”她说。她把我那份作过标记的报纸拿在手里，把我的专栏从头至尾仔细地看了一遍。接着她站了起来，回头看着处方柜台，用一种命令的口吻发话了：“鲁本?阿尔曼，你过来!”原来那位女士竟是阿尔曼太太! 15.She told Ruben to buy some advertising from me. His mouth turned up in a big grin. Then she asked me for the names of the four merchants who had turned me down. She went to the phone and called each one. She gave me a hug and told me they were waiting for me. 她叫鲁本出钱在我这儿登广告。他的嘴朝上咧开来笑了。接着她又问了那四个拒绝了我的商人的名字。她走到电话机旁给每个人打了电话。她拥抱了我一下，告诉我说他们正等着我。
16.Ruben and Vivian Ahlman became our dear friends, as well as steady advertising customers. I learned that Ruben was a darling man who bought from everyone. He had promised Vivian not to buy any more advertising, and in turning me down he was just trying to keep his word to her. If I had only asked others in town, I might have learned that I should have been talking to Mrs. Ahlman from the beginning. That conversation at the soda fountain was the turning point. My advertising business thrived and grew into four offices, with 285 employees serving 4,000
businesses. 鲁本和薇薇安?阿尔曼不但成了我固定的广告客户，而且还成了我们亲密的朋友。我了解到鲁本是一个可爱的人，不管谁上门拉广告他都会来者不拒。他曾向薇薇安保证不再买广告了，所以他原先拒绝我只是在信守对她的诺言。如果我当时只要问问镇上其他的人，我就会知道我一开始就该先找阿尔曼太太谈的。冷饮柜旁的那番谈话是转折点。我的广告业务日见兴隆，最后发展为四个办事处，共有285名雇员，为4000家企业服务。 17.Later when Mr. Ahlman modernized the old drug store and removed the soda fountain, my husband bought it and installed it in my office. If you were here, we'd sit at the soda fountain together. I'd pour you a Coke and remind you to never give up, to remember that help is always closer than we know. 后来，当阿尔曼先生更新旧药店撤掉那台冷饮柜时，我丈夫把它买了下来，安装在我的办公室里。如果你到这儿来，我们可以一起坐在冷饮柜边上。我会给你倒上一杯可乐，并提醒你永远不要放弃，要记住援助之手总是比我们想象的要近。 18.Then I would tell you that if you can't communicate with a key person, search for more
information. Try another path. Look for someone who can communicate for you. And, finally, I would offer you the sparkling, refreshing words of Bill Marriott of the Marriott Hotels: \I've never encountered it. All I ever met were temporary setbacks.\接下来，我还会告诉你，如果你不能与某个关键人物沟通，就要去寻找更多的信息。试试别的途径。寻找能帮你沟通的人。最后，我想把马里亚特大饭店创始人比尔?马里亚特那充满智慧、令人耳目一新的几句话送给你：“失败?我从未碰到过它。我所碰到过的都只是暂时的挫折。 第五单元 Text A Holding Onto a Dream矢志不渝追求梦想
While preparing to graduate from high school in 1987, Priscilla Vazquez waited anxiously for her letter from the University of Washington, hoping she would be the first person in her family to attend college. When the acceptance letter arrived, she was overjoyed.
1987年普丽西拉?瓦日奎兹一边为高中毕业作准备一边急切地等待着华盛顿大学的录取通知书希望自己成为家中读大学的第一人。当录取通知书送来时她欣喜若狂。
There was just one problem: The University of Washington didn't have any grant money to give Priscilla. It offered her only a small loan and expected her family to come up with the rest. \family was making enough money to get by, but not enough to pay that much for me to go to school,\
只有一个问题华盛顿大学没有为普丽西拉提供助学金。它只为她提供了一笔数目不大的贷款并要求她的家庭负担其余的费用。“我家挣的钱刚够全家生活但要花那么多钱供我上学却还不够”她说。
Priscilla called the financial-aid office for advice. They told her that prospective students seeking more financial aid are eligible only if they have lived apart from their parents for a minimum of two years. During that time, their parents cannot have claimed them as a dependent on the family's tax forms. \take some time off, work, become financially independent from my parents, and then reapply to school. Postponing my dream hurt, but it was the only possibility.\
普丽西拉打电话向经济资助办公室咨询。他们告诉她说未来的大学生要寻求更多的经济资助必须与父母分开生活至少两年才符合条件。在这期间他们的父母不能在家庭税单上称他们为被赡养人。“听到这话我完全惊呆了”普丽西拉回忆道“我意识到我必须抽出一些时间去工作在经济上不依靠父母然后重新申请入学。推迟实现我的梦想令人伤心但这是唯一的选择。”
Within a month, Priscilla had found a job at a restaurant and moved into a cheap apartment in a poor neighborhood of Seattle. She also signed up for a job-training program in the city, to learn to be a secretary. It was a hard lifestyle to adjust to. \finished class at 2 p.m., started work at three, got off my shift at 11 p.m., and then I came back home and collapsed.\
不到一个月普丽西拉就在一家餐馆找到了一份工作并搬到了西雅图贫民区一套低廉的公寓房去住。她还报名参加了城里的一个职业培训班学的是秘书专业。那是一种很难适应的生活方式。“我早上6点起床坐很长时间的公交车去学校下午2点下课3点开始工作 晚上11点下班然后回到家就累垮了。”
Priscilla soon found that her restaurant job just didn't pay enough for her to make ends meet. \went to the landlord of my apartment building and asked if there was any cleaning work I could do. Since he felt sorry for me, he agreed to give me thirty hours a month.\
普丽西拉不久就发现她在餐馆的那份工作的收入还不够她维持生计。“于是我找到我那幢公寓楼的楼主问有没有什么清洁工作可以让我做。他因为同情我便同意让我每月工作30个小时。”
The job-training program was designed to last six months. Priscilla finished it in four. \taught me various office skills and word-processing programs. I also learned to answer the phone in an office setting, and write proper business letters,\employment as a secretary with a small company. \nineteen years old, living on my own, and making $15,000 a year.\
职业培训班按计划要历时6个月。但普丽西拉只用了4个月就读完了。“他们教我各种办公技能和文字处理程序。我还学会了如何在办公室环境里接电话以及如何撰写得体的商业函件”她说。培训班帮普丽西拉在一家小公司找到了一份秘书工作。“这是我第一份像样的工作”她说。“我那时19岁独立生活每年挣15000美元。”
Priscilla reapplied to the University of Washington and was accepted. She qualified for financial aid because she had been independent from her parents for more than two years. As of the fall of 1990, Priscilla was finally a college student — working full-time during the day as a secretary and going to school full-time at night.
普丽西拉重新向华盛顿大学提出入学申请并被录取了。因为她在经济上不依赖于父母已超过了两年所以她还有资格申请经济资助。自1990年秋季开始普丽西拉终于成为一名大学生----她白天做全日制秘书晚上做全日制学生。
Balancing work and school was difficult. \every morning. I was having a hard time concentrating in class, and a hard time on the job because I was so tired,\
要做到工作学习两不误很困难。“我要一直熬夜学习每天一大早又要去上班。我上课时很难集中思想上班时也很难受因为我实在太累了”她说。不过她第一学期最后还是得了两个A。
Priscilla decided to pursue an archaeology major, and in the summer of 1992, she got her first opportunity to really test out her interest in the subject. The archaeological field school of Washington State University was sponsoring a summer research project at a site alongside the Snake River in Washington. Priscilla threw herself into the work, and the project supervisors were impressed. At the end of the summer, one of the professors offered her a job. \got a contract for a project in North Dakota. We want to hire you if you're willing to take a
semester off from school.'\then I no longer doubted that I would ultimately finish school, so I felt comfortable grabbing this opportunity,\
普丽西拉决定攻读考古专业 并在1992年夏天获得了检验自己对这一学科兴趣的第一个机会。华盛顿州立大学的野外考古中心正在发起一个夏季研究项目发掘位于华盛顿州斯内克河边的一个遗址。普丽西拉全力投入这项工作给项目管理人留下了深刻印象。 夏季结束时 有一个教授给她提供了一份工作。“他说‘我们刚拿到北达科他州一个项目的合同。 如果你愿意休学一个学期我们就聘用你。’”这份工作偏离了普丽西拉要获得学士学位的追求。“但那时我已不再怀疑我最终会完成学业所以很坦然地抓住了这次机 会”她说。
When the North Dakota project ended, Priscilla moved to California, where she could live rent-free with one of her brothers. \could,\save enough money to let me go back to school, study full-time and work only part-time.\
Priscilla's brother ran a house-cleaning service, and he agreed to give her work. And she decided to enroll at a local community college where the tuition was much cheaper.
在北达科他项目结束后普丽西拉搬到加利福尼亚州与她的一个哥哥同住这样可以不付房租。“我最后干了三份工作想尽量多挣些钱”她回忆说。“我厌烦了既做全职工作又做专职学生的生活。我的目标是要攒够钱重新回到大学里做一名全日制学生只兼职做一些工作。”普丽西拉的哥哥开了一家房屋清洁公司他同意让她到公司工作。她还决定到一所当地的社区学院读书那儿的学费要便宜得多。
Priscilla took some art classes (she was an amateur photographer) and helped organize a gallery exhibit of students' artwork, including her own. In the spring of 1994, she graduated from
Wenatchee Valley College with a two-year Associate of Arts degree. After graduating, Priscilla applied to the University of Washington once more. She was accepted and enrolled in the fall of 1994. Not having to work so many hours allowed her to make school her priority. \a luxury, I was almost sorry to graduate!\of 1996.\
普丽西拉选修了一些艺术课程(她是一名业余摄影师)并帮助组织了一次学生艺术作品展包括她自己的作品。1994年春她从韦纳奇河谷学院毕业获得了两年制的文科准学士学位。毕业后普丽西拉又一次向华盛顿大学提出了入学申请。她被录取并于1994年秋季入学。因为她不必工作那么多小时所以能够以学为主。“这真是一种奢侈我几乎都不想毕业了!”普丽西拉笑着说。“不过我还是在1996年1月被授予了文学士学位。”