When I turned twelve, I worked summers at my father's small brick cleaning business. I remember the harsh acid smell of the cleaning solution, and the scraping sound of stiff iron brushes against rough brick. It was tempting to have your job just finish. But anybody who worked for Thomas Kahoon had to meet his standards, and that include of me. If I messed up, he made me stay late until I got it right.
十二歲的時候,我去了我父親那個規模不大的磚頭清潔公司打暑假工。那種刺鼻的清洗液的酸味,還有硬鐵刷子擦過粗糙的磚頭發出的刮擦聲我至今都還記得。那份工作讓人很想放棄它。但為托馬斯·卡洪工作的所有人都要達到他的標準,我也不例外。如果我把什么事情搞砸了,他會讓我加班到很晚,加到我改正過來為止。
My father wasn't been me. He demanded the same at himself. Every brick he cleaned on the house stood out like a red jewel in a white setting. It was his signature.
我的父親并不是針對我。他對自己的要求也一樣嚴格。他在房頂清理的每一塊磚都像白色背景下的一顆紅色寶石一樣奪目。這就是他的簽名。
In 1970, when I was twenty, I got married. I moved out my parent's modest place into a housing project.
1970年,也就是在我20歲的時候,我結婚了。我從父母簡樸的家中搬了出去,搬到了一個住房項目的房子里。
Drugs and gang violent were just beginning to plague the projects.
那時,毒品和幫派暴力已經開始困擾這些項目了。
Some of my friend went to jail. Some were killed. My wife Verllen, was 18, and nobody gave our marriage a chance. But we believed in each other. And our faith made us strong.
我的一些朋友進了監獄。還有一些被殺害了。當時我的妻子弗倫才18歲,沒有一個人愿意給我們的婚姻一個機會。但我們彼此信任對方。我們的信念讓我們變得堅強。
When we married, I worked as a stock clerk at Southwest Super Food. It was hard, tedious work. Each Friday night a truck came, with cases of food that had to be unloaded, priced and placed on shelves.
結婚那會兒,我正在西南超級食品公司做庫管。這項工作既艱苦,又乏味。每周五晚上都會有一輛卡車開到倉庫,一箱又一箱的食品等著卸貨,標價,安置到貨架上。
Most of stock clerks try to get Friday night off. But I was always ready to work. By Saturday morning, all the kinds and drawers in my aisle would place with a label facing smartly out, like a line of soldiers on review. That was my signature. I took pride in a job nobody wanted.
大多數庫管都設法周五晚上休班。但我周五經常都會做好工作的準備。到了周六早上,我負責的貨架所有的貨類和抽屜都會被貼上漂亮的標簽,就像一排正在接受檢閱的士兵一樣。這是我的簽名。我為這份沒人想做的工作感到自豪。
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.
請根據上述文段回答19-21題。
Question 19. What do we learn about the speaker's father?
問題19:我們對演講者的父親有何了解?
Question 20. What does the speak say about the housing project?
問題20:演講者就住房項目說了什么?
Question 21. What do we learn about the speaker as a stock clerk?
問題21:我們對作為庫存管理員的演講者有何了解?