I was1when Mr. Ingram knocked on our farmhouse door in Sacred Heart. Okla. The old farmer2about a mile away and needed an assistant to help out grass. It was the first time I had been actually3for work. Mr. Ingram was4with the job I did and ended up hiring me to dig potatoes. I even5when a6cow was being born. One day he found an old truck that was7in the 42， sandy soil of the melon field. Was full of melons that someone had tried to steal before their truck got stuck. Mr. Ingram explained that the truck's owner would be returning soon, and he wanted me to8the truck and lean(倚靠) against it. Soon a man from a nearby village, who had a terrible9for fighting and stealing,10with his two full – grown sons. They looked11. While12Mr. Ingram said, “Well, I see you want to buy some13.” There was a long silence14the man answered, “Yeah, I guess so. What are you getting for them?” “Three dollars each,”15said immediately. “Well, I guess that would be16enough if you help me get my truck out of here,” the man bargained. It17out to be our biggest sale of the summer, and an unpleasant, perhaps unfortunate incident had been18. After they left, Mr. Ingram smiled and said to me, “Son, if you don’t19your enemies, you’re going to run out of friends.” Mr. Ingram died a few years later, but I have never forgotten him or what he taught me20my first job.
I was1when I walked into McCauley’s Bookstore in Ashland. As I was looking at titles(標(biāo)題) on the shelves, the man behind the counter(柜臺),2, asked if I'd like3. I needed to start4for college, so I said yes. I 19_ after school and during summers for the lowest wages(薪金), and the job helped5my freshman(or first) year of college. I would work many other jobs: I made coffee in the Students’ Union during college, I was a hotel maid (or waitress) and6 made maps for the U.S. Forest Service. But selling books was one of the most satisfying(令人滿意的). One day a woman asked me for books on cancer. She seemed fearful (or much afraid). I showed her almost7 we had at that time in store and found other books we could order (定貨). She left the store less8. I’ve always remembered the9 I felt in having helped her. Years later, as a10 in Los Angeles, I heard about an immigrant (移民) child who was born11 his fingers connected (or joined together), web-like. His family could not afford (or pay for) a corrective(矯正;整形) operation, and the boy lived in12, hiding his hand in his pocket. I13 my boss to let me do the story. After my story was broadcast, a doctor and a nurse called, offering to perform the14 for free. I visited the boy in the recovery(康復(fù)) room soon after the operation. The first thing he did was to hold up his15 hand and say, "Thank you." I felt a sense (感覺) of16. In the past, while I was17, I always sensed (or felt) I was working for the customers(顧客), not the store. Today it’s the18. NBC News pays my salary(工資),19I feel as if I work for the20, helping them make sense of (or find the meaning of) the world.
