“Everything happens for the best,”my mother said whenever I faced disappointment.“If you can carry on, one day something good will happen. And you’ll realize that it wouldn’t have happened if not for that previous disappointment.”
Mother was right, as I discovered after graduating from college in 1932, I had decided to try for a job in radio, then work my way up to sports announcer. I hitchhiked to Chicago and knocked on the door of every station—and got turned down every time.
In one studio, a kind lady told me that big stations couldn’t risk hiring an inexperienced person—“Go out in the sticks and find a small station that’ll give you a chance.”she said.
I thumbed home to Dixon, Illinois. While there was no radio-announcing jobs in Dixon, my father said Montgomery Ward had opened a store and wanted a local athlete to manage its sports department. Since Dixon was where I had played high school football, I applied. The job sounded just right for me. But I wasn’t hired.
My disappointment must have shown.“Everything happens for the best.”Mom reminded me. Dad offered me the car to job hunt. I tried WOC Radio in Davenport, Iowa. The program director, a wonderful Scotsman named Peter MacArthur, told me they had already hired an announcer.
As I left his office, my frustration boiled over. I asked aloud,“How can a fellow get to be a sport announcer if he can’t get a job in a radio station?”
I was waiting for the elevator when I heard MacArthur calling,“What was that you said about sports? Do you know anything about football?”Then he stood me before a microphone and asked me to broadcast an imaginary game.
The preceding autumn, my team had won a game in the last 20 seconds with a 65-yard run. I did a 15-minute buildup to that play, and Peter told me I would be broadcasting Saturday’s game!
On my way home, as I have many times since, I thought of my mother’s words,“If you carry on, one day something good will happen. Something wouldn’t have happened if not for that previous disappointment.”I often wonder what direction my life might have taken if I’d gotten the job at Montgomery Ward.
每當我遇到困難時，母親就對我說：“如果你堅持下去，一切都會好的。不經曆風雨，怎能見彩虹。”
直到1932年大學畢業,我才發現母親是對的。當時我已決意在電台謀求發展，努力成為一名體育節目播音員。我搭便車抵達芝加哥後，開始奔波於各個電台之間——但被一一拒絕。一位在播音室裏工作的好心女士告訴我，大型的電台是不會冒險接納毫無經驗的新人——
“到鄉下去，找家能給你機會的小電台吧。”她說。
我乘車返回了家鄉伊利諾斯州的迪克森。當時，家鄉還沒有電台播音員，父親告訴我，蒙哥馬利·沃德新開了家商店，正需要管理體育部的當地運動員。上中學時，我曾在迪克森打過橄欖球，於是我申請了這份工作。我似乎挺適合做這項工作的，結果卻被拒絕了。
我失望極了。“一切總會好的。”母親提醒我。為了方便找工作，父親送了我一輛汽車。我去愛荷華州的達文波特，到當地電台求職。那裏的電台節目總監，蘇格蘭人彼得·麥克阿瑟告訴我，播音員已有合適的人選。
走出他的辦公室時，挫折感油然而生。我大聲說道：“如果在電台都找不到工作，又怎麽能當體育節目的播音員呢？”
等電梯時，麥克阿瑟的聲音傳入我的耳畔，“你說什麽體育呢！你懂橄欖球嗎？”然後他讓我站在話筒前，想象一場比賽，並為其解說。
去年秋天，我們的球隊贏得了一場比賽——在最後20秒的時間裏以65碼的距離獲勝，我用15分鍾將那場精彩的比賽解說下來。彼得對我說，我可以解說周六的一場比賽。
回家途中，母親的話又在我的耳邊響起，“堅持下去，最終會有轉機。不經曆風雨，怎能見彩虹？”我常想，當年，如果我能到蒙哥馬利·沃德那裏工作，我的人生又會駛向何方？
Practicing for Better Learning
Read the passage carefully then answer the following questions.
1. Which kind of job did I want to find after graduation?
______________________________________________________________
2. How did I get the job finally?
______________________________________________________________
Seize Your Time
According to the speech, match each of the following verbs with its meaning.
(1) hitchhikea. to think about something that you are not sure about
(2) applyb. to find information, a place or an object, especially for the first time
(3) wonderc. to travel by getting lifts from passing vehicles without paying
(4) discoverd. to make a formal request for something such as a job
(5) hiree. to pay money to borrow something for a short period of time
Now a Try
Think about your first experience of finding a job, then try to share it with your friends.