2 . Roger Conner is a modern-day Horatio Alger hero. Roger started out as an unpaid worker in a small flower shop. He has become the owner of a florist company whose sales are well over $100,000 a year.
One day when Roger was only twelve, he stopped at a local flower shop. He asked the owner if he could work for him, without pay, in order to learn the business. Roger started working every day after school and on weekends. After two years on the job, he finally asked for a small salary. The owners told him he “wasn’t good enough to be paid.” So he quit, and found a paying job at another local flower shop. He worked hard there, but after six months they laid him off because business was slow. Not discouraged, Roger decided to do it alone and started his own flower store in a basement. He started his business with only sixty-five dollars. He bought old refrigerators at garage sales and knocked the shelves out. This turned them into coolers for his fresh-cut flowers. His business grew rapidly as he built up a reputation for top quality and fine service.
In 1977, Roger bought out the flower store where he had worked without pay for over two years. The people who said he “wasn’t good enough” were astonished to find that they were being taken over by a teenager. He had plans to renovate (整修) the whole store.
One of the reasons the owners sold out to Roger was that the store wasn’t doing well. But after Roger took over ownership and redid the store, business started booming. In fact, business was so good that after one year, he celebrated by buying out the other store where he had worked. Roger then combined both stores and moved to a location in the center of his town.
The new store has 2,000 square feet and seven employees. And he did it all before he reached the age of twenty.
1. The author is most eager to show that people who want to get ahead in business should ________.
| A．work without pay | B．own a flower shop | C．work hard and be persistent | D．work as teenagers |
2. Which of the following does NOT describe Roger Comer’s history in business?
| A．He worked for two years without pay. | B．He needed luck to be successful. |
| C．He opened his first flower business in a basement. | D．He opened a store in the middle of his town. |
3. The style of the passage is mostly like a ________.
| A．newspaper article | B．humorous story | C．television play | D．magazine interview |
4. Which of the following statements about Roger Conner is NOT true?
| A．He gave customers better service than the other shops he had worked for. |
| B．He was a very brave and tricky young man. |
| C．He worked hard without pay in a flower shop in order to get to know the business. |
| D．He made decisions on the location of his shop by himself. |
5. From what you know about Roger Conner, you can conclude that a “Horatio Alger hero” is the kind of person who ________.
| A．works hard in the flower business | B．is born into a rich family |
| C．starts out poor and becomes rich | D．becomes famous |
