Unit Seven

Making a Living谋 生

Integrated Course 3

一个推销员的生活

Text A Life of a Salesman

1. Introductory Remarks

2. Text organization

4. Words & phrases

3. Text A Study

5. Text analysis

6. Useful expressions

7. Exercises

Introductory Remarks P. 222

Making a living as a door-to-door salesman demands a thick skin, both to protect against the weather and against constantly having the door shut in your face. Bill Porter puts up with all this and much, much more.

干挨家挨户上门推销这一营生得脸皮厚，这是因为干这一行不仅要经受风吹日晒，还要承受一次又一次的闭门羹。比尔 · 波特忍受着这一切，以及别的种种折磨。

挨家挨户脸皮厚

经受风吹日晒承受一次又一次的闭门羹

Text organization (Page 232)

1. The text falls into four parts as divided by the author with asterisks (***), each describing the activities of Bill Porter in a portion of a typical day. Now go over the text and complete the table below:

Text organization (Page 232)

Paras Time of the Day

Bill’s Activities

1-7

8-25

26-62

63-84

early morning

mid-morning

day-time

evening

preparation for the day’s work

on his way to work

door-to-door selling

paper work

2. Could you find the two flashbacks

the author skillfully inserts?

Paras What is written about Bill’s past

his disability, his schooling, and his hard struggle to make a living for himself

his back surgery and the selling of his house

11-20

71

From the two flashbacks we think

the text is

a portrayal of his whole life.

and also

a description of a typical day in the life of Bill Porter

1. linger: 1) spend a long time doing sth.

---My niece used to linger long over her meal. 2) stay for a long time, esp.

because one does not want to leave

---It is a dreary little town where few people would choose to linger.

4. cripple: 1) cause to become unable to move or walk properly

---Peter’s father was crippled by a

stroke.

2) damage or harm (sb./sth) seriously

---The terrorists’ attack has not

crippled the US economy.

6. gain on: come closer to, esp. a rival

or sth. pursued

Hurry up---they are gaining on us!

She was gaining on her opponents throughout the race, but only overtook them at the very end.

8. kick up: (cause to) rise

---The horses kicked up a cloud of dust.

---The boys kicked up the leaves that lay thick upon the ground with the coming of autumn.

9. tilt: (cause to) move into a sloping position

---The pilot can tilt the helicopter forward, backward, or to either side.

n. ---The Leaning Tower of Pisa is known for its marked tilt.

10. lean: (cause to) be in a sloping position; bend

---He leaned his bike against the wall.

---She leaned over the bridge to look at the boats passing beneath it.

a. containing little or no fat---We like to eat very lean and tender meat.

a. producing little of value;---The company has apparently recovered from several lean years.

---The recession and lean state budgets continued to trouble school officials.

衰退，萧条；撤退

13. disorder: disturbance of the normal working of the body or mind; lack of order

---Severe vitamin and mineral deficiencies can lead to mental disorders.

---The school authorities took immediate action to stop campus violence and disorder.

14. transfer: move from one place to another (transfer sth./sb. from…to…)

---Transferring Peter from Tokyo to the Boston office was a smart idea.

---Commercial airports are designed to transfer passengers and freight to and fro aircraft.

货运，运费

---Power was transferred from the President to the Vice President while the President received medical treatment.

---He was transferred from Crystal Palace to Arsenal for &2.5 million.

从水晶宫转会到阿森纳队

---Credits earned at junior colleges could be transferred to another institution where students could complete their final years of college. Institute

学分 大学预科，大专

学院，协会，所institute 协会，学院，研究所

17. representative: a person who represents others

---Egypt, Israel, and the representatives of the Palestinian people will participate in negotiations on the resolution of the Palestinian problem.

---Representatives from more than

170 nations converged on Paris for

the Earth Summit.

峰会

汇集

19. pledge: a solemn promise ---They made a pledge to accomplish the task.

v. ---Member nations of the UN pledge to settle their disputes peacefully and to refrain from using force.

抑制，自制，避免

---They have pledged not to dump

hazardous wastes into the river.

危险的hazard n. 危险

26. territory: land a country controls or owns

---The government denies that any of its territory is under rebel control.

---A country’s embassy in a foreign country is considered its own territory.

造反，反叛，起义（者）

27. on the phone: be talking to sb. using the phone

---She is always on the phone, wanting to know what her husband has been up to.

on the line/net/Internet 在线

28. register: 1) be recognized or noted mentally

---On occasions what I said didn’t register in my son’s brain.

---The professor’s name didn’t register with the students.

2) record a name, an event, etc. for official purposes

---The newly purchased apartment

is registered in her name, not

her husband’s.

---The new students were told that

they must register with the

University before they could claim

their grants.

31. off one’s feet: no longer standing

---After the operation the old man

had to stay off his feet.

32. commission: money paid to sb. for selling goods which increases with the quantity of goods sold

---If a salesperson is paid on commission, the amount they receive depends on the amount they sell.

---Peter gets 10% commission on

every photocopier he sells.

影印机

36. in time: punctually, not too late; eventually

---The couple have just arrived in time for lunch.

all the time 一直at any time 随时at no time 从来没有

---In time you will learn everything.

Text A Life of a Salesman

Part One:

Time of the Day:

Bill’s Activities:

Paras. 1---7

early morning

preparation for the day’s work

Part One:

• 1. What does Bill Porter look like? What helps him make up his mind not to give in?

• 2. What does he do for a living? What are the “weapon” he assembles each morning before he starts out on his journey?

The alarm rings. It’s 5:45. He could linger under the covers, listening to the radio and a weatherman who predicts rain. People would under-stand. He knows that.

Para. 1

闹钟响了。是清晨 5 ： 45 。他可以在被子里再躺一会儿，听听无线电广播。天气预报员预报有雨。人们会理解的。这点他清楚。

A surgeon’s scar cuts across his lower back. The fingers on his right hand are so twisted that he can’t tie his shoes. Some days, he feels like surrendering. But his dead mother’s challenge echoes in his soul. So, too, do the voices of those who believed him stupid, incapable of living independently. All his life he’s struggled to prove them wrong. He will not quit.

Para. 2 – 3

And so Bill Porter rises.

See Structure P. 241内心深处一直回响着The rhetorical device used here is called inversion ( 倒装 ).

（在他内心深处）也一直回响着那些说他蠢，说他不能独立生活的人的声音。

He takes the first unsteady steps on a journey to Portland’s streets, the battlefield where he fights alone for his independence and dignity. He’s a door-to-door salesman. Sixty-three years old. And his enemies---a crippled body that betrays him and a changing world that no longer needs him---are gaining on him.

Para. 4

一步一步地把他逼向绝境

Why “unsteady” ?

孤军奋战

With trembling hands he assembles his weapons: dark slacks, blue shirt and matching jacket, brown tie, tan raincoat and hat. Image, he believes, is everything.

Para. 5收拾行装

Image is very important for a salesman.

He stops in the entryway, picks up his

briefcase and steps outside. A fall wind

has kicked up. The weatherman was

right. He pulls his raincoat tighter.

Para. 6 – 7

He tilts his hat just so.

× × ×他把帽子往一侧微微一斜。

秋风骤起

Text A Life of a Salesman

Part Two:

Time of the Day:

Bill’s Activities:mid-morning

on his way for work

Paras. 8---25

Part Two: (8-14)

• 3. What does he think of when he sees the kids on the bus? In what way was he different from other kids when he was young?

• 4. What kind of school did he attend when he came to Portland at 13?

• 5. What did his mother think of the future ahead of him?

• 6. What did he want to do when he left school?

On the 7:45 bus that stops across

the street, he leaves his briefcase next to the driver and finds a seat in the middle of a pack of bored teenagers.

Para. 8

在一群没精打采的十几岁的孩子当中找了个位子坐下。

He leans forward, stares toward the driver, sits back, then repeats the process. His nervousness makes him laugh uncontrollably. The teenagers stare at him. They don’t realize Porter’s afraid someone will steal his briefcase, with the glasses, brochures, order forms and clip-on tie that he needs to survive.

Para. 9

他身子往前一倾，盯着司机那儿望，然后靠着椅背坐下，接着他又反复这个过程。他心情紧张，控制不住自己而笑出声来。那些孩子望着他。他们不明白，波特是担心有人偷他的包，包里有他生存不可缺少的眼镜，宣传小册子，定单，以及可用别针别上的领带。

Porter senses the stares. He looks at the floor.

His face reveals nothing. In his heart, though, he knows he should have been like these kids, like everyone on this bus. He’s not angry. But he knows. ……

Para. 10 – 11

however

His mother explained how the delivery had been difficult, how the doctor had used an instrument that crushed a section of his brain and caused cerebral palsy, a disorder of the nervous system that affects his speech, hands and walk.

他妈妈解释说生他时难产，医生使用了某种器械，损坏了他大脑的一部分，导致了大脑性麻痹，一种影响他说话，手部活动以及行

走的神经系统的紊乱。

同位语（ appositive ）

Para. 11In this paragraph, the author skillfully insert a flashback.

Porter came to Portland when he was 13 after his father, a salesman, was transferred here. He attended a school for the disabled and then Lincoln High School, where he was placed in a class for slow kids.

Para. 12

他被编入慢班

But he wasn’t slow. His mind was trapped in a body that didn’t work. Speaking was difficult and took time. People were impatient and didn’t listen. He felt different---was different---from the kids who rushed about in the halls and planned dances he would never attend.

Para. 13 – 14 他由于身体不能正常运行而使脑子不能充分发挥其功能。

Part 2 (15-25)

• 7. How did Bill get his first job?

• 8. How did he feel the first time he worked as a door-to-door salesman?

What could his future be? Porter wanted to do something and his mother was certain that he could rise above his limitations. With her encouragement, he applied for a job with the Fuller Brush Co. only to be turned down. He couldn’t carry a product briefcase or walk a route, they said.

Para. 15母亲也相信他能冲破身体的局限

也不能跑一条推销线路

a sales route

Porter knew he wanted to be a salesman. He began reading help wanted ads in the newspaper. When he saw one for Watkins, a company that sold household products door-to-door, his mother set up a meeting with a representative. The man said no, but Porter wouldn’t listen. He just wanted a chance. The man gave in and offered Porter a section of the city that no salesman wanted.

Para. 16 招聘广告

It took Porter four false starts before he found the courage to ring the first doorbell. The man who answered told him to go away, a pattern repeated throughout the day.

A hard beginning

No one listened to him.

See “Structure” on P. 240

Para. 17

波特一开始四次都没敢敲门，第五次才鼓起勇气按了第一户人家的门铃。

That night Porter read through company literature and discovered the products were guaranteed. He would sell that pledge. He just needed people to listen. If a customer turned him down, Porter kept coming back until they heard him. And he sold.

Para. 18 – 19

当晚，波特仔细阅读了公司的宣传资料，发现产品都是保用的。他要把保用作为 卖

点。只要别人肯听他说话就成。

For several years he was Watkins’ top retail salesman. Now he is the only one of the company’s 44,000 sales-people who sells door-to-door.

The bus stops in the Transit Mall, and Porter gets off.

Para. 20 – 21

公交中转购物中心站

最佳零售推销员

His body is not made for walking. Each step strains his joints. Headaches are constant visitors. His right arm is nearly useless. He can’t fully control the limb. His body tilts at the waist; he seems to be heading into a strong, steady wind that keeps him off balance. At times, he looks like a toddler taking his first steps.

Para. 22 – 23

He walks 10 miles a day.头疼也是习以为常的事。他的右臂几乎没用。他不能完全控制这只手臂。他的身体从腰部开始前倾，看上去就象是顶着一股强劲的吹个不停的风迈步向前，风似乎要把他刮倒。

personification

His first stop today, like every day, is a shoeshine stand where employees tie his laces. Twice a week he pays for a shine. At a nearby hotel one of the doormen buttons Porter’s top shirt button and slips on his clip-on tie. He then walks to another bus that drops him off a mile from his territory. He left home nearly three hours ago.

Para. 24 – 25 附近一家旅馆的门卫替他扣上衬衣最上面一粒纽扣，戴上用别针别上的领带。随后他步行去搭乘另一部巴士，在距离他的推销区域一英里处下车。

× × ×

Text A Life of a Salesman

Part Three:

Paras. 26---62

Time of the Day:

day-time

Bill’s Activities:

door-to-door selling

Part 3

• What does he do if he is turned down by a customer? How does he feel if he has made no sales for some time?

The wind is cold and raindrops fall. Porter stops at the first house. This is the moment he’s been preparing for since 5:45 a.m. He rings the bell. A woman comes to the door. “Hello.” “No, thank you, I’m just preparing to leave.”

Para. 26 – 29

Porter nods.

“May I come back later?” he asks.

“No,” says the woman.

She shuts the door.

Porter’s eyes reveal nothing.

He moves to the next house.

The door opens.

Then closes.

Para. 30 – 37

He doesn’t get a chance to speak. Porter’s expression never changes. He stops at every home in his territory. People might not buy now. Next time. Maybe. No doesn’t mean never. Some of his best customers are people who repeatedly turned him down before buying.

Para. 38

现在不买不等于永远不买。

He makes his way down the street. “I don’t want to try it.” “Maybe next time.” “I’m sorry. I’m on the phone right now.” “No.” Ninety minutes later, Porter still has not made a sale. But there is always another home.

Para. 39 – 44

He walks on.He knocks on a door. A woman appears from the backyard where she’s gardening. She often buys, but not today, she says, as she walks away.“Are you sure?” Porter asks.She pauses.“Well…”

Para. 45 – 49

hesitates 迟疑了一下

That’s all Porter needs. He walks as fast as he can, tailing her as she heads to the backyard. He sets his briefcase down and opens it. He puts on his glasses, removes his brochures and begins his sales talk, showing the woman pictures and describing each product.

Para. 50He is proficient despite his deformity and he is eager to sell the products.

Spices? “No.” Jams? “No. Maybe nothing today, Bill” Porter’s hearing is the one perfect thing his body does. Except when he gets a live one. Then the word “no” does not register.

elliptical sentences (P238-239)

波特的听觉是他身上唯一没有毛病的功能。只有当他察觉对方有可能买他东西的时候才会发

生例外。这个时候他是听不见“不”的。

Para. 51 – 55

Pepper? “No.” Laundry soap? “Hmm.” Porter stops. He smells blood. He quickly remembers her last order.

Para. 56 – 60

Metaphor is used here (He is just like an animal hunting its prey). He is a very skillful salesman, sensitive to potential customer’s needs.

他嗅到了猎物

Para. 61 – 62

“Say, aren’t you about out of soap? That’s what you bought last time. You ought to be out right about now. ”

“You’re right, Bill. I’ll take one.”

× × ×

Text A Life of a Salesman

Part Four:

Time of the Day:

Bill’s Activities:

evening

paper work

Paras. 63---84

Part 4

• 1. Why did he have to sell his house?

• 2. What is Bill’s home like? What kind of life does he lead?

• 3. Does Bill feel sorry for himself? Why or why not?

He arrives home, in a rainstorm, after 7 p.m. Today was not profitable. He tells himself not to worry. Four days left in the week. At least he’s off his feet and home. Inside, an era is preserved. The telephone is a heavy, rotary model. There is no VCR, no cable.

Para. 63 – 65

off one’s work 下班了至少他不用站立了屋内，俨然是保存完好的一个旧时代。

video cassette recording盒式磁带录像

His is the only house in the neighbor-hood with a television antenna on the roof. He leads a solitary life. Most of his human contact comes on the job. Now, he heats the oven and slips in a frozen dinner because it’s easy to fix. The job usually takes him 10 hours.

Para. 66 – 68

He’s a weary man who knows his days---no matter what his intentions ---are numbered.

He works on straight commission. He gets no paid holidays, vacations or

raises. Yes, some months are lean.

Para. 69 – 70

他身心疲惫，知道来日无多了 --- 不管他愿不愿意。

收入微薄

他靠拿佣金作为收入

In 1993, he needed back surgery to relieve pain caused from decades of walking. He was laid up for five months and couldn’t work. He was forced to sell his house. The new owners, familiar with his situation, froze his rent and agreed

to let him live there until he dies.agreed not to

increase his rent

Para. 71 Here, the author insert

another flashback.

了解他的处境

He doesn’t feel sorry for himself. The house is only a building. A place to live, nothing more. His dinner is ready. He eats at the kitchen table and listens to the radio. The afternoon mail brought bills that he will deal with later this week. The checkbook is upstairs in the bedroom. His checkbook.

Para. 72 – 75 他并不因此自悲自怜。

He types in the recipient’s name and signs his name. The signature is small and scrawled. Unreadable. But he knows. Bill Porter. Bill Porter, salesman.

Para. 76 – 81

字迹潦草 ; 乱写 , 乱画

From his easy chair he hears the wind lash his house and the rain pound the street outside his home. He must dress warmly tomorrow. He’s sleepy. With great care he climbs the stairs to his bedroom. In time, the lights go off. Morning will be here soon.

Para. 82 – 84 他坐在安乐椅上，只听得呼啸的大风猛烈地冲击着他的屋子，大雨击打着屋外的街面。

没过一会儿，灯就灭了。

新的一天很快就会来临。

安乐椅

Role Play:

Form a pair with your desk-mate. Suppose one of you is the author of Text A, Tom Hallman Jr., and the other, Bill Porter. Before Mr. Hallman wrote this report, he had a detailed interview with him. You can just choose a certain period of Bill Porter’s life to talk about. For example, Group One may talk about Bill’s childhood; Group Two may dwell on his working experience.

Discussion:

1. What kind of image of Bill Porter do you have in your mind? How do you feel toward Bill Porter? Why?

2. What can we do to help those with genetic deformities ( 畸形 ) or those who became handicapped accidentally? (how to help them spiritually, physically and financially? )