Pulling heavy suitcases all day in the summer is hard work, especially when you’re a thin 14-year-old. That was me in 1940—the youngest and smallest baggage boy at New York City’s Pennsylvania Railway Station.
After just a few days on the job, I began noticing that the other fellows were overcharging passengers. I’d like to join them, thinking, “Everyone else is doing it.”
When I got home that night, I told my dad what I wanted to do. “You give an honest day’s work,” he said, looking at me straight in the eye. “They’re paying you. If they want to do that, you let them do that.”
I followed my dad’s advice for the rest of that summer and have lived by his words ever since.
Of all the jobs I’ve had, it was my experience at Pennsylvania. Railway Service that has stuck with me. Now I teach my players to have respect for other people and their possessions. Being a member of a team is a totally shared experience. If one person steals, it destroys trust and hurts everyone. I can put up with many things, but not with people who steal. If one of my players were caught stealing, he’d be gone.
Whether you’re on a sports team, in an office or a member of a family, if you can’t trust one another, there’s going to be trouble.
小题1:What can be inferred about the baggage boys?
A．They could earn much, but they had to work hard.
B．Many of them earned money in a dishonest way.
C．They were all from poor families.
D．They were all thin, young boys.小题2: What does the father’s advice imply?
A．It is wrong to give more pay to the passengers.
B．Don’t believe them if they are paying you more.
C．Don’t follow others to overcharge the passengers.
D．It is difficult to work hard and live as an honest boy.小题3:The writer can’t put up with stealing because he thinks that ___.
A．it is a totally shared experience
B．it is considered as the most dangerous
C．it does great harm to human relationship
D．it may lead to the loss of his sports team小题4:It can be concluded from the text that ___.
A．his father’s advice helped him to decide which job to take up
B．working in the sports team was his most important experience
C．he learnt much from his shared experience with his team members
D．his experience as a baggage boy had a great influence on his latter life