I began working in journalism（新闻工作）when I was eight. It was my mother’s idea. She wanted me to “make something” of myself, and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with the competition.
With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue. The crowds were there. There were two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union. For several hours I made myself highly visible, making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. When it was suppertime, I walked back home.
“ How many did you sell, my boy?” my mother asked.
“ None.”
“ Where did you go?”
“ The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues.”
“ What did you do?”
“ Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post.”
“ You just stood there?”
“ Didn’t sell a single one.”
“ My God, Russell!”
Uncle Allen put in, “ Well, I’ve decided to take the Post.” I handed him a copy and he paid me a nickel（五分镍币）. It was the first nickel I earned.
Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address adults with self-confidence（自信）, and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor, could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.
One day, I told my mother I’d changed my mind. I didn’t want to make a success in the magazine business.
“ If you think you can change your mind like this,” she replied, “ you’ll become a good-for-nothing.” She insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines. Whenever I said no, she would scold me.
My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember. My mother, dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people. But never did she expect that, forty years later, such a successful journalist as me would go back to her husband’s people for true life and love.

（供商榷）

在我8岁时，我便开始从事新闻工作了，让我这样做全是妈妈的主意，她想让我自己能成就点什么，并认定如果要想在任何机会面前保持竞争力，我就得从小做起。
我身背杂志，朝着贝而维尔大道走去，那儿人头窜动，在贝而维尔大道和联合大道的拐弯处，有两个加油站，我在尽可能的显眼处一站就是几个小时，尽量让过往的每个人看见我和我包上的《星期六晚报》这几个黑体字。晚饭的时候，我走回了家。
“卖了多少，我的儿子？”我妈问道。
“一份也没卖出去”
“你上哪里去卖的?”
“在贝而维尔大道和联合大道的拐弯处。”
“你是怎样卖的?”
“站在那里等人家来买《星期六晚报》。”
“你只是站在那里?”
“是的，一份也没有卖出。”
“我的上帝呢，罗素!”
艾伦舅舅插话说“好了，我已决定买一份晚报。”我递给他一份晚报，他付给我一个五分镍币，那可是我挣的第一个硬币。
之后，我母亲教我如何去成为一个销售员，她说我应该去按人家的门铃，要自信的面对大人，去说服他们说，没有人会因为穷而不给家里买一份《星期六晚报》。
一天，我对我母亲说我改变主意了，我不想在卖杂志的事情上获得什么成功。
“如果你认为你可以这样随意改变主意,”她回答道, “你将一事无成。”她坚持，只要学校一放假，我就立刻去按人家的门铃卖杂志。每当我说不字，她就训斥我。
在我的记忆中，充斥着母亲与我的这场冲突。我的母亲对我父亲那种普通工人的生活不满，决意我长大后不能象他和他那类人那样。但令她想不到的是，40年之后，象我这样如此成功的一个新闻从业人，会为了有真实的生活和真爱，回到她丈夫那类人的行列中去。

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