2005年高考英语北京卷 - 阅读理解A

Chances
机会

I really love my job because I enjoy working with small children and like the challenges and awards from the job. I also think my work is important. There was a time when I thought I would never have that sort of career.
我真的很喜欢我的工作，因为我喜欢和小孩子一起工作，喜欢这份工作带来的挑战和奖励。我也认为我的工作很重要。有一段时间我认为我永远不会有那种职业。

I wasn't an excellent student because I didn't do much schoolwork. In my final term I started thinking what I might do and found I didn't have much to offer. I just accepted that I wasn't the type to have a career.
我不是一个优秀的学生，因为我没有做太多的功课。在我的最后一个学期，我开始思考我可以做什么，发现我没有太多可以提供的，我只能承认自己是一种找不到工作的人。

I then found myself a job-looking after two little girls. It wasn't too bad at first. But the problems began when I agreed to live in so that I would be there if my boss had to go out for business in the evening. We agreed that if I had to work extra hours one week, she'd give me time off the next. But unfortunately, it didn't often work out. I was getting extremely tired and fed up, because I had too many late nights and early mornings with the children.
后来我找到了一份照顾两个小女孩的工作。一开始还不算太糟，但当我同意住在家里，这样当我的老板晚上出去出差，我会在那里时，问题出现了。我们一致同意，如果我这一周必须加班，她下一周得给我放假。但不幸的是，这并不经常奏效。我非常劳累厌倦，因为我和孩子们有太多的深夜和清晨。

One Sunday, I was in the park with the children, and met Megan who used to go to school with me. I told her about my situation. She suggested that I should do a course and get a qualification if I wanted to work with children. I didn't think I would be accepted because I didn't take many exams in school．She persuaded me to phone the local college and they were really helpful. My experience counted for a lot and I got on a part-time course. I had to leave my job with the family，and got work helping out at a kindergarten.
一个星期天，我和孩子们在公园里，遇到了曾经和我一起上学的梅根。我告诉她我的情况，她建议我如果我想和孩子们一起工作，我应当去上一门课，拿到资格证书。我不认为我会被录取，因为我在学校没有参加很多考试。她说服我给当地的大学打电话，他们真的很有帮助。我的经验很重要，我参加了一个兼职课程。我不得不把工作交给家人，在一家幼儿园做帮手。

Now I've got a full-time job there．I shall always be thankful to Megan．I wish I had known earlier that you could have a career，even if you aren't top of the class at school．
现在我在那里有一份全职工作。我将永远感谢梅根。我希望我早知道你可以有一份事业，即使你在学校里不是班上最好的。