Reading 1 (THE PARKING LOT SWEEPER)

THE PARKING LOT SWEEPER

Both my parents came from towns in Mexico. I was born in El Paso, Texas, and when I was four, my family moved to East Los Angeles.

Even though we struggled to make ends meet, my parents stressed to me and my four brothers and sisters how fortunate we were to live in a great country with limitless opportunities. They filled us with the concepts of family, faith and patriotism.

I got my first real job when I was ten. My dad, Benjamin, injured his back working in a cardboard-box factory and retrained as a hairstylist. He gave his shop the fancy name of Mr Bens Coiffeur.

The owner of the shopping center gave dad a discount on his rent for cleaning the parking lot three nights a week, which meant getting up at 3 a.m. To pick up trash, dad used a little machine that looked like a lawn mower. Mom and I emptied garbage cans and picked up litter by hand. It took two to three hours to clean the lot. I'd sleep in the car on the way home.

I did this for two years, but the lessons I learned have lasted a lifetime. I acquired discipline and a strong work ethic, and learned at an early age the importance of balancing life's competing interests — in my case, school, homework and a job. This reality helped during my senior year of high school, when I worked 40 hours a week flipping burgers at a fast-food joint while taking a full load of college-prep courses.

The hard work paid off. I attended the US Military Academy and went on to receive graduate degrees in law and business from Harvard. Later, I joined a big Los Angeles law firm and was elected to the California State Assembly. In these jobs and in everything else I've done, I have never forgotten those nights in the parking lot. The experience taught me that there is dignity in all work and that if people are working to provide for themselves and their families, that is something we should honor.

Task 1. True or False Statements

The narrator was from an average middle-class family.

He began to work in his father's shop at the age of ten.

The father's coiffeur shop had a strange name.

The narrator cleaned the parking lot three times a day.

He used to sleep after two or three hours of cleaning the parking lot.

The narrator knew from his parents how to make ends meet.

He ranked homework and job higher than school.

The narrator attended the preparatory courses and at the same time worked at a fast-food joint.

. He was positioned to the California State Assembly.

The night in the lot the narrator remembered all his life.

THE PARKING LOT SWEEPER

Both my parents came from towns in Mexico. I was born in El Paso, Texas, and when I was four, my family moved to East Los Angeles.

Even though we struggled to make ends meet, my parents stressed to me and my four brothers and sisters how fortunate we were to live in a great country with limitless opportunities. They filled us with the concepts of family, faith and patriotism.

I got my first real job when I was ten. My dad, Benjamin, injured his back working in a cardboard-box factory and retrained as a hairstylist. He gave his shop the fancy name of Mr Bens Coiffeur.

The owner of the shopping center gave dad a discount on his rent for cleaning the parking lot three nights a week, which meant getting up at 3 a.m. To pick up trash, dad used a little machine that looked like a lawn mower. Mom and I emptied garbage cans and picked up litter by hand. It took two to three hours to clean the lot. I'd sleep in the car on the way home.

I did this for two years, but the lessons I learned have lasted a lifetime. I acquired discipline and a strong work ethic, and learned at an early age the importance of balancing life's competing interests — in my case, school, homework and a job. This reality helped during my senior year of high school, when I worked 40 hours a week flipping burgers at a fast-food joint while taking a full load of college-prep courses.

The hard work paid off. I attended the US Military Academy and went on to receive graduate degrees in law and business from Harvard. Later, I joined a big Los Angeles law firm and was elected to the California State Assembly. In these jobs and in everything else I've done, I have never forgotten those nights in the parking lot. The experience taught me that there is dignity in all work and that if people are working to provide for themselves and their families, that is something we should honor.

Choose the one best answer А, В, С, D to each ques­tion.

 The narrator was...

The narrator's parents...

The upbringing of children in the narrator's family...

The narrator's father mastered a new profession...

.

For the discount on the shop rent...

The narrator learned his lessons for a lifetime...

The ability to balance life's competing interests helped the narrator...

.

The narrator had a good fortune...

The narrator received his graduate degrees...

The narrator was sure that everyone should honor...