| "Everything happens for the best," my mother said whenever I faced disappointment. "If you can 1 , one day something good will happen. And you'll 2 that it wouldn't have happened if not for that 3 disappointment." Mother was 4 , as I discovered after graduating from college in 1932. I had decided to try for a job in 5 , then work my way up to sports announcer. I hitchhiked (搭便车) to Chicago and knocked on the door of every station-and got 6 every time. In one studio, a kind lady told me that big stations couldn't risk 7 inexperienced people. "Go out in the sticks and find a small station that'll give you a 8 ," she said. I hitchhiked home to Dixon, Illinois. While there was no radio-announcing jobs in Dixon, my father said Montgomery Ward had opened a store and 9 a local athlete to manage its sports department. Since Dixon was where I had played high school football, I 10 . The job sounded just right for me. But I wasn't hired. My disappointment 11 have shown. "Everything happens for the 12 ," Mom reminded me. Dad offered me the car for job hunting. I tried WOC Radio in Davenport, Iowa. The program director, a wonderful Scotsman named Peter MacArthur, told me they had already hired a(n) 13 . As I left his office, my 14 boiled over. I asked a1oud," 15 can a fellow get to be a sports announcer if he can't get a job in a radio station?" I was waiting for the elevator 16 I heard MacArthur calling, "What was that you said about sports? Do you know anything about football?" Then he let me stand 17 a microphone and asked me to broadcast an imaginary 18 . On my way home, as I had many times 19 my graduation, I thought of my mother's words. I often wonder what 20 my life might have taken if I'd gotten the job at Montgomery Ward. | ||||
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