阅读理解

　　My father woke me up early one summer morning when I was fourteen and announced：“Get up．You’re going with me to cut grass．”

　　The idea that my father actually thought I was big enough to help him in his business made me feel proud and excited．From sunup to sundown my father, my younger brother and I worked in the large yards in a rich part of Atlanta, Georgia．By the end of the day I was tired out, but I felt good．I had put in a hard day’s labor and had earned ＄6．

　　One day my father found some leaves I’d missed and pulled me aside．“Clear away these leaves, ” he said firmly, “and don’t make me have to do it again, ” The message was clear．Today I value the importance of doing a job right the first time．It will never fail to impress the person you are working for．

　　After two years my father told me and my brother that he felt we were old enough to do lawns(草坪)on our own．Every Saturday during our last two years of high school, we set out early in the morning with the same desire and drive we had gained while working under our father．

　　Taking care of lawns was not exciting or high-paying, but that didn’t matter．It taught me that any job is a good job and that whatever I was paid was more than I had before．

　　A newspaper reporter once asked me how someone could possibly live on a forty-hour-a-week minimum(最低的)pay．“My father never worked just forty hours a week and neither have I, ”I replied．“If you’re only working forty hours, you probably don’t want to do any better than you’re doing．”

　　In every job I’ve held from doing lawns to washing dishes, I have learned something that helped me in my next job．If you look hard enough, you can learn from any job you do．