My first job

　　The bookseller

　　I feel as if I work for the viewers, helping them make sense of the world. -Ann Curry

　　I was 15 when I walked into MuCarley's Bookstore in Ashland, Ore., and began scanning titles on the shelves. The man behind the counter, Mac McCarley, asked if I'd like a job. I needed to start svaing for college, so I said yes.

　　I worked after school and during summers for minimum wage, and the job helped pay for my freshman year of college. I would work many other jobs: I brewed coffee in the student union during college, I was a hotel maid and even made maps for the U.S. Forest Service. But selling books was one of the most satisfying.

　　One day a woman asked me for books on cancer. She seemed fearful. I showed her virtually everything we had in stock and found other books we could order. She left the store less apprehensive(忧虑的), and I've always remembered the pride I felt in having helped her.

　　Years later, as a television reporter in Los Angeles, I heard about an immigrant child who was born with his thumb attached, weblike(蹼状的), to the rest of his hand. His family could not afford corrective surgery, and the boy lived in shame, hiding his hand in his pocket. I persuaded my boss to let me do the story. After my story was broadcast, a doctore and a nurse called, offering to perform the surgery for free.

　　I visited the boy in the recovery room after the operation. The first thing he did was hold up his repaired hand and say, "Thank you." I felt an over-whelming sense of reward.

　　At McCarley's Bookstore, I always sensed I was working for the customers, not the store. Today it's the same. NBC News pays my salary, but I feel as if I work for the viewers, helping them make sense of the world.

　　Ann Curry is news anchor of the NBC News "Today" show.(英语周报 邮发代号：21-101)