Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, was born in Kingfish, Oklahoma on March 29, 1918. He was raised in Missouri where he worked in his father's store while attending school. This was his first retailing experience and he really enjoyed it. After graduation, he began his own career as a retail merchant. He soon opened his first Wal-Mart store in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Wal-Mart specialized in name brands at low prices and Sam Walton was surprised at the success. Soon a chain of Wal-Mart stores sprang up across rural America. Walton's management style was popular with employees and he founded some of the basic concepts of management that are still in use today. After taking the company public in 1970, Walton introduced his "profit sharing plan". The profit sharing plan was a plan for Wal-Mart employees to improve their income dependent on the profits of the store. Sam Walton believed that "individuals don't win, teams do". Employees at Wal-Mart stores were offered stock options and store discounts. These benefits are commonplace today, but Walton was among the first to implement them. Walton believed that a happy employee meant happy customers and more sales. He also believed that by giving employees a part of the company and making their success dependent on the company's success, they would care about the company. By the 1980s, Wal-Mart had sales of over one billion dollars and over three hundred stores across North America. Wal-Mart's unique decentralized distribution system, also Walton's idea, created the _ needed to further encourage growth in the 1980s during growing complaints that the "superstore" was stopping smaller and traditional stores from developing. By 1991, Wal-Mart was the largest US retailer with 1,700 stores. Walton remained active in managing the company, as president and CEO until 1988 and chairman until his death. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom shortly before his death. Sam Walton first made a hit in retailing when _ . A) he worked in his father's store B) he created Walton's management style C) a chain of Wal-Mart stores sprang up across rural America D) he specialized in name brands at low prices
D
The world shares him and London claims him, but Stratford-on-Avon intends to spend 2016 celebrating Shakespeare as their man: the bard of Avon, who was born there in 1564, and died there 400 years ago. Stratford remained hugely important throughout Shakespeare's life, argues Paul Edmondson, the head of learning and research at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. "People have seen Shakespeare as a Dick Whittington figure, who turns his back on Stratford and his family, goes to London to earn his fortune and only comes back to die," he said. "But Stratford is where he bought land and property, where he kept his library, where he lived and read and thought. We are going to spend the year re-emphasizing the importance of Shakespeare, the man of Stratford." The anniversary of the death of the most famous and the most performed playwright in the world will be marked across Britain and the globe. Macbeth is about to open in Singapore, Romeo and Juliet in Brussels. Shakespeare's Globe is completing the first world tour, in which it has taken Hamlet to almost every country. North Korea is still holding out, though. The Globe director recently jokily claimed Shakespeare as a true Londoner. Stratford, however, will be insisting that the town made and educated Shakespeare. "His old school room in Stratford-on-Avon where Shakespeare learned 'small Latin and less Greek' --as kindly laughed at by his friend Ben Johnson--will open its doors, scarred by centuries of naughty schoolboys, to mark 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death," said Paul Edmondson. Shakespeare bought the splendid New Place, the second best house in the town, when he had made his fortune on the London stage. "You don't buy a house like New Place and not live there," Paul said. He believes that after Shakespeare bought it, all his thinking time was spent there, and that the late plays, including The Tempest, were at least planned in his library and probably written there. Where is the play Hamlet resisted? A) In Brussels. B) In Singapore. C) In North Korea. D) In London.
C
Q: In1909, Sonora Dodd was sitting in her church in Spokane, Washington, listening to a Mother's Day sermon( ) when she had an idea: There should be a day to honor fathers. Sonora's father, William Smart, had raised Sonora and her five siblings all by himself after his wife, Ellen, died. Sonora felt her father _ a special day, so she went to work persuading her community to set aside Sunday to celebrate dads. Moved by her action, the following year, the mayor of Spokane declared June 19 to be the first Father's Day celebration .This date was selected because it was Smart's birthday. News of this day for dads spread across the country. In 1966, President Lyndon Johonson designated the third Sunday of every June as Father's day. However, it was not until 1972-62 years after the first official celebration in Spokane-that President Richard Nixon signed a law making Father's Day an everlasting holiday. Countries all over the world have special days to honor their dads. In Catholic countries like Spain and Portugal, dad is honored on March 19 during the feast of St.Joseph. In Thailand ,Father's Day is celebrated on the king's birthday. The current king, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was born on December5.In Canada, people wear roses on Father's Day. There are currently 70.1 million dads in the United States. Many of these dads are spending more time with their kids than dads did in the past ,according to a recent study by the Pew Research Centre .Years ago, taking care of kids was considered a job mainly for women. Now, however, the roles are sometimes overturned .According to the US Census Bureau ,in 2010,154,000 dads stayed at home to take care of their kids ,and 1.8 million dads raised their kids alone like Sonora's dad. On Sunday, dads across the country will open cards and gifts. Whether they know it or not , they have _ someoneto thank for the special recognition. Why are there so many dads in the US looking after their kids? A) People in the US love their dads more. B) Taking care of kids is considered a job for men. C) Men and women have changed their roles in the family. D) Men staying at home or being single get more than before,
A: D