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In 1945, a 12-year-old boy saw something in a shop window that set his heart racing. But the price—five dollars—was far beyond Reuben Earle's means. Five dollars would buy almost a week'sgroceries（杂货，食品）for his family. Reuben couldn't ask his father for the money. Everything Mark Earle made through fishing in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, Canada. Reuben's mother, Dora, stretched likeelastic（松紧带，橡皮圈）to feed and clothe their five children. Nevertheless（然而，不过）, he opened the shop'sweathered（风化的，倾斜的）door and went inside. Standing proud and straight in his flour-sack shirt and washed-out trousers, he told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding, "But I don't have the money right now. Can you please hold it for me for some time?" "I'll try," the shopkeeper smiled. " Folks around here don't usually have that kind of money to spend on things. It should keep for a while." Reuben respectfully touched hisworn（疲倦的，用旧的）cap and walked out into the sunlight with the bay rippling in a freshening wind. There was purpose in hisloping（迈着大步走）stride. He would raise the five dollars and not tell anybody. Hearing the sound of hammering from a side street, Reuben had an idea. He ran towards the sound and stopped at a construction site. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts, using nails purchased in Hessian sacks from a local factory. Sometimes thesacks（麻布袋）were discarded in theflurry（疾风，飓风）of building, and Reuben knew he could sell them back to the factory for five cents a piece. | 
