聽力 10-10 無國界限制的事業

I'm an international relocation consultant with a virtual business. Well, the term virtual business is misleading. I don't have an office-- just my computer, printer, and fax in my home near Chicago and almost no overhead--but I still work hard. A few years ago, I decided I was burnt-out by my horrible commute and the long hours. I had to put in at my job downtown. I moved out of the city, got a computer, and began offering my services online. Now I'm getting clients more and more from my Web site.

When the local senior center in Nagoya, Japan, offered computer classes six months ago, I took the plunge. It was a whole new world for me. Now I study English, stay in touch with my grandchildren in various Japanese universities, do research on health issues, and trade recipes online. There are large communities of older computer users out there in cyberspace.

I'm the vice president of my family's glassware business. Our corporate headquarters are in Texas, and our production facilities are in Mexico. We use the Web in a variety of ways. Our marketing department is streamlining its research process by doing more and more of it online. And, of course, we use the Web to advertise and sell our glassware products. I'm the one responsible for keeping the company up to speed on technology. I like to read Spanish-language newspapers online when I get a chance, but that isn't often!

The computers the university installed last month in library the are great. I belong to an online chess community and compete with players from all over the world. Even when it's 3 a.m. here in Madrid, I can find people to play chess with in other time zones. I also email my friends spending a semester abroad, research possible vacation spots--and do my class work, of course.

What I love most about the Internet is being able to shop from foreign stores. I hate shopping but I love clothes, and I'm addicted to ordering from catalogs. It's great to be able to access the foreign catalogs online. I have to pay shipping charges, but the trade-off is that I don't have to fly to Milan to buy Italian shoes. I also buy books and music. And the other day, I even got a set of antique dishes at an online auction!

ref: 聽力 10-10 無國界限制的事業.mp3