01 Karen was a young mother working as a clerk at a court in North Carolina. Though she had been trained in criminal justice, she quickly found prisons and courts to be 1) depressing places to work. When her daughter was born, she had to stay at home and be a full-time mother. At that point, she decided to 2) figure out what she really wanted to do with her life. She knew that she liked office jobs and didn't intend to give up her own career development, but she also enjoyed the 3) flexibility of staying home and raising her dadghter. Therefore, it seemed that she just couldn't find anything that could satisfy these two 4) seemingly conflicting conditions.

卡伦是一位年轻的母亲，在北卡罗莱纳州的一个法庭上当书记员。虽然她受过刑事司法培训，但她很快就发现监狱和法院是令人沮丧的工作场所。当她的女儿出生时，她不得不呆在家里做一个全职妈妈。在这一点上，她决定了她真正想要的生活。她知道自己喜欢办公室工作，不打算放弃自己的职业发展，但她也喜欢呆在家里和抚养女儿的灵活性。因此，她似乎找不到任何能满足这两个看似矛盾的条件的东西。

02 One day, Karen read in the newspapers that a couple 5) sued their babysitter for abusing their child. It turned out that the babysitter had a long criminal record. Karen couldn't 6) imagine hiring someone to watch her child without doing a thorough investigation about that person's background. This 7) sparked a brilliant idea. Karen decided to do something to save other parents' children from 8) suffering the same fate. And this job didn't require her to leave her home. The next day she got her hometown paper and looked at the ads placed by parents seeking babysitters. She called them and sent them 9) leaflets to ofer her baby-sitting services. Several of them jumped at it. Her business was born and has continued to grow.

有一天，卡伦在报纸上读到夫妇起诉他们的保姆滥用他们的孩子。原来那个保姆有很长的犯罪记录。卡伦无法想象雇用一个人来监视她的孩子，而不必对那个人的背景进行彻底的调查。这引起了一个绝妙的主意。凯伦决定做些事情来挽救其他父母的孩子，他们的命运也一样。而这份工作并没有要求她离开家。第二天，她拿到了家乡的报纸，看了父母找保姆的广告。她给他们打了电话，并把他们送去了她照看孩子的服务。有几个人跳了起来。她的事业是天生的，而且还在继续发展。

03 That was 15 years ago. Karen was recently named one of the top 10 business women in North Carolina and has even appeared on Oprah's talk show. Asked about the secret of her success, she emphasized that it was because she was 10) passionate about what she really wanted to do. In addition, Karen mentioned that patience and persistence were vital to her achievements.

那是15年前的事了。卡伦最近被提名为北卡罗来纳州十大商业女性之一，甚至出现在奥普拉脱口秀节目中。当被问及她成功的秘诀时，她强调说这是因为她对自己真正想做的事充满热情。此外，卡伦还提到，耐心和毅力对她的成就至关重要。