专八人文知识需知的美国名人--山姆.沃尔顿

专八人文知识需知的美国名人--山姆.沃尔顿

　　英语专八人文知识涵盖的知识面较广，考生们需要平时多积累小常识，这样在专八考试中才能游刃有余，新东方在线整理了专八人文知识需知的美国名人系列知识点供考生们参考。

　　美国作家福利森在《如何成为亿万富豪》中指出，要成为亿万富豪，其中一大秘诀就是脸皮要锻炼得很厚。在解释这条秘诀时，福利森是以山姆·沃尔顿为例的：他经常扰乱市场价格。一旦逮到机会，他便伺机向供应商杀价。所以供应商们都知道和沃尔玛做生意不容易。因此，如果你想当好好先生，最好打消富豪梦。

　　He promised us “Every Day Low Prices,” and we took him up onthe offer.

　　我们都相信了他的天天平价的承诺。

　　Early life

　　Sam Walton was born to Thomas Gibson Walton and Nancy "Nannie" Lee (née Lawrence) nearKingfisher, Oklahoma on March 29, 1918.[1] There, he lived with his parents on their farm until1923. Sam's father decided farming did not generate enough income on which to raise a family, sohe decided to go back to a previous profession of a mortgage man. So he and his family (now withanother son, James born in 1921) moved from Oklahoma to Chesterfield, Missouri. There theymoved from one small town to another for several years. While attending 8th grade in Shelbina,Sam became the youngest Eagle Scout in the state's history. In adult life, Walton became arecipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.

　　Growing up during the Great Depression, Walton had numerous chores to help make financial endsmeet for his family. He milked the family cow, bottled the surplus, and drove it to customers.Afterwards, he would deliver newspapers on a paper route. In addition, he also sold magazinesubscriptions. Upon graduating, he was voted "Most Versatile Boy."

　　After high school, Walton decided to attend college, hoping to find a better way to help support hisfamily. He attended the University of Missouri and majored in economics and was an ROTC officer.During this time, he worked various odd jobs, including waiting tables in exchange for meals. Alsoduring his time in college, Walton joined the estimable Zeta Phi chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity.He was also tapped by QEBH, the well-known secret society on campus honoring the top seniormen. Upon graduating in 1940, he was voted "permanent president" of the class.

　　Walton later joined JC Penney's as a management trainee in Des Moines, Iowa three days aftergraduating from college.[4] This position earned him $75 a month. He resigned in 1942 inanticipation of being inducted into the military for service in World War II. In the meantime, heworked at a DuPont munitions plant near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Soon afterwards, Walton joined themilitary in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps, supervising security at aircraft plants and prisoner ofwar camps. In this position he served at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah. He eventuallyreached the rank of captain.

　　The first stores

　　In 1945, after leaving the military, Walton opened a variety store. With the help of a $20,000 loanfrom his father-in-law, plus $5,000 he had saved from his time in the Army, Walton purchased aBen Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas.[4] The store was a franchise of the Butler Brotherschain.

　　It was here that Walton pioneered many concepts that would prove to be crucial to his success.Walton made sure the shelves were consistently stocked with a wide range of goods at low prices.His store also stayed open later than most other stores, especially during the Christmas season. Healso pioneered the practice of discount merchandising by buying wholesale goods from the lowestpriced supplier. This allowed him to pass on savings to his customers, which drove up his salesvolume. Higher volumes allowed him to negotiate even lower purchase prices with the wholesaleron subsequent purchases. Walton's store led in sales and profits in the Butler Brothers' six-stateregion. One factor that made this store successful was its central location, making it accessible to awide range of customers. In an attempt to limit the expansion of his main competitor, the SterlingStore, Walton leased a nearby Kroger store and opened it in 1950 as the "Eagle" departmentstore, but it didn't fare as well.

　　Due to the variety store's enormous success, the landlord, P.K. Holmes, refused to renew the leasewhen it expired, desiring to pass the store onto his son. The lack of a renewal option, together withthe outrageous rent of 5% of sales, were early business lessons to Walton. Despite forcing Waltonout, Holmes bought the store's inventory and fixtures for $50,000, which Walton called "a fairprice".

　　A chain of Ben Franklin stores

　　Walton went on to open more Ben Franklin Stores with the help of his brother, father-in-law, andbrother-in-law. In 1954, he opened a store with his brother James "Bud" Walton in a shoppingcenter in Ruskin Heights, a suburb of Kansas City. He opened another in Arkansas, but it failed tobe as successful as his other stores. Walton decided to concentrate on the retail business insteadof the shopping centers and opened larger stores which were called "Walton's Family Center."

　　Walton offered managers the opportunity to become limited partners if they would invest in thestore they oversaw and then invest a maximum of $1,000 in new outlets as they opened. Thismotivated the managers to always try to maximize profits and improve their managerial skills. By1962, Walton and his brother Bud owned sixteen variety stores in Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas(fifteen Ben Franklin and the one independent Fayetteville store).

　　Legacy

　　In 1985, Sam Walton began a program designed to stem the 'tide of communism' in CentralAmerica by promoting capitalism and privatization.

　　In 1998, Walton was included in Time's list of 100 most influential people of the 20th Century.Walton was honored for all his pioneering efforts in retail in March 1992, when he received thePresidential Medal of Freedom from President George H. W. Bush. Also that year, the Jiangsuprovince of the People's Republic of China awarded him the Golden Star Foreigner's Award for"tireless assistance in the development of People's owned factories in the Suzhou area".

　　Forbes ranked Sam Walton as the richest man in the United States from 1982 to 1988, ceding thetop spot to John Kluge in 1989 when the editors began to credit Walton's fortune jointly to himand his four children. (Bill Gates first headed the list in 1992, the year Walton died). Wal-MartStores, Inc. also runs Sam's Club warehouse stores. Wal-Mart stores operate in Argentina, Brazil,Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua,Puerto Rico, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

　　At the University of Arkansas, the Business College (Sam M. Walton College of Business) is named inhis honor.

　　Mr.Walton was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1992.

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