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Section C
My Moving Experience
Moving is bad — in the sense of carrying furniture, equipment and hundreds of boxes out of one place and into another. This is why you hardly ever meet nomads （游牧人）anymore, even though "nomad" is a great job name. Suppose you're at a party, someone asks what you do, and you announce 'nomad'. Immediately you're talking about camels（骆驼）. And you can leave anytime. "Excuse me," you say, "but I must go now and seek water."
I prefer to stay put. Sometimes, like weekends, it takes huge control just to get out of a chair. 1. ______
Regardless, last Thursday we moved into a new house. Since I work at home, this also required moving my office; the buyers of our old house wouldn't like seeing me every day in one of their bedrooms.
My wife and I moved because as the kids kept getting bigger and bigger, the house kept getting smaller and smaller. It seemed the kids were eating the house. Moving seemed the wise thing to do even though, in the end, we decided to take the kids with us. 2. ______
In my 20s, moving was done by friends, but everyone secretly hated it. After six or seven hours of lifting chairs and chests, we'd take out our resentment on the furniture. Once we dropped a new refrigerator down a flight of stairs. 3. ______
Now I'm 47, so we hired movers. The idea of "movers" makes me nervous. A group of strong, muscular men come into your house, carry out all your possessions, and drive off in a truck. This can't be good.
I chose "Low Cost Movers", checking to make sure they had a permit and were insured（保险）. The customer service person, Julie, was helpful with this. "I'm not going to say we never have accidents or even that we rarely have accidents. What I am going to say is if you have a computer, now would be a good time to back up your files（档案）."
The week before moving, Julie called twice to confirm（确定）our 8 a.m. appointment. I'm of two minds about confirming. The people doing the confirming always appear very professional, while seeming to say you're not. Obviously Julie knew she was dealing with someone with low mental power. I didn't mind. 4. ______
8 a.m. the day of the move, the moving company calls to say they'll be an hour late. What a relief (松口气). I'm feeling totally lacking in organization（杂乱无序）, mainly because I am totally lacking in organization. It's my natural state. Having to have organization（有序）, for me, is much too confusing.
Moving has taught me I need a better filing system （系统）. I plan to have a better filing system in the new office. The old system was more of a piling system, meaning piling everything on my desk—a very good way of organization.
11 a.m. The moving company still hasn't arrived. I call Julie. She promises to have the president of the company, Max, personally call me in 10 minutes.
I'm impressed. "President" is a great job name, although, let's face it, not as great as "nomad."
I have no idea how big this moving company is. Maybe it's just a Mom and Pop operation. Maybe it's just Julie. Maybe Julie is the customer service department, the movers and now the president. It could be a long day.
11:10 a.m. The phone rings. "This is Max, president of Low Cost Moving." I check out the voice. It's not Julie. Max tells me he's upset with the delay. He's enraged at his own moving company. "I'm knocking $10 off the hourly rate," he says. 5. ______
I sympathize with the moving company: "Look," I say, "these things happen. Trucks break. Refrigerators fall down stairs. Workers develop several personalities."
3 p.m. Movers still haven't arrived. I call Max, who's more enraged than before. "This is unheard-of," he says. "I'm taking another $10 off the hourly charge."
If this keeps up, I'll be moving for free and going nowhere.
6 p.m. The movers finally arrive. I call Max. He's fit to be tied. I point out they're only 10 hours late. Max is not humored.
End of story: The move is finally over. Everything's in boxes. My office is completely without organization. I feel at home. 6. ______
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