For many people, bookstores are wonderful places. That’s because the books on the shelves can take you away to magical lands, help you learn a foreign language, or cook a delicious meal. But when your community is too small to house a brick bookstore, you have to come up with another idea. A mobile bookstore was the result. That is the case for Rita Collins, 70, who dreamed of opening a used bookstore after retiring from teaching.
A business planning class from the American Booksellers Association convinced Collins to give up her idea of opening a bookstore in the small town where she lives. Her town, Eureka, Montana, only has a population of 1,517. Collins asked her instructors about a traveling bookstore on wheels and they doubted her idea. But she insisted on it.
Collins was inspired by Dylans Mobile Bookstore, a traveling bookstore in Wales run by Jeff Towns. She contacted Jeff for advice but she was largely on her own when it came to building her bookstore. First, she had to find a vehicle large enough to stand in. Then she had to have it refitted with shelves that would hold the books at a 15-degree angle so that they would stay in place while traveling. Collins named her bookstore St. Rita’s Traveling Bookstore, which has been on the road since 2015.
At first, she drove through Montana and then she made her first cross-country trip in 2016. After she retired in 2017, it became a full-time job. Collins and her bookstore have visited 30 states, stopping at festivals and events along the way. Collins loves meeting people and making connections. While she loves what she does, Collins doesn’t think she can keep doing it. In several years, she hopes to pass her traveling bookstore onto another book lover who shares the same interest and will keep it on the road.
【小题1】According to the passage, what’s the basic requirement for opening a bookstore?| A．There must be a community with a popularity of 1517. |
| B．The American Booksellers Association should support the store. |
| C．A bookstore must store enough books. |
| D．The bookstore must offer delicious meals. |
| A．With a large vehicle. | B．At a 15-degree angle. | C．On the wheels. | D．On the road. |
| A．Nobody supported Collins at first. | B．Jeff helped Collins a lot in building her bookstore. |
| C．Collins made the bookshelves by herself. | D．Collins would devote all her life to her bookstore. |
| A．How to make her bookstore popular. | B．How to raise more money to support her store. |
| C．How to choose more suitable books. | D．How to choose a man who can inherit her bookshop. |
