Question

Almost everybody in America will spend a part of his or her life behind a shopping cart. He or she will, in a lifetime, push it many miles. But few will know—or even think to ask—who invented it.

Sylvan N. Goldman invented the shopping cart in 1937. At that time he was in the supermarket business. Every day he would see shoppers carrying the shopping baskets hard.

One day Goldman suddenly had the idea of putting baskets on wheels.The wheeled baskets would make shopping much easier for his customers, and would help increase more business.

On June 4, 1937, Goldman’s first carts were ready for use in his market. He was terribly excited on the morning of that day as customers began arriving. He couldn’t wait to see them using his invention. But Goldman was disappointed. Most shoppers gave the carts a long look, but hardly anybody would give them a try. After a while, Goldman decided to ask customers why they weren’t using his carts. “Don’t you think this arm is strong enough to carry a shopping basket?” one shopper replied. But Goldman wasn’t beaten yet. He knew his carts would be a great success as long as he didn’t give up. Later, Goldman came up with a good idea. He hired(雇佣) a group of people to push carts around his market as if they were shopping. His creative idea achieved a great success.

As Goldman had hoped, larger and larger numbers of customers came to his market after a short period. With larger, easier-to-handle baskets, customers bought a greater number of things than before.

Today’s shopping carts are five times larger than Goldman’s earliest model. Americans today spend more than five times as much money on food each year as they did in 1937—before the coming of the shopping cart. Perhaps the shopping cart is one reason.

1.When was the shopping cart invented?

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2.Did shoppers like to try Goldman’s invention when it first appeared in his market?

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3.Why did Goldman hire people to push carts in the market as if they were shopping?

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4.Will you be one of the first users when a new invention appears? Why or why not?

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Answer 1