雅思阅读材料：如何把斧子卖给习近平

卖斧神题“有商家把一把斧头成功卖给了美国前总统小布什，你怎么把这斧头再卖给习近平呢？” 中提到的卖斧头给小布什的故事是真实发生的，这个伟大推销员叫乔治·赫伯特，来看看他到底是怎么把斧头卖给小布什的：

American has the Brookings Institution that fosters prominent salesmen. It has set “Golden Shoe Award” representing the greatest salesman and the challenge is usually to sell something to the current U.S. president. In Clinton administration, the challenge is to sell one briefs to him, but no one had made it.

美国有一个布鲁金斯学会，专门培养杰出推销员。这个学会设有“金靴奖”，能够完成毕业实习任务的学员可以获得印有“比较伟大的推销员”字样的金靴子。毕业实习考题通常是向现任总统卖东西。克林顿总统在任期间，学会出了一道题目为《请把一条三角裤推销给美国总统》的实习题，但是没有学员能够完成这一任务。

When Bush took office, the subject changed into selling an axe. Many people were convinced that the president lacked nothing, so they gave up even without trying. Only a salesman named Herbert believed that as long as there is persistence and perseverance, he can sell an ax to the president.

布什上台后，学会把实习题目改为《请把一把斧头推销给小布什总统》。很多学员认定总统什么都不缺，所以直接放弃了。只有一名叫乔治·赫伯特的推销员坚信，只要有恒心和毅力，就能把斧头卖给总统。

So he started to investigate, finding that Bush has a farm and many dead branches of trees need to be cut down. Thus, he wrote to Bush, saying that you must need an axe that not only helps you exercise but also can cut dead branches. Finally, Herbert successfully sold an ax to George W. Bush, and also received the “Golden Shoe Award” that suspended for many years and won by no one.

于是他潜心地研究小布什总统的喜好，发现布什的农场有很多死树枯枝需要清理。于是他给布什总统写了封信，说您一定需要既能健身又能砍掉枯枝的斧头。终于，赫伯特完成了向总统卖斧头的任务，获得“金靴奖”，此后很多年都没有人能够挑战他“比较伟大的推销员”的地位。