RyanandLowryhadbeenfriendssincehighschool，butitwasn’tun...

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Ryan and Lowry had been friends since high school，But it wasn’t until after college that they hit on the idea of a home-care-products company．“We were shocked to learn how toxic cleaning products were” says Ryan．Why couldn’t they create green products that would be just as environmentally pure as Aveda’s skin-and-hair-care lines?

When Ryan’s mom heard about the plan，she stared at him blankly: “I’ve never even seen you clean your room!” Not discouraged，Lowry experimented with nontoxic ways to clean while Ryan focused on marketing．In February 2001，they mixed their first four cleaning sprays and convinced the managers of 20 grocers to try them· Once they had their approval，they tapped friends and family and pooled their savings to come up with $90，000 in seed money．

From the start，“Go big or go home’’ was their mantra（口头禅）．Their first financing— that $l million—was due to be signed on September 11, 2001．By the time they got it, two months later，says Ryan, "we had$16 in the bank and personally owed$300,000．”

Seeking a national retailer（零售商）proved just as troublesome．The friends set their sights on Target，known for its trendy，affordable goods．“But Target didn’t like the product or the brand，”recalled Ryan．“We thought the deal was dead，but then a new buyer saw that even though we weren’t selling big volumes, we were profitable, just on a smaller scale．”They won over Target．

Consumers were hooked on the natural things and wonderful fragrance．Today, the partners sell 130 products in more than 8,000 stores，and taxes are over$100 million．Such rapid growth has at times stressed the men’s friendship．“Eric and I agree on ‘what’ but never on ‘how，’ says Lowry．“Although we are willing to challenge each other，we come up with interesting and smarter solutions．There’s little fire and ice between us．”

1．The underlined word “toxic” in Paragraph 1 most probably means——·

A．poisonous B．dirty C．expensive D．troublesome

2．When Ryan told his mom his plan, ___________．

A．he knew his mom was sure to support him

B．his mom asked him to clean his room

C．his mom suspected his ability

D．he was discouraged by his mom

3．We can learn from the third paragraph that ___________．

A．Ryan and Lowry wanted to give up and go home at first

B．their plan didn’t go smoothly at the very beginning

C．they made profit two months later after their first financing

D．$1 million was not enough as their seed money