Romio & Juliette: A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs

1. Section III Expand Your Horizon ROMIO and Juliette Romio and Juliette means more to us than a Shakespearean romantic tragedy. We chose to name our separate businesses in a complementary way, which is the way we approach our relationship. Our cats are even named Mark Anthony and Cleopatra ① .

2. Section III Expand Your Horizon When we first got together, only one of us was in the startup role. Now, happily married for nearly seven years, we're both running our own businesses in New York City. Tarik runs ROMIO, a platform that provides trusted recommendations for local services from friends and neighbors, while Rechelle runs Juliette, a mobile app that offers premium overnight laundry service.

3. Section III Expand Your Horizon The best way we can describe our relationship now is a roller coaster ride, traveling in different directions at varying speeds. We work perfectly opposite schedules, with Tarik building ROMIO by meeting local experts during the day and Rechelle running her service at night, and are always on the go. But every day at 7 p.m., we unfasten our seat-belts, get off the roller coaster and make an effort to share a meal together before parting in different directions.

4. Section III Expand Your Horizon We've found three ways to keep our relationship at home healthy while balancing our growing companies. The greatest benefit of being married to another entrepreneur is the ability to control our own schedules. Constantly working and driving a start-up is draining, so we force ourselves to take short vacations to recharge.

5. Section III Expand Your Horizon About two weeks ago, we took a trip to Saint Thomas and did absolutely nothing except lay on the beach and soaked in the sun. We came back fully recharged and relaxed. This helps tremendously, especially since most small business owners work more than 50 to even 60 hours per week, the Financial Post ② reported, something we've definitely found to be true in our own lives.

6. Section III Expand Your Horizon If we can't take a short trip away from the city, we try to make an effort to relax and wind down together, whether it's at dinner table or going out to see a new show or movie at the theater.

7. Section III Expand Your Horizon While we may be at different development stages in our start-ups, we see a lot of synergies to building our businesses—especially since we're in the same industry. We often leverage mutual contacts and share campaigns, from investors to website developers. And we never hesitate to use each other as a sounding board for ideas and concepts, tweaking and brainstorming aloud, before taking it public to the team or investors.

8. Section III Expand Your Horizon For example, we tap into Rechelle's strong background in marketing and social skills to get feedback for ROMIO's user interface. We also leverage Tarik's background in finance and strong business acumen to strengthen Juliette's business model.

9. Section III Expand Your Horizon The interesting and sometimes difficult part about having two different start-ups in different stages, is managing our personal dynamic when one business is taking off, while the other is experiencing growing pains. The stages of each business may not always be in sync, and while the business paths are parallel, our journeys can be completely different.

10. Section III Expand Your Horizon When we talk about how our days went when we are relaxing at home with Marc Anthony and Cleopatra, it's always interesting for us to hear how different, yet similar, our experiences are, from the tales of ROMIO's site development to the steady build of Juliette's client base. These seemingly innocuous conversations are enough for us to spark the flame that keeps our passions and interests alive, and keeps the experience memorable.

11. Section III Expand Your Horizon Work-life balance can be difficult to achieve when running a start-up, but when you're married to another entrepreneur, the chaos can be twice as fun as it is challenging. We do our best to take mental breaks, share resources and be mindful and encouraging to strengthen both of our businesses and maintain a healthy relationship at home.

12. Section III Expand Your Horizon 一对创业者夫妻的幸福婚姻之道 对于我们而言，罗密欧与朱丽叶的意义已经远远超过了莎士比亚笔下的凄美爱情故事。我们选择用这样一种互补的方式给我们各自的公司命名，以此增进我们的感情。我们甚至还给家里的猫也起名为马克·安东尼和克里欧佩特拉。

13. Section III Expand Your Horizon 我们最初在一起时，只有一人在创业。如今，在幸福地度过近七年的婚姻生活之后，我们俩都开始在纽约经营自己的公司。塔里克经营罗密欧(ROMIO)，一个让朋友和邻居对当地服务进行可靠推荐的平台。蕾切尔则经营朱丽叶(Juliette)，一个通宵提供优质洗衣服务的手机应用。

14. Section III Expand Your Horizon 要形容我们这段感情，最合适的一个词是“过山车”。我们以不同的速度在不同的方向上行进着。我们的日程完全相反，塔里克白天会见当地专家，搭建罗密欧平台，蕾切尔则是晚上办公，我们俩总是忙个不停。不过每晚7点，我们会解开安全带，离开过山车，并尽量在前往不同方向之前共进晚餐。

15. Section III Expand Your Horizon 我们找到了三种方式，在维持家庭关系正常发展的同时，照顾好我们蒸蒸日上的公司。 与另一个企业家结婚的最大好处在于，你能够控制自己的日程安排。持续工作和领导初创公司是十分耗神的事，因此我们会强迫自己休个短假借此充电。

16. Section III Expand Your Horizon 约两周前，我们去了趟圣托马斯，在那儿我们什么都没做，只是躺在沙滩上晒太阳。回来的时候，我们感觉精力充沛、浑身轻松。这样的休息能够起到很大的帮助作用，因为据《金融邮报》（Financial Post）报道，大部分小企业主每周的工作时间都超过50小时甚至60小时，而就我们自己的生活来看，的确如此。

17. Section III Expand Your Horizon 如果我们没法离开城市休个短假，那我们会努力一起做点事情来放松和平静下来，无论是共进晚餐还是去剧院看个新剧或电影。

18. Section III Expand Your Horizon 尽管我们创立的公司处于不同的发展阶段，但我们发现在构筑各自公司时能够产生大量的协同效益，尤其是因为我们还在同一个行业。我们常常进行交流和分享，话题涉及从投资者到网站开发者等各个方面。而在把想法和理念公布给团队和投资者之前，我们也会毫不犹豫地征询彼此的意见，大声发表自己的看法并进行调整。

19. Section III Expand Your Horizon 比如，我们充分利用蕾切尔在营销和社交技巧方面的强大背景，以获取罗密欧用户界面的反馈意见。我们也借助塔里克的金融背景和精明的商业头脑来改善朱丽叶的经营模式。

20. Section III Expand Your Horizon 经营两家处于不同阶段的初创公司时，很有趣有时也很困难的一点在于：当一家公司已经运转良好，另一家却仍在遭遇成长之痛时，如何维持我们的关系呢？两家公司的发展并不总是同步的，尽管发展路径是类似的，但我们的旅程却可能完全不同。

21. Section III Expand Your Horizon 当朱丽叶正式推出，获得了许多正面反馈，拥有了许多客户时，罗密欧的网站重建却遇到了重重阻碍。我们在情感上出现了差异，蕾切尔兴高采烈，而塔里克沮丧不已，这让我们很难庆祝或是倾诉自己的感情。克服这种情感差异的一个好办法是交流彼此的困难和牺牲，不要让内疚和嫉妒滋生蔓延。

22. Section III Expand Your Horizon 当运行一个新公司的时候，平衡生活和工作是很难的，尤其是当你和另一个企业家结合时，混乱（程度）是欢乐（程度）的两倍，这是很有挑战性的。我们都尽我们的全力给（彼此）心灵的安慰，共享资源，理解、支持我们各自公司的成长和维护健康的家庭关系。

23. Section III Expand Your Horizon Practice What You Learnt Task 1 Comprehension Check Choose the best answer according to the text.

24. Section III Expand Your Horizon The couple named their separate business as ROMIO and Juliette because _____________ . A. they were funny B. they both liked Shakespeare's plays C. they were easy to remember D. they hoped this two names bring fortune to their relationship Answer D

25. Section II Store Your Bricks What does the author use to describe the relationship between herself and her husband. A. A long-distance running. B. A roller coaster ride. C. a flight trip D. nothing but a Game Answer B

26. Section III Expand Your Horizon The couple took a trip to Saint Thomas to _________. A. visit their clients B. develop new markets C. watch the sunrise D. just relax themselves D Answer

27. Section III Expand Your Horizon Most small business owners work more than ________ hours per month. A. 200~240 B. 150~200 C. 250~300 D. 100~150 Answer A

28. Section III Expand Your Horizon Which of the following statements is UNTRUE? Students had to play many important roles meanwhile in the earliest years of intercollegiate athletics. B. Juliette carried the business related to a mobile app. C. Before taking ideas and concepts public to the team or investors, the couple always keep silence to each other. D. They didn't start their business until nearly the seventh year from they married. Answer C

29. Section III Expand Your Horizon Task 2 Vocabulary and Sentences (1)Replace the italicized words with the words or phrases given in the box. Change the form if necessary.

30. Section III Expand Your Horizon Lord Justice Woolf will make for reform In his report. recommendation suggestions Was it a paradox, intended to puzzle her? harmless innocuous The inexorable rise in Britain's fortunes and the decline of France as an international power. corresponding complementary

31. Section III Expand Your Horizon It can become hot and dry, specially in a small glasshouse. tremendously extremely The , deterioration and exhaustion of resources and the deterioration of the environment have become serious bottlenecks constraining economic and social development. depletion draining The laws led to confusion, and years of delay. muddle chaos

32. Section III Expand Your Horizon Section III Expand Your Horizon Sweet time, in company with you for the most time of life! memorable remeberable We both kept ourselves to prove that it wasn't all a dream. pinching tweaking The of heavy rains and high winds caused flooding. synergy conjunction

33. Section III Expand Your Horizon Section III Expand Your Horizon These programmes will markets for farmers. open up tap into He knew all niceties of the sock and . tragedy buskin A good crowd will be a definite to me and the rest of the team. leverage advantage

34. Section III Expand Your Horizon (2)Fill in the blanks with the words given, and change the form if necessary. She is regarded as the best ___________on the English stage.（tragedy） click tragedian The piece starts out ____________enough, with an almost sultry little snake dance.（innocuous） innocuously click

35. Section III Expand Your Horizon drained click Pamela _________her glass and refilled it.（draining） So publishers keep _________their lending arrangements in search of the right balance.（tweak） tweaking click Apps allow business __________nearly infinite resources of information and services by satisfying one highly targeted need at a time. （leverage） click to leverage

36. Section III Expand Your Horizon click I have just spent a holiday there and would ___________ it to anyone.（recommendation） recommend There's ______________tension between the local population and the refugee.（tremendously） click tremendous Academic courses are _______________by those at technical colleges.（complement） click complemented

37. Section III Expand Your Horizon Suffice to say this has been the most ____________shitty week of my entire existence.（memorable） memorably click Of course, there's quite obviously a lot of ____________ between the two companies.（synergic） click synergy

38. Section III Expand Your Horizon Task 3 Divergent Thinking Try to make one or more sentences with the given information. And what you write should not be merely from the text.

39. Section III Expand Your Horizon If you were a busy entrepreneur, how would you keep the balance between your business and family? （如果你是一个企业家，你会如何平衡事业和家庭？）（rethink, earn time to） I will rethink my errands and do the next two thing to keep the balance between business and family. ①Build downtime into my schedule. ②Drop activities that sap my time or energy so that I can earn more time to get together with my family. Click ________________________________________________________________________

40. Section III Expand Your Horizon In your opinion, which is more important, love or career? （在你看来，爱情和事业哪个更重要？）（in the long run, keep in mind） Both have a place in life, it is all about balance. But if you need to know which is more important in the long run, it is love. Keep in mind that no one has ever said on their death bed, “Boy, I wish I'd spent more time at the office.” Click _______________________________________________________________________

41. Section III Expand Your Horizon What is success in your mind? （你认为什么是成功？） （outcome, possession） I think that success is whatever you want to be. If you're happy with the outcome of an event, then you are successful. Success most definitely isn't measured by money or material possessions. Click ________________________________________________________________________

42. Section III Expand Your Horizon What do you think a successful business person should be?（你觉得成功的人应当是什么样的？）（knowledge of management, responsibility, right decision）

43. Section III Expand Your Horizon A successful business person needs: a. planning, controlling and leading abilities； b. knowledge of management, marketing, and customer relations;   c. the ability to delegate responsibilities, and to make decisions on the spot when necessary; d. to know when a decision has not been made correctly and to modify it to suit the circumstances; e. the sense to adapt as required to changing trends and technology; f. to be able to make more right decisions than wrong ones; and above all, to know the differences and learn by mistakes. Click ________________________________________________________________________

44. Section III Expand Your Horizon What insight do you have about William Shakespeare?（你对于威廉·莎士 比亚有什么样的见解？）（well known, plays ） William Shakespeare was a very well known poet and playwright from England. Some of his best known plays are Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, and MacBeth, to name just a few. He liked to write big bloodbaths into his plays. Click ________________________________________________________________________