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〈Rich Dad And Poor Dad><富爸爸和穷爸爸》
Lesson One: The Rich Don't Work For Money
第一课：富人不为钱工作
"Dad, Can You Tell Me How to Get Rich?" My dad put down the evening paper. "Why do you want to get rich, son?" "Because today Jimmy's mom drove up in their new Cadillac, and they were going to their beach house for the weekend. He took three of his friends, but Mike and I weren't invited. They told us we weren't invited because we were 'poor kids'."
“爸，你能告诉我怎样才能变得富有吗？”爸爸放下手中的晚报，问：“你为什么想变得富有呢，儿子？”“因为这个周末基米的妈妈会开一辆新的卡迪拉克带基米去海滨别墅度周末。基米还说要带三个朋友去，但我和迈克没有被邀请，他们说我们不被邀请是因为我们是穷孩子。”
"They did?" my dad asked incredulously.
“他们真这么说了吗？”爸爸不相信地问。
"Yeah, they did." I replied in a hurt tone.
“是啊，他们说了！”我带着一种受到伤害的声调答道。
My dad silently shook his head, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and went back to reading the paper. I stood waiting for an answer.
爸爸沉默地摇了摇头，把他的眼镜往鼻梁上推了推，然后又去读报纸了。我站在那儿期待着答案……
The year was 1956. I was 9 years old. By some twist of fate, I attended the same public school where the rich people sent their kids. We were primarily a sugar plantation town. The managers of the plantation and the other affluent people of the town, such as doctors, business owners, and bankers, sent their children to this school, grades 1 to 6. After grade 6, their children were generally sent off to private schools. Because my family lived on one side of the street, I went to this school. Had I lived on the other side of the street, I would have gone to a different school, with kids from families more like mine.
那年是1956年，我9岁。由于命运的安排，我进了一所公立学校，许多富人把他们的孩子也送到那所学校。我们镇基本上是个糖料种植场，种植场的经理和其他富裕的人，比如医生、商人、银行家都把孩子送进了这所学校，一到六年级都有。六年级之后他们的孩子通常会被送进私立学校。因为我家就在这个街区，所以我也进了这所学校。如果我家住在街的另一边，或许我会去另外一所学校，和那些家庭背景与我差不多的孩子们在一起了。
After grade 6, these kids and I would go on to the public intermediate and high school. There was no private school for them or for me.
并且六年级之后，我会和那些孩子一道去上公立的中学和高中，因为没有为我们这类孩子设立的私立中学。
My dad finally put down the paper. I could tell he was thinking.
爸爸终于放下了报纸，我敢说他刚才一定是在思考我的话。
"Well, son," he began slowly. "If you want to be rich, you have to learn to make money."
“哦，儿子，”他慢慢地开口了，“如果你想变得富有，你就必须学会挣钱。”
"How do I make money?" I asked.
“那么怎么挣钱呢？”我问。
"Well, use your head, son," he said, smiling. Which really meant, "That's all I'm going to tell you," or "I don't know the answer, so don't embarrass me."
“用你的头脑，儿子。”他说着，并微笑了一下，这种微笑意味着“这就是我要告诉你的全部”，或者“我不知道答案，别为难我了”。
A Partnership Is Formed
建立合伙关系
The next morning, I told my best friend, Mike, what my dad had said. As best I could tell, Mike and I were the only poor kids in this school. Mike was like me in that he was in this school by a twist of fate. Someone had drawn a jog in the line for the school district, and we wound up in school with the rich kids. We weren't really poor, but we felt as if we were because all the other boys had new baseball gloves, new bicycles, new everything.
第二天一早，我就把爸爸的话告诉了我最好的朋友迈克。迈克和我可以说是学校里仅有的两个穷孩子。他和我一样由于命运的捉弄而进了这所学校。其实我们俩的家里并不是真的很穷，但我们感觉我们很穷，因为其他的男孩都有新棒球手套、新自行车，他们的东西都是新的。
Mom and dad provided us with the basics, like food, shelter, clothes. But that was about it. My dad used to say, "If you want something, work for it." We wanted things, but there was not much work available for 9-year-old boys.
妈妈和爸爸也为我们提供了基本生活品，像吃的、戴的、穿的，什么都不缺，但也仅此而已。我爸爸常说：“想要什么东西，自己挣钱买。”我们想要东西，但的确没有什么工作可以提供给像我们这样大的9岁男孩。
"So what do we do to make money?" Mike asked.
“我们该怎么挣钱呢？”迈克问。
"I don't know," I said. "But do you want to be my partner?"
“我不知道，”我说，“你想做我的合伙人吗？”
He agreed and so on that Saturday morning, Mike became my first business partner. We spent all morning coming up with ideas on how to make money. Occasionally we talked about all the "cool guys" at Jimmy's beach house having fun. It hurt a little, but that hurt was good, for it inspired us to keep thinking of a way to make money. Finally, that afternoon, a bolt of lightning came through our heads. It was an idea Mike had gotten from a science book he had read. Excitedly, we shook hands, and the partnership now had a business.
于是，就在那个星期六的早晨，迈克成了我的第一个业务伙伴。我们花了整整一个上午去想挣钱的法子，其间常常不由自主地谈起那些“冷酷的家伙”正在基米家的海滨别墅里玩乐。这实在有些伤人，但却是好事，它刺激我们继续努力去想挣钱的法子。最后，到了下午，一个念头在我们的头脑中闪过，这是迈克从以前读过的一本科普书里得到的主意。我们兴奋地握手，现在我们的合伙关系终于有了实质的业务内容。
For the next several weeks, Mike and I ran around our neighborhood, knocking on doors and asking our neighbors if they would save their toothpaste tubes for us. With puzzled looks, most adults consented with a smile. Some asked us what we were doing. To which we replied, "We can't tell you. It's a business secret."
在接下来的几星期里，迈克和我跑遍了邻近各家，敲开他们的门问他们是否愿意把用过的牙膏皮攒下来给我们。迷惑不解的大人们微笑着答应了，有的问我们要它做什么，对此我们回答道：“这是商业秘密”。
My mom grew distressed as the weeks wore on. We had selected a site next to her washing machine as the place we would stockpile our raw materials. In a brown cardboard box that one time held catsup bottles, our little pile of used toothpaste tubes began to grow.
几星期过去了，我妈变得心烦起来，因为我们选了一个靠近她洗衣机的地方放置我们的原料。在一个曾用来盛番茄酱的大罐子里，积攒在那儿的用过的牙膏皮正在慢慢变多。
Finally my mom put her foot down. The sight of her neighbors' messy, crumpled used toothpaste tubes had gotten to her. "What are you boys doing?" she asked. "And I don't want to hear again that it's a business secret. Do something with this mess or I'm going to throw it out."
看到邻居们脏乱、卷曲的废牙膏皮都到了她这儿，妈妈最后采取了行动。“你们两个到底想要干什么？”她问，“我不想再听到‘商业秘密’之类的话，赶快处理掉这些东西，否则我就会把它们全扔出去！”
Mike and I pleaded and begged, explaining that we would soon have enough and then we would begin production. We informed her that we were waiting on a couple of neighbors to finish using up their toothpaste so we could have their tubes. Mom granted us a one-week extension.
迈克和我苦苦哀求，说我们已经快攒够了，只等一对邻居夫妇用完他们的牙膏后，我们就可以马上开始生产了。经过一番口舌，最后妈妈给了我们一周的延期。待续 |
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