《穷爸爸富爸爸》第2章（上）

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。

The date to begin production was moved up. The pressure was on. My first partnership was already being threatened with an eviction notice from our warehouse space by my own mom. It became Mike's job to tell the neighbors to quickly use up their toothpaste, saying their dentist wanted them to brush more often anyway. I began to put together the production line.

来自妈妈的压力使我们的生产日期提前了。我的第一桩生意，由于货仓收到了妈妈的逐客令而出现危机，迈克的任务变成了告诉邻居们快些用完他们的牙膏，告诉他们牙医希望他们比平常更多地刷牙，我则开始组装生产线。按照时间表，生产将于一星期后正式开始。开始生产的日子终于到了。

One day my dad drove up with a friend to see two 9-year-old boys in the driveway with a production line operating at full speed. There was fine white powder everywhere. On a long table were small milk cartons from school, and our family's hibachi grill was glowing with red hot coals at maximum heat.

爸爸带着一个朋友驱车而至，来看两个9岁男孩在公路边合力操弄一条生产线。空气中飞扬着的是细细的白色粉末，在一个长桌上是一些从学校拿来的废牛奶纸盒以及家里的烧烤架，烧烤架已经被发红的炭烤到了极热，发着白光。

Dad walked up cautiously, having to park the car at the base of the driveway, since the production line blocked the carport. As he and his friend got closer, they saw a steel pot sitting on top of the coals, with the toothpaste tubes being melted down. In those days, toothpaste did not come in plastic tubes. The tubes were made of lead. So once the paint was burned off, the tubes were dropped in the small steel pot, melted until they became liquid, and with my mom's pot holders we were pouring the lead through a small hole in the top of the milk cartons.

爸爸小心地走过来，由于生产线挡住了车位他不得不把车停在路边。当他和他朋友走近时，他们看见一个钢壶架在炭上，里面的废牙膏皮正在熔化。在那个时候，牙膏皮还不是塑料做的，而是铅制的。所以一旦牙膏皮上的涂料被烧掉后，被放在钢壶中的铅皮就会烧熔，直到变成液体。当铅皮到达熔点时，我们就用妈妈的抓锅布垫着，将溶液从牛奶盒顶的小孔中小心地注入到牛奶盒中。

The milk cartons were filled with plaster-of-Paris. The white powder everywhere was the plaster before we mixed it with water. In my haste, I had knocked the bag over, and the entire area look like it had been hit by a snowstorm. The milk cartons were the outer containers for plaster-of-Paris molds.

牛奶盒里装满了熟石膏，满地的白色粉末是我们将灰和水混和时弄的，由于我一时匆忙，打翻了小包，所以弄得到处是白灰，好似下了场雪。牛奶盒就是石灰模的外部容器。

My dad and his friend watched as we carefully poured the molten lead through a small hole in the top of the plaster-of-Paris cube.

爸爸和他的朋友注视着我们小心翼翼地把熔铅注入到灰管顶部的小孔中。

"Careful," my dad said.

“小心！”老爸说。

I nodded without looking up.

我也顾不上抬头了，只是点点头。

Finally, once the pouring was through, I put the steel pot down and smiled at my dad.

最后，当溶液全部倒入石灰模后，我放下钢壶；向老爸绽开了笑脸。

"What are you boys doing?" he asked with a cautious smile.

“你们在干什么？”他带着谨慎的微笑问道。

"We're doing what you told me to do. We're going to be rich," I said.

“我们正在按你告诉我的话做，我们就要变成富人了！”我说。

"Yup," said Mike, grinning and nodding his head. "We're partners."

“是的，”迈克咧嘴笑着点头说道：“我们是合伙人。”

"And what is in those plaster molds?" dad asked.

“这些灰模子里面是什么东西？”老爸有些好奇地问。

"Watch," I said. "This should be a good batch."

“看，”我说，“这是已经铸好的一炉”。

With a small hammer, I tapped at the seal that divided the cube in half. Cautiously, I pulled up the top half of the plaster mold and a lead nickel fell out."

我用一个小锤子敲开了密封物并把管子分成两半，我小心地抽掉灰模的上半部，一个铅制的五分硬币便掉了下来。

"Oh, my God!" my dad said. "You're casting nickels out of lead."

“噢，天啊，”老爸叫了起来，用手摸着额头：“你们在用铅造硬币！”

"That's right," Mike said. "We doing as you told us to do. We're making money."

“对啊，”迈克说，“我们按你说的，在自己挣钱呐。”

My dad's friend turned and burst into laughter. My dad smiled and shook his head. Along with a fire and a box of spent toothpaste tubes, in front of him were two little boys covered with white dust and smiling from ear to ear.

爸爸的朋友转过身去爆发出一阵大笑，爸爸则微笑着摇着头。在一堆火和一堆废牙膏皮旁，他面前的两个白灰满面的小男孩正在开心地笑着。

He asked us to put everything down and sit with him on the front step of our house. With a smile, he gently explained what the word "counterfeiting" meant.

爸爸要我们放下手里的东西和他坐到屋外的台阶上，然后他微笑着和蔼地向我们解释了“伪造”一词的含义。

Our dreams were dashed. "You mean this is illegal?" asked Mike in a quivering voice.

我们的梦想破灭了！“你的意思是说这么做是违法的？”迈克用颤抖的声音问。

"Let them go," my dad's friend said. "They might be developing a natural talent."

“别怪他们，”我爸爸的朋友说，“他们也许会成为天才呢。”

My dad glared at him.

我爸爸瞪了他一眼。

"Yes, it is illegal," my dad said gently. "But you boys have shown great creativity and original thought. Keep going. I'm really proud of you!"

“对，这是违法的。”爸爸温和地说，“但是，孩子们，别灰心，我为你们刚才表现出来的巨大的创造性和独立思考精神而感到骄傲。”

Disappointed, Mike and I sat in silence for about twenty minutes before we began cleaning up our mess. The business was over on opening day. Sweeping the powder up, I looked at Mike and said, "I guess Jimmy and his friends are right. We are poor."

失望之中，迈克和我在沉默中坐了20分钟才开始收拾残局。我们的生意在刚开始的第一天就结束了。把粉扫拢时，我望着迈克沮丧地说：“我想基米和他的朋友们是对的，我们只能当穷人了。”

My father was just leaving as I said that. "Boys," he said. "You're only poor if you give up. The most important thing is that you did something. Most people only talk and dream of getting rich. You've done something. I'm very proud of the two of you. I will say it again. Keep going. Don't quit."

爸爸正要离开时听到了这话，“孩子，”他转过身来说，“如果你们放弃了你们才真的只能当穷人了。一件事情的成败并不重要，重要的是你们曾经尝试过。要知道大多数人只是谈论和梦想发财，而你们已经付出了行动。我再说一遍，我为你们骄傲，孩子们，别灰心，别放弃。”

Mike and I stood there in silence. They were nice words, but we still did not know what to do.

迈克和我沉默地站在那儿，话挺对，但我们仍不知应该干些什么。

"So how come you're not rich, dad?" I asked.

“那你为什么不富有呢，爸爸？”我问。

"Because I chose to be a schoolteacher. Schoolteachers really don't think about being rich. We just like to teach. I wish I could help you, but I really don't know how to make money."

“因为我选择了当中学老师。中学老师要专心教书，不该去想怎么发财。我希望我能帮你们，但我真的不知道如何才能赚大钱。”

Mike and I turned and continued our clean up.

迈克和我又回去继续清理现场。

"I know," said my dad. "If you boys want to learn how to be rich, don't ask me. Talk to your dad, Mike."

爸接着说：“如果你们希望了解如何致富，不要问我，去和你爸谈谈，迈克。”