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. |