我怎樣白手起家雙語美文

　　要是我有個水晶球能窺見未來，我會怎麼樣呢?接下來，小編給大家準備了,歡迎大家參考與借鑑。

　　By Howard Schultz

　　霍華德·舒爾茨

　　[1]When I was a child growing up in public-housing projects in Canarsie, Brooklyn, I remember lying in bed at night thinking: what if I had a crystal ball『水晶球』and could see the future? But I quickly shut out『摒棄』the thought. I realized I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. All I knew was I had to get out of the projects, get out of Brooklyn.

　　[1]小時候我住在紐約市布魯克林區卡納西的房租低廉的住宅區，有一天夜裡躺在床上思量：要是我有個水晶球能窺見未來，我會怎麼樣呢?不過我迅即拋開了這個念頭。我知道自己在人生路上仍然漫無目標，只知道必須設法離開這裡，離開布魯克林。

　　【額外知識】Brooklyn：美國紐約市的五大行政區之一其餘四區是曼哈頓、布朗克斯、昆斯和里士滿，為黑人和窮人聚居區。

　　[2]I was fortunate to go to college, but I didn't know what to do next. I had no mentor 『導師;良師』to help me sort out my options『選擇』. My main goal was to escape the struggles my working-class parents lived with every day.

　　[2]後來我有幸上了大學，卻不知道下一步該怎麼走，也沒有人替我指點迷津。我的父母都是工人階級，每天都必須操勞，而我當時最大的願望就是不步他們的後塵。

　　[3]Eventually I discovered I had a talent for sales, and was hired by a Swedish housewares corporation. By age 28, I was vice president in charge of sales in the United States. I had an excellent salary and a co-op『合作』apartment in New York City, and was happily married to a beautiful woman, Sheri. My parents couldn't believe I had come so far so fast. The life I was leading was beyond their best dreams for me.

　　[3]我發現自己善於推銷，便進入了一家瑞典人開的家庭用品公司工作。我表現出色，28歲就晉升為主管國內銷售的副總裁，薪金優厚。我買了套住宅，又娶了如花似玉的妻子--雪瑞，生活舒適愉快。連我的父母都不敢相信我會如此飛黃騰達。他們從未夢想過我能過上這樣的生活。

　　[4]Most people would be satisfied with all this. But I was getting antsy『熱鍋上螞蟻般的;坐立不安的』. I wanted to be in charge of my own destiny 『命運』. It was around this time, in the early 1980s, that I became aware of a strange phenomenon. A little retailer『零售商』in Seattle was placing large orders for a drip coffee maker: a simple plastic cone 『圓錐體』set on a thermos『保溫瓶』. The company, Starbucks Coffee and Tea, had only four small stores, yet it was buying our product in quantities larger than Macy's was. Why was Seattle so taken with this coffee maker when the rest of the country was using electric coffee makers?

　　[4]一般人有了如此成就，也許會志得意滿，我卻還想更上一層樓，決意要主宰自己的命運。就在這個時候80年代初期，一個奇特現象引起了我的注意。西雅圖有家經營零售業的小公司向我們訂購滴濾式咖啡壺。這家公司名叫"明星咖啡連鎖公司"，只有4家小店，向我們買這種產品的數量卻超過百貨業巨擘梅西公司。當時美國各地普通使用電氣咖啡壺。何以此器具在西雅圖那麼受歡迎?

　　【額外知識】

　　Seattle：美國西北部華盛頓州首府。瀕臨太平洋，著名的波音Boeing飛機制造公司坐落於此。

　　Macy's：即R. H. Macy & Co.梅西公司。美國資格最老、最著名的百貨公司，總部設在紐約。

　　[5]I had to find out, so I went to Seattle.

　　[5]為了查明原委，我前往西雅圖。

　　Fresh Approach

　　濃郁香氣撲鼻而來

　　[6]Starbucks's flagship store was modest『樸素的』but full of character. The minute the door opened, a heady『刺鼻的;濃烈的』aroma『芳香』of coffee drew me in. Behind a wooden counter stood bins containing coffees from all over: Sumatra, Kenya, Ethiopia, Costa Rica. Along one wall was a shelf full of coffee-related merchandise『商品;貨物』, including our thermos-and-cone coffee maker.

　　[6]明星咖啡連鎖公司的總店樸實無華，卻別具風格。我一推開店門，濃郁醉人的咖啡香氣便撲鼻而來。木櫃臺後面有一列箱子，分別裝盛從蘇門答臘、肯亞、衣索比亞和哥斯大黎加世界各地進口的咖啡。靠著牆的貨架上擺滿各種咖啡用具，包括我們生產的滴濾式咖啡壺。

　　[7]The counterman scooped『用勺舀』out Sumatran coffee beans, ground『grind的過去式。磨;碾碎』them, put the grounds in a filter『過濾器』 in the cone and poured hot water over them to give me a sample of their product. When he handed me the coffee, the aroma enveloped『籠罩;掩蓋』my entire face. I took a tentative『實驗性的;試探性的』sip.

　　[7]櫃檯服務員用勺子舀出少許蘇門答臘咖啡豆，磨成粉，倒入滴濾式咖啡壺的濾格，澆下熱水，衝一杯咖啡供我品嚐。他把杯子遞過來時，咖啡的香氣籠罩了我的臉。我淺嘗了一口。

　　[8]Whoa. My eyes shot wide open. It was stronger than any coffee I had ever tasted. By comparison, I realized, the coffee I had been drinking was swill『洗碟水;泔水』. That night I had dinner with one of Starbucks's owners, Jerry Baldwin. I had never heard anyone talk about a product the way Jerry talked about coffee. He wasn't just calculating『算計』 how to maximize『使增加/擴大到最大限度』 sales. He and his partner, Gordon Bowker, believed they were providing customers with something they ought to enjoy. It was an approach to business that was fresh and appealing『動人的;有吸引力的』to me.

　　[8]"哇!"我心裡讚歎，不由得兩眼圓睜。這是我有生以來所喝過的最濃烈的咖啡，以前喝的咖啡相形之下像洗碟水。當晚我跟明星咖啡連鎖公司的股東傑裡·巴登一起吃飯。我以前從未見過有誰像他談咖啡那樣談論某些產品。巴登不只是努力推銷而已：他和合夥人戈登·博格都相信，他們所賣的都是顧客會喜愛的東西。這樣的經商態度令我耳目一新，也為之心折。

　　Inexplicable Attraction

　　不可言喻的吸引力

　　[9]I tried to persuade Jerry Baldwin to hire me-although it did not seem to be a logical career move. Taking a job at Starbucks would mean giving up my job and Sheri's job-and for what? Moving across the country to join a tiny outfit 『公司;機構』with four coffee stores? It didn't make sense to my friends or family, especially my mother. "You're doing well-you have a future," she argued. "Don't give it up for a small company nobody's heard of ."

　　[9]我想說服巴登僱用我--老實說，此舉似乎並不明智。我如果去明星咖啡連鎖公司上班，就必須辭去現在的職位，而我的妻子也必須放棄現在的工作。我的親友，尤其是母親，都認為我的想法沒有道理。"你現在乾得很不錯--前途遠大，"她勸道："不要為一個誰都沒有聽說過的小公司而放棄現在的工作。"

　　[10]I thought of the loss of security『保障』, remembering how when I was seven my father had broken his ankle at work. He was stuck at home for more than a month. He was a truck driver delivering diapers『尿布』, so when he didn't work, he didn't get paid. Our family had no income, no health insurance『保險』-nothing to fall back on. That image of my father-slumped『垂頭彎腰地坐』on the couch, leg in a cast-was burned into my mind.

　　[10]我考慮的是失去保障，不禁想起7歲那年父親工作時摔斷踝骨，在家裡困了一個多月的往事。他的職業是開卡車運送尿布，不上班就沒有工資，我們一家人的生活頓時陷入困境。他一條腿裹著石膏頹然坐在長沙發上的情景，深深印在我的記憶中。

　　擴充套件：泥石流詞彙

　　Mudslide 泥石流

　　mudslide-stricken region 泥石流受災地區

　　the lake's water volume 湖水水量

　　landslide 山體滑坡

　　rain-triggered landslide 暴雨引發的山體滑坡

　　raised riverbed 抬高的河床

　　geological disasters 地質災害

　　secondary disaster 次生災害

　　barrier lake 堰塞湖

　　upper reaches 上游河段