異類之不一樣的成功啟示錄 第91期:成功不止光靠自身努力

Think about this story for a moment. The first lesson is that Friedman was willing to work hard,

讓我們回味一下這個故事。我們從中得到的第一條教益，是說弗雷德曼是想努力工作，

take responsibility for himself, and put himself through school.

為自己負責任，使自己完成學業(yè)的。

But the second, perhaps more important lesson is that he happened to come along at a time in America where if were willing to work hard, you could take responsibility for yourself and put yourself through school.

但是第二條教益，也許是更重要的一條教益，是他他恰巧趕上美國那個只要你想努力工作，你就為自己負責任并完成學業(yè)的時代。

Friedman was, at the time, what we would today call "economically disadvantaged."

當時，弗雷德曼正處于我們今天所說的“不利的經濟”背景下。

He was an inner-city kid from the Bronx, neither of whose parents went to college.

他是出生在布朗克斯區(qū)的孩子，他的父母都沒念過大學。

But look at how easy it was for him to get a good education.

但是，看看他，對他來說，接受良好的大學教育是多么容易的一件事。

He graduated from his public high school in New York at a time when they were the envy of the world.

他畢業(yè)于當時全球都著名的紐約公立高中。

And his first option, City College, was free, and his second option, Michigan, was just $450,

他的第一志愿是能夠免學費的紐約市公立大學，第二志愿才是密歇根大學，學費也僅是450美元，

and the admissions process was casual enough, apparently, that you could try one school one day and the other the next.

而且他毫不費力就被錄取了。正因如此，他才可以今天到這個大學看看，哪一天又到另一個大學轉轉。

And how did you get there? You hitchhiked, with the money that you made in the summer in your pocket,

他怎樣去安娜堡呢?搭便車，用他暑假打工的錢。

and when you arrived, you immediately got a series of really good jobs to help pay your way,

當他到了那里之后，立刻可以得到很多好工作，可以幫他支付其他費用，

because the factories were "looking for people." And of course they were:

因為那里的工廠正“求賢若渴”。當然，他們也是：

they had to feed the needs of the big generation just ahead of those born in the demographic trough of the 1930s,

不得不養(yǎng)活30年代之前出生的一代人，

and the big generation of baby boomers coming up behind them.

及這之后的嬰兒出生高峰期的一代人。

The sense of possibility so necessary for success comes not just from inside of us, or from our parents,

必然能夠獲得成功的判斷不僅僅來自我們自身，也不僅來自我們的父母，

it comes from our time: from the particular opportunities that our particular place in history presents us with.

它還來自于我們所處的時代：來自于特殊的歷史背景呈現(xiàn)給我們的特殊機會。

For a young would-be lawyer, being born in the early 1930s was a magic time,

對于一個希望年紀輕輕便成為一名律師的人來說，如果出生在20世紀30年代早期，那真是妙不可言的事，

just as being born in 1955 was for a software programmer, or being born of 1835 was for an entrepreneur.

就像編程專家最好出生于1955年或一名企業(yè)家最好出生于1835年一樣。

Today, Mort Janklow had an office high above Park Avenue filled with gorgeous works of modern art

如今，莫特·詹克洛已經有了一個可以俯瞰紐約公園大道的充滿了現(xiàn)代藝術作品的辦公室

a Dubuffet, and Anselm Kiefer. He tells hilarious stories.

其中一些是杜布菲的藝術作品，另外一些則是安塞姆·基弗(AnselmKiefer)的。他會講很多令人愉快的故事。

"My mother had two sisters. On lived to be ninety-nine, the other died at ninety.

我母親有2個姐妹，一個活到99歲，另一個在90歲去世。

The ninety-nine-year-old was a smart woman. She married my Uncle Al, who was the chief of sales for Maidenform.

99歲的這位姨媽是個聰明的女人，她嫁給我叔叔艾爾，他是美頓芳的銷售主管。