服飾藝術(shù)的從業(yè)者,來(lái)自歐洲每個(gè)角落的經(jīng)營(yíng)神奇布料的服裝商,
traders who visited the centers of industry on their annual buying tours—these were the merchant princes of my youth.
每年都要拜訪行業(yè)中心,進(jìn)行購(gòu)買之旅的經(jīng)貿(mào)商——他們是我年輕時(shí)有影響力的富商。
Their voices were heard, their weight felt."
他們有話語(yǔ)權(quán),他們很有分量。”
Borgenicht worked in piece goods for a man named Epstein,
各尼特在一個(gè)布料店為一個(gè)叫伊泊斯坦的人干活,
then moved on to a store in neighboring Jaslow called Brandstatter's.
然后到一個(gè)叫布蘭德斯達(dá)特的鄰居店里。
It was there that the young Borgenicht learned the ins and outs of all the dozens of different varieties of cloth,
就在那年輕的鮑各尼特學(xué)到了各種布料的里里外外的東西,
to the point where he could run his hand over a fabric and tell you the thread count,
這是他能上手紡織品并告訴你其中細(xì)節(jié)的地方,
the name of the manufacture, and the place of its origin.
制造商的名字,起源地。
A few years later, Borgenicht moved to Hungary and met Regina.
幾年后,鮑各尼特搬到了匈牙利遇到了瑞吉娜。
She had been running a dressing making business since the age of sixteen.
從她16歲起,她就一直在經(jīng)營(yíng)服裝制造生意。
Together they opened a series of small piece goods stores,
他們一起開(kāi)了好幾個(gè)小布店,
painstakingly learning the ins and outs of small business entrepreneurship.
辛苦地從中學(xué)到了小商品企業(yè)家要了解的細(xì)枝末節(jié)。
Borgenicht's great brainstorm that day on upturned box on Hester Street,
那天當(dāng)鮑各尼特坐在翻過(guò)來(lái)的箱子上時(shí),
then, did not come from nowhere. He was a veteran of Schnittwaren Handlung,
他偉大的靈感不是憑空而來(lái)的。他是個(gè)布坊里的老手,
and his wife was a seasoned dressmaker. This was their field.
他的妻子則是富有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的裁縫。這就是他們的領(lǐng)域。
And at the same time as the Borgenichts set up shop inside their tiny apartment,
同時(shí)當(dāng)他在他們的小公寓設(shè)立起小店的時(shí)候,
thousands of other Jewish immigrants were doing the same thing,
成千上萬(wàn)的猶太人在做同樣的事,
putting their sewing and dressmaking and tailoring skills to use, to the point where by 1900,
利用他們的縫紉技術(shù),到1900年的時(shí)候,
control of the garment industry had passed almost entirely into the hands of the Eastern European newcomers.
對(duì)服裝行業(yè)的限制完全取消了,服裝行業(yè)完全進(jìn)入了東歐移民的手中。
As Borgenicht puts it, the Jews "bit deep into the welcoming land
當(dāng)鮑各尼特干上這行的時(shí)候,猶太人已經(jīng)“深深的控制了這行”
and worked like madmen at what they had knew."
并且在他們熟知的領(lǐng)域瘋狂而執(zhí)著地工作。
Today, at a time when New York is a center of enormous and persified metropolitan area,
如今,當(dāng)紐約還是大量的多元的城市中心地區(qū)的時(shí)候,
it is easy to forget the significance of the set of skills that immigrants like the Borgenichts brought to the New World.
人們很容易遺忘掉像鮑各尼特這樣的移民帶來(lái)的大量的技術(shù)。
From the late nineteenth century through the middle of the twentieth century,
從19世紀(jì)晚期開(kāi)始到20世紀(jì)中期,
the garment trade was the largest and most economically vibrant industry in the city.
服裝貿(mào)易是城市里最大的最繁榮的行業(yè)。
More people worked making clothes in New York than worked at anything else,
紐約有比任何其他地方都多的人從事服裝制造,
and more clothes were manufactured in New York than in any other city in the world.
紐約制造的服裝也比世界其他任何地方制造的都多。