Once a young man who believed he himself can achieve1 great happened to meet a famous billionaire2, he thought it might be a great opportunity to ask the billionaire how to make fortune, but his second thought was that it might be naive3 and impolite to ask directly, so he decided to ask the billionaire how he started in the beginning. The billion was very patient4, and told him a long story.
I remember that year came with the Great Depression, and all I have was only 5 cents. "That year was 1929, wasn't it?" The knowledgeable young man said.
Yeah, I spent the 5 cents buying an apple, and sold it out in 10 cents the second day. "Oh, then you earned 5 cents." The young man looked thoughtful.
The following day I bought 2 apples with 10 cents. "I see, then you must have sold out the 2 apples!" The clever young man was enlightened. "Well, I had no idea where were the apples at the third day, because at that day I inherited 2 million dollars."
Notes:
1. achieve 成就,完成
2. billionaire 億萬富翁
3. naive 天真的
4. patient 有耐心的
一位相信自己能夠做成一番事業(yè)的年輕人,機緣巧合,遇到了一位聲名顯赫的億萬富翁。他心想,這或許是向億萬富翁請教如何尋求發(fā)財之路的好時機,但轉(zhuǎn)念一想,覺得貿(mào)然請教別人發(fā)達(dá)秘訣不僅不客氣,還顯得自己幼稚,于是他變通了一下,請教這位富翁當(dāng)年是如何起步走向成功的。富翁倒是好耐性,娓娓道來。
“記得那一年是大蕭條,我只有5美分?!薄芭叮鞘?929年,對吧?”學(xué)識豐富的年輕人說。
“是啊,我就用這5美分買了一個蘋果。第二天,用10美分賣了出去?!薄芭?,你賺了5分錢啦?!蹦贻p人若有所思。
“第二天,我又用這10美分,買了兩個蘋果。”“哦,那么,第三天你一定把兩個蘋果都賣了出去?!甭斆鞯哪贻p人恍然大悟?!芭叮谌?,蘋果我忘記哪里去了,因為那天我就繼承了一筆200萬美元的遺產(chǎn)?!?
Useful link:
經(jīng)濟(jì)大蕭條:1929年10月28日,紐約證券交易所股指暴跌13%。第二天,道瓊斯指數(shù)一瀉千里,暴跌22%……美國乃至全球歷史上最恐怖的一次經(jīng)濟(jì)危機拉開序幕,人們迎來了長達(dá)十年的大蕭條。