异类之不一样的成功启示录 第78期:没人说他是一个天才

 I hope by now that you are skeptical¹ of this kind of story.

我相信你现在对我讲的这个故事将信将疑。

Brilliant immigrant kid overcomes poverty in the Depression, can't get a job at the stuffy² downtown law firm, makes it all on his own through sheer hustle³ and ability.

一个富有才气的外来移民的孩子，他虽然克服了贫穷和绝望，但不可能在市区乏味的律师事务所找到一份工作，不可能只靠自己的才华和努力就挣大钱。

It's a rags-to-riches story, and everything we've learned so far from hocky players and software billionaires and the Termites⁴ suggests that success doesn't happen that way.

这是一个从穷光蛋到富翁的故事，但是我们前面所有的故事都认为成功是不可能发生在穷光蛋身上的，无论是曲棍球运动员、软件行业的亿万富翁，还是特曼人，他们都不是这种人。

Successful people don't do it alone.

成功人士不可能仅凭一己之力就获得成功，

Where they come from matters.

他们的成功离不开自身之外的很多因素。

They are products of particular places and environments.

他们总是在特定的环境和条件下产生。

Just as we did, then, with Bill Joy and Chris Langan, let's start over with Joseph Flom,

那么，正如我们前面对比尔·乔伊和克里斯·兰根所做的分析一样，

this time putting to use everything we've learned from the first half of this book.

现在我们也利用前面四章所学到的，来对约瑟夫·弗洛姆进行分析。

No more talk of Joe Flom's intelligence, or personality, or ambition, although he obviously has these three things in abundance.

人们很少说到乔·弗洛姆的智商、性情、雄心，虽然他显然在以上三个方面都很丰富；

No glowing quotations⁶ from his clients, testifying to his genius.

他的客户也没什么热情洋溢的评语，没人说他是一个天才；

No more colorful tales from the meteoric⁷ rise of Skadden, Arps, Slate⁸, Meagher and Flom.

一路飙升的世达律师事务所也没什么缤纷多彩的故事。

Instead, I'm going to tell a series of stories in the New York immigrant world that Joe Flom grew up in-a fellow law student,

我们将要讲述的，是来自纽约移民社会，一个名叫乔·弗洛姆的人成长的系列故事——我们将从一个学法律的学生，

a father and son named Maurice and Mort Janklow,

一对名为莫里斯（Maurice）和莫特·詹克洛（MortJanklow）的父子，

and the extraordinary couple by the name of Louis and Regina Borgenicht-in the hopes of answering a critical question.

一对叫做路易斯（Louis）和瑞吉娜·鲍各尼特（ReginaBorgenicht）的夫妇那里听到这个故事——希望能从他们那里找到答案的关键问题所在。

What were Joe Flom's opportunities?

乔·弗洛姆的机遇是什么？

Since we know that outliers always have help along the way, can we sort through the ecology of Joe Flom and identify the conditions that helped creat him?

我们知道，那些卓尔不群的人都受益于各方面的因素，那么，我们是否能抽丝剥茧地对乔·弗洛姆的生活环境进行分析，从而找到成就他一番事业的主要原因？

We tell rags-to-riches stories because we find something captivating in the idea of a lone⁵ hero battling overwhelming odds⁹.

我们常常听别人讲一些从穷光蛋到富翁的故事，因为一个敢于挑战艰难困苦的孤胆英雄，有他自身的魅力。

But the true story of Joe Flom's life turns out to be much more intriguing¹⁰ than the mythological¹¹ version

与那些虚构的英雄故事相比，乔·弗洛姆生命中的真实故事更令人着迷，

because all the things as seemed in his life to have been disadvantages-that he was a poor child of garment workers;

因为他生命中的所有事情看起来似乎都是不利条件——他是一个外衣制作工人家的穷孩子；

that he was Jewish at a time when Jews were heavily discriminated¹² against;

犹太人的他，生活在一个犹太人受尽歧视的时代；

that he grew up in the Depression-turn out, unexpectedly, to have been advantages.

他的成长历程令人觉得沮丧——要获得好的转机，似乎非常渺茫。

1 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

2 stuffy   

adj.不透气的，闷热的

参考例句：

• It's really hot and stuffy in here.这里实在太热太闷了。
• It was so stuffy in the tent that we could sense the air was heavy with moisture.帐篷里很闷热，我们感到空气都是潮的。

3 hustle   

v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌)

参考例句：

• It seems that he enjoys the hustle and bustle of life in the big city.看起来他似乎很喜欢大城市的热闹繁忙的生活。
• I had to hustle through the crowded street.我不得不挤过拥挤的街道。

4 termites   

n.白蚁( termite的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Termites are principally tropical in distribution. 白蚁主要分布在热带地区。 来自辞典例句
• This spray will exterminate the termites. 这种喷剂能消灭白蚁。 来自辞典例句

5 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

6 quotations   

n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价

参考例句：

• The insurance company requires three quotations for repairs to the car. 保险公司要修理这辆汽车的三家修理厂的报价单。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These quotations cannot readily be traced to their sources. 这些引语很难查出出自何处。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 meteoric   

adj.流星的，转瞬即逝的，突然的

参考例句：

• In my mind,losing weight is just something meteoric.在我眼中，减肥不过是昙花一现的事情。
• His early career had been meteoric.他的早期生涯平步青云。

8 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

9 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

10 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 mythological   

adj.神话的

参考例句：

• He is remembered for his historical and mythological works. 他以其带有历史感和神话色彩的作品而著称。
• But even so, the cumulative process had for most Americans a deep, almost mythological significance. 不过即使如此，移民渐增的过程，对于大部分美国人，还是意味深长的，几乎有不可思议的影响。

12 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？