异类之不一样的成功启示录 第88期:经济大萧条扼杀致富梦

 　　Maurice Janklow was born in 1902.

　　莫里斯·詹克洛出生于1902年，

　　When the Depression started, he was newly married and had just bough¹ his big car,

　　经济大萧条开始时，他刚结婚不久，刚买了一辆新车，

　　moved to Queens, and made his great gamble² on the writing-paper business. His timing³ could not have been worse.

　　刚搬到皇后区，他把全部赌注都押在撰写商业法律文件上，但他的时机实在是糟糕透了。

　　"He was going to make a fortune," Maurice Janklow says of his father.

　　“他打算大赚一笔，”莫特·詹克洛讲到他的父亲时说，

　　"But the Depression killed him economically.

　　“但是经济大萧条将扼杀了他的致富梦，

　　He didn't have any reserves, and he had no family to fall back on.

　　他没有一点储蓄，也没有可以求助的人。

　　And from then on, he became very much a scrivener-type of lawyer.

　　从那时起，他变成了一个完全书记式的律师。

　　He didn't have a courage to take risks after that. It was too much for him.

　　打那以后，他没有勇气再冒险，他受够了。

　　My father used to close titles for twenty-five dollars.

　　我父亲曾经因为25美元出让了自己的法律文案的所有权。

　　He had a friend who worked at the Jamaica Savings⁴ Bank who would throw him some business.

　　他有一个在牙买加储蓄银行工作的朋友，他的这位朋友经常照顾我父亲一些生意。

　　He would kill himself for twenty-five bucks⁵, doing the whole closing, title reports.

　　为了25美元，我父亲放弃文案的所有权，为此他几乎要自杀。

　　For twenty-five bucks! I can remember my father and mother in the morning," Janklow continued.

　　就是为了25美金！”“我还记得有天早上，我的父亲和母亲在一块商量，”詹克洛接着说，

　　"He would say to her, 'I got a dollar of seventy-five. I need ten cents for the bus, ten cents for the subway, a quarter for a sandwich,' and he would give her the rest. They were that close to the edge."

　　“他对她说，‘我现在只有1美元75美分，我坐巴士需要10美分，坐地铁需要10美分，买三明治需要花15美分’，然后他把剩下的给了我母亲。他们是那样窘迫。”

　　Now contrast that experience with the experience of someone like Mort Janklow who was born in the 1930s.

　　现在，让我们来看看那些出生在20世纪30年代的人，看他们的经历与同在20世纪30年代出生的莫特·詹克洛有什么异同。

　　If you would look at the birthrates in the United States for the first half of the twentieth century,

　　看一下下面的图表。这张图表显示了美国从1910年至1950年的出生率。

　　you'll see that in 1950 there are almost three million babies born.

　　在1915年，几乎有300万的新生儿，

　　By 1935, that number drops by almost six hundred thousand.

　　到了1935年，新生儿的数目降到60万，

　　And then, within a decade and a half, that number's back over three million again.

　　又过了15年，新生儿的数目又重回到300万。

　　To put it in more precise terms, for every one thousand Americans, there were 29.5 babies born in 1950;

　　更确切地说，每1000个美国人中，就有29.5个婴儿出生于1915年；

　　18.7 babies born in 1935; and 24.1 babies born in 1950.

　　18.7个婴儿出生于1935年；24.1个婴儿出生于1950年。

　　The decade of the 1930s is what is called a "demographic trough."

　　20世纪30年代因此被称为“出生低谷”。

　　In response to the economic hardship of the Depression, families simply stopped having children,

　　为了在经济大萧条时期度过困境，美国的许多家庭都不要孩子，

　　and as a result, the generation born during that decade was markedly smaller than both the generation that preceded⁶ it

　　结果是，那10年出生的一代人在数量上比在他们之前出生

　　and the generation that immediately followed it.

　　及在他们之后出生的人显著减少。

1 bough   

n.大树枝，主枝

参考例句：

• I rested my fishing rod against a pine bough.我把钓鱼竿靠在一棵松树的大树枝上。
• Every bough was swinging in the wind.每条树枝都在风里摇摆。

2 gamble   

n.冒险；v.赌博，孤注一掷

参考例句：

• Setting up this business was a bit of a gamble.开办这样的公司有点冒险。
• Drive carefully and don't gamble with your life.小心驾驶，别拿你的生命冒险。

3 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

4 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

5 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 preceded   

在…之前发生（或出现），先于( precede的过去式和过去分词 )； 走在…前面

参考例句：

• He preceded his speech with a warning against inattention. 他在开始讲演前告诫大家不得心不在焉。
• He preceded his speech with welcome to the guests. 他在正式讲演前，先对来宾表示欢迎。