公众人物毕业演讲 第139期:2012年Michael Lewis普林斯顿大学(3)

 　　I wrote at nights, without much effect mainly because I hadn't the first clue what I should write about

　　我在晚上写作 没有造成什么影响主要是因为我不知道该写哪些东西

　　One night, I was invited to a dinner where I sat next to the wife of a big shot at a giant Wall Street investment bank, called Salomon Brothers

　　一天晚上 我被邀请参加一个晚宴我身旁的女士是一个华尔街投资银行的大佬的太太那家银行叫做所罗门兄弟公司

　　She more or less forced her husband to give me a job

　　她基本上迫使她的丈夫给了我一份工作

　　I knew next to nothing about Salomon Brothers

　　我那时对所罗门兄弟公司根本一无所知

　　But Salomon Brothers happened to be where Wall Street was being reinvented into the place we have all come to know and love today

　　但所罗门兄弟公司恰好处在华尔街转型的前线转成那个如今我们都知道并爱的样子

　　When I got there I was assigned, almost arbitrarily to the very best job and place to observe the growing madness they turned me into the house derivatives¹ expert

　　当我到了那家公司 我被几乎随机的分配到了一份最好的工作使我有机会观察这滋长中的疯狂他们把我变成一个衍生产品的内部专家

　　A year and a half later Salomon Brothers was handing me a check for hundreds of thousands of dollars to give advice about derivatives to professional investors²

　　一年半以后 所罗门兄弟开给我数十万美元的支票让我给专业投资者提供有关衍生产品的咨询

　　Now I had something to write about Salomon Brothers

　　现在 我有东西可写了 所罗门兄弟公司

　　Wall Street had become so unhinged that it was paying recent Princeton graduates who knew nothing about money small fortunes to pretend to be experts about money

　　华尔街已经变得如此的精神错乱它会给普林斯顿一个对金钱一窍不通的新毕业生一大笔钱来假扮理财专家

　　I'd stumbled³ into my next senior thesis⁴

　　我误打误撞找到了自己的下一部高级论文

　　I called up my father. I told him

　　我打给我爸爸

　　I was going to quit this job that now promised me millions of dollars to write a book for an advance of 40 grand

　　我告诉他我要辞掉这个百万美元的工作来写一本只有4万美元预付款的书

　　There was a long pause on the other end of the line

　　电话那边沉默了很久

　　You might just want to think about that, he said

　　也许你该再考虑一下 他说

　　Why? I asked

　　为什么？我问

　　You could stay at Salomon Brothers 10 years, make your fortune and then write your books, he said

　　在所罗门兄弟公司再干10年 赚一大笔钱然后再写你的书 他说

1 derivatives   

n.衍生性金融商品；派生物，引出物( derivative的名词复数 )；导数

参考例句：

• Many English words are derivatives of Latin words. 许多英语词来自拉丁语。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These compounds are nitrosohydroxylamine derivatives. 这类合成物是亚硝基羟胺衍生物。 来自辞典例句

2 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

3 stumbled   

v.（不顺畅地）说( stumble的过去式和过去分词 )；跌跌撞撞地走；绊脚；（说话、演奏等）出错

参考例句：

• I stumbled and sprained my ankle. 我摔了一跤，把脚脖子扭了。
• The child stumbled and fell. 孩子绊了一下，摔倒了。

4 thesis   

n.论题，论点，论文

参考例句：

• His thesis is being finished off.他的论文快写完了。
• He argued his thesis well.他为他的论点进行了有力的辩论。