5. How to make fortune
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(wàn)富翁
3. naive 天真的
4. patient 有耐心的
發(fā)財(cái)之路
一位相信自己能夠做成一番事業(yè)的年輕人，機(jī)緣巧合，遇到了一位聲名顯赫的億萬(wàn)富翁。他心想，這或許是向億萬(wàn)富翁請(qǐng)教如何尋求發(fā)財(cái)之路的好時(shí)機(jī)，但轉(zhuǎn)念一想，覺(jué)得貿(mào)然請(qǐng)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(qǐng)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(lái)。
“記得那一年是大蕭條，我只有5美分?！薄芭?，那是1929年，對(duì)吧？”學(xué)識(shí)豐富的年輕人說(shuō)。
“是啊，我就用這5美分買(mǎi)了一個(gè)蘋(píng)果。第二天，用10美分賣(mài)了出去?！薄芭?，你賺了5分錢(qián)啦。”年輕人若有所思。
“第二天，我又用這10美分，買(mǎi)了兩個(gè)蘋(píng)果?！薄芭?，那么，第三天你一定把兩個(gè)蘋(píng)果都賣(mài)了出去。”聰明的年輕人恍然大悟。“哦，第三天，蘋(píng)果我忘記哪里去了，因?yàn)槟翘煳揖屠^承了一筆200萬(wàn)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(guó)乃至全球歷史上最恐怖的一次經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)拉開(kāi)序幕，人們迎來(lái)了長(zhǎng)達(dá)十年的大蕭條。
