异类之不一样的成功启示录 第100期:唯一能够同大公司进行竞争的机会

On one occasion, Borgenicht realized that his only chance to undercut bigger firms was to convince the wholesalers to sell cloth to him directly, cutting out the middlemen.

一次，路易斯突然意识到，他唯一能够同大公司进行竞争的机会就是说服零售商将布料直接卖给他，而去除中间商的环节，

He went to see Mr. Bingham at Lawrence and Company, a "tall, gaunt, white-bearded yankee with steel-blew eyes."

他直接找到位于劳伦斯的比格汉姆先生和他的公司，他是一个又高又瘦、留着白色胡须、有着深蓝色眼镜的美国佬。

There the two of them were, the immigrant from rural Poland, his eyes ringed with fatigue, facing off in his halting English, against the imperious yankee.

那里有两个来自波兰乡村的移民，路易斯的眼睛里流露出疲惫的神情，他用磕磕巴巴的英语来试图说服这个傲慢的美国佬。

Borgenicht said he wanted to buy forty cases of cashmere.

路易斯说他想买50件开司米，

Bingham had never before sold to an inpidual company, let alone a shoestring operation on Sheriff street.

比格汉姆从来没有直接同个人公司做过交易，更别提这种位于Sheriff街上的一家小公司了。

"You have a hell of a cheek coming in here and asking for favors!" Bingham thundered. But he ended up saying yes.

“每天有成群的人跑到我这里来，要我帮忙。”比格汉姆大声说道。但是最终，他还是同意了路易斯的要求。

What Borgenicht was getting in his eighteen-hour days was a lesson in the modern economy.

鲍各尼特18小时的案例可以作为现代经济的学习案例。

He was learning market research. He was learning manufacturing.

他学习做市场调查，他学习生产流程

He was learning how to negotiate with imperious yankees.

他学习怎样同傲慢的美国佬来讨价还价。

He was learning how to plug himself into popular culture in order to understand new fashion trends.

他学习了解流行文化，目的是可以了解流行趋势。

The Irish and Italian immigrants who came to New York in the same period didn't have that same advantage.

同一阶段移民到纽约的爱尔兰人和意大利人就没有这种优势，

They didn't have a skill specific to the urban economy.

他们缺乏适应城市生活的特殊技能。

They went to work as day laborers and domestics and construction workers,

他们大多数都在白天上班、在家做工，或者作为建筑工人。

jobs where you could show up for work every day for thirty years and never learn market research and manufacturing and how to navigate the popular culture and how to negotiate with the yankees, who ran the world.

那些30年如一日，每天都需要上班却从没机会学习市场调研、学习工厂生产流程、接触流行文化以及与那些掌握着社会命脉的美国人讨价还价。

Or consider the fade of the Mexicans who immigrated to California between 1900 and the end of 1920s to work in the fields of the big fruit and vegetable growers.

或者想象一下那些在1900年到1920年期间移民到加利福尼亚州的墨西哥移民的命运。他们大多数都在大型的水果蔬菜种植园工作。

They simply exchanged the life of a feudal peasant in Mexico for the life of feudal peasant in California.

由于在加利福尼亚的务农生活，他们也随之改变了墨西哥的封建农民的生活。

"The conditions in the garment industry were every bit as bad," Soyer goes on.

“服装行业的状况也不尽人如意”，索耶继续说道，

"But as a garment worker, you were close to the center of the industry.

“但是作为一名服装工人，你离行业的核心很近，

If you are working in the field in California, you have no clue what's happening to the produce when it gets on the truck.

如果你在加利福尼亚种植园里工作，那么当农作物被装上货车时，你是不会知道它是怎么被种植出来的”。

If you are working in a small garment shop, your wages are low, and your conditions were terrible, and your hours were long,

如果你在一家小小的服装店铺工作，尽管工资很低，工作环境也很恶劣，工作时间也很长，

but you can see exactly what the successful people are doing, and you can see how you can set up your own job."

但是你可以学习到成功人士的一举一动。通过他们你也可以知道，自己如何能够建立自己的事业。”