异类之不一样的成功启示录 第91期:成功不止光靠自身努力

Think about this story for a moment. The first lesson is that Friedman was willing to work hard,

让我们回味一下这个故事。我们从中得到的第一条教益，是说弗雷德曼是想努力工作，

take responsibility for himself, and put himself through school.

为自己负责任，使自己完成学业的。

But the second, perhaps more important lesson is that he happened to come along at a time in America where if were willing to work hard, you could take responsibility for yourself and put yourself through school.

但是第二条教益，也许是更重要的一条教益，是他他恰巧赶上美国那个只要你想努力工作，你就为自己负责任并完成学业的时代。

Friedman was, at the time, what we would today call "economically disadvantaged."

当时，弗雷德曼正处于我们今天所说的“不利的经济”背景下。

He was an inner-city kid from the Bronx, neither of whose parents went to college.

他是出生在布朗克斯区的孩子，他的父母都没念过大学。

But look at how easy it was for him to get a good education.

但是，看看他，对他来说，接受良好的大学教育是多么容易的一件事。

He graduated from his public high school in New York at a time when they were the envy of the world.

他毕业于当时全球都著名的纽约公立高中。

And his first option, City College, was free, and his second option, Michigan, was just $450,

他的第一志愿是能够免学费的纽约市公立大学，第二志愿才是密歇根大学，学费也仅是450美元，

and the admissions process was casual enough, apparently, that you could try one school one day and the other the next.

而且他毫不费力就被录取了。正因如此，他才可以今天到这个大学看看，哪一天又到另一个大学转转。

And how did you get there? You hitchhiked, with the money that you made in the summer in your pocket,

他怎样去安娜堡呢?搭便车，用他暑假打工的钱。

and when you arrived, you immediately got a series of really good jobs to help pay your way,

当他到了那里之后，立刻可以得到很多好工作，可以帮他支付其他费用，

because the factories were "looking for people." And of course they were:

因为那里的工厂正“求贤若渴”。当然，他们也是：

they had to feed the needs of the big generation just ahead of those born in the demographic trough of the 1930s,

不得不养活30年代之前出生的一代人，

and the big generation of baby boomers coming up behind them.

及这之后的婴儿出生高峰期的一代人。

The sense of possibility so necessary for success comes not just from inside of us, or from our parents,

必然能够获得成功的判断不仅仅来自我们自身，也不仅来自我们的父母，

it comes from our time: from the particular opportunities that our particular place in history presents us with.

它还来自于我们所处的时代：来自于特殊的历史背景呈现给我们的特殊机会。

For a young would-be lawyer, being born in the early 1930s was a magic time,

对于一个希望年纪轻轻便成为一名律师的人来说，如果出生在20世纪30年代早期，那真是妙不可言的事，

just as being born in 1955 was for a software programmer, or being born of 1835 was for an entrepreneur.

就像编程专家最好出生于1955年或一名企业家最好出生于1835年一样。

Today, Mort Janklow had an office high above Park Avenue filled with gorgeous works of modern art

如今，莫特·詹克洛已经有了一个可以俯瞰纽约公园大道的充满了现代艺术作品的办公室

a Dubuffet, and Anselm Kiefer. He tells hilarious stories.

其中一些是杜布菲的艺术作品，另外一些则是安塞姆·基弗(AnselmKiefer)的。他会讲很多令人愉快的故事。

"My mother had two sisters. On lived to be ninety-nine, the other died at ninety.

我母亲有2个姐妹，一个活到99岁，另一个在90岁去世。

The ninety-nine-year-old was a smart woman. She married my Uncle Al, who was the chief of sales for Maidenform.

99岁的这位姨妈是个聪明的女人，她嫁给我叔叔艾尔，他是美顿芳的销售主管。