英漢英語美文賞析：名人的第一份工作(雙語閱讀)

Celebrities' First Jobs

名人的第一份工作

Clint Black-The Newspaper Solicitor
When I was 14, I was hired for an after-school job selling subscriptions to my Hometown paper, the Houston Post. I was sent to some of the city's worst neighborhoods to solicit door-to-door. Even though I was often scrambling around after dark in bad areas searching for garage apartments, I was grateful for the work.

克林特·布萊克——報紙推銷員
14歲的時候，我得到了一份放學后的零工——為我家鄉的報紙《休斯頓郵報》推銷訂單。我被派去向城里一些最難對付的住戶挨家挨戶地征求訂單。即使常常要在天黑之后到治安混亂的地區去尋找那些帶車庫的公寓，但我仍然對得到這份工作心存感激。

It was a challenge because people didn't like a stranger knocking on their door, especially a kid trying to get them to buy something. One time, a man slammed his door in my face and screamed, "I Don't want no damn paper." I forced myself to knock again and was able to tell him how great the paper was. I ended up selling him a subscription. I was soon among the top subscription sellers and, like other successful salesmen, was given responsibility for training newcomers.

這是一項挑戰，因為人們不喜歡一個陌生人來敲自己的房門，尤其是一個試圖讓他們買東西的孩子。有一次，一個男人在我面前"砰"的一聲關上了門并尖叫道:"我不想訂什么該死的報紙。"我強迫自己再次敲他的門，告訴他這是一份多么精彰的報紙。最后，他簽了一份訂單。我很快就躋身于高銷量訂單推銷員之列，并像其他成功的銷售員一樣，開始負責培訓新人。

Around this time I started playing the harmonica and guitar. Before long I was playing in a band at chili cook-offs and other events. When I turned 18, I focused my attention on becoming a professional musician. I never lost sight of this dream. I'm sure my perseverance came from what I learned knocking on strangers' doors.

在此期間，我開始演奏口琴和吉他。不久之后，我就加入了一支樂隊，在辣椒烹飪比賽和其他活動中表演。18歲的時候，我開始致力于成為一名職業音樂人。我從沒有忘記過這個夢想。我相信，這種堅定不移的精神就是我在學會敲開陌生人的房門的過程中形成的。

That experience helped me in many ways. Early in my music career I was locked in a legal dispute with a former manager. He pressured me to back off, but I refused.

那種經歷在許多方面都對我非常有益。在我音樂生涯的初期，我曾糾纏于與一位前任經紀人的法律爭議之中。他強迫我離開，但我拒絕了。

Having all those doors slammed in my face as a kid gave me the strength to stand up to this intimidating figure. Except this time there was one difference: I was the one saying no. And I won.

所有那些吃閉門羹的經歷給了我力量，使我能夠勇敢地與這個威脅我的人對抗。只有這一次不同:我是那個說"不"的人。我贏了。

Louis Caldera-The Parking-Lot Sweeper Both my parents came from towns in Mexico. I was born in EI Paso, Texas, and when I was four, my family moved to a housing project in East Los Angeles.

路易斯·卡爾德——控停車場清潔員
我的父母都來自墨西哥的小鎮。我出生在得克薩斯州的埃爾帕索市，在我4歲的時候，我們全家搬到了洛杉磯東部的一個住宅區。

Even though we struggled to make ends meet, my parents stressed to me and my four brothers and sisters how fortunate we were to live in a great country with limitless opportunities. They imbued in us the concepts of family, faith and patriotism.

盡管我們掙扎度日，勉強維持收支平衡，但我的父母仍然對我和我的4個兄弟姐妹強調我們多么幸運，能夠生活在一個充滿無限機遇的偉大國家里。他們向我們灌輸家庭、信念和愛國精神的觀念。

I got my first real job when I was ten. My dad, Benjamin, injured his back working in a cardboard-box factory and was retrained as a hairstylist. He rented space in a little strip mall and gave his shop the fancy name of Mr. Ben's Coiffure.

10歲的時候，我得到了第一份真正的工作。我的父親本杰明在一家紙箱廠工作的時候，后背受傷了，他學習成為一名美發師。他在一條商業小街上租了一個地方，給自己的店鋪起了一個奇特的名字——本先生發型店。

The owner of the shopping center gave Dad a discount on his rent for cleaning the parking lot three nights a week, which meant getting up at 3a.m. To pick up trash, Dad used a little machine that looked like a lawn mower. Mom and I emptied garbage cans and picked up litter by hand. It took two to three hours to clean the lot. I'd sleep in the car on the way home.

商業街的業主在租金上給爸爸打了折，條件是每周3個晚上清理停車場，那就意味著要在凌晨3點起床。爸爸用一部看上去像割草機一樣的機器來收垃圾;我和媽媽傾倒垃圾桶，用手來撿垃圾。清理這個停車場需要用2至3個小時。在回家的路上，我睡在車上。

I did this for two years, but the lessons I learned have lasted a lifetime. I acquired discipline and a strong work ethic, and learned at an early age the importance of balancing life's competing interests-in my case, school, Homework and a job. This really helped during my senior year of high school , when I worked 40 hours a week flipping burgers at a fast-food joint while taking a full load of college-prep courses.

這個工作我做了兩年，但學到的東西卻使我受益一生。我養成了自律性和堅定的工作道德，并小小年紀就懂得了在有沖突的生活利益——我自己的事情、學校、家務和工作之間掌握平衡的重要性。在我中學的最后一年期間，這真的對我有很大幫助，當時我正在學習全部大學預科課程，準備考大學，與此同時，我每周還要工作物個小時，在一家快餐連鎖店做漢堡。

The hard work paid off. I attended the U.S. Military Academy and went on to receive graduate degrees in law and business from Harvard. Later, I joined a big Los Angeles law firm and was elected to the California state assembly. In these jobs and in everything else I've done, I haven ever forgotten those nights in the parking lot. The experience taught me that there is dignity in all work and that if people are working to provide for themselves and their families, that is something we should honor.

艱苦的努力獲利了豐厚的回報。我考上了美國陸軍軍官學校，繼而取得了哈佛大學的法律和商業碩士學位。后來，我進入了洛杉磯一家很大的法律公司，并當選為加州議員。在做這些工作以及其他任何事情的時候，我從未忘記過清理停車場的那些夜晚。那次經歷使我懂得，所有的工作都有尊嚴，只要是自食其力、能夠養家糊口的人，都應該受到我們的尊敬。

Suze Orman-The Waitress
In 1973, when I was 22, three friends and I piled into a Ford Econoline van in my Hometown of Chicago and started out across America. We ended up in Berkeley, Calif, where I got a job cutting down eucalyptus trees with a chain saw for $3.50 an hour.

蘇茜·歐曼——女服務員
1973年，我22歲的時候，我和3個朋友在我的家鄉芝加哥市，擠進一輛福特伊克諾萊貨車里，開始了橫穿美國之旅。我們的旅程是在加州的伯克利市結束的，我在那里得到了一份工作一一用鏈鋸伐按樹，報酬是每小時3.5美元。

But my first real long-term job was at a local diner called the Buttercup Bakery. I worked there for seven years and learned so many lessons, especially from a fellow waitress.

然而，我的第一份真正的長期工作，是在一家名叫金鳳花面包房的餐館里。我在那里工作了7年，學到了許多東西，尤其是從一位女服務員身上。

Helen was in her 60s and had red hair and incredible self-respect, something I was sorely lacking. I looked up to Helen because she was doing what she loved-serving people-and nobody did it better. She made everyone smiled feel good, customers and co-workers alike.

海倫已經60多歲了，她有著一頭紅發和令人難以置信的自尊心，而那正是我極為缺乏的。我尊敬海倫，因為她熱愛她的工作——為他人服務——且沒有人比她做得更好。她使每個人都笑逐顏開，感覺良好，無論對顧客還是同事，她都一視同仁。

I also learned how important it is to take pride in life's little accomplishments. When I helped out in the kitchen, nothing made me feel better than putting two eggs on the grill, flipping them over easy, and serving them just the way the customer wanted.

我也學會了以生活中微不足道的成就為傲，是一件多么重要的事。當我在廚房里幫忙的時候，沒有什么能比打兩個雞蛋在煎爐上、兩面翻轉、按顧客的要求送上去，更令我感覺良好的了。

Being a waitress changed my life. One of my regular customers was Fred Hasbrook, an electronics salesman. He always ate a ham -and -Monterey-Jack omelet, and when I saw him walking toward the diner, I tried to have it on his table as soon as he sat down.

女服務員工作改變了我的一生。我的一個老主顧名叫弗雷德·海斯布魯克，是一位電子器件銷售員。他總是吃一種火腿夾干酷蛋卷;每當我看到他向餐館走來的時候，我就盡量做到他剛一坐下，我就把蛋卷端到他的桌子上。

Thanks to the new found confidence I picked up from Helen, I dreamed of having my own restaurant. But when I called my parents to ask for a loan, they said, "We just don't have the money."

由于在海倫那里獲得的新發現的信心，我開始夢想擁有屬于自己的餐廳;但當我給父母打電話借錢時，他們卻說我們沒有錢。

The next day, Fred saw me and asked, "what's wrong,sunshine? you're not smiling today." I shared my dream with him and said, "Fred, I know I can do more if somebody would just have faith in me."

"第二天，弗雷德看到我，并問我怎么了，我的陽光?你今天沒有笑容。"我把我的夢告訴了他，并對他說弗雷德，我知道，只要有人對我有信心，我能做更多的事。"

He walked over to some of the other diner regulars and the next day handed me checks totaling $50,000 -along with a note that I have to this day. It reads, "The only collateral on this loan is my trust in your honesty as a person. Good people with a dream should have the opportunity to make that dream come true."

弗雷德向其他一些餐館的常客走去;第二天，他給了我幾張總額5萬美元的支票，以及一張我至今仍珍藏著的便籠。便籠上寫著"這筆借款唯一的擔保，就是我對你誠實做人的信任。有夢想的好人應該擁有美夢成真的機會。"

I took the checks to Merrill Lynch - the first time I had ever entered a brokerage house -where the money was invested for me. I continued working at the Buttercup, making plans for the restaurant I would open. My investments soured, though, and I lost the money.

我拿著這幾張支票去了美林證券公司一一那是我第一次走進一家代理公司——我用那筆錢進行了投資。我一邊繼續在金鳳花餐館工作，一邊為我將要開辦的餐廳進行著計劃。然而，我的投資失敗了，我失去了那筆錢。

I found myself thinking about what it would be like to be a stockbroker. After great deliberation I decided to apply for a job at Merrill Lynch. Even though 1 had no experience, I was hired and ended up becoming a pretty good broker. Eventually I paid back Fred and my customers the $50,000, plus 14 -percent annual interest. Five years later, I was able to open my own firm.

我開始考慮成為一名股票經紀人會怎么樣。深思熟慮之后，我決定去美林證券公司求職。雖然我沒有任何經驗，但我還是被錄用了，并最終成為了一名出色的經紀人。終于，我以 14%的年息還清了弗雷德和我那些餐館顧客的5萬美元。 5年之后，我開辦了自己的公司。

I got a thank-you note from Fred, which will be imprinted on my heart forever. He had been sick and wrote that my check had helped cover his mounting medical bills. His letter read , "That loan may have been one of the best investments that I will ever make. Who else could have invested in a counter girl with a million -dollar personality and watch that investment mature into a very successful career woman. How few 'investors' have that opportunity?"

弗雷德給我寫了一封感謝信，這封信將永遠烙印在我的心上。他一直都有病在身，他說我的支票幫他支付了日益增多的醫藥費。他在信中寫道那筆借款可能是我的一次最佳的投資。沒有人會給一個有著價值百萬美元人品的餐館女孩兒投資，并且能夠看著這個女孩成長為一名非常成功的職業女性。有幾個‘投資者’有這樣的機會呢? "

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