英語美文欣賞《我怎樣白手起家》

How a Simple Idea Became a Huge Business

我怎樣白手起家

要是我有個水晶球能窺見未來，我會怎麼樣呢？許多人一遇到障礙就打退堂鼓，但我不會這樣。我一旦有了目標，就必然鍥而不捨，全力以赴。我相信人生中充滿機會，但我們往往不懂得把握。

By Howard Schultz

霍華德·舒爾茨

[1]When I was a child growing up in public-housing projects in Canarsie, Brooklyn, I remember lying in bed at night thinking: what if I had a crystal ball and could see the future? But I quickly shut out the thought. I realized I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. All I knew was I had to get out of the projects, get out of Brooklyn.

[1]小時候我住在紐約市布魯克林區卡納西的房租低廉的住宅區，有一天夜裏躺在牀上思量：要是我有個水晶球能窺見未來，我會怎麼樣呢？不過我迅即拋開了這個念頭。我知道自己在人生路上仍然漫無目標，只知道必須設法離開這裏，離開布魯克林。

[2]I was fortunate to go to college, but I didn't know what to do next. I had no mentor to help me sort out my options . My main goal was to escape the struggles my working-class parents lived with every day.

[2]後來我有幸上了大學，卻不知道下一步該怎麼走，也沒有人替我指點迷津。我的父母都是工人階級，每天都必須操勞，而我當時最大的願望就是不步他們的.後塵。

[3]Eventually I discovered I had a talent for sales, and was hired by a Swedish housewares corporation. By age 28, I was vice president in charge of sales in the United States. I had an excellent salary and a co-op apartment in New York City, and was happily married to a beautiful woman, Sheri. My parents couldn't believe I had come so far so fast. The life I was leading was beyond their best dreams for me.

[3]我發現自己善於推銷，便進入了一家瑞典人開的家庭用品公司工作。我表現出色，28歲就晉升為主管國內銷售的副總裁，薪金優厚。我買了套住宅，又娶了如花似玉的妻子--雪瑞，生活舒適愉快。連我的父母都不敢相信我會如此飛黃騰達。他們從未夢想過我能過上這樣的生活。

[4]Most people would be satisfied with all this. But I was getting antsy . I wanted to be in charge of my own destiny . It was around this time, in the early 1980s, that I became aware of a strange phenomenon. A little retailer in Seattle was placing large orders for a drip coffee maker: a simple plastic cone set on a thermos . The company, Starbucks Coffee and Tea, had only four small stores, yet it was buying our product in quantities larger than Macy's was. Why was Seattle so taken with this coffee maker when the rest of the country was using electric coffee makers?

[4]一般人有了如此成就，也許會志得意滿，我卻還想更上一層樓，決意要主宰自己的命運。就在這個時候（80年代初期），一個奇特現象引起了我的注意。西雅圖有家經營零售業的小公司向我們訂購滴濾式咖啡壺。這家公司名叫"明星咖啡連鎖公司"，只有4家小店，向我們買這種產品的數量卻超過百貨業巨擘梅西公司。當時美國各地普通使用電氣咖啡壺。何以此器具在西雅圖那麼受歡迎？

[5]I had to find out, so I went to Seattle.

[5]為了查明原委，我前往西雅圖。

Fresh Approach

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