大人物的第一桶金

It can be easy to see the worlds most influential people living in a level that is far away from the rest of us. But even some of the most successful people started off working small jobs to earn money and learn the ropes. These successful people show that the path to success doesnt have to be linear.

人們很容易認為世界上最有影響力的人生活在我們不能企及的世界。但即便是一些最成功的人，也是從瑣碎的工作開始賺錢和熟悉各個行業的。下面這幾位成功人士證明，通往成功的道路并不一定是條直線。

Mark Cuban sold garbage bags.

When the Dallas Mavericks owner asked his dad if he could get a new pair of expensive sneakers， his dad told him he could go get a job. So he did， selling garbage bags door-to-door.

Cuban was 12 at the time， and he asked his dad how he was supposed to find a job. A friend of his dad was there and he said he had some garbage bags he needed to sell， so Cuban went door-to-door selling the bags for three dollars more than he paid for them.

馬克·庫班賣垃圾袋。

當達拉斯小牛隊老板馬克·庫班向父親詢問能否買一雙昂貴的新運動鞋時，父親告訴他可以去找份工作。庫班這么做了，他挨家挨戶兜售垃圾袋。

庫班當時12歲，他問父親應該如何找到一份工作。父親的一位朋友當時也在場，稱他有一些垃圾袋需要出售，所以庫班就以3美元的差價上門出售這些垃圾袋。

Warren Buffett was a paperboy.

Buffett has been interested in making and saving money since he was a kid. Today， the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway is one of the worlds richest people.

At the age of 13， Buffett spent his mornings delivering copies of The Washington Post. That same year， he invested $1，200 of his savings into 40 acres of farmland.

沃倫·巴菲特曾是報童。

巴菲特在兒時就很喜歡賺錢和攢錢。現今，他是伯克希爾·哈撒韋公司的董事長和首席執行官，也是世界上最富有的人之一。

13歲時，巴菲特每天早上都為《華盛頓郵報》送報紙。那一年，他用1200美元的積蓄投資了40英畝農田。

Oprah Winfrey worked at a grocery store.

Winfreys media empire made her the first female black billionaire. Before she made it to the top， she made her way out of a difficult， poor childhood.

When she was living with her dad in Nashville as a young teenager， she worked at a corner grocery store next to her dads barbershop.

奧普拉·溫弗瑞在雜貨店工作。

溫弗瑞的傳媒帝國讓她成為首個黑人女性億萬富翁。在溫弗瑞成功之前，她曾有過一段艱苦、貧窮的童年。

溫弗瑞少年時和父親居住在納什維爾，當時她在父親理發店旁邊的一間街角雜貨店工作。

Michael Dell washed dishes.

As founder and CEO of Dell Inc.， Dell enjoyed a rise to power during the heyday of the personal computer.

But before he helped make PCs mainstream， Dell got his first job washing dishes for a Chinese restaurant at the age of 12.

邁克爾·戴爾洗盤子。

作為戴爾公司的創始人和首席執行官，戴爾在個人電腦的鼎盛時期建立起他的帝國。

但在戴爾推動個人電腦成為主流之前，他的第一份工作是12歲時在一家中餐館刷盤子。

Vocabulary

influential adj. 有影響力的

learn the rope 懂得（某種行業的）竅門，很內行

chairman n. （會議的）主席，主持人；（公司等的）董事長

deliver v. 傳送，傳遞，運載

invest v. 投資