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.

人们很容易认为世界上最有影响力的人生活在我们不能企及的世界。但即便是一些最成功的人，也是从琐碎的工作开始赚钱和熟悉各个行业的。下面这几位成功人士证明，通往成功的道路并不一定是条直线。

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.

马克·库班卖垃圾袋。

当达拉斯小牛队老板马克·库班向父亲询问能否买一双昂贵的新运动鞋时，父亲告诉他可以去找份工作。库班这么做了，他挨家挨户兜售垃圾袋。

库班当时12岁，他问父亲应该如何找到一份工作。父亲的一位朋友当时也在场，称他有一些垃圾袋需要出售，所以库班就以3美元的差价上门出售这些垃圾袋。

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·巴菲特曾是报童。

巴菲特在儿时就很喜欢赚钱和攒钱。现今，他是伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司的董事长和首席执行官，也是世界上最富有的人之一。

13岁时，巴菲特每天早上都为《华盛顿邮报》送报纸。那一年，他用1200美元的积蓄投资了40英亩农田。

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.

奥普拉·温弗瑞在杂货店工作。

温弗瑞的传媒帝国让她成为首个黑人女性亿万富翁。在温弗瑞成功之前，她曾有过一段艰苦、贫穷的童年。

温弗瑞少年时和父亲居住在纳什维尔，当时她在父亲理发店旁边的一间街角杂货店工作。

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.

迈克尔·戴尔洗盘子。

作为戴尔公司的创始人和首席执行官，戴尔在个人电脑的鼎盛时期建立起他的帝国。

但在戴尔推动个人电脑成为主流之前，他的第一份工作是12岁时在一家中餐馆刷盘子。

Vocabulary

influential adj. 有影响力的

learn the rope 懂得（某种行业的）窍门，很内行

chairman n. （会议的）主席，主持人；（公司等的）董事长

deliver v. 传送，传递，运载

invest v. 投资