奧裏森·馬登/Orison Marden
"How's the boy getting on, Davis?" Asked Farmer John Field.
"Well, John, you and I are old friends," replied Deacon Davis, as he took an apple from a barrel and handed it to Marshall's father as a peace offering." We are old friends, and I don't want to hurt your feelings: but I'm a blunt man, and I'm going to tell you the truth. Marshall is a good, steady boy, all right, but he wouldn't make a merchant if he stayed in my store a thousand years. He weren't cut out for a merchant. Take him back to the farm, John, and teach him how to milk cows!"
If Marshall Field had remained as clerk in Deacon Davis's store in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he got his first position, he could never have become one of the world' s merchant princes.
But when he went to Chicago and saw the marvelous examples around him of poor boys who had won success, it aroused his ambition and fired him with the determination to be a great merchant himself. "If others can do such wonderful things," he asked himself, "why cannot I?"
It had then only about eighty-five thousand inhabitants. A few years before it had been a mere Indian trading village. But the city grew by leaps and bounds, and always beat the predictions of its most sanguine inhabitants. Success was in the air. Everybody felt that there were great possibilities there.
Many people seem to think that ambition is a quality born within us; that it is not susceptible to improvement; that it is something thrust upon us which will take care of itself. But it is a passion that responds very quickly to cultivation, and it requires constant care and education, just as the faculty for music or art does, or it will atrophy.
"What I most need," as Emerson says, "is somebody to make me do what I can." To do what I can, that is my problem; not what a Napoleon or a Lincoln could do, but what I can do. It makes all the difference in the world to me whether I bring out the best thing in me or the worst—whether I utilize ten, fifteen, twenty-five, or ninety percent of my ability.
Everywhere we see people who have reached middle life or later without being aroused. They have developed only a small percentage of their success possibilities. They are still in a dormant state. The best thing in them lies so deep that it has never been awakened. Great possibilities of usefulness and of achievement are, all unconsciously, going to waste within them.
“這孩子有沒有進步啊，戴維斯？”牧場主約翰·菲爾德焦急地問道。
“哦，約翰，你和我都是老朋友了，”戴維斯回答道，為了緩和氣氛，他從桶裏拿出一個蘋果遞給馬歇爾的父親，“我們是老朋友了。我本不想傷害你的感情，可我是個心直口快的人，我會告訴你真實的情況。馬歇爾是個非常穩重的好孩子，然而，即使他在我的公司待上一千年，他也不會成為一個真正的商人。他不是做商人的材料，你還是把他領回農場，教教他如何擠牛奶吧！”
如果馬歇爾當初一直待在馬薩諸塞州皮斯費德鎮戴維斯的公司——他的第一個工作所在地，他將永遠不會成為當今世界鼎鼎有名的商界精英。
然而到了芝加哥後，馬歇爾曾親眼見證了許多不可思議的例子。自己身邊的許多窮苦人家的孩子憑借自身努力最終走上了成功之路。這種經曆讓雄心勃勃的馬歇爾立誌做一個真正的商人。他對自己說：“既然別人能做到，我為什麽不能？”
當時，芝加哥的本地居民隻有八萬五千人。就在幾年前，芝加哥還是個隻能與印第安通商的小村鎮。如今芝加哥發生了翻天覆地的變化，這裏的居民已經成為全世界最幸福的人了。甚至空氣中都彌漫著成功的氣息，每個人都堅信自己在未來會有所作為。
許多人認為雄心是我們與生俱來的信念。它有著極強的生命力，唯有我們悉心嗬護，才能變得越來越強。如同學習音樂和藝術一樣，隻有通過長期的積累才能使其擁有旺盛的生命力，否則它就會漸漸枯萎。
就像愛默生所說：“我真正需要的，是找到一位能夠助我走向成功之路的人。”我可以做些什麽，這隻是我的事情，與拿破侖或林肯無關。不管我能實現豐功偉業還是一無是處，不管我能否將自己的潛質發揮到極致，我的世界都將是獨一無二的。
我們經常看到，許多人在不惑之年或是垂暮之年時還沒有真正將內心的潛能激發出來。他們隻是開發了一小部分潛質，一直庸庸碌碌。他們身上蘊藏的許多優點已經沉睡，永遠不會醒來。在毫無意識的情況下，巨大的寶貴潛能被他們忽視，白白浪費了。
I have nothing to offer but blood, boil, tears and sweat.
—Winston Churchill
我能奉獻的沒有其它，隻有熱血、辛勞、眼淚與汗水。
——丘吉爾.W.
blunt[bl?nt]adj.率直的；直言不諱的
Let me ask a blunt question.
允許我問一個直率的問題。
marvelous[?mɑ:v?l?s]adj.引起驚異的；不可思議的；非凡的
He showed marvelous insight over the description of American characters in his new book.
在這本新書裏，他對美國人性格的描寫表現出驚人的洞察力。
sanguine[?s??gwin]adj.充滿希望的；樂觀的；麵色紅潤的
He wears a small pair of glasses on ordinary days, which gives us an impression that he is vivacious, sanguine and clever.
平日裏戴著一副小眼鏡的他，留給人的總是一個活潑開朗、靈氣十足的形象。
susceptible[s??sept?bl]adj.易受影響的；易動感情的
Children are more susceptible to cold than adults.
小孩比大人容易患感冒。
自己身邊的許多窮苦人家的孩子憑借自身努力最終走上了成功之路。這種經曆讓雄心勃勃的馬歇爾立誌做一個真正的商人。
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我真正需要的，是找到一位能夠助我走向成功之路的人。
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不管我能否將自己的潛質發揮到極致，我的世界都將是獨一無二的。
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Many people seem to think that ambition is a quality born within us; that it is not susceptible to improvement; that it is something thrust upon us which will take care of itself.
take care of：照顧
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But it is a passion that responds very quickly to cultivation, and it requires constant care and education, just as the faculty for music or art does, or it will atrophy.
respond to：對……作出回應；對……有某種反應
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