■生活中最重要的东西
What Really Matters in Life
◎Jennifer Keitt/詹尼斯·基特
A vacationing American businessman was standing on the pier of a quaint coastal fishing village in southern Mexico when a small boat with just one young fisherman pulled into the dock. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.
“How long did it take you to catch them?” the American casually[45] asked.
“Oh, a few hours,” the Mexican replied.
“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” the American businessman then asked.
The Mexican warmly replied, “With this I have more than enough to support my family’s needs.”
The businessman then became serious, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
Responding with a smile, the Mexican fisherman answered, “I sleep
美丽语录
墨西哥南部一个古朴的沿海小渔村，一位正在度假的美国商人站在码头上。这时，一名年轻渔民拖着一艘小船拉进了岸边码头。小船上有几条很大的黄鳍金枪鱼。美国商人向渔民恭维了几句，夸他的鱼质量真不错。
“你花了多长时间捕到这些鱼的？”美国人随意地问道。
“哦，几个小时吧。”墨西哥人回答。
“你为什么不在海上多待一会儿，再多捕点鱼呢？”美国商人又问。
墨西哥人热情地回答说：“我捕的这些鱼养家糊口绰绰有余了。”
商人变得严肃起来：“那你剩下的时间都做什么？”
墨西哥渔民欣然一笑，回答：“我会睡个懒觉，和我的孩子们玩耍，
late, play with my children, watch ball games, and take siesta[46] with my wife. Sometimes in the evenings I take a stroll into the village to see my friends, play the guitar, sing a few songs...”
The American businessman impatiently interrupted, “Look, I have an MBA from Harvard, and I can help you to be more profitable. You can start by fishing several hours longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra money, you can buy a bigger boat. With the additional income that larger boat will bring, you can then buy a second boat, a third one, and so on, until you have an entire fleet of fishing boats.”
“Then, instead of selling your catch to a middleman you’ll be able to sell your fish directly to the processor, or even open your own cannery. Eventually, you could control the product, processing and distribution[47]. You could leave this tiny coastal village and move to Mexico City, or possibly even LA or New York City, where you could even further expand your enterprise.”
Having never thought of such things, the Mexican fisherman asked, “But how long will all this take?”
After a rapid mental calculation, the businessman pronounced, “Probably about 15～20 years, maybe less if you work really hard.”
“And then what, senor?” asked the fisherman.
“Why, that’s the best part!” answered the businessman with a laugh.“When the time is right, you would sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.”
“Millions? Really? What could I do with it all?” asked the young fisherman in disbelief.
The businessman boasted, “Then you could happily retire with all the
看看球赛，和我妻子睡个午觉。晚上的时候，有时我会漫步到村子里，见见朋友，弹弹吉他，唱唱歌……”
美国商人不耐烦地打断了他的话：“你看，我从哈佛毕业，有工商管理硕士学位，我能帮你赚更多的钱。听着，最初时，你可以每天多花几个小时捕鱼，然后出售多捕的鱼。用卖鱼的钱，你可以买一艘更大的船，这艘船能给你带来更丰厚的收入，然后你就可以买第二艘船、第三艘船，越来越多。最后，你会发现自己已经变得非常富有，拥有一整支捕鱼船队了。”
“再往后，你就不用把你的鱼卖给中间商，而是直接把鱼卖给加工厂，或者干脆自己办一个罐头工厂。最后，你可以控制鱼类加工和销售整个链条。你可以离开这个小渔村，搬到墨西哥城，或者洛杉矶、纽约，在那里进一步扩大你的企业。”
墨西哥渔民从未想过这些，他问：“但是，这得花多久啊？”
商人快速地在脑子里计算了一遍，宣布道：“可能需要15～20年左右。如果你足够努力，也许不用那么久。”
“先生，那然后呢？”渔民问。
“哎呀，这就是最精彩的部分呀！”商人大笑起来。“如果时机合适，把公司股票卖给公众，你就能变得非常富有，成为百万富翁。”
“百万富翁？真的吗？那么多钱做什么用呢？”年轻渔民半信半疑地问。
商人引以为豪地说道：“然后你就可以带着巨额财富愉快退休了。
money you’ve made. You could move to a quaint coastal fishing village where you could sleep late, play with your grandchildren, watch ballgames, take siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could play the guitar and sing with your friends all you want.”
The moral[48] of the story is: Know what really matters in life, and you may find that it is already much closer than you think.
你可以搬到一个古朴的海边小渔村。你可以睡懒觉，和孩子们玩耍，看看球赛，和妻子睡个午觉。晚上的时候，漫步走进村子里，和朋友弹弹吉他，唱唱歌，做任何你想做的事。”
这个故事的寓意在于：懂得生活中什么是真正重要的东西，然后你会发现，实际上它们就在眼前，比你想象的要离你近得多。