世界是個錢柜

THE WORLD IS A MONEY LOCKER

When Boris left school, he could not find a job. He tried hard and pestered his relatives, but they had problems of their own. He answered advertisements until he could not afford to buy any more stamps. More than twenty chief clerks told him in different ways that they were sorry but that there were no vacancies. Some commented on his lack of education; others told him to try again later, thinking that they had got rid of him.

Boris grew annoyed, then depressed, then a little hardened. Still he went on trying and still he failed. He began to think that he had no future at all.

“Why don’t you start your own business?” one of his uncles told him. “The world is a money-locker. You’d better find a way of opening it.”

“But what can I do?”

“Get out and have a look round,” advised his uncle in a vague sort of way. “See what people want; then give it to them, and they will pay for it.”

Boris began to cycle around the town and found a suitable piece of a waste ground in the end. Then he set up his business as a cycle repairer. He worked hard, made friends with his customers and gradually managed to build up his goodwill and profit. After a few months, he saved enough money to be able to buy various accessories which he displayed at his site. A few months later, he found that he had more work than he could deal with by himself. He found a number of empty shops but they were all no good: in the wrong position, too expensive or with some other snag. But at long last, he managed to find an empty shop on a new estate where there were plenty of customers but no competition.

Boris and his assistant taught themselves how to repair scooters and motor-cycles. Slowly but surely the profits increased and the business developed.

At last, Boris had managed to open the money-locker and found bank notes and gold coins inside.

【助讀詞匯】

◇pester v. 使煩惱，糾纏

◇vacancy n. 空缺

◇goodwill n.（商業）信譽

◇accessories n. 零件

◇snag n. 障礙，困難

◇estate  n. 土地，地皮

◇scooter  n. 小型摩托車，（兒童用）踏板車

【參考譯文】

世界是個錢柜

波利斯畢業后找不到工作。他很努力，還去勞煩自己的親戚，但是他們也有自己的難處。他給招聘廣告寫信直到買不起郵票。超過二十多個公司招聘人員以不同方式告訴他，他們很抱歉沒有空缺。有的說他學歷不夠，有的叫他過段時間再來，其實只是想擺脫他。

波利斯開始很煩躁，后來很沮喪，最后有點麻木了。盡管如此他還是不停努力，可還是失敗連連。他開始想自己是不是沒有未來可言。

“你為什么不自己創業？”他的一個叔叔對他說，“這個世界就是一個錢柜。你最好找到打開它的方法。”

“但我該怎么做呢？”

“走出去看看，”他叔叔提出了一個不是很明確的建議，“看看人們需要什么，然后滿足他們，他們就會為此付錢。”

波利斯騎著自行車繞著他居住的這個城鎮轉，最后找到了一塊很合適的空地。他開始做起修單車的生意。他干活很賣力，和顧客交朋友，慢慢有了信譽和收益。幾個月后他攢夠了錢買了很多配件放在攤位邊。又過了幾個月，他發現活多得自己一個人應付不過來了。他看了幾個店面，但是都不合意：有的地段不對，有的太貴，還有的則有其他一些不令人滿意的地方。但是后來他終于在一塊新地皮上找到一個空店面，客源很足，又沒有競爭對手。

波利斯和他的助手自學怎么修小綿羊和摩托車。慢慢地但很穩定地收入越來越多，生意也越做越大。

最后波利斯打開了這個錢柜，發現了里面的支票和金幣。

【人生啟迪】

世界就是一個錢柜，有些人卻永遠找不到打開它的鑰匙，因為他們在失敗面前屈服了。人生就是一連串的戰斗，也就意味著一連串的失敗，沒有人能常勝不敗。雖然有時我們會屢戰屢敗，但只有屢敗屢戰的勇士才能找到錢柜的鑰匙。