《穷爸爸富爸爸》第2章（下）

It was finally making sense. He did want us to widen our views. To see what Mrs. Martin could not see, his employees could not see, or my dad for that matter. He used examples that sounded cruel at the time, but I've never forgotten them. My vision widened that day, and I could begin to see the trap that lay ahead for most people.
显而易见，他想使我们扩展视野，这一切，马丁太太看不见，他的雇员们看不见，我爸爸也看不见。富爸爸用了听起来很无情的例子，但这些例子我始终不会忘记。我的视野在那天被打开了，开始注意到大多数人所面临着的“陷讲”。

"You see, we're all employees ultimately. We just work at different levels," said rich dad. "I just want you boys to have a chance to avoid the trap. The trap caused by those two emotions, fear and desire. Use them in your favor, not against you. That's what I want to teach you. I'm not interested in just teaching you to make a pile of money. That won't handle the fear or desire. If you don't first handle fear and desire, and you get rich, you'll only be a high-paid slave."
“你看，我们最终都是雇员，只不过处于不同层次而已。我只希望孩子们有机会避开由恐惧和欲望组成的陷阱，能按你喜爱的方式选用恐惧和欲望，别让恐惧和欲望控制你。这就是我想教你们的。我对教你们如何挣大把的钱没有兴趣，那解决不了问题。如果你们不先控制恐惧和欲望，即使你们有钱，也只不过是高薪的奴隶而已。”

"So how do we avoid the trap?" I asked.
“那我们该怎样避开陷阱？”

"The main cause of poverty or financial struggle is fear and ignorance, not the economy or the government or the rich. It's selfinflicted fear and ignorance that keeps people trapped. So you boys go to school and get your college degrees. I'll teach you how to stay out of the trap."
“造成贫穷和财务问题的主要原因是恐惧和无知，而非经济环境、政府或富人。自身的恐惧和无知使人们难以自拔，所以你们应该去上学并且接受大学教育，而我教你们怎样不落入馅阱。”

The pieces of the puzzle were appearing. My highly educated dad had a great education and a great career. But school never told him how to handle money or his fears. It became clear that I could learn different and important things from two fathers.
谜底渐渐显露出来。我爸爸受过高等教育，有着很好的职业，但学校从不告诉他如何处理金钱或恐惧。我可以从两个爸爸那里学习不同的但同样都是很重要的事情。

"So you've been talking about the fear of not having money. How does the desire of money affect our thinking?" Mike asked.
“你谈到对缺钱的担心，那么对钱的欲望会怎样影响到我们的思想呢？”迈克问。

"How did you feel when I tempted you with a pay raise? Did you notice your desires rising?"
“当我用更高的工资引诱你们时，你们有什么感觉？你感到欲望在膨胀吗？”

We nodded our heads.
我们点点头。

"By not giving in to your emotions, you were able to delay your reactions and think. That is most important. We will always have emotions of fear and greed. From here on in, it is most important for you to use those emotions to your advantage and for the long term, and not simply let your emotions run you by controlling your thinking. Most people use fear and greed against themselves. That's the start of ignorance. Most people live their lives chasing paychecks, pay raises and job security because of the emotions of desire and fear, not really questioning where those emotion-driven thoughts are leading them. It's just like the picture of a donkey, dragging a cart, with its owner dangling a carrot just in front of the donkey's nose. The donkey's owner may be going where he wants to go, but the donkey is chasing an illusion. Tomorrow there will only be another carrot for the donkey."
“但你们没有对感觉屈服，你们推迟了决定的作出。这是极为重要的。我们总是有着恐惧或贪婪之心。从现在开始，对你们来说，重要的是运用这些感情为你们的长期利益谋利，别让你们的感情控制了思想。大多数人让他们的恐惧和贪婪之心来支配自己，这是无知的开始。因为害怕或贪婪，大多数人生活在挣工资、加薪、劳动保护之中，而不问这种感情支配思想的生活之路通向哪里。这就像一幅画：驴子在拼命拉车，因为车夫在它鼻子前面放了个胡萝卜。车夫知道该把车驶到哪里，而驴却只是在追逐一个幻觉。但第二天驴依旧会去拉车，因为又有胡萝卜放在了驴子的面前。”

"You mean the moment I began to picture a new baseball glove, candy and toys, that's like a carrot to a donkey?" Mike asked.
“你的意思是，当时在我脑海中的那些棒球手套、糖果和玩具的影像就像那驴子面前的胡萝卜一样喽？”

"Yeah. And as you get older, your toys get more expensive. A new car, a boat and a big house to impress your friends," said rich dad with a smile. "Fear pushes you out the door, and desire calls to you. Enticing you toward the rocks. That's the trap."
“不错。当你长大后，你的玩具会变贵，会变成要给你的朋友留下深刻印象的汽车、汽艇、大房子，”富爸爸笑着说，“恐惧把你推出门外，愿望又召唤你过去，诱惑你去触礁。这就是陷阱。”

"So what's the answer," Mike asked.
“那答案是什么呢？”

"What intensifies fear and desire is ignorance. That is why rich people with lots of money often have more fear the richer they get. Money is the carrot, the illusion. If the donkey could see the whole picture, it might rethink its choice to chase the carrot."
“强化恐惧和欲望是无知的表现，这就是为什么很多有钱人常常会担惊受怕。钱就是胡萝人是幻像。如果驴能看到整幅图像，它可能会重新想想是否还要去追求胡萝卜。”

Rich dad went on to explain that a human's life is a struggle between ignorance and illumination.
富爸爸解释说人生实际上是在无知和幻觉之间的一场斗争。

He explained that once a person stops searching for information and knowledge of one's self, ignorance sets in. That struggle is a moment-to-moment decision-to learn to open or close one's mind.
他说一旦一个人停止寻求知识和信息，就会变得无知。因此，人们需要不停地与自己作斗争：是通过学习打开自己的心扉，还是封闭自己的头脑。

"Look, school is very, very important. You go to school to learn a skill or profession so as to be a contributing member of society. Every culture needs teachers, doctors, mechanics, artists, cooks, business people, police officers, firefighters, soldiers. Schools train them so our culture can thrive and flourish," said rich dad. "Unfortunately, for many people, school is the end, not the beginning."
“学校是非常非常重要的地方。在学校，你学习一种技术或一门专业，并成为对社会有益的人。每一种文明都需要教师、医生、工程师、艺术家、厨师、商人、警察、消防队员、士兵等等。学校培养了这些人才，所以我们的社会可以兴旺发达。但不幸的是，对许多人来说，学校是终止而不是开端。”

There was a long silence. Rich dad was smiling. I did not comprehend everything he said that day. But as with most great teachers, whose words continue to teach for years, often long after they're gone, his words are still with me today.
接下来是长长的沉默。富爸爸依旧微笑着，我还没弄明白那天他说的全部。但我已经意识到富爸爸是个很伟大的老师，他的话在我耳边回响了很多年，直到现在我还在回味其中的道理。

"I've been a little cruel today," said rich dad. "Cruel for a reason. I want you to always remember this talk. I want you to always think of Mrs. Martin. I want you always to think of the donkey. Never forget, because your two emotions, fear and desire, can lead you into life's biggest trap, if you're not aware of them controlling your thinking. To spend your life living in fear, never exploring your dreams, is cruel. To work hard for money, thinking that money will buy you things that will make you happy is also cruel. To wake up in the middle of the night terrified about paying bills is a horrible way to live. To live a life dictated by the size of a paycheck is not really a life. Thinking that a job will make you feel secure is lying to yourself. That's cruel, and that's the trap I want you to avoid, if possible. I've seen how money runs people's lives. Don't let that happen to you. Please don't let money run your life."
“今天我有点无情，但无情得有理，”富爸爸说，“我希望你们永远记住这次谈话，我希望你们多想想马丁太太，多想想那头驴。永远别忘记，会有两种感情——恐惧和欲望，使你落入一生中最大的陷阱，如果你让它们来控制自己的思想，你的一生就会生活在恐惧中，从不探求你的梦想，这是残酷的。为钱工作，以为钱能买来快乐，这也是残酷的。半夜醒来想着许多的账单要付是一种可怕的生活方式，以工资的高低来安排生活不是真正的生活。这些都很残酷，而我希望你们能避开这些陷阱，如果可能的话，别让这些问题在你们身上发生，别让钱支配你们的生活。”

A softball rolled under our table. Rich dad picked it up and threw it back.
一个垒球滚到了桌下，富爸爸拾起来扔了回去。

"So what does ignorance have to do with greed and fear?" I asked.
“无知是怎样与恐惧、贪婪相联的？”我问。

"Because it is ignorance about money that causes so much greed and so much fear," said rich dad. "Let me give you some examples. A doctor, wanting more money to better provide for his family, raises his fees. By raising his fees, it makes health care more expensive for everyone. Now, it hurts the poor people the most, so poor people have worse health than those with money.
“对钱的无知导致了如此之多的恐惧和贪婪的产生。我可以给你一些例子。一个医生，想多挣些钱来更好地养活家人，就提高了收费，这就使每个人的医疗支出增加，这一切最无情地损害了穷人的利益，所以穷人的医疗状况比富人差。

"Because the doctors raise their rates, the attorneys raise their rates. Because the attorneys' rates have gone up, schoolteachers want a raise, which raises our taxes, and on and on and on. Soon, there will be such a horrifying gap between the rich and the poor that chaos will break out and another great civilization will collapse. Great civilizations collapsed when the gap between the haves and havenots was too great. America is on the same course, proving once again that history repeats itself, because we do not learn from history. We only memorize historical dates and names, not the lesson.
由于医生提高收费，则律师也提高收费；由于律师提高收费，学校老师也想增加收入，这就迫使政府提高税收。这样一环套一环，不久，在富人和穷人之间就有了一条可怕的鸿沟，混乱就会爆发。当鸿沟大到了极点时，一个社会就会崩溃。美国同样身在其中，这种历史一再重演，因为人们没有以史为鉴。我们只是记住了历史事件发生的时间和名称，却没有记住教训。”

"Aren't prices supposed to go up?" I asked.
“价格难道不能上涨吗？”我问。

"Not in an educated society with a well-run government. Prices should actually come down. Of course, that is often only true in theory. Prices go up because of greed and fear caused by ignorance. If schools taught people about money, there would be more money and lower prices, but schools focus only on teaching people to work for money, not how to harness money's power."
“在一个教育水平高和政府管理良好的社会中价格不会上涨，实际上应该下降，价格上涨的原因是由无知引起的贪婪和恐惧。如果学校教学生认识钱，社会就有可能会变得更富有而且物价低廉。但学校关注的只是教学生为钱而工作，而不是如何开发和利用钱的力量。

"But don't we have business schools?" Mike asked. "Aren't you encouraging me to go to business school for my master's degree?"
“但我们不是有商学院吗？”迈克问，“你不是在鼓励我进商学院拿博士学位吗？”

"Yes," said rich dad. "But all too often, business schools train employees who are sophisticated bean counters. Heaven forbid a bean counter takes over a business. All they do is look at the numbers, fire people and kill the business. I know because I hire bean counters. All they think about is cutting costs and raising prices, which cause more problems. Bean counting is important. I wish more people knew it, but it, too, is not the whole picture," added rich dad angrily.
“是的，但这并不够！”富爸爸说，“商学院更擅长的是制造精确而廉价的‘计算器’，他们不可能干成大事。他们所做的只是看看数字，解雇人并把生意搞糟，他们所想的只是降低成本提高价格，事实上这会带来更多的问题。计算是重要的，我希望更多的人懂得计算，但计算并不是全部。”

"So is there an answer?" asked Mike.
“那该怎么办呢？”迈克问。

"Yes," said rich dad. "Learn to use your emotions to think, not think with your emotions. When you boys mastered your emotions, first by agreeing to work for free, I knew there was hope. When you again resisted your emotions when I tempted you with more money, you were again learning to think in spite of being emotionally charged. That's the first step."
“学会让感情跟随你的思想，而不要让思想跟着你的感情。当你俩控制了感情，同意免费干活时，我就知道你们还有希望。当你们在我用更多的钱诱惑你们时，你们抵制住了感情，你们就又一次进行了思考而不是任由感情控制你们。这是第一步。

"Why is that step so important" I asked.
“这一步为什么如此重要？”我问。

"Well, that's up to you to find out. If you want to learn, I'll take you boys into the briar patch. That place where almost everyone else avoids. I'll take you to that place where most people are afraid to go. If you go with me, you'll let go of the idea of working for money and instead learn to have money work for you."
“噢，这要由你自己来找答案了。如果你想学，我将把你们带上这条布满荆棘的道路，大多数人都会选择避开这条路。我会带你们去大多数人都怕去的地方，跟着我，你们将学会让钱为你们所用的方法，而不仅仅是为钱而工作。”

"And what will we get if we go with you. What if we agree to learn from you? What will we get?" I asked.
“我们跟着你会得到什么呢？我们同意跟你学，可我们能学到什么呢？”我问。

"The same thing Briar Rabbit got," said rich dad. "Freedom from the Tar Baby."
“自由。”

"Is there a briar patch?" I asked.
“那是一条布满荆棘的路吗？”

"Yes," said rich dad. "The briar patch is our fear and our greed. Going into our fear and confronting our greed, our weaknesses, our neediness is the way out. And the way out is through the mind, by choosing our thoughts."
“是的，所谓的荆棘就是我们的恐惧和贪婪。走进我们的恐惧，直面我们的贪婪、弱点和缺陷。这条路的出路就是用心去确定你的思想。”

（来源：原版英语 编辑：丹妮）