Clint Black — The Newspaper Solicitor
克林特.布莱克报纸推销员
When I was 14，I was hired for an after-school job selling subscriptions1 to my Hometown paper, the Houston Post I was sent to some of the city’s worst neighborhoods to solicit2 door-to-door. Even though I was often scrambling around after dark in bad areas searching for garage apartments, I was grateful for the work.
14岁的时候，我得到了一份放学后的零工——为我家乡的报纸《休斯顿邮报》 推销订单。我被派去向城里一些最难对付的住户挨家挨户地征求订单。即使常常要 在天黑之后到治安混乱的地区去寻找那些带车库的公寓，但我仍然对得到这份工 作心存感激。
It was a challenge because people didn’t like a stranger knocking on their door, especially a kid trying to get them to buy something. One time, a man slammed his door in my face and screamed, “I don’t want no damn paper.” I forced myself to knock again and was able to tell him how great the paper was. I ended up selling him a subscription. I was soon among the top subscription sellers and, like other successful salesmen, was given responsibility for training newcomers.
这是一项挑战,因为人们不喜欢一个陌生人来敲自己的房门,尤其是一个试图 让他们买东西的孩子。有一次，一个男人在我面前“砰”的一声吳上了门并尖叫道: “我不想订什么该死的报纸。”我强迫自己再次敲他的门,告诉他这是一份多么精彩 的报纸。最后，他签了一份订单。我很快就跻身于高销量订单推销员之列,并像其他 成功的销售员一样，开始负责培训新人。
Around this time I started playing the harmonica3 and guitar. Before long I was playing in a band at chili cook-offs and other events. When I turned 18, I focused my attention on becoming a professional musician. I never lost sight of this dream. I’m sure my perseverance came from what I learned knocking on strangers’ doors.
在此期间,我开始演奏口琴和吉他。不久之后，我就加入了一支乐队，在辣椒烹 饪比赛和其他活动中表演。18岁的时候，我开始致力于成为一名职业音乐人。我从 没有忘记过这个梦想。我相信，这种坚定不移的精神就是我在学会敲开陌生人的房 门的过程中形成的。
That experience helped me in many ways. Early in my music career I was locked in a legal dispute with a former manager. He pressured me to back off, but I refused.
那种经历在许多方面都对我非常有益。在我音乐生涯的初期，我曾纠缠于与一 位前任经纪人的法律争议之中。他强迫我离开，但我拒绝了。
Having all those doors slammed in my face as a kid gave me the strength to stand up to this intimidating figure. Except this time there was one difference: I was the one saying no. And I won.
所有那些吃闭门羹的经历给了我力量，使我能够勇敢地与这个威胁我的人对 抗。只有这一次不同:我是那个说“不”的人。我贏了。
Louis Caldera — The Parking-Lot Sweeper
路易斯·卡尔——停车场漓洁员
Both my parents came from towns in Mexico. I was born in El Paso, Texas, and when I was four, my family moved to a housing project in East Los Angeles.
我的父母都来自墨西哥的小镇。我出生在得克萨斯州的埃尔帕索市,在我4岁的时候,我们全家搬到了洛杉矶东部的一个住宅区。
Even though we struggled to make ends meet, my parents stressed to me and my four brothers and sisters how fortunate we were to live in a great country with limitless opportunities. They imbued in us the concepts of family, faith and
尽管我们挣扎度日，勉强维持收支平衡，但我的父母仍然对我和我的4个兄弟 姐妹强调我们多么幸运，能够生活在一个充满无限机遇的伟大国家里。他们向我们灌输家庭、信念和爱国精神的观念。
I got my first real job when I was ten. My dad, Benjamin, injured his back working in a cardboard-box factory and was retrained as a hairstylist. He rented space in a little strip mall and gave his shop the fancy name of Mr. Ben’s Coiffure.
10岁的时候，我得到了第一份真正的工作。我的父亲本杰明在一家纸箱厂工作的时候，后背受伤了，他学习成为一名美发师。他在一条商业小街上租了一个地方，给自己的店铺起了一个奇特的名字本先生发型店。
The owner of the shopping center gave Dad a discount on his rent for cleaning the parking lot three nights a week, which meant getting up at 3a.m. To pick up trash, Dad used a little machine that looked like a lawn mower. Mom and I emptied garbage cans and picked up litter by hand. It took two to three hours to clean the lot. I’d sleep in the car on the way home.
商业街的业主在租金上给爸爸打了折,条件是每周3个晚上清理停车场，那就 意味着要在凌晨3点起床。爸爸用一部看上去像割草机一样的机器来收垃圾；我和妈妈倾倒垃圾桶，用手来检垃圾。清理这个停车场需要用2至3个小时。在回家的路 上，我睡在车上。
I did this for two years, but the lessons I learned have lasted a lifetime. I acquired discipline and a strong work ethic, and learned at an early age the importance of balancing life’s competing interests — in my case, school, Homework and a job. This really helped during my senior year of high school, when I worked 40 hours a week flipping burgers at a fast-food joint while taking a full load of college-prep courses.
这个工作我做了两年,但学到的东西却使我受益一生。我养成了自律性和坚定 的工作道德,并小小年纪就懂得了在有冲突的生活利益我自己的事情、学校、 家务和工作之间掌握平衡的重要性。在我中学的最后一年期间，这真的对我有很大 帮助，当时我正在学习全部大学预科课程，准备考大学,与此同时，我每周还要工作 40个小时，在一家快餐连锁店做汉堡。
The hard work paid off. I attended the U.S. Military Academy and went on to receive graduate degrees in law and business from Harvard. Later, I joined a big Los Angeles law firm and was elected to the California state assembly. In these jobs and in everything else I’ve done, I have never forgotten those nights in the parking lot. The experience taught me that there is dignity in all work and that if people are working to provide for themselves and their families, that is something we should honor.
艰苦的努力获利了丰厚的回报。我考上了美国陆军军官学校，继而取得了哈佛 大学的法律和商业硕士学位。后来，我进人了洛杉矶一家很大的法律公司，并当选 为加州议员。在做这些工作以及其他任何事情的时候，我从未忘记过清理停车场的 那些夜晚。那次经历使我懂得,所有的工作都有尊严，只要是自食其力、能够养家糊 口的人，都应该受到我们的尊敬。