I had two fathers, a rich one and a poor one. One was highly educated and intelligent; he had a Ph.D. and completed four years of undergraduate work in less than two years. He then went on to Stanford University, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University to do his advanced studies, all on full financial scholarships. The other father never finished the eighth grade.
我有兩個(gè)爸爸，一個(gè)富，一個(gè)窮。一個(gè)受過(guò)良好的教育，聰明絕頂，擁有博士的光環(huán)，他曾經(jīng)在不到兩年的時(shí)間里修完了四年制的大學(xué)本科學(xué)業(yè)，隨后又在斯坦福大學(xué)、芝加哥大學(xué)和西北大學(xué)進(jìn)一步深造，并且在所有這些學(xué)校都拿到了全獎(jiǎng)；與之相反的是，我的另一個(gè)爸爸連八年級(jí)都沒(méi)能念完。

Both men were successful in their careers, working hard all their lives. Both earned substantial incomes. Yet one struggled financially all his life. The other would become one of the richest men in Hawaii. One died leaving tens of millions of dollars to his family, charities and his church. The other left bills to be paid.
應(yīng)該說(shuō)兩位爸爸的事業(yè)都相當(dāng)成功，而且一輩子都很勤奮，因此，兩人都有著豐厚的收入。然而其中一個(gè)人終其一生都在個(gè)人財(cái)務(wù)問(wèn)題的泥沼中掙扎，另一個(gè)人則成了夏威夷最富有的人之一。一個(gè)爸爸身后為教堂、慈善機(jī)構(gòu)和家人留下數(shù)千萬(wàn)美元的巨額遺產(chǎn)，而另一個(gè)爸爸卻只留下一些待付的賬單。

Both men were strong, charismatic and influential. Both men offered me advice, but they did not advise the same things. Both men believed strongly in education but did not recommend the same course of study.
其實(shí)我的兩個(gè)爸爸都是那種生性剛強(qiáng)、富有魅力、對(duì)他人有著非凡影響力的人。他們兩個(gè)人都曾給過(guò)我許多建議，但建議的內(nèi)容卻總不相同；他們兩人也都深信教育的力量，但向我推薦的課程卻從不一樣。

If I had had only one dad, I would have had to accept or reject his advice. Having two dads advising me offered me the choice of contrasting points of view; one of a rich man and one of a poor man.
如果只有一個(gè)爸爸，我就只能對(duì)他的建議簡(jiǎn)單地加以接受或者拒絕；而兩個(gè)爸爸給我截然對(duì)立的建議，這在客觀上使我有了對(duì)比和選擇的機(jī)會(huì)?，F(xiàn)在回想起來(lái)，這實(shí)際上是一種在富人的觀念和窮人的觀念之間進(jìn)行的對(duì)比和選擇，而這種對(duì)比和選擇的結(jié)果決定了我的一生。

Instead of simply accepting or rejecting one or the other, I found myself thinking more, comparing and then choosing for myself.
由于兩個(gè)父親的觀念對(duì)立，使我得不到統(tǒng)一的說(shuō)法，我便無(wú)法簡(jiǎn)單地對(duì)這些建議予以接受或拒絕，我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己有了更多的思考、比較和選擇。

The problem was, the rich man was not rich yet and the poor man not yet poor. Both were just starting out on their careers, and both were struggling with money and families. But they had very different points of view about the subject of money.
問(wèn)題是，在給我建議的時(shí)候，富爸爸還不算富有，而窮爸爸當(dāng)時(shí)也并不貧窮，兩人都剛剛開始他們的事業(yè)，都在為錢和家庭而奮斗。然而，他們對(duì)于錢的理解卻是如此的迥然不同。

For example, one dad would say, "The love of money is the root of all evil." The other, "The lack of money is the root of all evil."
這就好像一個(gè)爸爸會(huì)說(shuō)：“貪財(cái)乃萬(wàn)惡之源”；而另一個(gè)爸爸卻會(huì)說(shuō)：“貧困才是萬(wàn)惡之本”。

As a young boy, having two strong fathers both influencing me was difficult. I wanted to be a good son and listen, but the two fathers did not say the same things. The contrast in their points of view, particularly where money was concerned, was so extreme that I grew curious and intrigued. I began to start thinking for long periods of time about what each was saying.
他們之中誰(shuí)會(huì)成功？誰(shuí)會(huì)富有？應(yīng)該聽誰(shuí)的？當(dāng)時(shí)我還只是一個(gè)小男孩，對(duì)我而言擁有兩個(gè)同樣富有影響力的爸爸可不是一件好應(yīng)付的事。我想成為一個(gè)聽話的好孩子，但兩個(gè)爸爸卻說(shuō)著完全不同的話，他們的觀點(diǎn)是如此相修，尤其在涉及到金錢的問(wèn)題上更是如此，這令我既好奇又迷惑，我不得不花很多時(shí)間對(duì)他們的話進(jìn)行思考。

Much of my private time was spent reflecting, asking myself questions such as, "Why does he say that?" and then asking the same question of the other dad's statement. It would have been much easier to simply say, "Yeah, he's right. I agree with that." Or to simply reject the point of view by saying, "The old man doesn't know what he's talking about." Instead, having two dads whom I loved forced me to think and ultimately choose a way of thinking for myself. As a process, choosing for myself turned out to be much more valuable in the long run, rather than simply accepting or rejecting a single point of view.
我用了很多的時(shí)間，問(wèn)自己諸如“他為什么會(huì)那樣說(shuō)”之類的問(wèn)題，然后又對(duì)另一個(gè)爸爸的話提出同樣的疑問(wèn)。如果不經(jīng)過(guò)自己的思考就簡(jiǎn)單地說(shuō)：“噢，他是對(duì)的，我同意”，或是拒絕說(shuō)：“這個(gè)老爸不知道自己在說(shuō)些什么”，我想那會(huì)容易得多。然而，這兩個(gè)我所愛(ài)的觀點(diǎn)不同的爸爸卻迫使我對(duì)每一個(gè)有分歧的問(wèn)題進(jìn)行思考，并最終形成自己的想法。這一過(guò)程，即自己去思考和選取而不是簡(jiǎn)單地全盤接受或全盤否定的過(guò)程，在后來(lái)的漫長(zhǎng)歲月中被證明對(duì)我是非常有益的。

One of the reasons the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class struggles in debt is because the subject of money is taught at home, not in school. Most of us learn about money from our parents. So what can a poor parent tell their child about money? They simply say "Stay in school and study hard." The child may graduate with excellent grades but with a poor person's financial programming and mind-set. It was learned while the child was young.
我逐漸意識(shí)到富人之所以越來(lái)越富，窮人之所以越來(lái)越窮，中產(chǎn)階級(jí)之所以總是在債務(wù)泥潭中掙扎，其主要原因之一在于他們對(duì)金錢的觀念不是來(lái)自學(xué)校，而是來(lái)自家庭。我們中的絕大多數(shù)人是從父母那里了解錢是怎么回事的。一對(duì)貧困的父母在培養(yǎng)孩子的理財(cái)觀念時(shí)，只會(huì)說(shuō)：“在學(xué)校里要好好學(xué)習(xí)喔”。結(jié)果，他們的孩子可能會(huì)以優(yōu)異的成績(jī)畢業(yè)，但同時(shí)也秉承了貧窮父母的理財(cái)方式和思維觀念——要知道，由于家長(zhǎng)的灌輸，這些觀念在孩子很小的時(shí)候就已經(jīng)開始形成了。

Money is not taught in schools. Schools focus on scholastic and professional skills, but not on financial skills. This explains how smart bankers, doctors and accountants who earned excellent grades in school may still struggle financially all of their lives. Our staggering national debt is due in large part to highly educated politicians and government officials making financial decisions with little or no training on the subject of money.
據(jù)我所知，迄今為止，在美國(guó)的學(xué)校里仍沒(méi)有真正開設(shè)有關(guān)“金錢”的基礎(chǔ)課程。學(xué)校教育只專注于學(xué)術(shù)知識(shí)和專業(yè)技能的教育和培養(yǎng)，卻忽視了理財(cái)技能的培訓(xùn)。這也解釋了為何眾多精明的銀行家、醫(yī)生和會(huì)計(jì)師們?cè)趯W(xué)校時(shí)成績(jī)優(yōu)異，可一輩子還是要為財(cái)務(wù)問(wèn)題傷神；國(guó)家岌岌可危的債務(wù)問(wèn)題在很大程度上也應(yīng)歸因于那些作出財(cái)務(wù)決策的政治家和政府官員們，他們中有些人雖然受過(guò)高等教育，但卻很少甚至幾乎沒(méi)有接受過(guò)財(cái)務(wù)方面的必要培訓(xùn)。

I often look ahead to the new millennium and wonder what will happen when we have millions of people who will need financial and medical assistance. They will be dependent on their families or the government for financial support. What will happen when Medicare and Social Security run out of money? How will a nation survive if teaching children about money continues to be left to parents-most of whom will be, or already are, poor?
我常常在想，當(dāng)我們的社會(huì)有成百萬(wàn)的人需要醫(yī)療救助時(shí)該怎么辦？當(dāng)然，家人和政府會(huì)救濟(jì)他們?？墒?，當(dāng)醫(yī)療基金和社會(huì)保障基金用盡時(shí)又該怎么辦？這并非是杞人憂天，如果我們繼續(xù)把教子理財(cái)?shù)闹厝谓唤o那些由于自身缺乏財(cái)務(wù)知識(shí)，正瀕于貧困邊線或已陷入貧困境地的父母的話，很難想像僅靠家人和社會(huì)的救濟(jì)能夠根治他們的“窮”病，實(shí)現(xiàn)整個(gè)社會(huì)的富裕。

Because I had two influential fathers, I learned from both of them. I had to think about each dad's advice, and in doing so, I gained valuable insight into the power and effect of one's thoughts on one's life. For example, one dad had a habit of saying, "I can't afford it." The other dad forbade those words to be used. He insisted I say, "How can I afford it?" One is a statement, and the other is a question. One lets you off the hook, and the other forces you to think. My soon-to-be-rich dad would explain that by automatically saying the words "I can't afford it," your brain stops working. By asking the question "How can I afford it?" your brain is put to work. He did not mean buy everything you wanted. He was fanatical about exercising your mind, the most powerful computer in the world. "My brain gets stronger every day because I exercise it. The stronger it gets, the more money I can make." He believed that automatically saying "I can't afford it" was a sign of mental laziness.
由于我有兩個(gè)對(duì)我有影響力且可以向其學(xué)習(xí)的爸爸，迫使我不得不去思考每個(gè)爸爸的意見，由此，我認(rèn)識(shí)到一個(gè)人的觀念對(duì)其一生的巨大影響力。例如，一個(gè)爸爸愛(ài)說(shuō)“我可付不起”這樣的話，而另一個(gè)爸爸則禁止用這類話，他會(huì)說(shuō)：“我怎樣才能付得起呢？”這兩句話，一個(gè)是陳述句，另一個(gè)是疑問(wèn)句，一個(gè)讓你放棄，而另一個(gè)則促使你去想辦法。那很快就致富的爸爸解釋道，說(shuō)“我付不起”這種話會(huì)阻止你去開動(dòng)腦筋想辦法；而問(wèn)“怎樣才能付得起”則開動(dòng)了你的大腦。當(dāng)然，這并不意味著人們必須去買每一件你想要的東西，這里只是強(qiáng)調(diào)要不停地鍛煉你的思維——實(shí)際上人的大腦是世界上最棒的“計(jì)算機(jī)”。富爸爸時(shí)常說(shuō)：“腦袋越用越活，腦袋越活，掙錢就越多”。在他看來(lái)，輕易就說(shuō)“我負(fù)擔(dān)不起”這類話是一種精神上的懶惰。

Although both dads worked hard, I noticed that one dad had a habit of putting his brain to sleep when it came to money matters, and the other had a habit of exercising his brain. The long-term result was that one dad grew stronger financially and the other grew weaker. It is not much different from a person who goes to the gym to exercise on a regular basis versus someone who sits on the couch watching television. Proper physical exercise increases your chances for health, and proper mental exercise increases your chances for wealth. Laziness decreases both health and wealth.
雖然兩個(gè)爸爸工作都很努力，但我注意到，當(dāng)遇到錢的問(wèn)題時(shí)，一個(gè)爸爸總會(huì)去想辦法解決，而另一個(gè)爸爸則習(xí)慣于順其自然。長(zhǎng)期下來(lái)，一個(gè)爸爸的理財(cái)能力更強(qiáng)了，而另一個(gè)的理財(cái)能力則越來(lái)越弱。我想這種結(jié)果類似于一個(gè)經(jīng)常去健身房鍛煉的人與一個(gè)總是坐在沙發(fā)上看電視的人在體質(zhì)上的變化。經(jīng)常性的體育鍛煉可以強(qiáng)身健體，同樣地，經(jīng)常性的頭腦運(yùn)動(dòng)可以增加你獲得財(cái)富的機(jī)會(huì)。懶惰必定會(huì)使你的體質(zhì)變?nèi)?、?cái)富減少。

My two dads had opposing attitudes in thought. One dad thought that the rich should pay more in taxes to take care of those less fortunate. The other said, "Taxes punish those who produce and reward those who don't produce."
就像我前面所說(shuō)的，我的兩個(gè)爸爸存在著很多觀念上的差異。一個(gè)爸爸認(rèn)為富人應(yīng)該繳更多的稅去照顧那些比較不幸的人；另一個(gè)爸爸則說(shuō)：“稅是懲勤獎(jiǎng)懶”。

One dad recommended, "Study hard so you can find a good company to work for." The other recommended, "Study hard so you can find a good company to buy."
一個(gè)爸爸說(shuō)：“努力學(xué)習(xí)能去好公司工作”；而另一個(gè)則會(huì)說(shuō)：“努力學(xué)習(xí)能發(fā)現(xiàn)并將有能力收購(gòu)好公司”。

One dad said, "The reason I'm not rich is because I have you kids." The other said, "The reason I must be rich is because I have you kids."
一個(gè)說(shuō)：“我不富的原因是我有孩子”；另一個(gè)則說(shuō)：“我必須富的原因是我有孩子”。

One encouraged talking about money and business at the dinner ,table. The other forbade the subject of money to be discussed over a meal.
一個(gè)禁止在晚飯桌上談?wù)撳X和生意，另一個(gè)則鼓勵(lì)在吃飯時(shí)談?wù)撨@些話題。

One said, "When it comes to money, play it safe, don't take risks." The other said, "Learn to manage risk."
一個(gè)說(shuō)：“掙錢的時(shí)候要小心，別去冒險(xiǎn)”；另一個(gè)則說(shuō)：“要學(xué)會(huì)管理風(fēng)險(xiǎn)”。

One believed, "Our home is our largest investment and our greatest asset." The other believed, "My house is a liability, and if your house is your largest investment, you're in trouble."
一個(gè)相信“我們家的房子是我們最大的投資和資產(chǎn)”，另一個(gè)則相信“我們家的房子是負(fù)債，如果你的房子是你最大的投資，你就有麻煩了”。

Both dads paid their bills on time, yet one paid his bills first while the other paid his bills last.
兩個(gè)爸爸都會(huì)準(zhǔn)時(shí)付賬，但不同的是：一個(gè)在期初支付，另一個(gè)則在期末支付。

（來(lái)源：原版英語(yǔ)? 編輯：Julie）