How a Simple Idea Became a Huge Business

我怎样白手起家（3）

要是我有个水晶球能窥见未来，我会怎么样呢？
许多人一遇到障碍就打退堂鼓，但我不会这样。
我一旦有了目标，就必然锲而不舍，全力以赴。
我相信人生中充满机会，但我们往往不懂得把握。

By Howard Schultz
霍华德·舒尔茨

Inexplicable Attraction
不可言喻的吸引力

[9]I tried to persuade Jerry Baldwin to hire me-although it did not seem to be a logical career move. Taking a job at Starbucks would mean giving up my job and Sheri's job-and for what? Moving across the country to join a tiny outfit 『公司；机构』with four coffee stores? It didn't make sense to my friends or family, especially my mother. "You're doing well-you have a future," she argued. "Don't give it up for a small company nobody's heard of ."

[9]我想说服巴登雇用我--老实说，此举似乎并不明智。我如果去明星咖啡连锁公司上班，就必须辞去现在的职位，而我的妻子也必须放弃现在的工作。我的亲友，尤其是母亲，都认为我的想法没有道理。"你现在干得很不错--前途远大，"她劝道："不要为一个谁都没有听说过的小公司而放弃现在的工作。"

[10]I thought of the loss of security『保障』, remembering how when I was seven my father had broken his ankle at work. He was stuck at home for more than a month. He was a truck driver delivering diapers『尿布』, so when he didn't work, he didn't get paid. Our family had no income, no health insurance『保险』-nothing to fall back on. That image of my father-slumped『垂头弯腰地坐』on the couch, leg in a cast-was burned into my mind.

[10]我考虑的是失去保障，不禁想起7岁那年父亲工作时摔断踝骨，在家里困了一个多月的往事。他的职业是开卡车运送尿布，不上班就没有工资，我们一家人的生活顿时陷入困境。他一条腿裹着石膏颓然坐在长沙发上的情景，深深印在我的记忆中。

[11]But Starbucks held an inexplicable attraction for me. During the year after my first visit, I found reasons to get back to Seattle several times. Then in the spring of 1982, Jerry and Gordon invited me to meet board『董事会』member Steve Donovan.

[11]但是，对我来说，明星咖啡连锁公司有不可言喻的吸引力。其后我在一年之内又找借口去了西雅图几趟，到1982年春天，巴登和博格邀我去会晤公司董事史蒂夫·坦南瓦尔德。

[12]The meeting went exceptionally well. I told them how I had served Starbucks coffee to my friends in New York, how enthusiastic『极感兴趣的』they had been. Starbucks could be so much bigger, I argued. It could grow beyond the Northwest. It could become a national company.

[12]会晤时气氛极好。我告诉他们，我曾经用明星咖啡连锁公司的咖啡招待纽约的朋友，尝过的人都赞不绝口。我又指出，这公司其实可以大展宏图，冲出西北部发展成为全国大企业。

[13]The partners seemed inspired『振奋；感动』by my vision『构想；见解』. Back in New York the next day, I eagerly awaited Jerry's call. But they had decided not to hire me. "Your plans sound great," Jerry said. "But that's just not the vision we have for Starbucks." Instead of charming『吸引』them, I had spooked『使受惊吓；使胆怯』them.

[13]三位股东似乎欣赏我的见解。第二天我回到纽约，急切等候巴登的电话。但是他们决定不雇用我。巴登说："你的计划好极了，只可惜不符合我们经营明星咖啡连锁公司的方针。"

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