2014年商務(wù)英語中級閱讀材料：成功之道

When I am interviewed, I am occasionally asked: “What is the secret of business success?”

If I knew the perfect answer, I would have made far fewer mistakes over the years; in truth I suspect there are many ingredients. Nevertheless, as an exercise, I have noted below a number of contributing factors that I think matter more than most.

● Work for yourself. To be self-employed can be lonely, and is likely to be hard work. But ultimately you will gain the rewards for your efforts if you are right – as long as you are lucky. You can certainly earn a handsome living working in a big bank or an accountancy firm, but you will never achieve a spectacular capital gain, or change the world in the way that an entrepreneur can by fulfilling their dream.

● Be in the right place. History shows that growing markets, where entrepreneurs are encouraged, offer greater opportunities than places where there is stagnant demand, high tax and lots of regulation. On that basis, anyone with little to lose who is living in the west should emigrate to the east: it's what I advise anyone under the age of 30 to do. This is a harsh verdict, and inevitably there are thousands of exceptions. But it is undeniable that far more new millionaires and billionaires are being minted in countries such as India and China than in Europe. Growing gross domestic product, expanding populations, low costs and modest tax rates offer a powerful combination that the west simply cannot match.

● Learn how to borrow. An ability to find and use debt is a factor in most stories of great wealth. Even if banks are not extending much credit right now, the cycle will turn and eventually they will reopen for business. I was slow to realise the fundamental importance of using debt. Many entrepreneurs overdo it at the top, and end up losing many of their leveraged assets when prices fall. But somehow they rarely go bankrupt, and very often reappear with new bankers in tow when the cycle turns.

參考譯文：

在我接受采訪時，偶爾會有人問我：“企業(yè)成功的秘訣是什么?”

如果我當(dāng)初知道正確答案，那么這么多年來我會少犯很多錯誤;實際上，我認(rèn)為成功的要素有許多。不過，我還是嘗試著列出了以下幾個在我看來最重要的影響因素。

● 為自己工作 自己當(dāng)老板可能會很孤單，而且可能工作繁重。但只要你走運(yùn)，而又判斷正確，你最終會為自己的付出獲得回報。在一家大銀行或會計師事務(wù)所打工，你肯定能生活得不錯，但你永遠(yuǎn)不會獲得豐厚的資本收益，或者像企業(yè)家那樣實現(xiàn)夢想，改變世界。

● 占取地利 歷史經(jīng)驗表明，相對于需求低迷、稅賦沉重、監(jiān)管嚴(yán)格的市場，鼓勵創(chuàng)業(yè)的成長型市場會提供更大的機(jī)遇。有鑒于此，所有沒什么可失去的西方人，都應(yīng)該移居?xùn)| 方：對30歲以下的年輕人，我都是這樣建議的。這是個粗略的判斷，必然存在諸多例外。但不可否認(rèn)，印度和中國等國創(chuàng)造的新科百萬富翁和億萬富翁，要遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)多 于歐洲。國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值(GDP)不斷增長，人口持續(xù)增加，成本低廉，稅賦適中，這些因素的強(qiáng)大組合令西方難以望其項背。

● 學(xué)習(xí)如何借債 獲得并利用債務(wù)的能力，是大多數(shù)巨額財富故事中的一個要素。即使目前各銀行發(fā)貸不多，但周期會轉(zhuǎn)向，銀行最終會再次向商業(yè)敞開大門。我花了很長時間才認(rèn)識 到利用債務(wù)的根本重要性。許多企業(yè)家在信貸高峰期做得太過火，最終在資產(chǎn)價格下跌時失去了大量杠桿資產(chǎn)。但他們很少破產(chǎn)，往往會在周期轉(zhuǎn)向時，攜手新的銀 行家卷土重來。