异类之不一样的成功启示录 第197期:戴西成功的原因

 　　In the 1950s, the Jamaican census¹ bureau did a breakdown² of all of the lawyers in the country according to their skin tone. 下面的图表是对20世纪50年代牙买加律师和国会议员这两种职业以肤色进行的统计分类分类。

　　People who were "white and light", that is people who had some black heritage and is no longer readily apparent, made up 38.8% of the lawyers. "白色和接近白色"是指那些完全是白人或者是没有遗传显现黑色特征的混血儿。

　　People who were "Olive" skin or "light brown" or "dark brown" made up about a third of the lawyers. "黄褐色"是指皮肤比上一种略黑些的那些人。"亮棕色"又是比黄褐色略黑色的一类人。（除牙买加人外，对别人来说，这两种肤色的人并没有可以很好区别的特征。）

　　People who were "black" made about 5% of the lawyers and keep in mind that "blacks" made up a total of 80% of the Jamaican population. 这里需要注意的是，在20世纪50年代非白人占有人口的80%，达到5比1。

　　Do you see the extraordinary advantage that their little bit of whiteness gave the colored minority? 看看这些拥有白人血统的人的一些优势。

　　Having an ancestor who worked in the house and not in the fields, who got full civil rights in 1826, 当他们有在房屋里而不是农田里工作的祖先时，他就会在1826年获得完全的公民权利，

　　who was valued instead of enslaved, who got a shot as meaningful work instead of being consigned³ to the sugarcane fields, 就可以得到尊重而不是成为奴隶，就会得到一个体面的工作而不是在蔗糖地工作，

　　made all the difference in occupational success two and three generations later. 只要两三代后就能获得成功。

　　Daisy Ford⁴'s ambition for her daughters did not come from nowhere, in other words. She was the inheritor of a legacy⁵ of privilege. 也就是说，戴西·福特家女儿们的雄心并不是来自别处，她们正是这种制度的受益者。

　　Her older brother Rufus, with whom she went to live as a child, was a teacher and a man of learning. 童年同她生活在一起的哥哥鲁弗斯是老师和学术家；

　　Her brother Carlos went to Cuba and then came back to Jamaica and opened the garment factory. 她的另一个哥哥卡洛斯去了古巴，回来后开了一家服装厂；

　　Her father, Charls Ford, was a produce wholesaler⁶. 她的父亲查尔斯·福特是个货品批发商，

　　Her mother, Ann, was a Powell. 她的母亲安也受过良好的教育，

　　The same Powell's who would, two generations later, produced Colin Powell, another educated, upwardly mobile colored family. 来自于鲍威尔家族。

　　Her uncle, Henry, owned property. 在这个家族中，她的叔叔亨利拥有自己的房地产；

　　Her grandfather, John, the son of William Ford, and his African concubine ended up with a preacher. 她祖父约翰——威廉·福特和他非洲裔妻子的儿子，最后成了一名传教士。

　　No less than three members of the extended Ford family ended up winning Rhodes Scholarships. 多达3个福特家族的人获得过罗得斯奖学金。

　　If my mother owed William.M.McMillan and the rioters of 1937 and Mr. Chance and her mother, Daisy Ford, 如果我的母亲的成功归功于麦克米兰和1937年的暴乱还有“关键先生”的话，

　　then Daisy owed Rufus and Carlos and Ann and Charles and John. 那么戴西的成功就归功于鲁弗斯、卡洛斯、安、查尔斯和约翰。

1 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

2 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

3 consigned   

v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃

参考例句：

• I consigned her letter to the waste basket. 我把她的信丢进了废纸篓。
• The father consigned the child to his sister's care. 那位父亲把孩子托付给他妹妹照看。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

5 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

6 wholesaler   

n.批发商

参考例句：

• We're the largest furniture wholesaler in Illinois. 我们是伊利诺伊州最大的家具批发商。 来自辞典例句
• These are used to create profiles for each wholesaler. 这是他日常的工作或通过与批发商的正式会谈。 来自互联网