The First Pot of Gold in My Life
胡 敏 文 王汝涛 英译
胡敏教授多年前写的“我人生的第一桶金”这篇励志散文最初发表在《中国青年》杂志上，后经作者同意由我译成英文并以英汉对照形式在《英语世界》杂志发表。此文真实叙述了胡老师儿时在湖南农村生活的一段经历。该文虽为旧文，但今天读来仍感人至深。我想现将此文重发在设于湖南的柯帕斯英语网再好不过。希望此文不仅让今天的年轻一代能鼓起应对生活和工作中所面临的挑战的勇气，也能激发大家学习英语的兴趣。胡敏教授系新航道教育集团总裁，曾继俞敏洪后任新东方学校校长。——译者注
Translator’s Note:
This motivational essay “The First Pot of Gold in My Life” written by Prof. Hu
Min first appeared in China Youth years ago, and later, with his prior consent,
was translated into English by myself and published in a bilingual format in
The World of English magazine. The story is a truthful account of an episode of
Hu’s childhood life in rural areas in Hunan. Anachronistic as it is, the tale
is still gripping and touching in the eyes of contemporary readers. I think
that it is now no better option than having it posted on the Hunan-based Corpus
English Learning website. Hopefully, this bilingual essay will not only plucker
up the courage of today’s younger generations to confront challenges in their
life and career, but stimulate their interest in English as well. Prof. Hu is
the current president of New Channel Education Group in Beijing and former
president of Beijing New Oriental School, successor to its founder Mr Yu
Minhong.
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我平生挣的这第一笔钱，十几块钱，挣得很辛苦，真的是血汗钱。但正是挣这第一笔钱的经历，让我明白了一个道理。
The first sum of
money in my life is hard to earn. It is merely a little more than ten yuan made
out of blood and sweat indeed. But it is such experience that has made me
understand a truth to live by.
曾经有个记者问我：“你创办新航道学校，也算个企业家了，你的第一桶金是多少？是怎么挖到的？”在他看来，我的第一桶金一定是一笔不小的钱。当时我这样回答他：“我的第一桶金只有十几块钱，是一担一担地挑土挣的。”他听后摇摇头。
A reporter once
asked me: “Now that you have established New Channel School, you are a real
entrepreneur now. What is your first pot of gold? And how did you get it?” In
his eyes, perhaps, this pot of gold must be a small fortune. Then I replied:
“My first pot of gold is nothing but a bit over ten yuan, which I have made by
shouldering one basket of earth after another.” On hearing this, he shook his head,
bemused.
我说的是真的。那是我生平挣的第一笔钱，数目不大，对我的人生而言，却价值不菲。尽管以后我也曾一次挣到不少钱，但在心里，我一直把这十几块钱看作我的第一桶金。
What I told him is
true. That was the first time I had made some money. Despite a tiny sum, it
proved to be invaluable later on and made a difference in my life. Although I
have earned a huge sum once or twice ever since, at the bottom of my heart the
first earning has always been looked upon as my first pot of gold.
那年我12岁中，初二上学期刚上完。寒假中，我向父母提出要打一份工给自己赚学费。父母起初不同意，因为当时在乡下只有体力劳动能够赚一点钱，也就是说我只能去做一个童工。但禁不住我的再三请求，同时也想让我受点磨炼，他们终于答应让我试试。
That year, when I
was only 12 years old, and the first semester of Junior Grade Two was just
over, I asked for my parents’ consent to my request to work during winter
vacation in order to earn some money to pay my tuition fees. Initially, they
refused because at the time in the village, the only way to make some money was
to do manual jobs, which meant that I had to be a child labourer. However,
urged by my renewed requests plus their intention to toughen my will in hard
conditions, they finally agreed to let me have a try.
村子附近的沱江正值枯水期，河床露出来，下面是厚厚的黄土，正好做砖瓦厂烧制砖瓦的原料，村里许多人都趁着农闲去挣这份辛苦钱。父母便让我也去给砖瓦厂挑土．反正是按重量计价，挑多赚多，挑少赚少，自己可以量力而为。当时正好有一个外村来找活儿干的表叔也要去挑土，父母就让我和他一起去。
The Tuo River near
the village was then in the dry season. Its riverbeds emerged and there was a
thick layer of earth underneath, which could be used in the brickyard as brick
or tile materials. Quite a few villagers would intend to make this hard money
out of digging earth when farming was already in slack season. So my parents
asked me to carry earth for the brickyard, believing that it would pay me by
earth weight I did. That meant the more earth I carried, the more money I would
earn, and vice versa, so I could do the job subject to my capacity. It was at
the same time that an uncle of mine from another village would also come to do
the same job, so mother and father asked me to go along with him.
第一天，我拿了锄头和土筐跟着村里的人下了河床。湖南的冬季最低温度达零度．空气湿度大，风一吹寒冷刺骨。但为了方便干活我只穿了件衬衫，冻得直哆嗦。从挖土的河床到收土过秤的地点有一里多路，还要爬上高高的河岸，劳动强度很大，一般只有棒劳力才会来干这活儿。在长蛇阵一般的挑土队伍中，我的年龄最小，个头最矮，挑着几十斤的担子一路歪斜，根本就不敢停步，生怕放下担子就再也没有力量挑起来。好不容易走到收土的地方，因我的个子太矮，踮起脚，土筐也挂不到秤钩上，司秤阿姨拿过几块砖让我踩上去，才把土称了。
On the first day,
shouldering a spade and a basket, I followed the villagers to the riverbeds. In
the winter of Hunan, the outdoor temperature reached as low as zero degree
Celsius. On top of that, the air was rather humid, and gusts of chilly wind
pierced me to the bone. But, even though trembling with cold, I had to wear a
shirt, only to do the job more efficiently. It was as far as more than half a
kilometre from the riverbeds to the earth collecting site, where earth would be
weighed. Worse still, I had to climb the steep river bank. The job was
strenuous, and usually, it was only a robust man who was able to do it. Of the
earth diggers snaking along the river, I was the youngest and the shortest,
carrying dozens of kilos of earth on my shoulder pole and staggering along
without stop for fear that if the pole slipped off my shoulder, it would be
beyond my power to carry again. At last, I arrived at the collecting site. But
as I was too short even on tiptoe to put the basket of earth on the scale hook,
a woman scale assistant put several bricks under my feet so that I could
finally reach it.
一天土挑下来，肩膀早肿了，担子一压上去就针刺一样疼。晚上回到家浑身上下没有一块肌肉不酸痛。第二天早上我费了好大的劲才从床上爬起来，胳膊疼得不行，腿又酸又胀，肩膀好像比前一天更痛。真想好好休息一下，可是我感觉到只要自己一休息，肯定就不会再去挑土了，今天坚持不住，前一天付出的努力就全白废了。吃完早饭我拿了工具又直奔河床。第二天干下来，手上的血泡和肩膀上的皮肤全都磨破了，火辣辣地痛，心里苦得简直没法说，晚上躺在床上我偷偷问自己：“明天还干么？”
At the end of a
day’s work, my shoulder was already swollen. I would feel a stinging pain
whenever the pole touched my shoulder. Back at home in the evening, I was
reduced to a sore flesh all over. Next morning, I took great trouble to rise
from bed, enduring pain in the arms and sores in the legs. My shoulder seemed
to be more painful than the day before. I was really expecting to have a good
rest, but I felt that, if I started to rest, I would certainly not go to carry
earth again. And if I could not persevere today, then all my previous efforts
would go down the drain. So, after breakfast, I picked up the working tools and
headed straight to the riverbed. At the end of the second day, the blood
blisters on my hands and the skin on my shoulder were all broken, burning with
pain which was hard to describe. That night, while lying in bed, I said to
myself: “Can I continue tomorrow?”
第三天早上，和我一起挑土的表叔先打了退堂鼓 “实在干不动，太累了！”他的手上也磨出了血泡，肩膀上磨掉了一层皮。送走表叔，父母让我不要再去挑土了。一个棒劳力都受不了，何况我是个孩子。
这时候我的犟脾气却让我不服输 “我就不信坚持不下来。”
On the morning of
the third day, my uncle, who had brought me along to the riverbeds on the first
day, made a retreat, saying “oh, my, I couldn’t go any further. I’m really
worn-out.” His hands were also afflicted with blood blisters and a layer of kin
scraped off his shoulder. After seeing him off, my parents did not ask me to
return to work. A robust man even can’t do this, let alone a child! There and
then, my stubborn character did not allow me to concede. Still I did not
believe I could not keep at it.
那挑土的长蛇阵中，只有一半的人坚持到了最后一天，我就是其中的一个。手上已经长出了老茧．肩膀早被压麻木了。
Of the earth
diggers snaking along the riverbeds, only a half kept working until the last
day, I among them. My hands were already growing callused, and my shoulders
numb with loads.
砖瓦厂年三十发工钱。为了领钱，我刻了生平第一枚私章，看着上面的“胡敏”两个字，我特别有成就感。当我把十几元钱交给母亲时．我看见眼泪在她的眼睛里打转，我也不由得笑着流出了眼泪--我终于可以挣钱帮补家里了!
New Year’s Eve was
the pay day of the brickyard. In order to get the money, I had my first stamp
made in my lifetime. Seeing the two characters “Hu Min” carved on the stamp, I
especially felt a sense of accomplishment. When I gave just a little over ten
yuan to Mom, I suddenly saw her tears swelling in the eyes. Instantly followed
my own tears welling up in my eyes and a smile on my face - at last, I could
make some money to help the family!
按照家乡的规矩，年三十晚必须洗一个澡．换一身干净衣服。脱衣服时我才发现，肩膀上结了一层厚厚的血痂，这层血痂已经跟身上穿的衬衫粘在了一起，不用说脱衣服，一拉都痛得钻心。我不想让母亲看到这些，就简单擦洗了一下，之后把新换的衣服直接套在了旧衬衫上。
By convention of
my hometown, on New Year’s Eve, one should take a shower and put on clean
clothes. When taking off the clothes, I found that there had been a thick layer
of clotted blood on my shoulder. The blood clots were already glued to my shirt
on the body. Even just pulling it a bit would cause heart-stinging pain in me,
to say nothing of taking it off. For fear that Mom might see this, I gave
myself a quick rub, and then put on new clothes with the old ones still on.
晚上母亲洗衣服．找不见旧衬衫，就问我：“你那旧衬衣呢?”
我说：“我放在那里了。”
“在哪里呀?”母亲来回翻找。
我看瞒不过去，才说还穿在身上。
母亲让我把旧衬衫脱下来，我脱下了外面的衣服，露出了那件脱不下来的旧衬衫。当母亲见到衬衫上的血痂，泪水一下就涌了出来……
In the evening,
when Mom started to do the washing, she could not find my used shirt, so she
asked: “Where is your used shirt?”
“I just put it in
there.” I replied. “But where?” she insisted, rummaging around in the room.
Knowing that I
could no longer cover it up, I had to tell her that the old shirt was still on
me. Then she asked me to take it off. When I took off the outfit, the shirt I
could not manage to take off caught her eyes. Seeing the clotted blood on the
shirt, all of a sudden, she burst into tears….
我平生挣的这第一笔钱．十几块钱，挣得很辛苦，真的是血汗钱。但正是挣这第一笔钱的经历，让我明白了一个道理:再苦再难的事，只要自己不放弃，就能坚持下来；而只要坚持下来，就能成功!
Such is the story
of the little sum of money I made with blood and sweat. And it is just this
money-making experience that has made me understand a truth to live by: However
hard your undertaking is, as long as you do not give up, you’ll be able to carry
it through to the end; once you carry it through to the end, you will make it!
这以后，我在事业上取得了一些成绩，都可以说是得益于这第一笔血汗钱。这十几块钱，谁能说它不是我人生的第一桶金。
Since then, I have
made some achievements in my career, which were surely attributed to this unusual
experience. Although I earned only a bit over ten yuan, who should have said
this was not the first pot of gold in my life?
