Rags to Riches padding-bottom: 62.5%;"> 從街頭流浪漢到百萬富翁 Chris Gardner tells 20/20 how he worked to move himself from a life of homelessness to a successful life as a businessman. Chris Gardner在《美國廣播公司新聞》20/20點節目講述了他如何從街頭流浪到成爲百萬富翁的經歷。 Gardner is the head of his own brokerage firm and lives in a Chicago Townhouse--one of his three homes with a collection of tailored suits, designer shoes, and Miles Davis albums. Gardner自己開了一家經紀人公司並任總管，住在芝加哥別墅區--他三處住宅中的其中一處，裏面收藏有西裝，時裝鞋和Miles Davis的唱片集。 His path to this extraordinary success took a series of extraordinary turns. Just 20 years ago, Gardner was homeless and living, on occasion, in a bathroom at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland, Calif. 在成功的道路上，他歷經了一系列坎坷挫折。20年前，Gardner無家可歸，有時就住在加州奧克蘭市湖灣區快速運輸站上的洗手間裏過夜。 Gardner was raised by his mother, a schoolteacher. He says he never knew his father while he was growing up. But his mother had a way of keeping him grounded when he dreamed of things like being a jazz trumpeter. Gardner從小由當教師的母親撫養長大。他說自己從未見過父親。但是，當他夢想作一名爵士樂小號手時，他母親有一套方法指導他。 "Mothers have a way of saying things," Gardner said, "She explained to me, 'Son, there's only one Miles Davis and he got that job. So you have to do something else. But what that something else was, I did not know.'" "母親有自己的表述方法。"Gardner說："她對我說，'兒子，只有一個Miles Davis，他從事這個行業。因此，你就得做其他的事情，至於那是什麼事情，我就不知道了。'"
Gardner credits his uncles with providing the male influence he needed. Many of them were military veterans. So, straight out of high school, he enlisted in the Navy for four years. He says it gave him a sense of what was possible. Gardner認爲是他的叔叔給他提供了影響他的人生道路的男人。他們中許多人是部隊裏的老兵。因此，高中一畢業，他就報名參軍當了四年的海軍。他稱這給他帶來一種成就感。 A Red Ferrari and a Turning Point 一輛紅色法拉利，一次人生轉折點 After the military, Gardner took a job as a medical supply salesman. Then, he says, he reached another turning point in his life. In a parking lot, he met a man driving a red Ferrari." He was looking for a parking space. And I said, 'You can have mine. But I gotta ask you two questions.' The two questions were: What do you do? And how do you do that? Turns out this guy was a stockbroker and he was making $80,000 a month." 退役以後，Gardner作起了醫藥銷售員。他說，那時，他經歷了人生又一個轉折點。在一處停車場，他遇見一名男子駕着一輛紅色法拉利。"他正在找一個停車攤位。我說，'你可以停我這裏。但我要問你兩個問題。"這兩個問題是：你做什麼工作？你怎樣去做？這個人原來是股票經紀人，月薪8萬美元。 Gardner began knocking on doors, applying for training programs at brokerages, even though it meant he would have to live on next to nothing while he learned. When he finally was accepted into a program, he left his job in medical sales. But his plans collapsed as suddenly as they had materialized. The man who offered him the training slot was fired, and Gardner had no job to go back to. Gardner開始上門申請學習經紀人課程，即使這意味着在他學習期間會衣食無着。當他終於被錄取上培訓班時，他辭掉銷售員的工作。然而，他的計劃突然之間轉爲泡影正如他們突然呈現一樣。那個曾經答應給他上培訓課的人被辭退了，而Gardner又丟掉了自己的工作。 Things got worse. He was hauled off to jail for $1,200 in parking violations that he couldn't pay. His wife left him. Then she asked him to care for their young son without her. Despite his lack of resources, Gardner said, "I made up my mind as a young kid that when I had children, my children were gonna know who their father was." Although a broker finally helped him enter a training program, Gardner wound up with no place to live. He was collecting a meager stipend as a brokerage trainee, and, like many working poor in America, he had a job but couldn't make ends meet. 事情弄得一團糟，更糟糕的是，他因交不起$1,200停車違章罰款費而被監禁。他的妻子離他而去。之後，她要求他來撫養孩子。儘管缺少經濟來源，Gardner說，'我從小就打定主意：我有了孩子，他們一定會知道他們的爸爸是誰。"儘管一個經紀人終於幫他上了培訓班，最後，Gardner弄得身無棲身之地。當時，他只籌集到少量的培訓班學費。正像許多美國窮人一樣，他找了一份工作，但還是入不敷出。 The Kindness of Strangers 陌生人施善幫助 When he could afford it, he stayed with his son, Chris Jr., in cheap motels. When they returned home at night, Gardner says, he received help from some unexpected sources. “The ladies of the evening were beginning their shift. And they would always see myself, this baby and the stroller. 當他交起學費時，他和兒子Chris Jr.住在廉價汽車旅館裏。 Gardner說，他們深更半夜回家時意外地受到一些人的幫助。“晚上，女士來汽車旅館上夜班，總是看見我、小嬰兒和那輛推車。” ”So they started giving him $5 bills. Without their help, Gardner said, there would have been nights when he couldn’t have fed his son. The Rev. Cecil Williams, founder of Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, remembers the first time he saw Gardner, who had gone to the church with his son to stand in a meal line. He said, “I wondered, ‘What in the world is a man doing with a baby?’” 於是，她們就掏出五塊錢給他。Gardner說，沒有她們的幫助，兒子可能就會捱餓。舊金山Glide 教堂的創建人Rev. Cecil Williams回憶第一次見到Gardner的情形，當時他帶着兒子排在就餐隊伍中間。他說，“我當時納悶：一個大男人怎麼會身邊拖着一個嬰兒？” Even to Williams, it was an unusual sight. The Urban Institute estimates that children make up 25 percent of the nation’s homeless population, but most are living with a single mother,not the father. 就連Williams也弄不明白這是怎麼回事。根據城市協會估算，全國無家可歸的人口中兒童佔到百分之二十五。但是，絕大多數兒童和單親母親而不是單親父親一起生活。 It Is a Green Thing 全靠經驗 With Williams’ help and a room supplied by Glide Memorial when he needed it, Gardner not only made it through the brokerage training program, he passed his licensing exam on the first try. 在Williams的幫助下，Gardner 需要時就住在Glide教堂提供的一間房間裏，Gardner不僅完成經紀人培訓課程學習，而且一次性通過營業執照考試。 Gardner went to work making cold calls at the firm of Dean Witter. He says no one at the firm knew he was homeless. “I was the first one at work, I was the last one to leave。 I’d be on the phone, 200 phone calls a day. That’s what they noticed,” he said. “Every time I picked up that phone, I was digging my way out of this hole.” Gardner爲謀到一份工作，幾次訪問Dean Witter的公司，受到冷遇，他說公司裏沒有人知道他無家可歸。“我第一個上班，最後一個下班。我一天接200個電話。這就是他們注意到的，”他說。“每一次我接電話，我都在尋找出路。” Gardner moved on to Bear, Stearns. As he learned the business, he also learned that it came with some unpleasant baggage. Because African-American brokers were rare, one phone customer, assuming that Gardner was white, told racist jokes as he placed his orders. When the client came for a face-to-face meeting, Gardner says, “He was either gonna close his account with me or I was gonna get all his business.” Gardner搬到Stearns市Bear區居住。他學會做生意的同時，還懂得幹這一行的艱辛，因爲美籍非洲人很少作經紀人，有一位打電話的顧客以爲Gardner是白人，一面下定單，一面講帶有種族歧視的玩笑，當顧客前來開會互相照面時，Gardner說，“他要麼不再委託我作他的經紀人，要麼把生意全都交給我做。” Gardner kept the account.“That’s when I learned in this business it’s not a black thing, it’s not a white thing, it’s a green thing. If you can make me money, I don’t care what color you are.” 客戶繼續讓他做下去。“我幹這行才瞭解到，作經紀人與你是黑人還是白人無關，全靠經驗。只要你能給我股票賺錢，我就不管你是什麼膚色。” In 1987, with $10,000 in capital, Gardner started his own company in Chicago，operating at first from his home. His company is now an institutional brokerage firm with offices in Chicago’s financial district. 1987年，Gardner 用$10,000美元作資本在芝加哥的家中創立了自己的公司，他的公司現在是一家經紀人公司，辦事處設在芝加哥金融區。 Ironically, when San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit System issued new bonds to raise money a few years ago, one of the underwriters was Gardner's company run by a man who, when he was homeless, had bathed his son in the bathroom of one of its train stations. 具有諷刺意義的是，幾年前，當舊金山湖灣區快速運輸站發行債券募集資金時，一家保險公司的經營者正是當年在火車站洗手間給他兒子洗澡的那個男人。 No Books, No Bucks 不讀好書，賺不到錢 He has donated money to educational projects in memory of his mother. And he has been honored for his work on behalf of an organization called Career Gear, which helps clothe and advise young people who are applying for jobs. 爲了紀念母親，Gardner把捐款給教育工程。並且他因爲爲Career Gear機構的出色工作而受到表彰。該機構給申請就業的年青人提供衣物和忠告。 When he speaks at high schools he keeps his message simple, telling students: “No books, no bucks. That’s it.” 當他在高中做報告時，他簡潔地告訴學生，“不讀好書就賺不到錢，就是這樣。” He also has returned many times to Glide Memorial in San Francisco, not only to donate money, but to work on the food line where he used to stand. “I see me, I see my son 20 years ago,”he said. “And I know how important this meal is to that individual, to that man, that woman.” 他還多次回到舊金山的Glide教堂，不僅是去捐款，也是到他曾經站過的免費餐檯前服務。“我看到20年前的我自己，看到我的兒子，”他說。“我深知這一餐對於一個人，那個男人，那個女人有多重要。”
