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史上第一个超级富豪(2)

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With his Boston education completed, Junius next sent Pierpont to Bellerive, a school in the cozy Swiss town of La Tour-de-Peilz, just across Lake Geneva from the French border.

在波士顿完成学业后,朱尼厄斯又把皮尔庞特送到了贝勒里夫,这是一所位于瑞士舒适小镇拉图尔德佩尔兹的学校,与法国边境隔着日内瓦湖。

Here, he picked up a valuable fluency in French, which his father believed would be hugely beneficial to a future business magnate like Pierpont.

他在这里学会了很有价值的法语,他的父亲认为这对像皮尔庞特这样的未来商业巨头大有裨益。

Once he'd mastered French conjunctive, Pierpont moved on to Germany's University of Gottingen, where he mastered his third language in less than a year. While there, he also formalized his love of art.

当他掌握了法语连词后,皮尔庞特转到了德国哥廷根大学,在那里他在不到一年的时间里掌握了他的第三种语言,也确立了对艺术的热爱。

Many of us might have loathed much of the artistic exposure that was forced upon us as young children, but evidently, Pierpont couldn't get enough. He left Germany with an additional degree in Art History.

我们中的许多人在小时候可能会讨厌被迫学习一些艺术,但显然皮尔庞特无法满足,他带着艺术史的第二学位离开了德国。

With his formal education finally rounded out, Pierpont went to meet his father in London.

皮尔庞特终于完成了正规教育,去伦敦见他的父亲。

By the mid-1850s, Junius had taken that partnership with George Peabody;

到19世纪50年代中期,朱尼厄斯与乔治·皮博迪合作了。

thus, when his son was ready to enter the work force in 1857, the London branch of Peabody, Morgan & Company was the most logical place for a first job.

因此,1857年,当他的儿子准备参加工作时,皮博迪摩根公司的伦敦分公司是最适合找第一份工作的地方。

Love & War Morgan worked in London for about a year before returning to New England.

摩根在伦敦工作了大约一年之后回到了新英格兰。

Junius trusted his son as a reliable business auxiliary, which is how Pierpont landed a position as a clerk at New York's Duncan, Sherman & Company – the American representatives of Peabody, Morgan & Company.

朱尼厄斯信任他的儿子,认为他是一个可靠的商业助手,这就是皮尔庞特成为纽约邓肯谢尔曼公司(皮博迪摩根公司的美国代表)的一名职员的方式。

Even in his 20s, Pierpont showed a keen nose for profits.

甚至在他20多岁的时候,皮尔庞特就表现出了对利润的敏锐嗅觉。

One story from his early years recalls how he bought coffee at a short price off a New Orleans boat captain who couldn't find any buyers for his product.

他早年的一个故事回忆起他如何以低价从新奥尔良的一名找不到买家的船长那里买到咖啡。

Morgan used his company's considerable funds to buy the coffee, then leveraged his connections in the area to find buyers that the ship captain never could. He sold the coffee at a significant rate of return.

摩根用公司的巨额资金购买了咖啡,然后利用他在当地的关系找到了船长永远都无法找到的买家。他以很高的回报率出售了咖啡。

Pierpont had only been in New York for about a year when he fell in love.

皮尔庞特到纽约才一年左右就坠入了爱河。

In 1859, while navigating the New York art scene, he met Amelia, the daughter of a wealthy arts patron named Jonathan Sturges.

1859年,当他在纽约的艺术界游弋时,他遇到了阿米莉亚,一位名叫乔纳森·斯特奇斯的富有艺术赞助人的女儿。

Amelia had her own little nickname, and liked to be called Memie.

阿米莉亚有自己的小名,她喜欢别人叫她梅梅。

Screen-Shot-2019-11-03-at-12.35.38-PM_副本.png

Memie and her family were scheduled to do some travelling in 1859, and a veteran European traveler like Pierpont was just the expert they needed.

梅梅和她的家人计划在1859年进行一次旅行,像皮尔庞特这样的资深欧洲旅行者正是他们需要的专家。

He drew them up an itinerary that ended in London, then met them over in The Big Smoke once they were finished.

他为他们制定了一个以伦敦为终点的行程,然后在他们行程结束后在The Big Smoke和他们见面。

Pierpont spent two weeks with Memie before escorting her across the Atlantic, back to New York.

皮尔庞特和梅梅在一起呆了两周,然后护送她穿过大西洋回到纽约。

In the modern dating scene, a young single woman would probably feel that Pierpont was trying way too hard, but Memie didn't seem to mind.

在现代约会场景中,年轻的单身女性可能会觉得皮尔庞特劲儿使得太过了,但梅梅似乎并不介意。

She agreed to marry Pierpont in the following year, during the Spring of 1860.

第二年,也就是1860年春天,她同意嫁给皮尔庞特。

At age 23, it was the happiest he had ever been in his young life. Unfortunately, there were twin disasters right around the corner.

23岁的时候是他年轻时最快乐的时光。不幸的是,两场灾难即将发生。

The following winter, in 1861, Memie came down with a pesky cough that just wouldn't go away.

第二年的冬天,也就是1861年,梅梅得了一种麻烦的咳嗽病,一直都没好。

At the same time, the American Civil War was just weeks away from exploding.

与此同时,几周后爆发了美国内战。

Now, you might think a mystery ailment would be easier to deal with than your entire country breaking out into armed conflict around you, but Pierpont evaded service in the Union Army by paying $300 to a substitute.

现在,你可能会认为一个神秘的疾病比整个国家在你周围爆发武装冲突更容易处理,但皮尔庞特为了逃避在联邦军队服役,付了300美元给一个替身。

For that matter, so did eventual peers John D.Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould, and James Mellon.

在这个问题上,最终同行约翰·D·洛克菲勒、安德鲁·卡内基、杰伊·古尔德和詹姆斯·梅隆也这么做了。

For Mellon's part, he felt some guilt after the fact about avoiding the War, prompting his father to write to him that "a man may be a patriot without risking his own life or sacrificing his health.

梅隆在逃避战争这件事之后感到有些内疚,他的父亲给他写信说,“一个人即使不冒生命危险或牺牲健康,也可以成为爱国者。”

There are plenty of lives less valuable.

还有很多人的生命不那么有价值。

We don't know where young Pierpont stood on the value of his own life during the first year of the Civil War; what we do know is that he desperately wanted to find a cure for his coughing bride-to-be.

我们不知道年轻的皮尔庞特在内战的第一年对自己生命价值的看法,我们只知道他非常想找到为他的准新娘治愈咳嗽的办法。

After the pair was married in October of 1861, he recalled his own successful recovery in the Azores, a decade earlier, so he made plans to honeymoon with Memie in the rejuvenating climate of the Mediterranean.

两人于1861年10月结婚后,他回忆起十年前自己在亚速尔群岛成功康复的情形,于是他计划与梅梅在地中海的宜人气候中度蜜月。

They set up a quaint residence in Algeria; soon after, while visiting France, a lung specialist finally diagnosed Memie's illness. She had tuberculosis.

他们在阿尔及利亚盖了一处古雅的住所,不久之后,在访问法国时,一位肺病专家最终诊断出梅梅的疾病,她得的是肺结核。

Pierpont waited on her constantly, hoping to improve her condition.

皮尔庞特一直照顾着她,希望她的状况能够改善。

Memie actually wrote a letter to her mother back in the States, saying "I wish you could see his loving, devoted care of me. He spares nothing for my comfort & improvement."

梅梅给远在美国的母亲写了一封信,信中说:“我希望你能看到他对我充满爱和奉献的照顾。他为我的舒适和好转付出了太多。”

Sadly, tuberculosis spared very few people in the 19th century, and Memie was no exception.

可悲的是,19世纪很少有人能幸免于肺结核,梅梅也不例外。

She died in February of 1862, four months after her marriage to Morgan.

1862年2月,梅梅在嫁给摩根四个月后去世。

At 24 years old, our protagonist was a widower.

24岁时,我们的主角是个鳏夫(无妻或丧妻的人)。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
fell [fel]

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动词fall的过去式
n. 兽皮
v

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additional [ə'diʃənl]

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adj. 附加的,另外的

 
quaint [kweint]

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adj. 古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的

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border ['bɔ:də]

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n. 边界,边境,边缘
vt. 与 ... 接

 
residence ['rezidəns]

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n. 住处,住宅,居住

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valuable ['væljuəbl]

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adj. 贵重的,有价值的
n. (pl.)贵

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itinerary [ai'tinərəri]

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n. 旅程,旅行指南,游记 adj. 巡回的,游历的,旅

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artistic [ɑ:'tistik]

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adj. 艺术的

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protagonist [prəu'tægənist]

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n. 主演,主角,主唱者

 
comfort ['kʌmfət]

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n. 舒适,安逸,安慰,慰藉
vt. 安慰,使

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