The Stubbornness of Success

By Sarah Groves

“This,” I said to my husband, pointing to the brownie smears on the floor, the blisters on my hand,1. brownie: 核仁巧克力餅，布朗尼；smear: 污跡，污點；blister: 水皰，水腫。and the clocks that read 10 p.m., “is why I did not marry an optimist.”

My brother was visiting us in South Africa from Hong Kong.After the first day, his 10-year-old daughter, Sophia, and my 11-year-old daughter, Lael, had signed onto a business deal.

I should never have left the girls alone in the lounge2. lounge: 休息廳，客廳。. Within minutes the conversation had moved from their savings, their investments, and their earnings to a foolproof3. foolproof: 萬無一失的，肯定成功的。plan.

Lael had approached me sweetly in the kitchen: “Sophia thinks we should bake a huge batch of cookies, sit outside our gate, and sell them to passersby.”4. approach: 接近，靠近；bake: 烤，烘焙；a batch of:一批。

I looked at Lael. “I didn’t think it would work either,” she smiled. Lael went back to consult5. consult: 咨詢，請教。Sophia. A little while later,she returned with her.

“How about if we move our couches into the garden and invite passersby into our lounge? Then we can serve them cookies and homemade lemonade6. lemonade: 檸檬汽水，檸檬飲料。,” Lael said.

一個10歲的女孩在幾分鐘內(nèi)就看到一個做生意的“絕佳”機會，而且初獲成功，小女孩變得更加“雄心勃勃”。而我，這個背后的“勞力”，只能感嘆：可怕的樂觀主義者??！而這正是我不嫁樂觀主義者的原因。

I looked at Lael again. There was no way around this.7. 沒有別的辦法。A business was going to happen, and I could either alleviate the damage or go down in flames fighting.8. 一筆生意即將開始，我或者減少損失或者在戰(zhàn)斗中一敗涂地。alleviate: 減輕，緩和。

“OK,” I said. “What if we bake a batch of cookies at your aunt’s house and then sell them to her neighbors?” The girls nodded furiously9. furiously: 用力地，猛烈地。.

“But,” I said quickly, “don’t worry if it doesn’t work—if the cookies fail or the neighbors don’t buy.”Lael nodded patiently at me. Sophia stared blankly10. blankly: 漠然地，毫無表情地。.She had never had a failed business plan, it seems; she had never heard a warning about one.11. 好像她的生意計劃從來沒有失敗過，她也從來沒有被人警告過計劃可能會失敗。She was the daughter of an optimist.

The next day we baked. Within minutes, we sold all the cookies to the neighbors. When the profits were divided, each girl got 7 rand (about 66 cents).12. profit: 利潤，收益；rand: 蘭特（南非貨幣單位）。

“I’m used to making a bit more than this,” Sophia confided13. confide: 吐露秘密。to her father.

“Then,” he announced to all, “I will get you a stand at the farmers’ market.”14. announce: 宣布；stand: 售貨攤。

The girls whooped15. whoop: （高興地）大喊，大叫。. I began to mutter:“Now don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t work. You can’t just show up at the market and get a stall. Not many people buy desserts first thing in the morning. It’s forecast to rain, and it will be quiet.”16. 我小聲抱怨：“如果不成功可不要失望。你們不能露個面就得到個攤位。早上并沒有很多人買甜點。預(yù)報著要下雨，但可能什么都不會有?！眒utter: 小聲抱怨；show up: 到場；stall: 貨攤；dessert: 甜點；forecast: 預(yù)測。

We spent the good part of Friday night baking—brownies, this time. I spent the bad part of Friday night slicing and packaging brownies and cleaning the kitchen.17. slice: 切成片；package: 包裝。

On Saturday morning, the girls and their dads set off18. set off: 出發(fā)。at 6. At 7:30 they returned. It was cold and raining;I knew it would never work.

“Sold out!19. sell out: 賣光?！?my daughter cheered from the car. “We were sold out!”

“How did you even get in in the first place?” I asked.

“Your brother talked and laughed,” my husband replied. “The girls talked and smiled, and the next thing we knew, we were in and sold out.”

I looked at my husband. There was something wrong with his voice. And he was beaming20. beam: 笑容滿面。dangerously.

He had always been a sensible21. sensible: 理智的，通情達理的。man, a realist. He was the one who had sat me down to listen to Alain de Botton’s secular sermon on pessimism.22. sit sb. down: 讓某人坐下；Alain de Botton:阿蘭·德波頓，作家，現(xiàn)住英國倫敦，著有小說《愛情筆記》、《愛上浪漫》及散文作品《擁抱逝水年華》、《哲學(xué)的慰藉》、《旅行的藝術(shù)》等；secular: 世俗的；sermon: 布道；pessimism: 悲觀主義，悲觀情緒。He was the one who had said the problem with the West is our can-do attitude, and then when we “can’t do,” we feel let down.23. 是他說過，我們西方國家的問題就是我們“能做”的態(tài)度，所以一旦我們“不能做”，我們就會失望。He was the one who had agreed with my dad that pessimists are stable24. stable: 沉穩(wěn)的。because they are never disappointed.

He wouldn’t switch sides now,would he?25. switch: 轉(zhuǎn)換，改變；side: 立場。Surely not. Not over one little paltry26. paltry: 微小的，微不足道的。optimist’s success.

Later, somewhere in the distance,like a tolling27. tolling:（鐘）鳴響的。bell, I heard his words:“Lael, should we do this every Saturday?”