【英语趣味课堂】事业发展不顺-Business Gone Bad

Todd: So Kevin, you were saying that you've been poor, broke, a couple of times. You talked about being in New York, and being broke. When else have you been broke?

Kevin: Wow. Well, after New York, the following year, when I came down from New York, I was determined¹ to be my own boss. I had not been in control of my life while I was in New York. It was all depending on other people to let me have a job. And when I lost the job, that really, that really hurt.

 

And so when I went home I decided² that I was going to own my own business, and I opened my first business which was a Karate³ school, and I put a lot of money into it that I had worked for almost a year saving⁴ up and then, well I also had a small inheritance from my grandmother.

 

Todd: Oh okay.

 

Kevin: Yeah. But I ended up losing all of the money in the Karate school.

 

Todd: Now did you actually know Karate?

 

Kevin: Yes.

 

Todd: Oh you do?

 

Kevin: I do.

 

Todd: I did not know that about you.

 

Kevin: That would have been a strange business to start if I didn't know it. But yeah, yeah, I'd done it, I started when I was a kid. And, at the time, I was 20, I think 20, just about to turn 21 when I opened it. And I was ni-dan at the time, second degree black belt, and I had been teaching⁵ at my instructor's school for a while and he had encouraged me, you know, to go ahead and do it. But it was the wrong location⁶, and the wrong town, the town was really poor. And I lost about $20,000 in 6 months.

 

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Todd: That's a lot of money.

 

Kevin: That is a lot of money. Especially to a 21 year old who, you know...

 

Todd: Yeah, $20,000 when you're 21, you can live for like 3 years.

 

Kevin: Right, and not a year and half earlier I was flat busted⁷ broke in New York, and then, you know, things picked up and I thought that I could really try and make something of it. But you know, nothing ventured⁸, nothing gained, and that was the attitude that I had, and, you know, found myself broke again.

 

Todd: So that fact that you've been poor, but you were poor both times when you were very young, do you look back and are you glad that you had those experiences?

 

Kevin: Sure. Sure, I learned⁹ a lot. Those experiences were valuable. You can't buy that kind of experience, you know, I carry it around with me now. I listen to other people who have business ideas and, you know, one thing that I gained from it is I can tell if they are going into a business, if they're gonna try and start up a business and, you know, they haven't considered all the things that they really need to consider, I can see the pitfalls¹⁰ that I fell in. And, you can try and suggest people to, you know, make other arrangements or to be more careful about this or that, but it doesn't always work out. Sometimes they just have to go out and learn the hard way like I did.

1 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 karate   

n.空手道(日本的一种徒手武术)

参考例句：

• Alice's boyfriend knew a little karate.艾丽斯的男朋友懂一点儿空手道。
• The black belt is the highest level in karate.黑腰带级是空手道的最高级别。

4 saving   

n.节省，节约；[pl.]储蓄金，存款

参考例句：

• Energy saving is term strategic policy of our country.节约能源是我国长期的战略国策。
• Old-fashioned housewives were usually very saving.旧时的家庭主妇通常都很节俭。

5 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

6 location   

n.地点，位置，定位

参考例句：

• It is a suitable location for a new school.那是建一所新学校的合适地点。
• I have to find a convenient location for the shelves.我得找一合适的地方放这些书架。

7 busted   

adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You are so busted! 你被当场逮住了！
• It was money troubles that busted up their marriage. 是金钱纠纷使他们的婚姻破裂了。

8 ventured   

v.敢于，冒险( venture的过去式和过去分词 )；冒…的危险；拿…冒险；用…进行投机

参考例句：

• Very few people ventured to go out on that stormy night. 在那个风雨交加的夜晚，很少有人敢出去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I admire those explorers who ventured forth to explore new lands. 我敬佩那些为发现新大陆而外出的探险家们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

10 pitfalls   

（捕猎野兽用的）陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 )； 意想不到的困难，易犯的错误

参考例句：

• the potential pitfalls of buying a house 购买房屋可能遇到的圈套
• Several pitfalls remain in the way of an agreement. 在达成协议的进程中还有几个隐藏的困难。