华尔街的赚钱经第63期:隔夜快递之父(4)

 　　A Central Hub

　　中心枢纽

　　Smith completed two tours in Vietnam, eventually flying more than 200 ground-support missions. While on his first tour, in Vietnam, he survived an ambush¹ that left most of his company dead. During the assault he became separated from his gun, but he managed to retrieve² the weapon in time to bring down a Vietcong soldier who was about to attack him. He had also learned a valuable lesson from the war. "There're only three things you gotta remember," he said, "shoot, move, and communicate."

　　史密斯在越南参加了两次飞行，总共完成了200多次地面支援飞行任务。在越南的第一次飞行中，他们遭遇突袭，战友大多数都牺牲了，而他侥幸生还。战斗中，他的枪支脱手，但他及时夺回武器并击毙了一名正准备攻击他的越南士兵。战争给史密斯上了宝贵的一课。他说：“你只需记住3件事：开枪、移动和联络。”

　　Home from Vietnam, Smith became fascinated by the notion that if you connected all the points of a network through a central hub, the efficiency could be enormous, whether the system involved moving packages and letters or people and planes. With an investment from his father's company, as well as a chunk³ of his own inheritance, Smith bought his first Dassault Falcon⁴ planes, and in 1971 formed the Federal Express Corporation.

　　从越南回来后，史密斯开始执着于这样一种想法，如果把网络内所有的点都连接到一个中心枢纽，无论是运送包裹和信件，还是人和飞机，都会极富效率。他拿着父亲企业的投资以及一大部分继承的财产，购买了第一架达索尔特鹰式飞机。1971年，史密斯创办了联邦快递公司。

1 ambush   

n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击

参考例句：

• Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。
• Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

2 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

3 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

4 falcon   

n.隼，猎鹰

参考例句：

• The falcon was twice his size with pouted feathers.鹰张开羽毛比两只鹰还大。
• The boys went hunting with their falcon.男孩子们带着猎鹰出去打猎了。