VOA标准英语2008年-Entrepreneurs Share Courage, Other Common Trait

Studies show that entrepreneurs share common traits that motivate them to start new businesses. As VOA's Barry Wood reports, successful entrepreneurs are often motivated by more than financial gain, and many have overcome considerable adversity. (Part 2 of 5)
　
Richard Branson during announcement of new budget service between Sydney and Los Angeles, in Sydney, 31 Mar¹ 2008

For 35 years, British entrepreneur Richard Branson has been building his Virgin² brand into a global power house. It has made him one of the world's richest men. Yet, as a child, Branson had dyslexia, a learning disability. He never attended university, but he was motivated to succeed.

"In school, I would look at some of these exams and completely blank out on them. And I actually left school at 15 to go out into the world and try to make an honest living," he said.

As a teenager, Branson had two failed business ventures. But he has since started dozens of successful businesses.

In India, Sunil Mittal overcame adversity of a different sort. "I grew up in a very socialistic-rooted India," he said. "We saw the evolution of the Soviet³ [economic] model coming into India in a very dramatic manner."

Mittal says the end of central planning after 1992 allowed his Bharti Group to evolve into India's second largest corporation. "With $35 million that I could access, we went on to build India's largest telecom company," he said. Today, Bharti Airtel has 30,000 employees.

Brent Goldfarb, a business professor at the University of Maryland, says all kinds of people strive to be entrepreneurs with different motivations, some to be on their own, others to be rich.

"The fact of the matter is that most entrepreneurs do not get rich. In fact, most entrepreneurs earn less than if they were working for someone else," said Goldfarb.

That was true for Pakistani entrepreneur Ashar Hafeez. He opened his first Tandoori restaurant in Islamabad in 1993. He had a passion for business and hard work. "In every aspect of work you have to work very hard," said Hafeez. "And it is hard. It's team work. You can't do it alone. You have to have a very good team with you."

In Iraqi Kurdistan, Suhela Kakil Raza is a mother of four. She began making women's clothing a year ago, but there were hurdles⁴ to jump. In her town, Irbil, she had to find a store location that was not frequented by men so her Sunni Muslim clients - women - would come out and buy. Now, she has four employees and she wants to expand.

She says she dreams of having a private factory. It would have two parts: one with 12 machines, and 12 girls working. She says she would also run a school to train her female workers.

In Johannesburg, Mthuli Ncube is the director of the entrepreneurship institute at the University of the Witwatersrand. He talks about South Africa's special problems. "Africa has a shortage of quality entrepreneurs who are prepared to take risks," he said.

But South Africa's most prominent black entrepreneur, Richard Maponya, has long been taking risks to build a property and retail⁵ empire. Even during the apartheid era, he charged ahead. Now in his 80s, Maponya recently opened a vast shopping mall in the Johannesburg suburb of Soweto.

Donald Trump⁶, the successful American property developer, says entrepreneurs must have passion, be tenacious⁷, think big, absorb new information, take action, learn to negotiate and enjoy competition.

　

 

1 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

2 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

3 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

4 hurdles   

n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛

参考例句：

• In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时，必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句

5 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 tenacious   

adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的

参考例句：

• We must learn from the tenacious fighting spirit of Lu Xun.我们要学习鲁迅先生韧性的战斗精神。
• We should be tenacious of our rights.我们应坚决维护我们的权利。