I wrote at nights, without much effect mainly because I hadn't the first clue what I should write about
我在晚上写作 没有造成什么影响主要是因为我不知道该写哪些东西
One night, I was invited to a dinner where I sat next to the wife of a big shot at a giant Wall Street investment bank, called Salomon Brothers
一天晚上 我被邀请参加一个晚宴我身旁的女士是一个华尔街投资银行的大佬的太太那家银行叫做所罗门兄弟公司
She more or less forced her husband to give me a job
她基本上迫使她的丈夫给了我一份工作
I knew next to nothing about Salomon Brothers
我那时对所罗门兄弟公司根本一无所知
But Salomon Brothers happened to be where Wall Street was being reinvented into the place we have all come to know and love today
但所罗门兄弟公司恰好处在华尔街转型的前线转成那个如今我们都知道并爱的样子
When I got there I was assigned, almost arbitrarily to the very best job and place to observe the growing madness they turned me into the house derivatives expert
当我到了那家公司 我被几乎随机的分配到了一份最好的工作使我有机会观察这滋长中的疯狂他们把我变成一个衍生产品的内部专家
A year and a half later Salomon Brothers was handing me a check for hundreds of thousands of dollars to give advice about derivatives to professional investors
一年半以后 所罗门兄弟开给我数十万美元的支票让我给专业投资者提供有关衍生产品的咨询
Now I had something to write about Salomon Brothers
现在 我有东西可写了 所罗门兄弟公司
Wall Street had become so unhinged that it was paying recent Princeton graduates who knew nothing about money small fortunes to pretend to be experts about money
华尔街已经变得如此的精神错乱它会给普林斯顿一个对金钱一窍不通的新毕业生一大笔钱来假扮理财专家
I'd stumbled into my next senior thesis
我误打误撞找到了自己的下一部高级论文
I called up my father. I told him
我打给我爸爸
I was going to quit this job that now promised me millions of dollars to write a book for an advance of 40 grand
我告诉他我要辞掉这个百万美元的工作来写一本只有4万美元预付款的书
There was a long pause on the other end of the line
电话那边沉默了很久
You might just want to think about that, he said
也许你该再考虑一下 他说
Why? I asked
为什么？我问
You could stay at Salomon Brothers 10 years, make your fortune and then write your books, he said
在所罗门兄弟公司再干10年 赚一大笔钱然后再写你的书 他说
