【正文】 ca can a billionaire carry on like plain folks and get away with it. And the 67yearold discount king Sam Moore Walton still travels these windy back roads in his 1979 Ford pickup, red and white, bird dogs by his side, and, e shooting season, waits in line like everyone else to buy shells at the local WalMart. 只有在美國，一個(gè)億萬富翁才能像普通百姓一樣，安穩(wěn)地過著普普通通的日子。 4 It was a real disappointment, sighs waiter Jamie Beaulieu. “太令人失望了，”侍者杰米家具略顯陳舊，一輛舊的輕便貨車停在車庫里，一條土褐色的捕禽獵犬在院子里竄來竄去。沃爾頓”的信箱，在一幢林間住宅前跳下了車。沃爾頓就在該鎮(zhèn)從一個(gè)專賣廉價(jià)商品的小店起家，逐漸發(fā)展成為價(jià)值60億美金資產(chǎn)的廉價(jià)連鎖店沃爾瑪公司。 　2 Then he was off to the house, wheeling past the sleepy town square in Bentonville, a remote Arkansas town of 9,920, where Sam Walton started with a little dime store that grew into a $6 billion discount chain called WalMart. He drove down a country road, turned at a mailbox marked Sam and Helen Walton, and jumped out at a house in the woods. 他動(dòng)身前往那所宅邸，開著車穿過本頓維爾鎮(zhèn)冷冷清清的市政廣場。哈里斯 他穿上餐服準(zhǔn)備到美國首富的生日聚會(huì)上去擔(dān)任侍者。沃爾頓。教育孩子們看問題要有長遠(yuǎn)目光的惟一途徑，是讓孩子們近期內(nèi)便能嘗到某種甜頭，從而激勵(lì)他們?nèi)ツ菢幼?。如果家長的理財(cái)教育失敗，那往往是因?yàn)樗麄兂鲇谧陨淼脑虬汛驽X弄得似乎既痛苦又無聊。s almost entirely selfexplanatory. (4) The only way to teach kids to adopt a longterm perspective is to give them a shortterm incentive for doing so. 兒童是天生的資本家。 8 Children are instinctive capitalists. If given enough leeway, they quickly bee shrewd managers of their own finances. When parents fail in their efforts at financial education, it39。我兒子最后花了33美分買了個(gè)未打開的空心晶球，后來他用榔頭把它砸了開來——我看這錢花得值得。由于他們花費(fèi)的任何一筆錢都是他們自己的而不是我的，他們出手時(shí)就很謹(jǐn)慎。我們?nèi)ザ燃偾?，我通常額外多給孩子們20塊錢左右存在他們賬戶上。t receive any additional pocket money from me (except in the form of munal purchases considered by custom to be vacation entitlements, such as candy, ice cream, movie tickets, and so on). Because any money they spend starts out as theirs, not mine, they think twice before throwing it away. In a souvenir store on Martha39。 7 The way to help children bee rational consumers is to give them more control, not less. Before we go on vacation, I39。他們存錢便會(huì)獲利；他們想花錢也用不著獲得許可。t need permission. Children who have no control over their own funds have no incentive not to beg for money and then spend every dollar that es into their hands. 高利率并非戴夫銀行惟一誘人之處。 point of view is that their accounts belong to them. When they save, they harvest the benefit。他們使用自己的資金我不加任何限制，不作任何詢問，我還根據(jù)要求隨時(shí)提供打印的賬單。我宣布調(diào)低利率時(shí)兩個(gè)孩子反對(duì)，可當(dāng)我解釋說供求法則同樣適用于貨幣供應(yīng)后，兩人嚴(yán)肅地點(diǎn)頭贊同。至今我兒子在車?yán)镎业搅沐X仍會(huì)來找我說， “今天就把這個(gè)上賬。 5 The Bank of Dave, which has been in operation four years, instantly turned both my children into keen savers. My son still es to me with change he has found on the floor of the car, saying, And credit this today. Both kids39。）零花錢在每月第一天自動(dòng)存入。以復(fù)利計(jì)算，年息達(dá)到70%以上。我用記錄自己支票簿使用情況的同一個(gè)電腦程序給每個(gè)孩子開了一個(gè)賬戶。 deposits to grow at a pace that would hold their attention, I offered an attractive interest ratefive per cent a month. (2) Compounded, that works out to an annual rate of more than 70 per cent. (No, I don39。 4 To avoid this problem with my two children, I started my own bank. It39。孩子們?cè)谔枪㈦娮佑螒蛏系幕ㄙM(fèi)之大令家長們十分震驚（或者更確切地說，令他們吃驚的其實(shí)是孩子們的超支行為與他們自己的相似程度），于是他們便設(shè)法讓孩子們將錢存起來不用。上大學(xué)還不知要過多少年，他們或許會(huì)想他們寧愿呆在家里。s resources. Not surprisingly, kids quickly decide that large sums aren39。d just as soon stay home anyway. Indeed, the true purpose of such plans is usually not to promote saving but to prevent consumption. (1) Appalled by what their children spend on candy and video games (or, rather, appalled by the degree to which their children39。” 3 The main defect in such saving schemes is that there39。這叫做復(fù)利。” 孩子（狐疑地）：“你說‘增多’是什么意思？” 家長：“哦，要是你把這25美金在銀行里放一年，銀行就會(huì)付給你75美分?！? 孩子：“可這錢她是給我的！我要用！” 家長：“噯，錢還是你的嘛。s called pound interest. It will help you go to college. 孩子：“奶奶給了我25美金！” 家長：“太棒了。grow39。 　2 Kid: Grandma gave me twentyfive dollars! Parent: How nice. We39。剛開始的時(shí)候，孩子們頗感興趣，因?yàn)樗麄兿胱约菏裁匆膊桓摄y行還會(huì)付給他們錢，可當(dāng)他們明白利率小得很，而且父母也無意讓他們動(dòng)用本金時(shí)，他們的熱情一下子就冷卻了。t intend to give them access to their principal. To a kid, a savings account is just a black hole that swallows birthday checks. 孩 子 與 金 錢大衛(wèi)說來容易做起來難？其實(shí)，這事并沒聽上去那么難，你讀一讀戴夫第一國家銀行的故事就知道了。然而，大衛(wèi) 14 But assuming that the contrast I have developed is valid, and that the fostering of skills and creativity are both worthwhile goals, the important question bees this: Can we gather, from the Chinese and American extremes, a superior way to approach education, perhaps striking a better balance between the poles of creativity and basic skills? 然而，假定我這里所說的反差是成立的，而培養(yǎng)技藝與創(chuàng)造力兩者都是值得追求的目標(biāo)，那么重要的問題就在于：我們能否從中美兩個(gè)極端中尋求一種更好的教育方式，它或許能在創(chuàng)造力與基本技能這兩極之間獲得某種較好的平衡？Finding a way of teaching children to appreciate the value of money can be a problem. Yet the solution, David Owen suggests, is simple just open a bank. Easier said than done? Well, it turns out to be not quite so difficult as it sounds, as you39。而西方的創(chuàng)新突破則有被夸大的危險(xiǎn)。 13 However, I do not want to overstate my case. There is enormous creativity to be found in Chinese scientific, technological and artistic innovations past and present. And there is a danger of exaggerating creative breakthroughs in the West. When any innovation is examined closely, its reliance on previous achievements is all too apparent (the standing on the shoulders of giants phenomenon). 但我并不想夸大其辭。中國老師擔(dān)心，如果年輕人不及早掌握技藝，就有可能一輩子掌握不了；另一方面，他們并不同樣地急于促進(jìn)創(chuàng)造力的發(fā)展。 on the other hand, skills can be picked up later. 美國人的立場可以概括起來這么說，我們比中國人更重視創(chuàng)新和自立。 12 One way of summarizing the American position is to state that we value originality and independence more than the Chinese do. The contrast between our two cultures can also be seen in terms of the fears we both harbor. Chinese teachers are fearful that if skills are not acquired early, they may never be acquired。 CREATIVITY FIRST? 11 In terms of attitudes to creativity there seems to be a reversal of priorities: young Westerners making their boldest departures first and then gradually mastering the tradition。年僅6歲的孩子就帶著成人的那種技巧與自信在畫花、畫魚和動(dòng)物；9歲、10歲的小書法家寫出的作品滿可