I had two fathers, a rich one and a poor one. One was highly educated and intelligent; he had a Ph.D. and completed four years of undergraduate work in less than two years. He then went on to Stanford University, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University to do his advanced studies, all on full financial scholarships. The other father never finished the eighth grade.
我有兩個爸爸，一個富，一個窮。一個受過良好的教育，聰明絕頂，擁有博士的光環，他曾經在不到兩年的時間里修完了四年制的大學本科學業，隨后又在斯坦福大學、芝加哥大學和西北大學進一步深造，并且在所有這些學校都拿到了全獎；與之相反的是，我的另一個爸爸連八年級都沒能念完。

Both men were successful in their careers, working hard all their lives. Both earned substantial incomes. Yet one struggled financially all his life. The other would become one of the richest men in Hawaii. One died leaving tens of millions of dollars to his family, charities and his church. The other left bills to be paid.
應該說兩位爸爸的事業都相當成功，而且一輩子都很勤奮，因此，兩人都有著豐厚的收入。然而其中一個人終其一生都在個人財務問題的泥沼中掙扎，另一個人則成了夏威夷最富有的人之一。一個爸爸身后為教堂、慈善機構和家人留下數千萬美元的巨額遺產，而另一個爸爸卻只留下一些待付的賬單。

Both men were strong, charismatic and influential. Both men offered me advice, but they did not advise the same things. Both men believed strongly in education but did not recommend the same course of study.
其實我的兩個爸爸都是那種生性剛強、富有魅力、對他人有著非凡影響力的人。他們兩個人都曾給過我許多建議，但建議的內容卻總不相同；他們兩人也都深信教育的力量，但向我推薦的課程卻從不一樣。

If I had had only one dad, I would have had to accept or reject his advice. Having two dads advising me offered me the choice of contrasting points of view; one of a rich man and one of a poor man.
如果只有一個爸爸，我就只能對他的建議簡單地加以接受或者拒絕；而兩個爸爸給我截然對立的建議，這在客觀上使我有了對比和選擇的機會。現在回想起來，這實際上是一種在富人的觀念和窮人的觀念之間進行的對比和選擇，而這種對比和選擇的結果決定了我的一生。

Instead of simply accepting or rejecting one or the other, I found myself thinking more, comparing and then choosing for myself.
由于兩個父親的觀念對立，使我得不到統一的說法，我便無法簡單地對這些建議予以接受或拒絕，我發現自己有了更多的思考、比較和選擇。

The problem was, the rich man was not rich yet and the poor man not yet poor. Both were just starting out on their careers, and both were struggling with money and families. But they had very different points of view about the subject of money.
問題是，在給我建議的時候，富爸爸還不算富有，而窮爸爸當時也并不貧窮，兩人都剛剛開始他們的事業，都在為錢和家庭而奮斗。然而，他們對于錢的理解卻是如此的迥然不同。

For example, one dad would say, "The love of money is the root of all evil." The other, "The lack of money is the root of all evil."
這就好像一個爸爸會說：“貪財乃萬惡之源”；而另一個爸爸卻會說：“貧困才是萬惡之本”。

As a young boy, having two strong fathers both influencing me was difficult. I wanted to be a good son and listen, but the two fathers did not say the same things. The contrast in their points of view, particularly where money was concerned, was so extreme that I grew curious and intrigued. I began to start thinking for long periods of time about what each was saying.
他們之中誰會成功？誰會富有？應該聽誰的？當時我還只是一個小男孩，對我而言擁有兩個同樣富有影響力的爸爸可不是一件好應付的事。我想成為一個聽話的好孩子，但兩個爸爸卻說著完全不同的話，他們的觀點是如此相修，尤其在涉及到金錢的問題上更是如此，這令我既好奇又迷惑，我不得不花很多時間對他們的話進行思考。

Much of my private time was spent reflecting, asking myself questions such as, "Why does he say that?" and then asking the same question of the other dad's statement. It would have been much easier to simply say, "Yeah, he's right. I agree with that." Or to simply reject the point of view by saying, "The old man doesn't know what he's talking about." Instead, having two dads whom I loved forced me to think and ultimately choose a way of thinking for myself. As a process, choosing for myself turned out to be much more valuable in the long run, rather than simply accepting or rejecting a single point of view.
我用了很多的時間，問自己諸如“他為什么會那樣說”之類的問題，然后又對另一個爸爸的話提出同樣的疑問。如果不經過自己的思考就簡單地說：“噢，他是對的，我同意”，或是拒絕說：“這個老爸不知道自己在說些什么”，我想那會容易得多。然而，這兩個我所愛的觀點不同的爸爸卻迫使我對每一個有分歧的問題進行思考，并最終形成自己的想法。這一過程，即自己去思考和選取而不是簡單地全盤接受或全盤否定的過程，在后來的漫長歲月中被證明對我是非常有益的。

One of the reasons the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class struggles in debt is because the subject of money is taught at home, not in school. Most of us learn about money from our parents. So what can a poor parent tell their child about money? They simply say "Stay in school and study hard." The child may graduate with excellent grades but with a poor person's financial programming and mind-set. It was learned while the child was young.
我逐漸意識到富人之所以越來越富，窮人之所以越來越窮，中產階級之所以總是在債務泥潭中掙扎，其主要原因之一在于他們對金錢的觀念不是來自學校，而是來自家庭。我們中的絕大多數人是從父母那里了解錢是怎么回事的。一對貧困的父母在培養孩子的理財觀念時，只會說：“在學校里要好好學習喔”。結果，他們的孩子可能會以優異的成績畢業，但同時也秉承了貧窮父母的理財方式和思維觀念——要知道，由于家長的灌輸，這些觀念在孩子很小的時候就已經開始形成了。

Money is not taught in schools. Schools focus on scholastic and professional skills, but not on financial skills. This explains how smart bankers, doctors and accountants who earned excellent grades in school may still struggle financially all of their lives. Our staggering national debt is due in large part to highly educated politicians and government officials making financial decisions with little or no training on the subject of money.
據我所知，迄今為止，在美國的學校里仍沒有真正開設有關“金錢”的基礎課程。學校教育只專注于學術知識和專業技能的教育和培養，卻忽視了理財技能的培訓。這也解釋了為何眾多精明的銀行家、醫生和會計師們在學校時成績優異，可一輩子還是要為財務問題傷神；國家岌岌可危的債務問題在很大程度上也應歸因于那些作出財務決策的政治家和政府官員們，他們中有些人雖然受過高等教育，但卻很少甚至幾乎沒有接受過財務方面的必要培訓。

I often look ahead to the new millennium and wonder what will happen when we have millions of people who will need financial and medical assistance. They will be dependent on their families or the government for financial support. What will happen when Medicare and Social Security run out of money? How will a nation survive if teaching children about money continues to be left to parents-most of whom will be, or already are, poor?
我常常在想，當我們的社會有成百萬的人需要醫療救助時該怎么辦？當然，家人和政府會救濟他們?？墒牵斸t療基金和社會保障基金用盡時又該怎么辦？這并非是杞人憂天，如果我們繼續把教子理財的重任交給那些由于自身缺乏財務知識，正瀕于貧困邊線或已陷入貧困境地的父母的話，很難想像僅靠家人和社會的救濟能夠根治他們的“窮”病，實現整個社會的富裕。

Because I had two influential fathers, I learned from both of them. I had to think about each dad's advice, and in doing so, I gained valuable insight into the power and effect of one's thoughts on one's life. For example, one dad had a habit of saying, "I can't afford it." The other dad forbade those words to be used. He insisted I say, "How can I afford it?" One is a statement, and the other is a question. One lets you off the hook, and the other forces you to think. My soon-to-be-rich dad would explain that by automatically saying the words "I can't afford it," your brain stops working. By asking the question "How can I afford it?" your brain is put to work. He did not mean buy everything you wanted. He was fanatical about exercising your mind, the most powerful computer in the world. "My brain gets stronger every day because I exercise it. The stronger it gets, the more money I can make." He believed that automatically saying "I can't afford it" was a sign of mental laziness.
由于我有兩個對我有影響力且可以向其學習的爸爸，迫使我不得不去思考每個爸爸的意見，由此，我認識到一個人的觀念對其一生的巨大影響力。例如，一個爸爸愛說“我可付不起”這樣的話，而另一個爸爸則禁止用這類話，他會說：“我怎樣才能付得起呢？”這兩句話，一個是陳述句，另一個是疑問句，一個讓你放棄，而另一個則促使你去想辦法。那很快就致富的爸爸解釋道，說“我付不起”這種話會阻止你去開動腦筋想辦法；而問“怎樣才能付得起”則開動了你的大腦。當然，這并不意味著人們必須去買每一件你想要的東西，這里只是強調要不停地鍛煉你的思維——實際上人的大腦是世界上最棒的“計算機”。富爸爸時常說：“腦袋越用越活，腦袋越活，掙錢就越多”。在他看來，輕易就說“我負擔不起”這類話是一種精神上的懶惰。

Although both dads worked hard, I noticed that one dad had a habit of putting his brain to sleep when it came to money matters, and the other had a habit of exercising his brain. The long-term result was that one dad grew stronger financially and the other grew weaker. It is not much different from a person who goes to the gym to exercise on a regular basis versus someone who sits on the couch watching television. Proper physical exercise increases your chances for health, and proper mental exercise increases your chances for wealth. Laziness decreases both health and wealth.
雖然兩個爸爸工作都很努力，但我注意到，當遇到錢的問題時，一個爸爸總會去想辦法解決，而另一個爸爸則習慣于順其自然。長期下來，一個爸爸的理財能力更強了，而另一個的理財能力則越來越弱。我想這種結果類似于一個經常去健身房鍛煉的人與一個總是坐在沙發上看電視的人在體質上的變化。經常性的體育鍛煉可以強身健體，同樣地，經常性的頭腦運動可以增加你獲得財富的機會。懶惰必定會使你的體質變弱、財富減少。

My two dads had opposing attitudes in thought. One dad thought that the rich should pay more in taxes to take care of those less fortunate. The other said, "Taxes punish those who produce and reward those who don't produce."
就像我前面所說的，我的兩個爸爸存在著很多觀念上的差異。一個爸爸認為富人應該繳更多的稅去照顧那些比較不幸的人；另一個爸爸則說：“稅是懲勤獎懶”。

One dad recommended, "Study hard so you can find a good company to work for." The other recommended, "Study hard so you can find a good company to buy."
一個爸爸說：“努力學習能去好公司工作”；而另一個則會說：“努力學習能發現并將有能力收購好公司”。

One dad said, "The reason I'm not rich is because I have you kids." The other said, "The reason I must be rich is because I have you kids."
一個說：“我不富的原因是我有孩子”；另一個則說：“我必須富的原因是我有孩子”。

One encouraged talking about money and business at the dinner ,table. The other forbade the subject of money to be discussed over a meal.
一個禁止在晚飯桌上談論錢和生意，另一個則鼓勵在吃飯時談論這些話題。

One said, "When it comes to money, play it safe, don't take risks." The other said, "Learn to manage risk."
一個說：“掙錢的時候要小心，別去冒險”；另一個則說：“要學會管理風險”。

One believed, "Our home is our largest investment and our greatest asset." The other believed, "My house is a liability, and if your house is your largest investment, you're in trouble."
一個相信“我們家的房子是我們最大的投資和資產”，另一個則相信“我們家的房子是負債，如果你的房子是你最大的投資，你就有麻煩了”。

Both dads paid their bills on time, yet one paid his bills first while the other paid his bills last.
兩個爸爸都會準時付賬，但不同的是：一個在期初支付，另一個則在期末支付。

（來源：原版英語? 編輯：Julie）