The Stubbornness of Success

By Sarah Groves

“This,” I said to my husband, pointing to the brownie smears on the floor, the blisters on my hand,1. brownie: 核仁巧克力饼，布朗尼；smear: 污迹，污点；blister: 水疱，水肿。and the clocks that read 10 p.m., “is why I did not marry an optimist.”

My brother was visiting us in South Africa from Hong Kong.After the first day, his 10-year-old daughter, Sophia, and my 11-year-old daughter, Lael, had signed onto a business deal.

I should never have left the girls alone in the lounge2. lounge: 休息厅，客厅。. Within minutes the conversation had moved from their savings, their investments, and their earnings to a foolproof3. foolproof: 万无一失的，肯定成功的。plan.

Lael had approached me sweetly in the kitchen: “Sophia thinks we should bake a huge batch of cookies, sit outside our gate, and sell them to passersby.”4. approach: 接近，靠近；bake: 烤，烘焙；a batch of:一批。

I looked at Lael. “I didn’t think it would work either,” she smiled. Lael went back to consult5. consult: 咨询，请教。Sophia. A little while later,she returned with her.

“How about if we move our couches into the garden and invite passersby into our lounge? Then we can serve them cookies and homemade lemonade6. lemonade: 柠檬汽水，柠檬饮料。,” Lael said.

一个10岁的女孩在几分钟内就看到一个做生意的“绝佳”机会，而且初获成功，小女孩变得更加“雄心勃勃”。而我，这个背后的“劳力”，只能感叹：可怕的乐观主义者啊！而这正是我不嫁乐观主义者的原因。

I looked at Lael again. There was no way around this.7. 没有别的办法。A business was going to happen, and I could either alleviate the damage or go down in flames fighting.8. 一笔生意即将开始，我或者减少损失或者在战斗中一败涂地。alleviate: 减轻，缓和。

“OK,” I said. “What if we bake a batch of cookies at your aunt’s house and then sell them to her neighbors?” The girls nodded furiously9. furiously: 用力地，猛烈地。.

“But,” I said quickly, “don’t worry if it doesn’t work—if the cookies fail or the neighbors don’t buy.”Lael nodded patiently at me. Sophia stared blankly10. blankly: 漠然地，毫无表情地。.She had never had a failed business plan, it seems; she had never heard a warning about one.11. 好像她的生意计划从来没有失败过，她也从来没有被人警告过计划可能会失败。She was the daughter of an optimist.

The next day we baked. Within minutes, we sold all the cookies to the neighbors. When the profits were divided, each girl got 7 rand (about 66 cents).12. profit: 利润，收益；rand: 兰特（南非货币单位）。

“I’m used to making a bit more than this,” Sophia confided13. confide: 吐露秘密。to her father.

“Then,” he announced to all, “I will get you a stand at the farmers’ market.”14. announce: 宣布；stand: 售货摊。

The girls whooped15. whoop: （高兴地）大喊，大叫。. I began to mutter:“Now don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t work. You can’t just show up at the market and get a stall. Not many people buy desserts first thing in the morning. It’s forecast to rain, and it will be quiet.”16. 我小声抱怨：“如果不成功可不要失望。你们不能露个面就得到个摊位。早上并没有很多人买甜点。预报着要下雨，但可能什么都不会有。”mutter: 小声抱怨；show up: 到场；stall: 货摊；dessert: 甜点；forecast: 预测。

We spent the good part of Friday night baking—brownies, this time. I spent the bad part of Friday night slicing and packaging brownies and cleaning the kitchen.17. slice: 切成片；package: 包装。

On Saturday morning, the girls and their dads set off18. set off: 出发。at 6. At 7:30 they returned. It was cold and raining;I knew it would never work.

“Sold out!19. sell out: 卖光。” my daughter cheered from the car. “We were sold out!”

“How did you even get in in the first place?” I asked.

“Your brother talked and laughed,” my husband replied. “The girls talked and smiled, and the next thing we knew, we were in and sold out.”

I looked at my husband. There was something wrong with his voice. And he was beaming20. beam: 笑容满面。dangerously.

He had always been a sensible21. sensible: 理智的，通情达理的。man, a realist. He was the one who had sat me down to listen to Alain de Botton’s secular sermon on pessimism.22. sit sb. down: 让某人坐下；Alain de Botton:阿兰·德波顿，作家，现住英国伦敦，著有小说《爱情笔记》、《爱上浪漫》及散文作品《拥抱逝水年华》、《哲学的慰藉》、《旅行的艺术》等；secular: 世俗的；sermon: 布道；pessimism: 悲观主义，悲观情绪。He was the one who had said the problem with the West is our can-do attitude, and then when we “can’t do,” we feel let down.23. 是他说过，我们西方国家的问题就是我们“能做”的态度，所以一旦我们“不能做”，我们就会失望。He was the one who had agreed with my dad that pessimists are stable24. stable: 沉稳的。because they are never disappointed.

He wouldn’t switch sides now,would he?25. switch: 转换，改变；side: 立场。Surely not. Not over one little paltry26. paltry: 微小的，微不足道的。optimist’s success.

Later, somewhere in the distance,like a tolling27. tolling:（钟）鸣响的。bell, I heard his words:“Lael, should we do this every Saturday?”