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为了游历世界而辞掉不错的工作——这种事情，可能我们都略有所闻。有的人会觉得作出这种决定的人勇气可嘉，也有人认为这种行为疯狂草率。但其实，每个人都有让自己的人生更加精彩的愿望，选择跑遍世界，无论是为了感受不同的文化、见识不同的风情，还是跟不同的人做生意，那也是每个人为人生增色的途径。路，就在我们脚下，向前走，走出我们坚守的狭小空间，收获的可能会是一个与众不同的自己。
My name’s Connor Woodman. I used to be a market analyst in the city of London, working on deals worth hundreds of millions of pounds. But I’d had enough of e-business done on a computer screen, so I quit. I want to get out and test myself in real markets, 1)haggling face to face with hardened traders. So forget the economic doom and gloom: I think I can make money and have a great time trading my way around the world.
I’ve taken 25 2)grand from the sale of my flat to invest in all kinds of products: animal, mineral and vegetable.
Five months into my journey and I’ve done deals in Africa, Asia and the Far East, with some incredible success. I was on fire selling African 3)chili sauce to the spice-loving Indians. I imported South African reds to the emerging Chinese wine market and made my biggest profit so far. But in the Far East I failed to sell some rare 4)vintage tea and an expensive piece of jade.
Today I’ll face the most important negotiation of my trip so far. Silvio Catinio, the vice-president of Flora Seco, has agreed to meet me to 5)thrash out a deal. My best bargaining chip is that the company currently have no UK customers. Silvio is offering me $1,400 per cubic metre of 6)timber, which is around £700. It’s a good offer, but I think I can push him for an even better discount.
Connor: Can you go 1,200?
Silvio: Yeah, this is a little bit hard, you know, because you…you propose 1,200; I offered you 1,400. I think that 1,300 barely covers our costs.
That’s it then. I’ve just invested nearly all my profit from five months of hard work…on trees.
I’ve got one company who I think really are genuinely interested in this. After several hours of negotiation I can hardly believe how far he’s 7)knocked me down. I’ve dropped seven grand to just over 18, but it seems that’s still not low enough for 8)Shaun.
Connor: That’s, I mean, that’s an enormous discount I’m giving you on it.
Shaun: It’s only a discount from an imaginary price.
Connor: I don’t believe you. I think it’s worth more than that.
Shaun: I wouldn’t buy it.
After a day on the phone, I’ve lined up a couple of meetings with companies who are keen to have a look at my sustainable 9)teak.
The New Dawn Furniture Company in Hampshire handmakes environmentally responsible furniture. It’s run by Dennis Wingan.
Connor: What do you think about it?
Dennis: I think the texture’s really, really brilliant; nice colours, nice texture.
Connor: The bottom line is you’re happy with that.
Dennis: Yeah, I’m quite happy with the project.
Connor: £1000 a cubic metre?
Dennis: Yes, done, yeah.
Connor: Deal.
What a result! Dennis practically bites my hand off buying half my wood for a total of £13,500.
But I still have to get rid of the other half of the wood, so I’m off to my second lead in Nottingham.
Wood Newton is a construction company that specializes in environmentally-friendly housing. John Greene is the managing director.
John: First time we’ve seen eco-friendly teak, yeah, so to bring that in…into the marketplace’ll be very beneficial for us.
Connor: So, what, 13,000?
John: Uhm…
Connor: Whole lot.
John: Ten.
Connor: Gonna play this game, are we? Twelve?
John: Uhm…eleven?
Connor: Go on then. I’ll meet you in the middle. Eleven and a half.
John: OK. Deal done.
Connor: Alright.
I bought my teak for £11,620, when the pound was worth $2. I spent 1000 on shipping, and sold it for a total of £25,000, giving me a profit of 12,345.
After an epic trip spanning six months and sixteen countries, trading in everything from camels to coffee, I’ve doubled my original 25,000-pound investment.
In six months I’ve been on the trip of a lifetime, and I’ve learned so much about how people do business all over the world. I think, like a lot of people in the city, before I went on this trip I thought I knew everything about the economy and business and how to make money. And I think what I’ve learned on this is that there’s an awful lot more to it.
Business is about making money, but it’s also about people and relationships and culture, and it affects every part of our society around the globe. The pursuit of money really is what makes the world go round.
It’s been an eye-opening experience, and I feel like a very different person indeed.
我名叫康纳·伍德曼，曾是伦敦的一名市场分析师，处理着市值数亿英镑的交易。但是，我厌恶了在电脑屏幕上做电子商务，于是我辞掉了工作。我想到外面真实的市场检验自己的实力，与冷酷的商人面对面砍价。所以，让经济低迷、不景气滚一边去吧：我觉得自己可以好好地环游世界做生意、赚大钱。
我带上了卖掉房子的25000英镑，投入到各种各样的商品中：动物、矿石，还有蔬菜。
在旅程开始后的五个月里，我在非洲、亚洲和远东都做过一些买卖，并且部分取得了令人难以置信的成功。我雄心勃勃地向嗜辣的印度人出售非洲辣椒酱。我将南非的红酒引进到中国日益蓬勃的酒类市场，并且赚到了这次旅程迄今为止的最大一笔利润。但是，在远东，我却在稀有陈年茶叶和昂贵玉石上栽了跟头。
今天，我将面对此次旅程以来最重要的一次商谈。锡维奥·卡迪尼奥是Flora Seco公司的副总裁，他同意和我谈一桩交易。我最大的谈判筹码是这家公司现时还没有英国客户。锡维奥向我报出每立方米木材1400美元（约700英镑）的价格。这是个不错的报价，但我觉得我还可以争取到更优惠的折扣。
康纳：你能降到1200美元吗？
锡维奥：嗯，这有点难，你知道，因为你提出的是1200美元，我报的是1400美元。我觉得1300美元才能勉强抵消我们的成本。
那就这样啦。我几乎将我五个月来的血汗所得都投入到了——树木上了。
我知道有一家公司着实会对我的木材感兴趣。但是经过几个小时的谈判后，我不敢相信他压价压得那么狠。我减了7000英镑，将价钱只是提到18000英镑多一点，但这似乎对于肖恩来说依然不够低。
康纳：那个，我觉得已经是我给你的很大的折扣了。
肖恩：那只是个从天价开出的折头。
康纳：我不敢相信你会说这话。我觉得这些木材可不止这个价。
肖恩：我不会买的。
打了一天的电话后，我准备与几家公司见面，这些公司都非常希望看看我的环保柚木板。
汉普郡的新晓家具公司从事重环保手工家具的制作。其经营者是丹尼斯·威根。
康纳：你觉得这些木材怎样？
丹尼斯：我觉得木材的纹理非常非常漂亮，颜色和纹理都不错。
康纳：关键是你对这些木材很满意。
丹尼斯：对，我对其很满意。
康纳：1000镑一立方米怎样？
丹尼斯：好，就这样，好的。
康纳：成交。
结局圆满！丹尼斯共付了13500英镑，买走了我一半的木材。
但我仍然得将剩下的一半木材脱手，于是我去到诺丁汉找我的第二个买家。
牛顿木制品公司是一家致力于环保房屋的建筑公司。约翰·格林是该公司的总经理。
约翰：这是我们首次见到环保柚木，嗯，因此为市场引进这些木材会对我们非常有利。
康纳：那么，怎样呢，13000？
约翰：嗯……
康纳：全部。
约翰：10吧。
康纳：又要讨价还价了，对吧？12？
约翰：嗯……11。
康纳：继续吧。我会还你个中间价。11.5。
约翰：好。成交。
康纳：好。
我花了11620英镑买柚木，那时一英镑可兑两美元。我在运输上花了1000英镑，然后以25000英镑卖出，我所得的利润是12345英镑。
经历了这趟历时6个月，辗转于16个国家贩卖从骆驼到咖啡等各种商品的奇妙之旅后，我原来的25000英镑投资翻了一番。
在六个月里，我经历了一趟重要的人生之旅。我学到了很多世界各地不同的人的经商之道。我觉得，在我开始这个旅程之前，我像伦敦的许多人一样，认为自己了解经济、商业以及赚钱的所有学问。我想，我从这次经历所学到的比以上知识广阔得多。
经商关乎赚钱，但同时也与人情、人脉和文化相关，其对全球人类社会都产生影响。对金钱的追逐确实是推动世界发展的动力。
这是一次眼界大开的经历，现在我觉得自己确实与众不同了。
栏目翻译：未几
My name’s Connor Woodman. I used to be a market analyst in the city of London, working on deals worth hundreds of millions of pounds. But I’d had enough of e-business done on a computer screen, so I quit. I want to get out and test myself in real markets, 1)haggling face to face with hardened traders. So forget the economic doom and gloom: I think I can make money and have a great time trading my way around the world.
I’ve taken 25 2)grand from the sale of my flat to invest in all kinds of products: animal, mineral and vegetable.
Five months into my journey and I’ve done deals in Africa, Asia and the Far East, with some incredible success. I was on fire selling African 3)chili sauce to the spice-loving Indians. I imported South African reds to the emerging Chinese wine market and made my biggest profit so far. But in the Far East I failed to sell some rare 4)vintage tea and an expensive piece of jade.
Today I’ll face the most important negotiation of my trip so far. Silvio Catinio, the vice-president of Flora Seco, has agreed to meet me to 5)thrash out a deal. My best bargaining chip is that the company currently have no UK customers. Silvio is offering me $1,400 per cubic metre of 6)timber, which is around £700. It’s a good offer, but I think I can push him for an even better discount.
Connor: Can you go 1,200?
Silvio: Yeah, this is a little bit hard, you know, because you…you propose 1,200; I offered you 1,400. I think that 1,300 barely covers our costs.
That’s it then. I’ve just invested nearly all my profit from five months of hard work…on trees.
I’ve got one company who I think really are genuinely interested in this. After several hours of negotiation I can hardly believe how far he’s 7)knocked me down. I’ve dropped seven grand to just over 18, but it seems that’s still not low enough for 8)Shaun.
Connor: That’s, I mean, that’s an enormous discount I’m giving you on it.
Shaun: It’s only a discount from an imaginary price.
Connor: I don’t believe you. I think it’s worth more than that.
Shaun: I wouldn’t buy it.
After a day on the phone, I’ve lined up a couple of meetings with companies who are keen to have a look at my sustainable 9)teak.
The New Dawn Furniture Company in Hampshire handmakes environmentally responsible furniture. It’s run by Dennis Wingan.
Connor: What do you think about it?
Dennis: I think the texture’s really, really brilliant; nice colours, nice texture.
Connor: The bottom line is you’re happy with that.
Dennis: Yeah, I’m quite happy with the project.
Connor: £1000 a cubic metre?
Dennis: Yes, done, yeah.
Connor: Deal.
What a result! Dennis practically bites my hand off buying half my wood for a total of £13,500.
But I still have to get rid of the other half of the wood, so I’m off to my second lead in Nottingham.
Wood Newton is a construction company that specializes in environmentally-friendly housing. John Greene is the managing director.
John: First time we’ve seen eco-friendly teak, yeah, so to bring that in…into the marketplace’ll be very beneficial for us.
Connor: So, what, 13,000?
John: Uhm…
Connor: Whole lot.
John: Ten.
Connor: Gonna play this game, are we? Twelve?
John: Uhm…eleven?
Connor: Go on then. I’ll meet you in the middle. Eleven and a half.
John: OK. Deal done.
Connor: Alright.
I bought my teak for £11,620, when the pound was worth $2. I spent 1000 on shipping, and sold it for a total of £25,000, giving me a profit of 12,345.
After an epic trip spanning six months and sixteen countries, trading in everything from camels to coffee, I’ve doubled my original 25,000-pound investment.
In six months I’ve been on the trip of a lifetime, and I’ve learned so much about how people do business all over the world. I think, like a lot of people in the city, before I went on this trip I thought I knew everything about the economy and business and how to make money. And I think what I’ve learned on this is that there’s an awful lot more to it.
Business is about making money, but it’s also about people and relationships and culture, and it affects every part of our society around the globe. The pursuit of money really is what makes the world go round.
It’s been an eye-opening experience, and I feel like a very different person indeed.
我名叫康纳·伍德曼，曾是伦敦的一名市场分析师，处理着市值数亿英镑的交易。但是，我厌恶了在电脑屏幕上做电子商务，于是我辞掉了工作。我想到外面真实的市场检验自己的实力，与冷酷的商人面对面砍价。所以，让经济低迷、不景气滚一边去吧：我觉得自己可以好好地环游世界做生意、赚大钱。
我带上了卖掉房子的25000英镑，投入到各种各样的商品中：动物、矿石，还有蔬菜。
在旅程开始后的五个月里，我在非洲、亚洲和远东都做过一些买卖，并且部分取得了令人难以置信的成功。我雄心勃勃地向嗜辣的印度人出售非洲辣椒酱。我将南非的红酒引进到中国日益蓬勃的酒类市场，并且赚到了这次旅程迄今为止的最大一笔利润。但是，在远东，我却在稀有陈年茶叶和昂贵玉石上栽了跟头。
今天，我将面对此次旅程以来最重要的一次商谈。锡维奥·卡迪尼奥是Flora Seco公司的副总裁，他同意和我谈一桩交易。我最大的谈判筹码是这家公司现时还没有英国客户。锡维奥向我报出每立方米木材1400美元（约700英镑）的价格。这是个不错的报价，但我觉得我还可以争取到更优惠的折扣。
康纳：你能降到1200美元吗？
锡维奥：嗯，这有点难，你知道，因为你提出的是1200美元，我报的是1400美元。我觉得1300美元才能勉强抵消我们的成本。
那就这样啦。我几乎将我五个月来的血汗所得都投入到了——树木上了。
我知道有一家公司着实会对我的木材感兴趣。但是经过几个小时的谈判后，我不敢相信他压价压得那么狠。我减了7000英镑，将价钱只是提到18000英镑多一点，但这似乎对于肖恩来说依然不够低。
康纳：那个，我觉得已经是我给你的很大的折扣了。
肖恩：那只是个从天价开出的折头。
康纳：我不敢相信你会说这话。我觉得这些木材可不止这个价。
肖恩：我不会买的。
打了一天的电话后，我准备与几家公司见面，这些公司都非常希望看看我的环保柚木板。
汉普郡的新晓家具公司从事重环保手工家具的制作。其经营者是丹尼斯·威根。
康纳：你觉得这些木材怎样？
丹尼斯：我觉得木材的纹理非常非常漂亮，颜色和纹理都不错。
康纳：关键是你对这些木材很满意。
丹尼斯：对，我对其很满意。
康纳：1000镑一立方米怎样？
丹尼斯：好，就这样，好的。
康纳：成交。
结局圆满！丹尼斯共付了13500英镑，买走了我一半的木材。
但我仍然得将剩下的一半木材脱手，于是我去到诺丁汉找我的第二个买家。
牛顿木制品公司是一家致力于环保房屋的建筑公司。约翰·格林是该公司的总经理。
约翰：这是我们首次见到环保柚木，嗯，因此为市场引进这些木材会对我们非常有利。
康纳：那么，怎样呢，13000？
约翰：嗯……
康纳：全部。
约翰：10吧。
康纳：又要讨价还价了，对吧？12？
约翰：嗯……11。
康纳：继续吧。我会还你个中间价。11.5。
约翰：好。成交。
康纳：好。
我花了11620英镑买柚木，那时一英镑可兑两美元。我在运输上花了1000英镑，然后以25000英镑卖出，我所得的利润是12345英镑。
经历了这趟历时6个月，辗转于16个国家贩卖从骆驼到咖啡等各种商品的奇妙之旅后，我原来的25000英镑投资翻了一番。
在六个月里，我经历了一趟重要的人生之旅。我学到了很多世界各地不同的人的经商之道。我觉得，在我开始这个旅程之前，我像伦敦的许多人一样，认为自己了解经济、商业以及赚钱的所有学问。我想，我从这次经历所学到的比以上知识广阔得多。
经商关乎赚钱，但同时也与人情、人脉和文化相关，其对全球人类社会都产生影响。对金钱的追逐确实是推动世界发展的动力。
这是一次眼界大开的经历，现在我觉得自己确实与众不同了。
栏目翻译：未几