浙江省绍兴市树人中学 张祖平 译

四美元一桶石油

浙江省绍兴市树人中学 张祖平 译

Albert was an ordinary2worker in an oil company in America.His workmates gave a nickname3“four dollars a bucket of oil”below his name whenever and wherever he wrote down his name.

As time went by，people forgot his real name.Later，when Rockefeller，the board chairman4of the oil company，heard of it，he was very surprised，so he invited Albert to come to his office.

“Some people give you a nickname for‘four dollars a bucket'.Why aren't you angry？”asked Rockefeller with some puzzlement5in his eyes.

“Oh！Mr.Rockefeller！I like this nickname very much，because‘four dollars a bucket of a oil'is our company's ad.As long as someone calls me‘four dollars a bucket of oil'once，I think it's free ad for our company.It's not necessary for me to get angry.Don't you think so，Mr.Rockefeller？”

“Oh！What a smart man！”Rockefeller said excitedly when hearing Albert's words“Young man！Work harder，you must be successful in the future！I believe in you！”

Five years later，Albert became the second board chairman after Rockefeller.

Later Albert said in one of his reports，“I don't think we should feel frustrated6when we have no way to do the world-shaking things.We should treat everything actively7because maybe our future success will begin from a small thing！”

阿尔伯特是美国一家石油公司的一名普通工人，无论何时何地他写自己的名字，同事们都会在下面加一个外号：“四美元一桶石油”。

时光流逝，人们忘记了他的真名。后来，当美国石油公司董事长洛克菲勒听说了这件事情，他很是惊讶，于是他邀请阿尔伯特去他的办公室。

“有人给你起了一个‘四美元一桶石油'的外号，你为什么不生气？”洛克菲勒眼神中带着一些困惑。

“嗯，洛克菲勒先生，我喜欢这个外号，因为‘四美元一桶石油'是我们公司的广告。只要人们叫我一次‘四美元一桶石油'，我认为这就是我们公司的免费广告。我没有必要为此生气。难道你不这样认为吗，洛克菲勒先生？”

“啊！多么聪明的一个人啊！”听到这里，洛克菲勒激动地说，“年轻人，如果你更加努力，未来一定会成功！我相信你！”

五年以后，阿尔伯特成为了洛克菲勒之后的第二任董事长。

后来，阿尔伯特在他的一次报告会上说：“我认为，当我们无法做出震惊世界的事情的时候，我们不应该觉得沮丧。我们应该积极地对待每一件事情，因为，或许我们的成功将开始于一件小事。”

Four Dollars a Bucket' of Oil