從富有到貧窮是什么感覺？

I was really sad it happened to them because they were really nice people, It's easy to judge them for never bothered to have a job or be wiser with their money, however, she was born in a different universe for most of us. What we see as a lavish lifestyle she sees as a regular day since birth.

對這一切的發(fā)生我真的很難過，因?yàn)樗麄兪呛芎玫娜恕：苋菀着袛?，他們不是懶得找工作，也不是浪費(fèi)而亂花錢。而是對我們大多數(shù)人來說，她出生在一個不同的世界。我們所看到所認(rèn)為的奢侈生活方式，她從出生起就習(xí)以為常了。
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I asked them if they needed anything and obviously what they need is their old lifestyle back. They moved to a modest apartment in a different state.

我問他們是否需要什么，顯然他們需要的是回到過去的生活方式。最后他們搬到了另一個州的一套普通公寓里。

She told me that the biggest issue is that they don't know how to live like that. She can't imagine what's like to do their own grocery shopping, and worst than that, go to Walmart with a shopping list. She said that if she spent a little more on things she like she might not have money for the supermarket next week.

她告訴我最大的問題是他們不知道如何生活。她想象不出自己去雜貨店買東西是什么樣子，更糟糕的是，去沃爾瑪?shù)臅r候還帶著購物清單。她說如果她多買點(diǎn)喜歡的東西的話，下周她可能就沒有錢去超市了。

I would not dare to say that this experience was humbling to them because they were always nice people, the difference is that they were nice people with lots of money. The only positive thing I believe this experience brought to them is that they are no longer superficial. They used to see everything like poverty, sorrow, and problems from a different perspective, and I used to see them through a mask that looked like they were using all the time

我不好說這種經(jīng)歷對他們來說是不是丟臉，因?yàn)樗麄円恢倍际呛萌?，不同的是他們是有很多錢的好人。我認(rèn)為這次經(jīng)歷帶給他們唯一積極的東西就是他們不再膚淺。他們曾經(jīng)從不同的角度看待一切，比如貧窮、悲傷等方面，而我過去常常透過他們一直戴著的面具來看待他們。

Now, for the first time, I was able to see who they really are. What are their emotions, their fears, their desires, and their regrets… For the first time in their lives they desire things, they no longer pull their credit card and immediately satisfy their desires and in that sense, they look like real people for me.

現(xiàn)在，我第一次才看清他們的真實(shí)樣子。他們的情感，他們的恐懼，他們的欲望，還有他們的遺憾。在他們的生活中，他們第一次渴望一些東西，他們不再用信用卡滿足他們的欲望，從這個意義上說，他們同我一樣是一個普通人。

Every time I visited them over the years I always invited them for lunch, breakfast or coffee and even though I'm not wealthy I always offered to pay, and 6 months ago, when I saw them for the last time, I invited them to have a coffee at Starbucks and that was the first time in more than 15 years that they said thank you after I offered to pay for our breakfast.

這么多年來每次去拜訪他們，我總是邀請他們共進(jìn)午餐，早餐或喝咖啡。盡管我不富有但我總是提出自己買單。6個月前，我最后一次看望他們，我邀請他們在星巴克喝杯咖啡。這是15年多來，我主動提出付早餐費(fèi)后，他們第一次說謝謝。

It felt different. They don't need to thank me for anything because during their life, just by inviting me to stay with them, they offered me much more than anything I've ever offered to them, but for the first time in their lives, they are learning to value every small good thing that life gives to them.

這是不同的感覺。他們不需要感謝我什么，因?yàn)橐郧皟H僅通過邀請我陪他們的時候他們給我的比我曾經(jīng)給他們的多多了，但是他們第一次在生活中學(xué)會了去珍惜生活給予他們的美好事物。

***************

第二次更新
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處

***************
Thank you all for the upvotes and feedbacks to this story. In fact, I had two stories about the theme but Quora doesn't allow to publish two answers for the same question, so, for those who are interested I'll post the second story here.

謝謝大家對這個故事的支持和反饋。事實(shí)上，我有兩個關(guān)于這個主題的故事，但是Quora不允許發(fā)布同一個問題的兩個答案，所以，對于那些感興趣的人，我將在這里發(fā)布第二個故事。

In 2007 I was hired by a medium size tech company. The company had around 150 employees and they were growing fast. When I was hired they told me they would be moving to better offices in two months and they really did it. The new office was really impressive. Huge, very modern to the point it made the cover of a magazine.

在2007年時，我被一家中等規(guī)模的科技公司聘用。這家公司大約有150名員工，而且他們的增長速度很快。當(dāng)我被雇用的時候，他們告訴我他們將在兩個月后搬到更好的辦公室，他們真的做到了。新辦公室真令人印象深刻，寬敞，非?，F(xiàn)代，甚至成為了雜志的封面。

My boss and her husband were the owners of the company. They were simply amazing. She was sweet, very polite and it was a pleasure to work for them. They were also very rich. In fact, she was so down to earth that it took me two months to realize that she was one of the owners of the company. It happened one day that we had a meeting with a client and she told me if I was OK to be squeezed on the back seat of her car, as another person was coming with us. I Imagined that she had one of those very small cars, but she showed up on a brand new convertible Porsche .

我的老板和她的丈夫是公司的持有人。他們簡直太厲害了。她很可愛，很有禮貌，我為他們工作是一種樂趣。他們也很富有。事實(shí)上，她非常低調(diào)以至于我花了兩個月的時間才知道到她是公司的老板之一。有一天，我們和一個客戶開會，她告訴我，因?yàn)橛辛硪粋€人跟我們一起來，如果我愿意擠在她車后座也是可以的。我以為她開的是那種非常小的車，但她開的是一輛全新的保時捷敞篷車。

Little by little, we became acquainted. They invited me to have dinner one night and I was impressed by how rich they really were, They lived on a mansion, the land was so big that they had a tennis court, swimming pool and a stable with 5 horses on their land. He also was a motor enthusiast and had 9 cars. They owned a farm and a beach house in another city, even though we lived in one of the most beautiful beach cities in the world.

漸漸地，我們熟悉了。一天晚上，他們邀請我去吃晚飯，我對他們的富有印象深刻，他們住在一棟面積很大的豪宅里，他們有一個網(wǎng)球場，一個游泳池和一個有五匹馬的馬廄。他也是一個汽車愛好者有9輛車。盡管我們本身就是世界上最美麗的海濱城市之一，但他們在另一個城市擁有一座農(nóng)場和一座海濱別墅。

They made money fast because I was hired in 2007 and the company was founded in 2002 and it looked like they had a good lifestyle for some years.

他們賺錢很快，因?yàn)楣静懦闪⒂?002年，而我是2007年被聘用的，看起來他們已經(jīng)過了好多年的這種富裕生活方式。

They were amazing people, very humble, very calm and you would never say they had so much money just by talking to them.

他們是了不起的人，非常謙虛非常冷靜。僅僅只通過與他們交談你是永遠(yuǎn)不會知道他們有這么多錢。

I left the company by the end of 2007 because I received an offer to work in another place. I talked to them before accepting the offer, I explained my reasons and they were really supportive and told me that if I changed my mind the doors would be open.

我在2007年底離開了公司，因?yàn)槲沂盏搅肆硪患夜镜匿浻猛ㄖ?。我在接受這份工作之前和他們談過，我解釋了我的理由，他們非常支持我并告訴我，如果我改變主意，隨時可以回來。

By the end of 2008, a former colleague contacted me asking for a reference as he was leaving the company. I asked why he was leaving the company and the told me that the company had gone into receivership. Basically, they were impacted by the GFC.

到2008年底，一位前同事在離開公司時聯(lián)系我請我?guī)退榻B工作。我問他為什么要離開公司，他告訴我公司已經(jīng)破產(chǎn)了。事實(shí)上，他們受到了全球金融危機(jī)的影響。

They were so rich that I imagined that although the company had bankrupted they probably had a lot of savings.

因?yàn)樗麄兲绣X了所以我想雖然公司破產(chǎn)了，但他們應(yīng)該可能有很多存款。

I never heard from them again until 2017.

直到2017年我再也沒有收到他們的消息。

I had a health issue and I needed to see a specialist. When I got to the doctor, I was talking to the receptionist when I saw a sign with her name over her desk. (Let's say Jennifer Parker - I'll omit her real name). So I said to her. Hey Jennifer, what a coincidence, I had a boss with exactly the same name.

我有健康問題需要看專家。當(dāng)我去看醫(yī)生的時候，我正在和接待員談話，這時我看到她的桌子上有一個寫著她的名字的牌子。（比如說詹妮弗·帕克——我會省略她的真名）。所以我對她說，嘿，詹妮弗，真巧，我有個同名的老板。

Then she told me that she was not Jennifer, that Jennifer was the other receptionist, that she worked Monday and Tuesday and Jenniffer Wednesday to Friday. I saw the doctor and two weeks later I came back for my return and when I arrived who I see working as a receptionist there? My former boss.

然而她告訴我她不是詹妮弗，詹妮弗是另一個星期三到星期五工作的接待員，她是星期一和星期二工作。我看了醫(yī)生，兩周后我回去做康復(fù)治療，當(dāng)我到達(dá)時，我看到誰在那里做接待員？我以前的老板。

When she saw me she recognized me and told me that the other receptionist told what happened and when she saw my name she connected the dots.

當(dāng)她看到我時，她認(rèn)出了我，并告訴我當(dāng)她看到我的名字時，另一個接待員告訴了她我之前來過的事。

She told me what happened to the company, basically was a problem with the contracts they made and as they weren't able to get a new loan from the bank they could no longer keep the company and pay their debts. With that, they lost everything, not only the company but literally everything.

她告訴我公司發(fā)生了什么事，基本上由于是他們簽訂的合同有問題，他們無法從銀行獲得新的貸款，他們無法再維持公司并償還債務(wù)。因此，他們失去了一切，不僅失去了公司，而且失去了一切。

Their kids moved from private to public schools, they had all their cars, properties and assets confiscated and ended moving to a small apartment near the city. Her husband was able to get a new job (at nearly 60 years of age) and she had to go back to work to complement their income.

他們的孩子從私立學(xué)校搬到公立學(xué)校，他們所有的汽車、財產(chǎn)和資產(chǎn)都被沒收，最后搬到了城市附近的一個小公寓。她將近60歲的丈夫找到了一份新工作，她不得不回去工作以增加他們的收入。

It was a huge surprise for me because you always expect that these things will happen to bad people, but never to nice people like them. They were honest, decent, hardworking, family oriented, and everybody in the office liked them.

這對我來說非常震驚，因?yàn)槿藗兛偸窍Ｍ@些事情會發(fā)生在壞人身上，但永遠(yuǎn)不會發(fā)生在像他們這樣的好人身上。他們誠實(shí)、正派、勤奮、以家庭為本，辦公室里的每個人都喜歡他們。

Coincidentally I bumped into them again 3 months later in the mall. What surprised me the most is that they were able to go from a very rich to a very modest lifestyle without changing who they were. We sit together to have lunch in the food court and they were living like that was the life they always had. They were exactly the same people I met 10 years before, they were happy, making jokes with their kids (that were teenagers by then) and even when she told me what happened she didn't do it with sadness.

巧合的是，3個月后我在商場里又碰到了他們。最讓我吃驚的是，他們能夠從一種非常富有的生活方式轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橐环N非常樸素的生活方式，而不改變是誰。我們一起坐在在美食廣場吃午飯，他們一直過著這樣的生活。他們和我10年前認(rèn)識的人一模一樣。他們很開心，還和他們的孩子（那時還是十幾歲的孩子）開玩笑，甚至當(dāng)她告訴我發(fā)生了什么時，她也沒有悲傷。

I don't know how they managed everything so well. Going through an experience like that could be very damaging, but it looks like they had a way to cope with everything.

我不知道他們怎么把事情處理得這么好。這些事情的發(fā)生可能會帶給他們很大的傷害，但看起來他們有辦法應(yīng)對一切。

It taught me a lesson that money can't be trusted, life can be full of unexpected events with many things out of our control.

它給了我一個教訓(xùn)，金錢是不可靠的，生活中充滿了意外，很多事情都是我們無法控制的。
Lee Boueri, Self employed（個體經(jīng)營者）

In 2006 I was married with two boys in private schools. I lived in a three-story house in one of the best suburbs in the city. I had a corporate yacht, drove a porsche 911, had been offered $20 million for my business two years earlier which I had declined. I owned around $4 million in real estate, flew first class on family holidays every year and took my eighty-odd staff on four-day conferences to five-star resorts every year. At thirty-nine, I was featured as sixty-fifth in our country’s richest under forty. I was the only child of a single parent migrant mum so I had experienced poverty and felt I had accomplished plenty—a classic, rags to riches story, life was good, but as they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

我2006年結(jié)婚，目前有兩個兒子在私立學(xué)校讀書。我住在一棟三層樓房里，那是城里最好的郊區(qū)之一。我有一個游艇公司，開著保時捷911，兩年前有人出價2000萬美元買我的公司，我拒絕了。我擁有大約400萬美元的房地產(chǎn)，每年全家度假時都乘坐頭等艙，每年帶著80多名員工去五星級度假勝地參加為期四天的會議。39歲時，我在我們國家40歲以下最富有的人群中排名第65位。我是單親移民媽媽的獨(dú)生子，所以我經(jīng)歷了貧到富這一個經(jīng)典的過程，生活是美好的。但正如他們所說的，站得越高，摔得越重。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處

2009 following the GFC I had three staff left and had moved to a much smaller office. We were just keeping our heads above water trying to wait out the fallout when we became embroiled in a legal battle with a large multi-national who we funded our mortgages through and who was itself experiencing problems due to the GFC and decided it would no longer pay us the monthly fees due.

2009年在全球金融危機(jī)之后，我?guī)еＯ氯麊T工搬到了一個小得多的辦公室。我們陷入一場與一家大型跨國公司的法律糾紛中，我們只是保持清醒，試圖等待轉(zhuǎn)機(jī)的出現(xiàn)。這家跨國公司為我們的抵押貸款提供資金，而跨國公司本身也正因全球金融危機(jī)而遇到問題，并決定不再向我們支付每月到期支付的費(fèi)用。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處

We had to wait for the outcome of the court proceedings to start getting paid again and the company dragged it out for four years which saw the yacht, the car, the three remaining staff, and eventually the business go. Soon after, my marriage broke down and I relinquished the house to my wife without a fight, hoping she would be a good caretaker for the kids’ inheritance and keep it safe from creditors. The kids took the separation badly and my eldest son, who was in his mid teens, spiraled out of control with alcohol and drugs.

我們不得不等待法庭程序的結(jié)果，希望再次開始支付。公司拖了四年，看到游艇，汽車沒了，剩下的三名員工離開了，最終公司也沒了。不久之后，我的婚姻破裂了，我毫無異議的把房子讓給了妻子，希望她能很好地保護(hù)孩子們的財產(chǎn)，不讓債權(quán)人知道。孩子們很不喜歡這種分離，我十幾歲的大兒子開始酗酒吸毒失控。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處

Thinking creditors would soon take whatever money was left, I rented a luxury apartment overlooking the harbour and locked myself away until the money ran out, waiting to hit rock bottom. I know now what I didn’t know then, that I was suffering from extreme depression. I stopped contacting people and would leave phone calls, mail, and emails unanswered. I hit the booze hard, as I sold off the remaining business assets to pay for rent and food. I kept thinking of ideas to start a new business but would keep putting it off, until four years later I had only $60,000 left.

我以為債主們很快就會把剩下的錢都拿走，于是我租了一套俯瞰海港的豪華公寓，把自己鎖在里面，直到錢花光。我現(xiàn)在才知道當(dāng)時的我竟然不知道自己正遭受著極度的抑郁。我不再與人聯(lián)系，不接電話和電子郵件。我酗酒成性，我賣掉了剩下的資產(chǎn)來支付房租和食物。我一直在想創(chuàng)業(yè)的點(diǎn)子，直到四年后我只剩下6萬美元。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處

While times were good I had given my mum a mobile phone and a cab charge card, as by that stage she was a pensioner and did not drive. They were the last things I reined in and it was hard to do, as mum would constantly tell me how proud she was of me and bragged to anyone who would listen about my success. Finally I plucked up enough courage to tell her I had to stop paying for both and in a series of unfortunate incidents mum started to show the first signs of dementia. Her decline was rather quick and it became obvious to me that she could no longer look after herself as the cleanliness of the house of my usually compulsively clean mother deteriorated rapidly.

在經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢好的時候，我給了我媽媽一個手機(jī)和一張出租車收費(fèi)卡，因?yàn)槟菚r她已經(jīng)是領(lǐng)養(yǎng)老金的人了，她不會開車。這是我最不愿意也很難做到的事，因?yàn)閶寢尶偸菍ξ艺f她為我感到多么驕傲，并對每個愿意聽我成功故事的人吹噓我。最后，我鼓起足夠的勇氣告訴她，我必須停止為這兩件事買單。在一系列不幸的事件中，媽媽開始表現(xiàn)出癡呆的最初跡象。她的病情很快就惡化了，我明顯地意識到她已經(jīng)不能自己照顧自己了。因?yàn)槲夷赣H平時總是強(qiáng)迫自己打掃衛(wèi)生，現(xiàn)在家里的衛(wèi)生狀況迅速惡化。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處

Seeing my mum in such a state must have snapped me out of my depression because I moved in with her and began upgrading and cleaning the house. Within two years her conditioned had declined so much that I had become her full-time caretaker: cooking, cleaning, taking her to medical appointments and outings, but as her health further declined I could not keep up the level of care her condition now required, so I eventually found a good nursing home for her. I was again without a purpose but I was over the depression (mum’s final unintended—but most valuable—gift to me before entering the nursing home).

看到我媽媽處于這樣的狀態(tài)我從沮喪中解脫出來，于是我搬過來和她住一起，開始打掃房子。不到兩年她的條件反射下降了很多，我成了她的全職看護(hù)，做飯，打掃衛(wèi)生，帶她去看醫(yī)生和郊游。隨著她的身體狀況進(jìn)一步惡化，我無法維持她現(xiàn)在所需的護(hù)理水平，于是我最終為她找到了一個好的養(yǎng)老院。我又一次失去了目標(biāo)，但我克服了抑郁癥（在進(jìn)入養(yǎng)老院之前，媽媽給我的最后一份意外但最有價值的禮物）。

The solicitor helping me with mum’s paper work offered me a partnership to help him grow his business. My son had regained control over his life and both were now in universities. I had not spoken to my wife since the breakup. I was happy with the level of care mum was receiving and I was back on track working on growing a new business again, but I was soon to learn that falls from grace like that are not so easily forgiving.

律師幫我做媽媽的文書工作，讓我成為了幫助他發(fā)展業(yè)務(wù)的合伙人。我兒子已經(jīng)恢復(fù)了正常生活，兩人現(xiàn)在都在大學(xué)里。分手后我就沒和我妻子說話。我很高興媽媽能得到這樣的照顧，我又回到了發(fā)展新業(yè)務(wù)的軌道上，但我很快就明白，像這樣從高位下來再上去是不容易的。

The first sign that this was not a fresh start came ten months into the partnership when we tried to get an overdraft and it was declined due to the fact that I now had a bad credit rating. This put a strain on the partnership even though we had managed substantial growth. Then my partner received a call from child services: apparently they had assessed my income at $400,000 a year and I was suppose to be paying my wife child support for the last six odd years based on that level of income, even though my income was nil and I was living off of selling off assets. The debt was now over $90,000 and they wanted to garnishee my drawings from the business. In the same week the tax office called to say they wanted to garnishee my drawings for an outstanding tax debt of $50,000 from the sale of some of the real estate assets. A week after that phone call I received a message from my partner while at home:
“The locks on the premises at work have been changed, you can no longer operate the company bank accounts and I have removed you as a director and shareholder on the company register, don’t bother coming in. I would encourage you to fight me but I know you don't have the money.”

第一個跡象表明這不是一個新的開始，是在我們合伙10個月的時候，我們試圖獲得透支，但由于我現(xiàn)在的信用評級不好而被拒絕。這給我們的合作關(guān)系帶來了壓力，盡管我們已經(jīng)取得了客觀的增長。后來我的合伙人接到了一個兒童服務(wù)部的電話：很顯然，他們估計我的年收入為40萬美元，我應(yīng)該根據(jù)這一收入水平支付過去六年的妻兒撫養(yǎng)費(fèi)，盡管現(xiàn)在我的收入為零靠變賣資產(chǎn)為生?，F(xiàn)在債務(wù)超過了9萬美元，他們想拿走我生意上的投資。就在同一周，稅務(wù)局打電話來說，他們想用出售部分房地產(chǎn)資產(chǎn)所得用于投資生意的5萬美元來償還未償稅款。在那通電話一周后，我在家里收到了我合作伙伴的一條信息：
“工作場所的鎖已經(jīng)換了，你不能再經(jīng)營公司的銀行賬戶了，我已經(jīng)把你從公司登記冊上的董事和股東的身份刪除了，不用麻煩進(jìn)來了。我鼓勵你跟我打官司，但我知道你沒有錢?！?/b>
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