Q: What's it like to come from a billion-dollar family?
超級富二代的人生是什么樣的?
Answered by John H. Hillman, V, sorry about the Roman numeral.
約翰?希爾曼五世的回復
In my case it is pretty normal. To be clear, I am not "of the wealth" that flows through my family, I benefit from a minor tributary of the original fortune. I am not a poor person by any means, and I am super grateful for my family history, tradition, and the regional respect given towards us. Something that not only I, but the patriarch and matriarch Hillmans, have always tried to repay. The reality is: the city that helped us, comes first.
對我來說我過的生活還是挺平常的。先澄清一下,我家不是正兒八經(jīng)的巨富家族,只是富裕祖上留下的小小一個旁支。但從任何角度來說,我都不能算是窮人,而且我也非常感激我家庭的歷史與傳統(tǒng),還有地方上給予我們家庭的尊重。因此很多時候,不僅是我自己,還有我們家族的眾多長老們,都在努力的想要回報社會以表達感謝。換句話說:事事都把這個有幫助過我們家族的城市放在第一位。
Without giving a full family history — which has already been done way better than I could — the gist of it is: I had a relative seven or eight generations ago who did very well cooking iron in Kentucky/Tennessee in the 1850s. A generation continued that success though the U.S. Civil War with some pitfalls until around the 1900s when some southerner Hillmans traveled to a city which was a perfect fit for industrial steel revolution: Pittsburgh. When the U.S. steel industry began to slump beginning in the 1960s my great-uncle Henry diversified into many things, notably an early Kleiner Perkins investment, international real estate, and others. I believe he has been on the Forbes 400 since the first list, though I may be wrong. The rest can be found via Google.
鑒于已經(jīng)有人講述過希爾曼家族完整的族史,并且講得比我好得多,在這里我就不贅述了,只列舉一些要點:我的一門親戚,往上數(shù)個七、八代的樣子,大概在19世紀50年代的時候在肯塔基州和田納西州以提煉鋼鐵打了出一片天。盡管在美國內(nèi)戰(zhàn)的不利影響下,家族的成功還是在又一代人手上譜寫輝煌。直到20世紀初,南方的希爾曼家族來到了一個非常適合鋼鐵工業(yè)革命的城市:匹茲堡。當20世紀60年代,美國鋼鐵業(yè)開始不景氣時,我的叔(伯)祖父轉向多元化經(jīng)營。最著名的就是帕金斯投資公司,還有國際的房地產(chǎn)業(yè)等等。我認為他從第一屆福布斯榜單開始就位列前400,不過也有能不是。其它族史可以通過Google搜索。
How does it feel for me? Aside from knowing that I come from solid stock, which I try to live up to, I have constant reminders such as the Hillman Library, which was named after my great-grandfather and is the main library of the University of Pittsburgh. The question I most often hear about that building is: "Don't you like, own a library or something?" other than that there is The Hillman Cancer Center, which is a fantastic facility, every once in awhile, I have misguided people thanking me because their cancer was "cured." I don't like that at all, it makes me feel uncomfortable.
我對這些有什么感覺?除了我自身深切得體會到我們家族的源遠流長之外,也有諸多外物提醒我不要辜負了這一切,如以我祖父的名字命名的匹茲堡大學最重要的圖書館——希爾曼圖書館。我最常被問及有關這座圖書館的問題就是:“有個圖書館還是什么的是不是你家開的?”偶爾也會有人被誤導,會把他們對希爾曼癌癥研究所的感謝轉嫁給我。希爾曼癌癥研究所是一個設施精良的癌癥研究中心,治愈了很多人。但我并不喜歡這些提問或者感謝,它們會讓我感到不自在。
The Hillman Center for Future Generation Technologies part of Carnegie Mellon University is cool-looking (inside and out) and is a great partnership with Gates and CMU, but not something the average person cares about, including me. Then there are things like Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems, part of the Carnegie Museum of natural History that are so amazing, but also made me feel awkward as a first grader visiting with my school. Kids can be tough. I could name over fifty other really important buildings/endowments/things our family's success has benefited, but most people don't care. And it can all be found without me telling you.
隸屬卡耐基梅隆大學(Carnegie Mellon University)的希爾曼未來科技研究中心里里外外看起來都很不錯,和蓋茨以及CMU有著重要合作關系,但這點一般人是不會在乎的,包括我在內(nèi)。還有像卡內(nèi)基自然歷史博物館希爾曼礦物寶石展廳之類的建筑,令人嘆為觀止,但小學一年級時學校組織參觀,讓我很難為情。小孩子很難搞的。我可以說出至少50個像這樣的重要建筑、捐贈基金以及其它的一些東西,希爾曼家族的成功得益于此。但是大部分人都不會在乎。而我不說,你也會知道。
I have great friends. I can't clarify that enough. They are all lifelong friends who know me well. It isn't like I have hangers-on or people who want to be in my life because of a perceived wealth, though I believe others in my family might have that problem.
我有很多很棒的朋友。我無法用語言表述。他們都是我一生的朋友,也都很了解我的為人。他們并不是阿諛奉承的小人,也不是因為我家的財產(chǎn)才和我交朋友,但我想,在我們家族中很多親人都會遇到這樣的問題。
Every month, I get a stranger that says "Hey, are you related to the Hillmans . . . ?" or something like that. Basically I just go with the flow. I am modest, live a modest life, and it's all just fun and respect. Respect for my family and respect for people that are interested in "us." When I think of my family's fortunes I think of how much has been given back to Pittsburgh, and that is mainly how I identify with it.
每個月都會有陌生人問我:“嘿,你是希爾曼家族的人么?”或者其它類似的問題。基本上對于這些問題我一笑了之。我是個實在的人,過著平凡的生活。我懷揣著生活的樂趣和尊重,尊重我的家族,也尊重那些對“我們”感興趣的人。每當我想起家族的財富的時候,我只會在想這里面有多少已經(jīng)回報給匹茲堡了,這也就是我對這些財富的理解。