Elon Musk ： C4: 0905

篇章  ELON’S FIRST START-UP

Elon 和弟弟 Kimbal一起建立的第一家公司 Zig 2，万事开头难，一段艰辛历程也是自我成长过程。

①成立公司前：明确目标，脚踏实地。Musk 为自己创业计划打基础，利用暑假在硅谷实习，白天在Pinnacle中与一群改革汽车能源的科学家工作，晚上去Rocket Science Games写编程。和所有实习生一样的，不知不会不懂，但不会的地方Musk敢于探索研究弄懂，脚踏实地把事情做成。并在硅谷中看到机遇，找到自己人生定位和更远大的抱负。

“After a short while, I don’t think anyone was giving him any direction, and he ended up making what he wanted to make.”“Kids these days have no idea about hardware or how stuff works, but he had a PC hacker background and was not afraid to just go figure things out.”

不畏惧不逃避自己不会的不懂的知识，不是不耻下问而是自己动手，自己解决。有时候我们问的一些问题，其实打着好学的旗号，不耻下问的招牌，而实际却是一种“实力甩锅”，让别人为你问题埋单，心安的做“伸手党”。

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②成立之中：一切从零开始（from scratch），租的二三十平米的小房子，没电梯联网不便利，只有简单的办公的设备连家具都没，但是Elon心里有火眼里有光，有策略有决心，可以为了一项任务没日夜的工作，不认输不放弃。一步步从当初的2人到后来的整个团队，从亲自上门推销到最后网络销售，从捉襟见肘的财政走到后来的财富之路，这段艰难不易的路程见证了Zig 2的发展，也见证了Musk的成长。一个幼时沉默寡言，不受欢迎，总是批评别人的孩子，在团队合作中，以及取得成就中变得自信和有亲和力。

The process had been painful. Musk had yearned to be a leader, but the people around him struggled to see how Musk as the CEO could work. As far as Musk was concerned, they were all wrong, and he set out to prove his point with what would end up being even more dramatic results.

当大家抱着看热闹看笑话的心看Elon 如何做好CEO时，Musk并没有因为大家的质疑而退缩怀疑自己能力，足够自信坚定，用行动和事实结果证明自己是对的。总是用自己的方法最终实现了当初别人眼里的daydream。

当然他的成功不是他一个人的成功，有Zig2的团队的付出，不仅仅是技术方面的，还有对于Elon一起工作相处的磨合。“My mentality is that of a samurai. I would rather commit seppuku than fail.”很欣赏这种不服输的精神，试想与一个以高标准要求自己不认输人一起工作，承受的工作强度和压力更大吧。

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Zip2’s software would give them a quick way of getting online without needing to develop all their own technology from scratch.

• from scratch

① without any previous preparation or knowledge 从头开始；从零开始

*I learned German from scratch in six months. 我从零学起，六个月学会了德语。

②from the very beginning, not using any of the work done earlier 从头（做起）；从零开始

*They decided to dismantle the machine and start again from scratch.他们决定拆掉机器，从头再来。

➡️复习：scratch the surface ：浅尝辄止

原文： you will almost certainly see great improvement—think of what two hundred hours of practice brought Steve Faloon—but you have only scratched the surface. PEAK

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Zip2’s investors saw him as experienced and clued in to the Web.

· clued in ：

释义：knowing a lot about something: 知识丰富的 ；

同义：clued-up /about

例句：Ask Margaret. She’s pretty clued-in about that sort of thing.

· Clue：

①名词：an object or piece of information that helps someone solve a crime ormystery:线索，故事情节

  not have a clue 毫无头绪

②动词：to give someone information about something: 告知...；为...提供线索

Clue me in on what's happening.告诉我发生了什么事

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To get a fast Internet connection, Musk struck a deal with Ray Girouard, an entrepreneur who

a company that had spent hundreds of millions of dollars to create digital maps and directions that could be used in early GPS navigation-style devices, and struck a masterful bargain.

· strike a bargain/ deal

释义：to agree to do something for someone if they do something for you: 达成协议，交易，成交

同义： make a deal with..

例句：There are rumors that the president struck a private deal with thecorporation’s chairman.

· strike 动词时“罢工，攻击；打动；到达”

strike + 名词：

①strike a balance： give the correct amount of importance or attention to two separate things:公平处理

②strike a chord ：to say or do something that other people agree with or have sympathy with:叩人心弦，触动

③strike a match：to produce a flame from a match by rubbing it hard across a roughsurface 打火

④strike a note：to express a particular feeling or attitude:作出...姿态以表达...情感

⑤strike a blow ：damage or harm someone or something:严重的打击

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金句： Do or die but don't give up

心里有火眼里有光，不言弃。

Starting Zip2 and watching it grow imbued Musk with self-confidence.

不够自信怎么办？怎么变得更自信？只有自己才能拯救自己，通过行动取得点滴进步，积极反馈自己，获得成就感而变得更自信。