Young Henry. Adams, because of a daring voyage, drifted from San Francisco to London, England, with only a dollar left in his pocket.
A month later, he took advantage of the unexpected opportunity to transform into a million-dollar rich man.
That's the American writer Mark. The well-known story in Twain's short story "Million Pound Sterling".
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > bets on the older brothers</h1>
For a special need, the Bank of England issued two large banknotes, each in a denomination of one million pounds.
There was an old gentleman, brothers, who heard about it and had a sudden idea:
What would be the fate of a very honest and intelligent outlier who had wandered into London, where he had no friends, nothing but that million pound sterling, and who could not prove that he was the rightful owner of that big bill?
One said that the man would starve to death; the other said, never.
One said that if he took it to the bank or elsewhere, he would be caught on the spot; the other said that he was willing to gamble with twenty thousand pounds: the man could live for thirty days anyway on that big bill and would not go to jail.
It is said that the British can solve all problems by gambling.
So the brothers ran to the bank to buy a large bill, and then sat together under the window, and spent the whole day reviewing the faces that passed by the window, looking for the right person, but they were disappointed:
Some are honest but not smart enough; some are smart enough but not honest enough; there are many smart and honest, but people are not completely poor; and those who are extremely poor are not outsiders -- they are always unable to do as they wish.
Until Henry, a young man from San Francisco, USA. Adams appears under their window, and the brothers' wishes are fulfilled, because Adams satisfies the four conditions of intelligence, honesty, extreme poverty, and being a foreigner.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" > young people were selected</h1>
Adams was twenty-seven years old and working for a mining company in San Francisco, where he was responsible for securities investment. In his own words:
Apart from his own ingenuity and innocence, there is nothing more to rely on.
However, this young man has an advantage, that is, he is very down-to-earth, never dreams of making a fortune without shadows, and runs his own future with a dead heart.
Every Saturday afternoon, when the stock market closed, Adams liked to get a boat to row in the bay to pass the time.
One day he was driving a little farther in a small boat and accidentally drifted into the sea. When night fell, he felt hopeless.
Coincidentally, a large ship bound for London rescued him and took him directly to a foreign land.
When Adams came ashore in London, he had only a dollar left in his pocket. He used this dollar to eat and stay for a day and a night.
The next day he wandered aimlessly down a street in rags and hungry. He saw a child throw a large sweet pear in his hand that had just taken a bite into the sewer.
He was struggling with how to pick up the sweet pear and swallow it in his stomach when a richly dressed servant led him into a luxurious room in which two noble gentlemen sat. They sent the servant away and politely sat him down.
It turned out that these two gentlemen were the old brothers who sat in front of the window and searched for "smart, honest, destitute, outlawed outsiders in London".
The two men understood Adams's basic situation a little, figured out his ins and outs, handed him an envelope, and told him not to open it first, but to take it to the residence and look at it carefully.
The envelope contained the "million pound" bill. In addition to a banknote, there is also a letter:
The money is borrowed from you for thirty days, without interest. Come to this house at the end of the period to report. We made a bet on you. If I win, you can choose a position within my remit – that is, any position you can prove familiar with and competent.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" > Adams was favored</h1>
Adams walked to a remote place, opened the envelope and saw that it contained a large bill!
Seeing the big bill, his stomach screamed even happier, the others did not want to, first fill their stomachs and then say, Adams swaggered into a restaurant.
After a moment of wolfing, he pulled out the bill and said to the guy, "Please find money." ”
The owner of the restaurant at a glance, million pounds! His eyes lit up immediately. He made a prayer gesture and then apologized that he could not find the big ticket.
Adams, a kind and honest young man, said sincerely, "I'm sorry to cause you trouble, I didn't bring any other tickets." ”
The owner politely said that it was okay, and I would talk about it later when I ate. The gentleman can come whenever he wants, eat whatever he wants, and settle the bill whenever he wants.
The power of this million pounds is really great! With this huge amount of money, you can no longer go hungry, and you don't have to pay even if you eat mountain and seafood.
The ragged shirt and the million pounds he was carrying inside seemed to be a bit out of place, and Adams thought it was time to change his outfit, and he was already naked.
So he walked into a clothing store. He knew that he didn't have a single one on him except the million pounds that didn't belong to him, so he sought out clothes that customers had tried on that didn't fit.
A guy took him to a room, rummaged through a stack of returns, picked out the most shabby set for him, and asked him to try it.
Although the clothes didn't fit, they could still cover his body, and he decided to buy them. Hesitantly, he said to the fellow:
If you could wait two days to check out, it would have helped me, and now I don't have any change with me.
The guy sneered:
Oh, and you didn't bring change? Seriously, I don't think you brought it either. I thought a gentleman like you would bring a big ticket.
Adams was furious at the clerk's appearance and handed him the big bill to find change.
The clerk only glanced at the banknote and his smile froze; as soon as the boss came over and saw the big bill, he went to the pile of returned clothes and turned it over, and said to himself:
Sell a set of clothes that can't be sold to a millionaire with an eccentric temper! Todd this fool! He couldn't tell who was a millionaire and who was a tramp, he never knew.
The boss finally found a good dress for Adams, and earnestly asked for him to measure and customize high-end clothes. The owner of the clothing store also regarded Adams as a millionaire.
But no matter what others did to him, Adams always knew that the big bill didn't belong to him, and that the debt he owed would be repaid with his own salary after getting a job.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" > millionaires are born</h1>
Soon, Adams became famous for carrying millions of pounds in his pockets. Wherever Adams took out that bill, restaurants, clothing stores, luxury hotels, and all other stores were willing to let him pay on credit.
In London, everyone knows that there was a millionaire who was dressed plainly and low-key, and he became a famous figure throughout London, and was reported by newspapers all over Britain.
He was later invited to a banquet for american ministers, where he met an English girl who became his lover and an old friend of his when he was in the United States, Lloyd.
Lloyd was having trouble in Britain, when he was an agent for a mining company that sold mining rights for an explorer, going to him in excess of a million.
He tried his best and couldn't find a client willing to listen to his lobbying, and his agency was about to expire at the end of the month, and he felt desperate and needed Adams' help.
Adams took the initiative to vouch for the mine with his reputation as a "million pounds", and Lloyd offered that the money earned be divided equally between the two people.
With the credit guarantee of the "million pound" rich man, the mine, which was originally unpopular, suddenly became prosperous, and soon made a wild profit of $2 million.
Lloyd also split the money earned equally with Adams in accordance with the contract, and each person received a million dollars.
At the end of a month, when he went to see the two gentleman brothers with the "million pound" bill, he learned that his lover, the British lady, was the dry daughter of one of the gentlemen.
The gentleman who had won the bet asked him what position he needed, and he did not hesitate to say that he would be his son-in-law.
A large bill that could not be spent allowed Adams to have a million dollars in the account of the National Bank of London in a month, and unexpectedly embraced the beauty. It can be described as a "winner in life".
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="05" > a little thought</h1>
Most people know that Mark Twain's Million Pounds satirizes the money-worship of capitalist society, which, like Maupassant's My Uncle Hule, reveals the naked relationship of money between people through people's pursuit of money.
But "in the hearts of a thousand readers, there are a thousand Hamlets."
You may remember a monologue by Adams at the beginning of the novel:
At that time, I was alone in society, with no one to rely on but my own wisdom and innocent reputation. But these strengths have made me stand firm and have the possibility of embarking on the road of luck, so I am very satisfied with the future.
God should have favored Adams for two reasons: one was wisdom, and the other was "innocent reputation," which we can understand as "honesty."
The two gentleman brothers had a hard time looking for a large banknote holder, demanding that the person be both "brainy" and particularly "honest."
However, there were very few such people, so the two gentlemen were difficult to choose, and they let go of the faces that passed through the window, and finally chose Adams.
Judging by the results, Adams was lucky to get this opportunity. But we will not forget: opportunity always comes to those who are prepared.
Adams got a million pounds, which is equivalent to having the "first bucket of gold", he relied on his own wisdom to "borrow chickens and eggs" and "make something out of nothing", and used other people's funds to earn his own 1 million.
In addition, in addition to the wise mind, "honest character" also brought good luck to Adams.
Just imagine, if he saw the money and wanted to get rich overnight, he would probably take this big bill and swindle everywhere, and the million pounds would become a tool for deception, and Adams would not go unpunished.
Adams's cleverness is to be able to judge the situation and skillfully use funds that do not belong to him without violating the bottom line of honesty.
He went to restaurants to eat, to clothing stores to buy clothes, to shops to buy things, not to think about how to deceive the store, but to earn a salary and then pay off the debt.
He fell in love with Miss England and told the girls the million-pound game first, rather than winning the hearts of girls like some emotional cheaters.
The fate of the honest man will not be bad, and what Adams did not expect was that the beautiful lady was the dry daughter of the father of the gold lord who won the game.
It can be seen that the American boy Adams went from penniless to 30 days later sitting on a million, in addition to luck, mainly relying on his wise brain and honest character.