事业 · 创业者自述
布克·T·华盛顿：力争上游·摘录 29
布克·T·华盛顿《力争上游》· Up from Slavery · 领导
More than once I have tried to picture myself in the position of a boy or man with an honoured and distinguished ancestry which I could trace back through a period of hundreds of years, and who had not only inherited a name, but fortune and a proud family homestead; and yet I have sometimes had the feeling that if I had inherited these, and had been a member of a more popular race, I should have been inclined to yield to the temptation of depending upon my ancestry and my colour to do that for me which I should do for myself. Years ago I resolved that because I had no ancestry myself I would leave a record of which my children would be proud, and which might encourage them to still higher effort.
出处：
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2376
定位：Excerpt 29 · 核对日期：2026-10-19 · 核验：短摘录
白话
华盛顿多次设想：如果自己出身显赫，能追溯几百年的家族史，继承姓氏、财产和祖宅，会怎样？他有时觉得，如果真有这些，又属于更受尊重的种族，自己反而可能经不住诱惑，依赖祖先和肤色，而不去自己奋斗。多年前他就下定决心：既然没有祖先可依靠，那就自己创造一份让子女骄傲的记录，激励他们更努力。核心是：没有祖荫不一定是坏事，它逼你自立；与其羡慕别人的起点，不如自己成为后代的起点。做法是：把“没有”转化为“我要留下什么”的动力。
上下文
华盛顿作为奴隶之子，不知道自己的祖先是谁。他在自传中反思 ancestry（祖先）对个人奋斗的影响。
今日一问
如果你没有可依靠的家庭背景，你打算给后代留下什么样的“家族记录”？
公版作品；原文逐字取自 Project Gutenberg，仅摘录段落并附全书链接。
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