2004年高考英语湖北卷 - 阅读理解D

Who is there among us who hasn’t dreamed of having his or her own small (maybe, several years later, even big) business, and having wonderful freedom, both from a boss and from the time clock: the freedom to make up our own rules for our work, and our own planes --- arranging our own hours of work? That way work would be both painless and fun. Or, so we imagine.
我们当中有谁没有梦想过拥有自己的小企业（也许几年后，成为大企业），拥有来自老板和时钟的美妙自由：为自己的工作制定规则的自由，以及安排自己工作时间的自由？这样的工作既轻松又有趣。所以我们这么想。

Well, in fact it isn’t quite as simple as that. Yes, it is true that being the boss has its satisfactions and that you can arrange your working hours freely if you own your own small business. But in those early years of starting your own business, you shouldn’t think of a free day, not to mention flying off for a month’s vacation. It is not unusual for new business owners to work seventy or eighty hours a week, and if there is a day off, that day might need to be devoted to accounting.
事实上，事情并没有这么简单。是的，当老板确实令人满意，如果你拥有自己的小企业，你可以自由安排工作时间。但在创业的最初几年里，你不应该想到有空闲的一天，更不用说去度假一个月了。对于新的企业主来说，每周工作七八十个小时并不罕见，如果有一天休息，那一天可能需要专门用于会计。

But this negative picture doesn’t destroy the beautiful hopes. The possibility of getting something wonderful in return --- both material and mental --- continues to drive that large number of people who start up small businesses each year in the United States.
但这张负面图像并没有摧毁美好的希望。在美国，每年都有大量的人在创业，他们都有可能从物质和精神上获得丰厚的回报。