She’s still young. A couple more years of waiting tables won’t kill her—not if she’s saving money and using her off-time wisely to build her design business slowly and surely. I’d bet after a year or two, a girl with that talent and drive would easily be able to leave her waitressing job and start looking after her design clients for much better money, easily. And she’d still be well under thirty. What’s the worst that can happen?
Cindi任然年轻，只要她懂得节约钱，明智地用业余时间去建立她的设计事业，过程缓慢却也稳定，那么在餐厅里作几年侍应生不会毁了她。我敢打赌，一两年后，这个有天分有干劲的姑娘能辞掉的侍应生的工作，专心她的事业更轻松地赚更多的钱，到那时候，她也不到三十岁，能有什么糟糕的事情呢？

Some of Cindi’s twentysomething peers raised their eyebrows a little bit, though. “Going back to waitressing? Isn’t that a backwards career move?” they said.
可是一些和Cindi一样二十来岁的年轻人不认可我的想法。“回去做侍应生？这不是在事业前途的道路上往后退？”他们会说。

No, it isn’t, actually. She’s still young and what she’s doing is consistent with what she wants to do long-term. There’s no disgrace in waiting tables if it’s part of a long-term strategy. If she were just doing it because she had no earthly clue what else to do with her life, that would be different. But she’s not.
不是的。Cindi还年轻，她现在做的事情符合她的长期目标。如果“做侍应生”是在一项长远的策略中的一步棋，那可没什么不光彩的。如果Cindi做侍应生只是因为她不知道她还能什么其他的，那又是另外一回事。Cindi可不是。

“The good news is,” I say to her, when she was just beginning to hatch this Evil Plan of hers, “you won’t die.”
“好在，”在Cindi胡斯乱想些坏结果的时候我告诉她，“你死不了的。”

So she went through with her Evil Plan. I was so proud. And the really good news is, she didn’t have to waitress or live with her mom for very long. Three months and she was gone. Three months and she managed to bag half a dozen high-paying clients for her business. Last time I saw her, she was wearing very expensive shoes and had moved into this very hip apartment in Brooklyn. Like I said, I was so proud.
Cindi开始实施她的计划，我为她骄傲。而且真正的好消息是，和妈妈住以及去餐厅做侍应生的日子她没过多久。三个月后她辞去了餐厅的工作，在这三个月中，她接到了6个大单子。上次我见她时，她穿着超贵的鞋子，而且已经住进了布鲁克林的一间时髦的公寓。就像我说的，我为她骄傲。

And her colleagues back at the restaurant? They’re still there. Choices were made.
Cindi在餐厅的同事？他们还待在哪儿。一切都在抉择中。