It was 1964 and a degree was one of the conditions of employment so Mr Geffen told his bosses he had studied at the University of California, Los Angeles. When a letter from UCLA arrived casting doubt on his claim, he intercepted it in the mailroom, steaming it open and substituting its contents with a fery. It was a daring act and had he been caught he would he been fired. Yet the extent of his later achievements suggest that not even rejection from William Morris would he derailed his path to success。

当时是1964年，有学位是其被雇佣的条件之一，于是，格芬就跟他的老板说，他曾在加州大学洛杉矶分校(University of California, Los Angeles，简称UCLA)就读。当一封来自该学校的信对他的说法提出质疑时，他在邮件室内截住了这封信，用蒸汽将其拆开，然后用一封假信掉了包。此举十分大胆，如果他被抓住，他将会被解雇。不过，他后来的成就表明，即使威廉莫里斯拒绝了他，也不会阻止他走向成功。

A billionaire many times over, the 66-year-old was this week linked with a bid for The New York Times. This adds an interest in newspapers to a career in which he has dominated the music industry, produced a string of Broadway shows, launched DreamWorks SKG the first truly independent film studio in decades and accumulated one of the worlds most impressive collections of modern art。

最近，这位66岁的亿万富翁被传有意收购《纽约时报》(The New York Times)。这将使他的事业范围扩展至报业。在其事业生涯里，他已经主宰了音乐界，制作了一系列百老汇歌舞剧，创建了梦工厂(Dreamworks SKG)数十年来第一家真正独立的电影制片厂还收集了世界上最令人惊叹的一部分现代艺术品。

His upbringing was a far cry from his billionaire lifestyle. He was born in Brooklyn, the son of a Polish father and Russian mother. His mother, Batya, owned a corset store; his father, Abraham, was a pattern maker in the garment trade. The family was not well off but his mother ge him a work ethic and was prone to sayings such as: If something looks too good to be true, it probably is。 Mr Geffen is also fond of the maxim, says Jeffrey Katzenberg, a friend for 35 years and his partner, along with Steven Spielberg, in the creation of DreamWorks SKG. He was influenced tremendously by his mother and will often quote her, says Mr Katzenberg。

他的童年与现在亿万富翁的生活方式大相径庭。格芬出生于纽约的布鲁克林，父母分别来自波兰和俄罗斯。母亲巴蒂亚(Batya)拥有一家胸衣商店，而父亲亚伯拉罕(Abraham)是服装业的一名制版师。他的家庭并不富裕，但母亲向他灌输了工作观念，并总喜欢引用谚语，例如：如果什么事看上去好的令人难以置信，那么你最好别信。格芬也喜欢说格言，他35年的老友兼合伙人杰弗里卡岑贝格(Jeffrey Katzenberg)如是说。他们二人连同斯蒂芬斯皮尔伯格(Steven Spielberg)一起创建了梦工厂。他受妈妈的影响极深，常常引用她的话，卡岑贝格说道。

Mr Geffen scraped through high school and tried a term at the University of Texas before Hollywood beckoned. At 19, he got a job as an usher at CBS Television City where, on his first day, he was assigned to The Judy Garland Show. From there, he went back to New York and William Morris, where his contemporaries included Larry Gagosian, the renowned art dealer, and Barry Diller, who would bee a friend and go on to run Rupert Murdochs Fox。

格芬勉强读完了高中，在德克萨斯大学(University of Texas)尝试念了一个学期，就投奔了好莱坞。19岁时，他成为哥伦比亚电视城的一名引座员，第一天上班，他就被派到《茱蒂嘉兰秀》(The Judy Garland Show)。他从电影城回到纽约，进入威廉莫里斯，他的同龄人包括知名艺术经纪商拉里加高西安(Larry Gagosian)，以及后来成为朋友的巴里迪勒(Barry Diller)，迪勒后来执掌鲁珀特默多克(Rupert Murdoch)的福克斯(Fox)。