In 1995, a twenty-four-year-old student dropped out of Stanford after two days.

1995年，一名二十四岁的学生在仅两天后便从斯坦福退学。

The department told him the door would stay open if he failed.

系里对他说，如果失败了可以回来。

Elon said, "I can't just sit here and watch the internet happen."

埃隆说：“我不能只是坐着，看着互联网的兴起。”

With two thousand dollars, the brothers rented a tiny office and lived in it.

兄弟俩只有两千美元，租了一间小办公室，就住在里面。

Elon and his brother Kimbal slept in the office at night.

埃隆和弟弟金巴尔晚上就睡在办公室里。

They owned only one cheap computer to run their new business.

他们仅拥有一台廉价的电脑来运转他们的新业务。

Their company, Zip2, created an online city guide with interactive maps.

他们的Zip2公司开发了带有交互式地图的在线城市指南。

The website ran by day, and Elon coded all night long.

白天网站正常运转，夜里埃隆则整夜都在编写代码。

He showered at the local YMCA because the office had no shower.

因为办公室没有淋浴，他就在当地的基督教青年会洗澡。

Newspapers like The New York Times became Zip2's customers.

《纽约时报》这样的报社成了Zip2的客户。

In 1999, Compaq bought Zip2 for three hundred seven million dollars.

1999年，康柏以三亿零七百万美元收购了Zip2。

At twenty-seven, Elon suddenly held twenty-two million dollars in cash.

二十七岁时，埃隆手中突然有了两千两百万美元现金。