THE NUMBERS were a guide(指南；指引), like the notes on sheet music(乐谱). They were a guide in the 1930s, growing up in Washington Heights, at the northern tip of Manhattan, where Alan Greenspan tracked(追踪) the statistics of his beloved(深爱的) New York Yankees. They were a guide in the 1990s, when as chairman of the Federal Reserve he presided over(主持；掌管) the then-longest American boom(繁荣；景气) on record(有记录以来).
数字就像乐谱上的音符，是他的指引。20世纪30年代，在曼哈顿北端的华盛顿高地长大时，艾伦·格林斯潘追踪着他心爱的纽约洋基队的统计数据，数字是他的指引。20世纪90年代，当他作为美联储主席主持美国有史以来最长的繁荣期时，数字依然是他的指引。
It was the numbers that led him to economics(正是数字将他引向经济学): the numbers he read in books on finance between sets(在演出间隙), playing in a touring jazz band during the second world war. While the other musicians would sit and smoke a little reefer(大麻烟), he read up on(研读；查阅) American industry and J.P. Morgan, then picked up his saxophone and played that big-band music in Henry Jerome’s orchestra. He had taken classes at Juilliard, the conservatoire in New York City, and played alongside geniuses(天才们) like Stan Getz. They played by feel(凭感觉). He trusted the notes on the page, as he trusted his numbers.
正是数字将他引向经济学：二战期间，他在巡回演出的爵士乐队中，在演出间隙阅读金融书籍中的数字。当其他音乐家坐下来吸点儿大麻时，他研读美国工业和J.P.摩根的资料，然后拿起萨克斯管，在亨利·杰罗姆的管弦乐队中演奏大乐队音乐。他曾在纽约市的音乐学院茱莉亚学院上课，并与斯坦·盖茨等天才一起演奏。他们凭感觉演奏。他相信乐谱上的音符，就像相信他的数字一样。
By 1945 he was studying at New York University in the era of John Maynard Keynes, whose analysis of the Depression changed economics. He admired Keynes’s analytical wizardry(神奇技巧；巫术), but had no time for(不感兴趣；不认同) his sweeping(全面的；笼统的) vision. He kept to his data. As a consultant, his first job, he impressed clients with his knack(诀窍；本领) for spotting turns in the business cycle—as in 1957, when growing steel inventories led him to intuit(凭直觉知道) that a recession must be looming(迫近的；隐约出现). It was all right there in the numbers.
到1945年，他在纽约大学学习，正值约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯的时代，凯恩斯对经济大萧条的分析改变了经济学。他钦佩凯恩斯分析的神奇技巧，但对凯恩斯宏大的愿景不感兴趣。他坚持自己的数据。作为顾问，他的第一份工作，他凭着一套发现商业周期转折点的本领给客户留下了深刻印象——比如1957年，不断增加的钢铁库存让他直觉到一场衰退即将来临。这一切都在数字中摆着。