In 1989, during a trip to Estonia – then still a part of the Soviet Union – I asked my interpreter, a moonlighting dentist, to take me to her dental clinic. Beyond getting a glimpse of the equipment – old and sickly green – I learned that my interpreter and her colleagues were augmenting their state salaries with direct (and much higher) payments from Finnish dental tourists.
1989年，在爱沙尼亚之旅中（当时爱沙尼亚仍是苏联的一部分），我要的翻译——一位兼职牙医带我去她的牙科诊所。除了窥见设备——苍绿色的老旧器械之外，我还了解到她和她的同事们除了国家给的薪水，还有来自芬兰治牙旅客的直接支付收入（通常比正式薪水高得多）。他们解释说，存够了钱就准备购置新设备当个体户。