白手起家到名利雙收：五位最勵(lì)志美國(guó)企業(yè)家

Nowadays， there are lots of lists of the inspirational entrepreneurs both at home and abroad. A list of the most inspirational entrepreneurs is necessarily subjective， but the following is a list of some risk-takers who really left their marks， despite their challenging upbringings.

現(xiàn)如今海內(nèi)外各種創(chuàng)業(yè)家排行榜俯拾皆是，諸如最具影響力的企業(yè)家之類的排行榜更是難免沾染主觀色彩。不過，下面這幾位企業(yè)家，可是真真正正青史留名的“探險(xiǎn)者”，盡管他們的成長(zhǎng)背景并不優(yōu)越。

Andrew Carnegie—

The Self-made Philanthropist

安德魯·卡內(nèi)基——白手起家的大慈善家

As a Scottish immigrant in the 19th century， Carnegie arrived in America as a poor teenager and worked his way through the ranks， starting with a daily 12-hour job changing spools. He eventually made a fortune as an investor during the Civil War， including a single $40，000 investment in the oil-rich Story Farm， which earned him $1 million in dividends by the end of the year.

After the war， he launched Carnegie Steel Corporation， which he later sold to J. P. Morgan for $480 million. Besides， he increased his wealth and fame with his writing， including the famous book Gospel of Wealth describing the philanthropic responsibilities of the self-made rich， and he became well-known for his own philanthropy， including millions of dollars of donations to the New York Public Library， the establishment of the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh （Carnegie-Mellon University today）， and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

19世紀(jì)時(shí)，卡內(nèi)基作為蘇格蘭移民來到美國(guó)，那時(shí)的他還是一個(gè)窮困小青年；從一份每天12小時(shí)更換線軸的工作開始，他一步一步走上人生贏家之路。最終，在美國(guó)南北戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)期間，他作為一名投資者發(fā)了大財(cái)，其中包括投資40000美金于儲(chǔ)油豐富的Story Farm，一年之后這筆投資就讓卡內(nèi)基獲得了一百萬美金的分紅。

戰(zhàn)后，他成立了卡內(nèi)基鋼鐵公司，之后他以4.8億美元的價(jià)格把公司賣給了JP摩根。此外，卡內(nèi)基還通過寫作出書不斷斬獲名利，其中包括著名的《財(cái)富的福音》，該書講述了白手起家的富人們的慈善責(zé)任，從此他也因自己的慈善事業(yè)而聞名。他不僅向紐約公共圖書館捐贈(zèng)了百萬美金，還成立了匹茲堡卡內(nèi)基工學(xué)院（今天的卡內(nèi)基梅隆大學(xué)）、建立了卡內(nèi)基國(guó)際和平基金會(huì)。

Oprah Winfrey—The Teenage Mother Who Became a Household Billionaire

奧普拉·溫弗瑞——從少齡媽媽到家喻戶曉的巨富

Oprah was born into a poor family with a single teenage mother and experienced a tough childhood， becoming a teenage mother herself at 14 and losing that son shortly after. In high school she got involved with radio， and at 19 she began co-anchoring the local evening news. She later worked in a daytime talk show， which went from last-ranked to the top-ranked talk show in Chicago during her time there. After that， she started The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Her show， which started as a tabloid talk show， gradually expanded to broader topics， including celebrity interviews： her 1993 prime-time interview of Michael Jackson became the most watched interview ever. When her show went national， Oprah became a millionaire at 32， and today she is a billionaire.

奧普拉出生于一個(gè)貧窮家庭，有一個(gè)單身少齡母親，自小就經(jīng)歷了不少困難。14歲的時(shí)候奧普拉自己也成為一名少齡母親，不久后兒子夭折了。在高中時(shí)，奧普拉開始接觸播音，19歲開始在當(dāng)?shù)亍锻黹g新聞》節(jié)目擔(dān)任聯(lián)合主播。之后她在一檔日間脫口秀欄目工作，其間，這檔節(jié)目的排名從芝加哥地區(qū)的墊底行列直升至榜首。那之后，奧普拉開啟了《奧普拉·溫弗瑞脫口秀》。

這檔節(jié)目最開始只是一個(gè)小型的脫口秀節(jié)目，之后其涉及的話題范圍越來越廣，其中包括名人訪談：她在1993年于黃金時(shí)段播出的對(duì)邁克爾·杰克遜的采訪，成為迄今為止收視率最高的訪談。隨著她的脫口秀走向全國(guó)，奧普拉32歲就成為百萬富翁。今天，她已經(jīng)是億萬富翁了。

Henry Ford—Revolutionizing American Lifestyes

亨利·福特——推動(dòng)美利堅(jiān)生活方式變革之人

Born into a family of farmers， Ford worked as an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company before resigning to form his own company.

Although his first company failed and his second company almost went under， Ford Motor Company changed American lifestyles by making affordable automobiles and auto industry by introducing the moving assembly line.

出生于務(wù)農(nóng)家庭的福特，起先是愛迪生照明公司的工程師，之后他辭掉工作去創(chuàng)立自己的公司。

雖然他的第一個(gè)公司失敗了，第二個(gè)公司又差點(diǎn)破產(chǎn)，但他的福特汽車公司通過讓汽車的價(jià)格變得更親民更大眾而改變了美國(guó)人的生活；同時(shí)，通過建立流水線操作標(biāo)準(zhǔn)而改變了整個(gè)汽車行業(yè)。

Steve Jobs—The Backyard Billionaire of

The Personal Computer Revolution

斯蒂夫·喬布斯——在自家后院發(fā)動(dòng)全球個(gè)人電腦革命的巨富

Raised by adoptive parents who did not graduate from college， Jobs tinkered with electronics at a young age with his father， who worked as a mechanic and carpenter. After dropping out of college， traveling and working， Jobs and high school friend Steve Wozniak formed Apple Computer in Jobss parents garage.

From there， Jobs was influential in the personal computer revolution， as well as in other consumer electronics， including smart phones， music and movies， and Apple eventually became the worlds most valuable publicly traded company in 2011.

喬布斯被大學(xué)肄業(yè)的養(yǎng)父母撫養(yǎng)長(zhǎng)大。養(yǎng)父是機(jī)械工兼木匠，從孩童時(shí)期起，喬布斯就開始跟著養(yǎng)父一起擺弄電子器件。大學(xué)輟學(xué)后，喬布斯一邊旅行一邊工作，和自己的高中朋友斯蒂夫·沃茲尼亞克在自家的車庫里創(chuàng)建了蘋果電腦公司。

從那之后，喬布斯除了引領(lǐng)著個(gè)人電腦革命，還影響著其他的電子消費(fèi)品領(lǐng)域，如智能手機(jī)、音樂、電影等，蘋果公司也在2011年的時(shí)候成為最具價(jià)值的公開上市公司。

Elon Musk—The Man Who is Dong it All

伊隆·馬斯克——全能型人生贏家

Born in South Africa， Musk taught himself computer programming at a young age. At 24， he started a web software company， and a few years later he founded an online financial services and email payment company that became Paypal we know today.

He is also the founder and CEO of SpaceX， which focuses on advancing rocket technology； the chairman of Solar City， the second largest provider of solar power systems in the US； and the CEO and co-founder of Tesla Motors， an electric car company.

馬斯克出生于南非，小時(shí)候就自學(xué)電腦編程。24歲時(shí)，他成立了一家網(wǎng)絡(luò)軟件公司，幾年之后，他又成立了一家在線金融服務(wù)和電郵支付公司，也就是現(xiàn)在我們所熟知的支付寶。

他是致力于推動(dòng)火箭科技的太空探索技術(shù)公司的創(chuàng)始人兼CEO，也是美國(guó)第二大太陽能系統(tǒng)提供商Solar City的主席，同時(shí)還是電力汽車公司特斯拉（Tesla Motors）的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人兼CEO。