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Chris Gardner

Daymond John

J.K. Rowling

Oprah Winfrey

John Paul DeJoria

Richard Branson

Steve Jobs

Ralph Lauren

Walt Disney

Henry Ford

　　They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. These inspiring figures had less than a lemon to start out with – and are now known for their sheer tenacity as they climbed to the top. We brings you the top 10 rags-to-riches success stories of all time。俗话说如果生活只给你柠檬，就拿来做柠檬水。这些激励人心的名人们创业之初可是连一个柠檬都没有，然而现在都因为他们的不屈不挠而广为人知，因为他们爬到了事业的顶端。下面就带给你10个历史上白手起家的成功故事。

　　1. Henry Ford1. 亨利-福特

　　Henry Ford was a farm boy who went on to revolutionize transportation industry in America. Ford was very interested in mechanics from a young age, when he dismantled

　　and reassembled a pocket watch at the age of 15 his father had given him. A self-taught watch repairman who graduated to being an apprentice

　　machinist, Ford started his personal experiments on gasoline engines which was the beginning of his vast Ford empire. And his net worth, as per Forbes in 2008, is a cool $188.1 billion。亨利-福特原来是个农场男孩，后来却让美国的交通工业发生了革命性的变化。福特从小就对机械非常感兴趣，15岁那年他就拆掉了父亲给他的一块怀表，然后又把它组装起来。这个自学成才的修表师毕业后做了一名见习机械师，开始在汽油机上进行他的个人实验，这也是他巨大的福特帝国的开始。根据《福布斯》杂志在2008年公布的数据，他的资产净值达到了1881亿美元。

　　2. Walt Disney2. 沃特-迪斯尼

　　Our childhood would have been dreary

　　without this genius of a man. Walt Disney was also another boy brought up in a farm – and used to draw pictures for his neighbors for money. He used to be the cartoonist for the school newspaper, Disney went through the jobless phase where no one hired him, and his brother had to help him out with his job search. He went from rags to riches by starting out with advertisements and going on to animating his own cartoons。如果没有这个天才，我们的童年会沉闷不少。沃特-迪斯尼也是一个在农场长大的男孩，他曾经给邻居们画画来赚钱，也给校报当过漫画师。迪斯尼曾经一度失业，没有人雇佣他，他的哥哥不得不帮助他找工作。他创业之初从事广告业，后来开始给自己的卡通形象拍摄动画片。

　　3. Ralph Lauren3. 拉夫-劳伦

　　Born in a strict Jewish family with a house painter for a father, Ralph Lauren grew up with big dreams. He used to sell ties to his classmates to earn some cash, and he mentioned in his yearbook that he wanted to be a millionaire. His interest in ties went on help his put his foot through the door of bigger achievements in the fashion world. When he was signed on to design the clothes for ‘The Great Gatsby’ in 1974, he was catapulted into the fame which he commands today。拉夫-劳伦出生在一个严格的犹太家庭，父亲是一名房屋油漆工。他从小就有着远大的梦想。他曾经把领带卖给自己的同学来挣钱，而且他在自己的年鉴中提到他想成为一名百万富翁。他对领带的兴趣帮助他进入了时尚圈并且取得了更大的成就。当他签约为1974年的电影《了不起的盖茨比》设计服装时，便开启了他今日所取得的名声的第一步。

　　4. Steve Jobs4. 史蒂夫-乔布斯

　　This Apple founder is now a household name. Jobs was given away for adoption by his biological parents and he became interested in electronics after his foster dad showed him the joys of technical tinkering in their garage. He had to drop out of college, because his education was costing his foster

　　parents a lot. He used to return Coke bottles for money and live on free meals at the Hare Krishna temple. A hippie who used to trip on LSD, Jobs went from a technician in Atari, Inc. to becoming the CEO of Apple Inc.这位苹果公司的创始人现在已经家喻户晓。乔布斯被他的亲生父母交给他人领养，当他的养父在车库里向他展示了技术熔补的乐趣后，他开始对电子器件产生了兴趣。由于高昂的学费给他的养父母造成了巨大的负担，乔布斯不得不从大学退学。他曾经回收可乐瓶换钱，靠克利什那庙里的免费食物生活。乔布斯，这个曾经服用迷幻药的嬉皮士，从阿塔利公司的技术员开始，慢慢成为了苹果公司的CEO。

　　5. Richard Branson5. 理查德-布兰森

　　Branson went from being a dyslexic kid who performed badly in school to a British business magnate with a net worth of 4.6 billion. There was a time when Richard Branson started his record business from the crypt of a church – and now he is the fourth richest citizen of the UK. This entrepreneur is an example of how one can be eccentric and yet rake in the moolah. He had his finger in many pies – record label, airways and telecom。布兰森从一个在学校表现糟糕，而且有诵读困难症的孩子，成为了净资产46亿美元的英国商业巨头。理查德-布兰森在一所教堂的地窖里开始了他的唱片生意，现在他在英国富豪榜上排名第四。这位企业家是一个例子，告诉人们在金钱面前人可以古怪而又专注。他涉足了许多领域——唱片业，航空业和电信业。

　　6. John Paul DeJoria6. 约翰-保罗-德约里尔

　　Born to Italian and Greek immigrant

　　parents, this billionaire had to sell newspapers when he was nine to support his family. He has lived in a foster home, been part of a street gang and jumped through a number of jobs. With a loan of $700, he began what is now known the world over as the Paul Mitchell line of hair products. He went on to own 70% of The Patron Spirits Company, the world’s ultra-premium tequila brand. If this is not a rags-to-riches story, we do not know what is。约翰出生在来自意大利和希腊的移民[微博]家庭，在成为亿万富翁之前，九岁的时候，他不得不靠卖报纸来补贴家用。他住在收养家庭里，曾经是个街头小混混，换过许多工作。用700美元的贷款，他开始经营今天享誉全球的保罗-米切尔美发产品。之后他获得了培恩烈酒公司70%的份额，该公司是世界顶级的龙舌兰酒品牌。如果这都不算白手起家致富的话，我们都不知道还有什么可以算了。

　　7. Oprah Winfrey7. 奥普拉-温弗瑞

　　Born to a housemaid and a coalminer, Oprah definitely did not grow in the lap of luxury. Living the life of poverty, where she used to have to wear dresses made out of potato sacks and was molested

　　by relatives. She entered the world of media after getting the job of a news-reader in a local black radio station. After she got her first talk-show in Chicago, there was no looking back for this TV personality.奥普拉的母亲是女佣，父亲是煤矿工人，显然她的出身一点也不富贵。她的生活非常贫穷，曾经穿着装土豆的麻袋做成的裙子，遭遇过亲戚的猥亵。当她得到了一家当地黑人之声的新闻播报工作后，奥普拉进入了媒体圈。她在芝加哥开始了自己的第一场脱口秀节目，从此成为了电视名人。

　　8. J.K. Rowling8. JK罗琳

　　Born in a lowly English family, Rowling battled depression, suicidal tendencies and poverty to become one of the most loved British authors in the world for her hugely popular Harry Potter series. Highly imaginative as a kid who thrived on stories, she drew from her surroundings and the people in her life as inspirations for the books which have now become one of the biggest movie franchises. From her humble beginnings, she has gone on to become one of the most powerful women in the United Kingdom。罗琳出生在一个底层的英国家庭，曾经与抑郁、自杀和贫穷作斗争，后来凭借大受欢迎的《哈利波特》系列成为了全球最受欢迎的英国作家之一。她读着故事长大，想象力很丰富。罗琳从她身边的事和生活中的人身上获取故事的灵感，而她写的书现在已经成为了最大的电影授权系列之一。她出身卑微，却努力成为了英国最有影响力的女性之一。

　　9. Daymond John9. 戴蒙德-约翰

　　A black boy growing up in Queens – one would not have pegged John as a potential entrepreneur who would go on to become the CEO of the hip-hop clothing brand FUBU. But that he did, with an entrepreneurial instinct that he honed from his school days. Selling popular wool hats at half their market price, he mortgaged their house for future business expansion. It paid off well – and he now is one of the most influential motivational speakers in America。没有人会想到，这个在皇后区长大的黑人男孩后来会成为嘻哈服装品牌FUBU的CEO。但是凭借着在学校里打磨出来的商业嗅觉，他确实做到了。他以市场价一半的价格出售流行的羊毛帽子，而且把住房抵押出去用于接下来的商业扩张。约翰获得了丰厚的回报，他现在是美国最具影响力的励志演说家之一。

　　10. Chris Gardner10. 克里斯-加德纳

　　This is the man whose life has inspired the Will Smith-starrer ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’. Physically abused by his stepfather as a child and placed in a foster home, Gardner’s woes did not leave him even as he grew up to marry and be a father. As shown in the movie, Gardner struggled with homelessness while raising his kid. It was the strength of the lessons he learnt from his mother that he went from rags to riches by tenaciously building himself to be the CEO of his own stockbrokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Co。他就是威尔-史密斯主演的电影《幸福来敲门》的原型。加德纳小时候受到继父的虐待，之后被送到领养家庭。而他的苦难并没有随着他长大、结婚、为人父而远离他。正如电影中演的那样，在抚养孩子时，加德纳面临着无家可归的境地。他从母亲那里所学到的赋予他力量，让他白手起家，坚持不懈成为了他自己开办的证券交易公司，加德纳理财公司的CEO。

　　There is no disadvantage these personalities did not suffer on their journey from birth to where they stand today – but sheer tenacity, confidence and hard work led them to the inspiring figures they are today。这些名人在从出生到成名的历程上经历了许多磨难，然而靠着坚韧、自信和努力，他们成为了今天这样的励志人物。

（沪江英语）