白手起家到名利雙收：五位最勵志美國企業家

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.

現如今海內外各種創業家排行榜俯拾皆是，諸如最具影響力的企業家之類的排行榜更是難免沾染主觀色彩。不過，下面這幾位企業家，可是真真正正青史留名的“探險者”，盡管他們的成長背景并不優越。

Andrew Carnegie—

The Self-made Philanthropist

安德魯·卡內基——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世紀時，卡內基作為蘇格蘭移民來到美國，那時的他還是一個窮困小青年；從一份每天12小時更換線軸的工作開始，他一步一步走上人生贏家之路。最終，在美國南北戰爭期間，他作為一名投資者發了大財，其中包括投資40000美金于儲油豐富的Story Farm，一年之后這筆投資就讓卡內基獲得了一百萬美金的分紅。

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

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.

奧普拉出生于一個貧窮家庭，有一個單身少齡母親，自小就經歷了不少困難。14歲的時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，奧普拉開始接觸播音，19歲開始在當地《晚間新聞》節目擔任聯合主播。之后她在一檔日間脫口秀欄目工作，其間，這檔節目的排名從芝加哥地區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》。

這檔節目最開始只是一個小型的脫口秀節目，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年于黃金時段播出的對邁克爾·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，奧普拉32歲就成為百萬富翁。今天，她已經是億萬富翁了。

Henry Ford—Revolutionizing American Lifestyes

亨利·福特——推動美利堅生活方式變革之人

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.

出生于務農家庭的福特，起先是愛迪生照明公司的工程師，之后他辭掉工作去創立自己的公司。

雖然他的第一個公司失敗了，第二個公司又差點破產，但他的福特汽車公司通過讓汽車的價格變得更親民更大眾而改變了美國人的生活；同時，通過建立流水線操作標準而改變了整個汽車行業。

Steve Jobs—The Backyard Billionaire of

The Personal Computer Revolution

斯蒂夫·喬布斯——在自家后院發動全球個人電腦革命的巨富

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.

喬布斯被大學肄業的養父母撫養長大。養父是機械工兼木匠，從孩童時期起，喬布斯就開始跟著養父一起擺弄電子器件。大學輟學后，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建了蘋果電腦公司。

從那之后，喬布斯除了引領著個人電腦革命，還影響著其他的電子消費品領域，如智能手機、音樂、電影等，蘋果公司也在2011年的時候成為最具價值的公開上市公司。

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，小時候就自學電腦編程。24歲時，他成立了一家網絡軟件公司，幾年之后，他又成立了一家在線金融服務和電郵支付公司，也就是現在我們所熟知的支付寶。

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