俗話說如果生活只給你檸檬，就拿來做檸檬水。這些激勵人心的名人們創業之初可是連一個檸檬都沒有，然而現在都因爲他們的不屈不撓而廣爲人知，因爲他們爬到了事業的頂端。下面就帶給你10個歷史上白手起家的成功故事。
1. 史蒂夫-喬布斯
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.
這位蘋果公司的創始人現在已經家喻戶曉。喬布斯被他的親生父母交給他人領養，當他的養父在車庫裏向他展示了技術熔補的樂趣後，他開始對電子器件產生了興趣。由於高昂的學費給他的養父母造成了巨大的負擔，喬布斯不得不從大學退學。他曾經回收可樂瓶換錢，靠克利什那廟裏的免費食物生活。喬布斯，這個曾經服用迷幻藥的嬉皮士，從阿塔利公司的技術員開始，慢慢成爲了蘋果公司的CEO。
2. 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.
如果沒有這個天才，我們的童年會沉悶不少。沃特-迪斯尼也是一個在農場長大的男孩，他曾經給鄰居們畫畫來賺錢，也給校報當過漫畫師。迪斯尼曾經一度失業，沒有人僱傭他，他的哥哥不得不幫助他找工作。他創業之初從事廣告業，後來開始給自己的卡通形象拍攝動畫片。
3. 拉夫-勞倫
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-勞倫出生在一個嚴格的猶太家庭，父親是一名房屋油漆工。他從小就有着遠大的夢想。他曾經把領帶賣給自己的同學來掙錢，而且他在自己的年鑑中提到他想成爲一名百萬富翁。他對領帶的興趣幫助他進入了時尚圈並且取得了更大的成就。當他簽約爲1974年的電影《了不起的蓋茨比》設計服裝時，便開啓了他今日所取得的名聲的第一步。
4. 亨利-福特
Henry Ford was a farm boy who went on to revolutionizetransportation industry in America. Ford was very interested inmechanics 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 20xx, is a cool $188.1 billion.
亨利-福特原來是個農場男孩，後來卻讓美國的交通工業發生了革命性的變化。福特從小就對機械非常感興趣，15歲那年他就拆掉了父親給他的一塊懷錶，然後又把它組裝起來。這個自學成才的修表師畢業後做了一名見習機械師，開始在汽油機上進行他的個人實驗，這也是他巨大的福特帝國的開始。根據《福布斯》雜誌在20xx年公佈的數據，他的資產淨值達到了1881億美元。
5. 理查德-布蘭森
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.
布蘭森從一個在學校表現糟糕，而且有誦讀困難症的孩子，成爲了淨資產46億美元的英國商業巨頭。理查德-布蘭森在一所教堂的地窖裏開始了他的唱片生意，現在他在英國富豪榜上排名第四。這位企業家是一個例子，告訴人們在金錢面前人可以古怪而又專注。他涉足了許多領域——唱片業，航空業和電信業。
6. 約翰-保羅-德約里爾
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.
約翰出生在來自意大利和希臘的移民家庭，在成爲億萬富翁之前，九歲的時候，他不得不靠賣報紙來補貼家用。他住在收養家庭裏，曾經是個街頭小混混，換過許多工作。用700美元的貸款，他開始經營今天享譽全球的保羅-米切爾美髮產品。之後他獲得了培恩烈酒公司70%的份額，該公司是世界頂級的龍舌蘭酒品牌。如果這都不算白手起家致富的話，我們都不知道還有什麼可以算了。
7. 奧普拉-溫弗瑞
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.
奧普拉的母親是女傭，父親是煤礦工人，顯然她的出身一點也不富貴。她的生活非常貧窮，曾經穿着裝土豆的麻袋做成的裙子，遭遇過親戚的猥褻。當她得到了一家當地黑人之聲的新聞播報工作後，奧普拉進入了媒體圈。她在芝加哥開始了自己的第一場脫口秀節目，從此成爲了電視名人。
8. JK羅琳
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.
羅琳出生在一個底層的英國家庭，曾經與抑鬱、自殺和貧窮作鬥爭，後來憑藉大受歡迎的《哈利波特》系列成爲了全球最受歡迎的英國作家之一。她讀着故事長大，想象力很豐富。羅琳從她身邊的事和生活中的人身上獲取故事的靈感，而她寫的書現在已經成爲了最大的電影授權系列之一。她出身卑微，卻努力成爲了英國最有影響力的女性之一。
9. 戴蒙德-約翰
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, hemortgaged their house for future business expansion. It paid off well – and he now is one of the most influential motivationalspeakers in America.
沒有人會想到，這個在皇后區長大的黑人男孩後來會成爲嘻哈服裝品牌FUBU的CEO。但是憑藉着在學校裏打磨出來的商業嗅覺，他確實做到了。他以市場價一半的價格出售流行的羊毛帽子，而且把住房抵押出去用於接下來的商業擴張。約翰獲
10. 克里斯-加德納
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 tenaciouslybuilding himself to be the CEO of his own stockbrokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Co.
他就是威爾-史密斯主演的電影《幸福來敲門》的原型。加德納小時候受到繼父的虐待，之後被送到領養家庭。而他的苦難並沒有隨着他長大、結婚、爲人父而遠離他。正如電影中演的那樣，在撫養孩子時，加德納面臨着無家可歸的境地。他從母親那裏所學到的賦予他力量，讓他白手起家，堅持不懈成爲了他自己開辦的證券交易公司，加德納理財公司的CEO。
There is no disadvantage these personalities did not suffer on their journey from birth to where they stand today – but sheertenacity, confidence and hard work led them to the inspiring figures they are today.
這些名人在從出生到成名的歷程上經歷了許多磨難，然而靠着堅韌、自信和努力，他們成爲了今天這樣的勵志人物。