第2章 Bill Gates比尔·盖茨

他是一个天才，13岁开始编程，并预言自己将在25岁成为百万富翁；他是一个商业奇才，独特的眼光使他总是能准确看到IT业的未来，独特的管理手段，使得不断壮大的微软能够保持活力；他的财富更是一个神话，39岁便成为世界首富，并连续13年登上福布斯榜首的位置，这个神话就像夜空中耀眼的烟花，刺痛了亿万人的眼睛。

About Gates

关于盖茨

William Henry “Bill” Gates III is an American business magnate, philanthropist, author, and is chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008, when he was ranked third. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder, with more than 8 percent of the common stock. He has also authored or co-authored several books.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Although he is admired by many, a number of industry insiders criticize his business tactics, which they consider anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts. In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work, and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect, and Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer. Gates' last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He remains at Microsoft as non-executive chairman.

比尔·盖茨是美国微软公司的董事长。他与保罗·艾伦一起创建了微软公司，曾任微软CEO和首席软件设计师，并持有公司超过8%的普通股，也是公司最大的个人股东。1995年到2007年的《福布斯》全球亿万富翁排行榜中，比尔·盖茨连续13年蝉联世界首富。2008年6月27日正式退出微软公司，并把580亿美元个人财产尽数捐到比尔与美琳达·盖茨基金会，2011年，比尔·盖茨以560亿美元资产名列福布斯全球富豪榜第2位。

从退学建立微软，到成为世界首富，盖茨只用了20年的时间，被美国人誉为“坐在世界巅峰的人”。曾经有人计算过，比尔·盖茨拥有的财富可以买31.57架航天飞机，或者344架波音747，拍摄268部《泰坦尼克号》，买15.6万部劳斯莱斯产的本特利大陆型豪华轿车。盖茨把他的大量个人财富捐献给了慈善事业。据统计，盖茨至今已为世界各地的慈善事业捐出近290亿美元的财富，成为世界上最慷慨的富人。他在伦敦庆祝自己50岁生日的时候，对在场的记者表示，名下的巨额财富对他个人而言，不仅是巨大的权利，也是巨大的义务，他准备把这些财富全部捐献给社会，而不会作为遗产留给自己的儿女。

Key words & Sentences

关键词句全知道

Bill Gates is the richest man in the world.

比尔·盖茨是世界首富。

What can we learn from Bill Gates?

我们能向比尔·盖茨学习什么？

Bill Gates decided to buy some medicine for the poor people.

比尔·盖茨决定给那些穷人买些药。

Mr. Bill Gates is the President of Microsoft Company.

比尔·盖茨先生是微软公司的总裁。

Bill Gates is perhaps the best known entrepreneur.

比尔·盖茨可能是最著名的企业家了。

Bill Gates works 15 hours a day on average, and he is a workaholic.

比尔·盖茨平均每天工作15个小时，他简直就是一个工作狂。

Bill Gates called this the business book to read if you read only one.

比尔·盖茨曾说，假如你只读一本商业书籍的话，就读这本。

Bill Gates saw that it stayed there by outbidding the richest bank in Italy.

比尔·盖茨出价高于意大利最富的银行，从而使这份文稿留在了美国。

In the last several years, Bill Gates has slowly given control of Microsoft to others.

在过去的一些年里，比尔·盖茨慢慢地将控制权交给了其他人。

The internet also poses a growing threat to what Bill Gates calls “place-based colleges”.

因特网也不断给比尔盖茨所谓的“实体大学”带来了冲击。

It is hard to overestimate the influence of Bill Gates on computing.

比尔·盖茨对计算机的影响是难以全面估计的。

Bill Gates, richest man on the planet, is a college dropout.

比尔·盖茨，这个行星上最富有的人，是个辍学学生。

Bill Gates retired from full-time work at Microsoft.

比尔·盖茨结束了在微软的全职工作。

Bill Gates funded the research.

比尔·盖茨赞助了这项研究。

Profit-seeking entrepreneurs could take a few tips from billionaire software engineer-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates.

昔日软件工程师，如今慈善家的亿万富翁比尔·盖茨也许能给寻求利益的企业家们带来一些启发。

Bill Gates predicts that the keyboard and mouse will soon become relics.

比尔·盖茨预测键盘和鼠标将很快退出历史舞台。

Bill Gates is a famous corporate philanthropist.

比尔·盖茨是一位著名的商界慈善家。

Bill Gate's operating system made them easy to use and brought computing to millions.

比尔·盖茨的操作系统让电脑易于使用，因而使电脑走进了千家万户。

Bill Gates devotes himself to charity after retirement from Microsoft.

比尔·盖茨从微软退休后转身投入慈善事业。

Charitable works has a peculiar fascination which is just like software to Bill Gates.

对比尔·盖茨来说，慈善事业就像软件一样对他有一种特殊的魅力。

That is the year in which Bill Gates was born, as well as Steve Jobs.

比尔·盖茨和史蒂夫·乔布斯都出生在那一年。

Bill Gates is losing money.

比尔·盖茨在亏损。

I was interviewing Bill Gates at a conference.

我在会议室里采访比尔·盖茨。

Bill Gates is nearly a full head taller than his son.

比尔·盖茨比他的儿子高一个头。

Bill Gates could destroy Apple by discontinuing Office support.

通过停止办公系统的支持，比尔·盖茨可以摧毁“苹果”。

Billionaire donors like Bill Gates are continuing to fund philanthropic work around the globe.

像比尔·盖茨这样的亿万富翁继续在全球支持慈善事业。

Let's Talk！

开始交流吧！

Mike: I want to be as wealthy as Bill Gates.

麦克：我想和比尔·盖茨一样富有。

Daisy: That's almost impossible.

黛西：那几乎是不可能的。

Mike: I know.

麦克：我知道。

Daisy: How can he be so successful?

黛西：他为什么这么成功呢？

Mike: Because of his extraordinary business acumen.

麦克：由于他具有非凡的商业头脑。

Daisy: The Microsoft system is irreplaceable now.

黛西：现在微软的系统无法代替。

Mike: Yes, because he is the first one who invented his kind of software.

麦克：是的，因为他是第一个发明这种软件的人。

Daisy: So he seized the opportunity.

黛西：所以他抓住了机遇。

Mike: Bill Gates is so wealthy. How can he do with all the money?

麦克：比尔·盖茨太富有了。这么多钱他怎么花啊？

Daisy: He denoted most of it to charity.

黛西：他大部分的钱捐给了慈善机构。

Mike: Won't he leave some to his children?

麦克：他不给他的孩子留点吗？

Daisy: He said he want them to create their own business.

黛西：他说他希望他们创造自己的事业。

Mike: He did the right thing.

麦克：他做得很对。