你知道大名鼎鼎的股神華倫巴菲特每天都帶便當上班嗎？他又是如何一步步登上世界首富的地位呢？以下請看這位傳奇人物的介紹。
A man gets up at six in the morning, prepares breakfast, packs a lunch, gets in his car and drives to the office just like he’s done every day for over half a century. He lives in a mid-sized, five-bedroom house, bought for a modest $31,500 in 1958, when homes were still affordable. Sound unusual? Not really. But here’s where the story gets interesting. In 2007, this same man pledges $30.7 billion to charity, making it the largest single donation in history. Who is this person? He’s Warren Buffett. Called the “Oracle of Omaha,” he breaks the mold when it comes to business tycoons.
Warren Buffett was born on August 30th, 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska. As a boy, he worked in his grandfather’s corner store, running the cash register, stocking shelves and keeping the front sidewalk swept clean. It was during this time that young Warren started to cut his teeth in business. In 1943, at the age of 13, he filled out his first income tax return, deducting his watch and bicycle as business expenses for his paper route. Two years later, Warren pooled his savings with a classmate to buy a pinball machine. Placing it inside a neighborhood barbershop, he embarked on what would prove to be one of the most lucrative investing careers of our era, or any other. A little over 60 years later, Warren Buffett would be worth $62 billion. He’d also be the richest person in the world.
有個男人在清晨六點起床，準備早餐，把午餐包好，坐進車子，開車前往辦公室，一如他半個世紀以來每天的例行公事。他住在一個中等坪數，有五個臥房的屋子，是一九五八年以區區三萬一千五百美元買來的，當年住家還在一般人買得起的價格。聽來非比尋常？不盡然，但故事有趣的地方在後頭。二○○七年，這個男人承諾捐出三百零七億美元用於慈善，創下史上最大單筆捐款紀錄。這個人是誰？他是華倫巴菲特。被喻為「奧馬哈先知」的他，打破了商業大亨的既定形象。
華倫巴菲特在一九三○年八月三十日出生於內布拉斯加州的奧馬哈。他小時在祖父的街角小店工作，負責收銀、貨物上架及維持店前人行道清潔。小華倫就是在那段時間開始學習做生意。一九四三年，年僅十三歲的他便首度申報所得稅，把他購買手錶和自行車的費用列為送報工作的營業支出扣除。兩年後，華倫拿存款和同學合資買了一台彈珠台。他把機器放置在住家附近的理髮店，展開我們這個年代─或任何年代皆是─最有賺頭的投資生涯之一。六十多年後，華倫巴菲特的身價高達六百二十億美元，也成為世界首富。
【實用字彙】
charity (n.) 慈善，慈善事業
donation (n.) 捐獻，捐款
expense (n.) 支出，開支
embark (on) (v.) 開始，著手進行
本文取材自《歷史名人堂Hall of Fame：EZ TALK總編嚴選特刊》
圖片來源：fortunelivemedia
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