比尔盖茨 成长 中英对照

走上慈善事业之路

微软上市大赚一笔后，盖茨的母亲力劝他从事慈善事业。当时在场的一个人回忆说，一天晚上在盖茨父亲的律师事务所里，当盖茨的母亲劝他捐钱的时候，两人吵了起来。

这个当时在办公室的人说，盖茨嚷道：“我只是想经营我的公司”。盖茨表示，当时他并不反对慈善事业，他只是不想从微软的工作中分心。

最后，盖茨的母亲成功说服他在微软启动一个计划，为美国联合慈善总会(United Way)筹集善款。他还跟随母亲的脚步，于80年代加入了美国联合慈善总会的董事会。

不过随着盖茨财富的增加，西雅图地区非营利机构请求捐款的信件像雪片一样飞来。盖茨说，他曾计划从微软退休后或是在60岁左右的时候，专心做慈善事业。

在盖茨的母亲被诊断患上一种罕见的乳腺癌之后，这个计划的进度就加快了。在她与疾病抗争期间，她仍在劝说儿子更多地投入慈善事业。盖茨的母亲于1994年6月去世。

葬礼的当天，盖茨一家在家共进了晚餐。盖茨的父亲告诉孩子们不要担心他，他说他还能再活上10年。当时他70岁。不过，在他的妻子去世之后，他就没什么精神了。

大约6个月之后，在和盖茨小两口子一起排队进电影院时，老盖茨再次提起慈善事业的想法。他建议盖茨可以开始筛选募捐请求，并捐出一部分钱。

一周后，软件大亨盖茨拨出约1亿美元创建了一个基金会，让他的父亲经营。盖茨的父亲后来坐在厨房的桌子边，开出了基金会的第一张支票，给当地一项癌症计划捐款8万美元。

开始时，盖茨的父亲（他很快又再婚了）会在最有希望获得捐款的请求上草草地做点注释。然后放在一个装葡萄酒的纸盒子里，定期送到儿子家。这个盒子随后会返回来，上面附有盖茨的回复。盖茨的父亲之后会向所有募捐人回信，有时候会附带一张100万美元的支票和一页纸多一点儿的祝贺信。

盖茨的父亲和一位微软前高管共同管理这个基金会，捐钱、监督数百名工作人员、将捐款范围扩大到教育和疫苗研制。

盖茨父亲说，他一直没有忘记这样一个事实，直到他的儿子和儿媳接管之前，他都是在扮演看管人的角色。53年后，他知道要给儿子空间。

盖茨父亲说，盖茨对一些事情的看法非常顽固，我们家庭的活力就在于在这些事情上不要干涉他，因为这只会是浪费时间而已。

盖茨成长的第一阶段──爱争论的小男孩──大约是从11岁的时候开始的。老盖茨说，大约就是那个时候，小比尔长大了，而且越来越让家里人头痛。

玛丽鼓励孩子们刻苦学习，多运动，并学习音乐。（比尔·盖茨曾学过长号，但没有什么建树。）由于在富裕的家庭长大，因此玛丽有着自己教育孩子的方式。她希望孩子穿着得体、守时重信、热情好客。小盖茨在多数情况下都谨遵母命。

老盖茨说，儿子在11岁时便表现出与众不同的智力水平，经常向父母问一些国际关系、商业和生命本质的问题。

老盖茨说，这些问题很有趣，我认为这样很好。现在可以告诉你，他母亲并不欣赏这一点，甚至令她感到不安。

此时，盖茨已开始不断冲撞母亲意欲控制他的本能，不断引爆意志的较量。玛丽对儿子的一切期待──保持房间干净、按时吃饭、不要咬铅笔──忽然间成为双方摩擦的起源。最终，两人爆发了一场激烈争吵。

跟比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)的家人一起谈话，最后总会有人提到泼水事件。

当时，这位后来的软件业大亨还是个12岁的任性男孩，吃饭时跟母亲吵了个天翻地覆。他父亲在一旁实在受够了，端起一杯冷水泼到了小盖茨的脸上。

小盖茨咬牙切齿地说，感谢给我来了场淋浴。

盖茨家的人之所以经常提到这件事，不仅因为它的戏剧性，还因为，对于老盖茨(Bill Gates Sr.)来说，这是他少有的发火的时候。这次吵架预示着一个性格暴躁的小男孩的生活将出现转折，他从此走上一条使他成为日后为公众所知的比尔·盖茨的道路，成了微软公司(Microsoft Corp.)的创始人、也是世界上最富有的人。

The first stage -- argumentative young boy -- 'started about the time he was 11,' Mr. Gates Sr. says in one of a series of interviews. That's about when young Bill became an adult, says Bill Sr., and an increasing headache for the family.

Then, at age 11, Bill Sr. says, the son blossomed intellectually, peppering his parents with questions about international affairs, business and the nature of life.

'It was interesting and I thought it was great,' Mr. Gates Sr. says. 'Now, I will say to you, his mother did not appreciate it. It bothered her.' The son pushed against his mother's instinct to control him, sparking a battle of wills. All those things that she had expected of him -- a clean room, being at the dinner table on time, not biting his pencils -- suddenly turned into a big source of friction. The two fell into explosive arguments.

Spend time with the family of Bill Gates, and eventually someone will mention the water incident.

The future software mogul was a headstrong 12-year-old and was having a particularly nasty argument with his mother at the dinner table. Fed up, his father threw a glass of cold water in the boy's face.

'Thanks for the shower,' the young Mr. Gates snapped.

The incident lives in Gates family lore not just for its drama but also because it was a rare time that Bill Gates Sr., father of his famous namesake, lost his cool. The argument presaged a turning point in the life of a tempestuous boy that would set him on course to become the Bill Gates whom the public knows as co-founder of Microsoft Corp. and the world's richest man.

After the windfall, Ms. Gates pressed her son to get into philanthropy. At his father's law office late one night, someone present recalls, Bill quarreled with his mother as she urged him to give money away.

'I'm just trying to run my company!' he snapped, says the person in the office at the time. Mr. Gates says that at the time he wasn't opposed to philanthropic work, he just didn't want to be distracted from his duties at Microsoft.

Eventually, she got her son to start a program at Microsoft to raise money for the United Way. He also followed his mother onto the national United Way board in the 1980s.

But as Bill Gates's wealth grew, letters from Seattle-area nonprofits asking for donations piled up. He says he planned to get serious about philanthropy after retiring from Microsoft, or at about 60 years old.

That plan would be fast-tracked after Ms. Gates was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer. As she battled the disease, she continued to urge her son to do more philanthropy. Ms. Gates passed away in June 1994.

The day of her funeral, the Gates family had dinner at home. Bill Sr. told his children not to worry about him, saying that he had about 10 good years left in him. He was 70 at the time. Still, after his wife died he was listless.

About six months later, standing in a line for a movie with his son and daughter-in-law, Melinda, the elder Mr. Gates again broached the idea of philanthropy. He suggested he could start sifting through the requests for money and give some out.

A week later, the software mogul set aside about $100 million to create a foundation that his father could run. Bill Gates Sr. later sat at his kitchen table and wrote the first check, $80,000 to a local cancer program.

In the early days, Mr. Gates Sr., who soon remarried, would scribble a few notes on the most-promising requests for donations. He would then put them in a cardboard wine box that he periodically sent to his son's house. The box would come back with Bill Jr.'s responses. Mr. Gates Sr. would then reply to all the grant seekers, sometimes including a $1 million check with little more than a single-page letter of congratulations.

Bill Sr. and a former Microsoft executive managed the foundation, doling out money, overseeing a staff of hundreds and expanding its purview to areas like education and vaccines.

Mr. Gates Sr. says he hasn't lost sight of the fact that he was playing the role of caretaker until his son and daughter-in-law took the helm. And after 53 years, he knows to give his son space.

'He has very fixed ideas of some things,' says Mr. Gates Sr. 'The dynamic of the family is that you don't cross him on those things, because it's a waste of time.'