原文: 把贫穷当作富贵的起点

人活在世上，有两样东西看似无穷无尽的，实际上是有限的，即金钱和时间。

金钱，不管你一辈子挣多少钱，花出去的那些钱才可以算是真正曾经属于你。而银行储存多少不算是你的，因为你死后带不走半分文。所以，挣钱和花钱都不是目的。在挣钱的时候更多地体现你的人生价值，在花钱的时候更好地实现你的人生目的才是最重要的。千万不要为金钱折腰。

把贫穷当作富贵的起点。贫穷是一个人所能获得的最丰富的经验。许多成功人士用他们的成功的轨迹表明，贫穷是富贵与成功的起点。许多穷苦得没有读过书的孩子都在成人之后成就了一番事业，穷人出身的学子也更容易从平凡的工作开始走向成功。

生于富贵固然好，但是，生于富贵也许意味着堕落与毁灭；生于贫困也许是种刺激和挑战。结果就是靠你自己去把握。

美国历史上的那些成功者，开始的时候大都是穷苦的孩子，正因为受了贫穷的激励，视贫穷为成功的起点，所以具备了这样那样的才能，成就了这样那样的伟业。

格鲁夫·克利夫兰两度出任美国总统，而他也从事过一个普通店员的工作，一年的薪水不到100美元。他的例子生动地说明了贫穷可以把人磨砺得更加强健，说明一个人最大的财富莫过于生于贫贱之家，说明极度的穷困所激发的斗志最为持久。

富兰克林说：“贫穷本身并不可怕，可怕的是自己以为命中注定贫穷或一定老死于贫穷的思想。”伟大的科学家居里夫人在巴黎求学期间，生活极度困苦。由于她学习成绩突出，数学家迪金斯卡女士，替她请求了“亚历山大奖金”。奖金只有600卢布，但这笔数目可怜的资金，却帮了这个波兰女学生的大忙，居里夫人当时把它看成一个“救命圈”。几年以后，她取得了第一项科研成果，并因此而获得一笔报酬，这笔钱是她通过劳动而换取的，她应当自己受用。但是，居里夫人得到这笔报酬以后，却想起几年前那600卢布“亚历山大奖金”。于是，她从第一笔用劳动换来的报酬中，尽心竭力地节省出600卢布，偿还给亚历山大奖学金委员会。委员会的秘书接到钱后大吃一惊，因为在这个委员会的记录中，从来没有偿还奖金的先例。她偿还这笔钱，是为了让它能够再一次成为另一个贫寒学生的“救命圈”。从居里夫人偿还600卢布奖金这件小事中，我们看到了她那崇高的人格。

译文: Regarding poverty as the starting point on the road to achieving wealth

  Living in the world (of today) there are two things that seem limitless but in fact both have limits. These are time and money.

Money; regardless of how much you earn during your lifetime money only truly belongs to you once it has been spent. The amount of savings you have in the bank cannot be considered yours, because after you die you cannot withdraw even half a cent. Therefore earning and spending money cannot be objectives in themselves. When you earn money it reflects the value of your life. When you spend money you realise that your life's aim is most important. However we must be careful not to go too far for the sake of money₁.  

So let us consider poverty as the starting point on the road to achieving wealth. Poverty is the richest experience a person can go through. Many successful people use the experience of their path to success to say that poverty is the foundation of success and prosperity₂. Many children whose parents were so poor that they [the children] didn’t go to school become successful when they were adults. It is even easier for students from a poor family background to become successful after starting off with an ordinary job.

Admittedly, it is good to be born into a wealthy family but this might lead to deterioration and ruin. To be born poor can act as a type of incentive and a challenge. As a result you rely only on yourself to make it in life.

In American history those who have been successful almost all started as children in poor families. Not only did they receive the motivation from being poor, they also saw poverty as the foundation for success. Therefore because they had many skills they were able to achieve many great successes.

Grover Cleveland was twice elected US president yet he had once been working as an ordinary shop assistant with an annual salary of less than $100. His example clearly shows that poverty can harden people and make them stronger, and that a person’s greatest asset₃ is to be born into a poor family. It shows that the motivation and will to fight stimulated by extreme poverty is enduring and powerful.

Benjamin Franklin said “Poverty itself is not frightening. What is frightening is assuming that your life is destined to be in poverty or that you will die in poverty.” The great scientist Marie Curie lived an extremely tough life when she was a student in Paris. As her academic results were outstanding the mathematician Madam Djinski applied for the “Alexander Scholarship” on her behalf. The scholarship was only 600 roubles, but this small amount of money was a big help to this female Polish student. At the time Marie Curie regarded the award as a “lifeline₄”. Several years later she achieved her first scientific research success and as a result received a financial reward. This reward was earned through hard work and she should have been able to enjoy the benefits herself. However after receiving this reward Marie Curie remembered that 600 rouble ‘Alexander Scholarship’ she had received many years before. So using her first financial reward obtained through hard work, she strived to save up 600 roubles to repay the Alexander Scholarship Committee. The  committee secretary was shocked after receiving the money because in the committee records there had never been an example of a student repaying the scholarship. The reason why she repaid the money was because she wanted it to be the ‘lifeline’ for another impoverished student. From the story of Marie Curie repaying her 600 rouble scholarship we can see that she had high moral character.

  

Notes:  

₁ Literally: We should be careful not to bend our back for money.

₂ Poverty is the starting point on the road towards success and prosperity.

₃ Literally: wealth

4 Literally: A lifesaving ring