听力原文： So, you've been reading about the beginning of modern philanthropy in the late 1
9m and early 20m centuries—a time of great expansion and progress in the United States—this was during the industrial revolution—and that lead to great wealth for some individuals. Well, today, I want to talk for a moment about Andrew Carnegie, a businessman and investor who rose from a modest background to great wealth, and became one of the most influential philanthropists of the time. He was also the richest man in the world in 1901, when at age 65, he sold his steel business for $ 480 million dollars! However, Carnegie had a long-standing interest in philanthropy and was one of the first wealthy individuals to say publicly that wealthy people had a responsibility to the community—a responsibility to give away their wealth for the benefit of the community.
Now, in 1889, Carnegie published a book—The Gospel of Wealth—and he discussed his ideas about the responsibility of the rich. Carnegie believed that people should only use the money they need to support themselves and their family, and then, beyond that, they… they should give the rest away to help the community. He said, "The man who dies rich dies disgraced." So, in other words, he thought that it was shameful for wealthy people to keep all their money for themselves, that instead they should use their money to help others. In fact, he even disapproved of wealthy people leaving money to charity after they died, instead of giving it away while they were alive. He thought that these people didn't really want to give their money away, that they only made these donations because they couldn’t take the money with them after death! So he had some very strong views about this.
And he followed through on his beliefs! Because by the time he died in 1911, he had given away ninety percent of his fortune—about $ 350 million dollars—that's more than $ 3 million—I'm sorry, I mean $ 3 billion in today's dollars!
As for the motivations for Carnegie's philanthropy… Well, some say it was based on his life experience. For example, take one of his most famous causes: public libraries. During his lifetime he built more than twenty-five hundred public libraries around the world, sixteen hundred of them in the United States. And it goes back to when he was a boy, only 13, and he had to go to work to help support his family. So he couldn't go to school. He loved to read, but there was no public libraries open for anyone to use. However, a rich man lived nearby, and he had a library, and he let Carnegie borrow his books for free! So, that's how Carnegie educated himself, by reading these books. And he never forgot that. He believed that anyone—no matter their background—anyone, with the right inclination and desire, could educate him or herself, and he saw public libraries as an important resource for this.
Now another cause that was very important to Carnegie was that of world peace and the end of war. In 1907, he wrote, "I am drawn more to this cause than to any." He believed that war could be eliminated… it could be ended by building stronger international laws and organizations. So, to that end, he established the Carnegie Endowment for World Peace in Washington DC, with a gift of $10 million dollars. But he had another more controversial idea for promoting world peace--and that was to simplify English spelling. He believed by making English spelling more sensible and regular, it could become a "lingua franca", a common language spoken around the world. And this, in turn, would help international communication. So, he established the Simplified Spelling Board, which he funded with $ 25, 000 per year. Realistically, I don't see why he believed that people would ever change something as… as… central to the language as spelling--most people completely opposed it! So his ideas never caught on, and twelve years later, after spending $ 300,000, he gave up and st
A．The influence of Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy today.
B．The reasons for Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy.
C．The relationship between Andrew Carnegie and other philanthropists.
D．The story of Andrew Carnegie's life.
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