William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman and chief software architect1 of Microsoft Corporation2, the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. Microsoft had revenues3 of US$28.37 billion for the fiscal4 year ending June 2002, and employs more than 50,000 people in 78 countries and regions.
Bill Gates has been rated by Forbes Magazine as the richest person in the world for the ninth consecutive5 year (as of October 2002). Based on Microsoft's current stock price, Bill is worth $31.13 billion.
Gates was the winner of the 1993 Price Waterhouse Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement, Computer World Smithsonian Awards.
Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney6. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent7, and chairwoman of United Way International.
Gates attended public elementary8 school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13.
In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief9 executive10 officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version11 of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer—the MITS Altair.
In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the computer would be valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers. Gates' foresight12 and his vision for personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry.
Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft's mission13 has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. The company is committed to a long-term view, reflected14 in its investment of more than $4 billion on research and development in the current fiscal year.
In 1999, Gates wrote Business ＠ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in new ways. The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries. It has received wide critical15 acclaim16, and was listed on the best-seller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com. Gates has donated17 the earnings of the book to non-profit18 organizations that support the use of technology in education and skills development.
In addition to his love of computers and software, Gates is interested in biotechnology19. He is an investor in a number of biotechnology companies. He has also founded Corbis, which is one of the world's largest resources of visual20 information.
Philanthropy21 is also important to Gates. He and his wife, Melinda, have endowed22 a foundation with more than $24 billion to support philanthropic initiatives23 in the areas of global health and learning, with the hope that as we move into the 21st century, advances in these critical areas will be available for all people. To date, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $2.5 billion to organizations working in global health; more than $1.4 billion to improve learning opportunities24, including the Gates Library Initiative to bring computers, Internet Access and training to public libraries in low-income communities in the United States and Canada; more than $260 million to community projects in the Pacific Northwest; and more than $381 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns.
Gates was married on Jan. 1, 1994, to Melinda French Gates. They have three children.
Gates is an avid25 reader, and enjoys playing golf and bridge.
Bill Gates＇ School Experiences
when I went to Lakeside School, I was about 12 years old. I started there in seventh grade. That was kind of a change for me. It is a private boys' school. Very strict. At first I really didn't like the environment. I did eventually find some friends there, some of who had the same sort of interest, like reading business magazines and Fortune. We were always creating funny company names and having people send us their product literature[laughs]. Trying to think about how business worked. And in particular26, looking at computer companies and what was going on with them.
I was relieved from some classes, Math in particular, because I'd read ahead. So, I had quite a bit of free time for interest outside curriculum27.
Bill Gates on Importance of Extra Curricular28 Activities
Self-exploration29 is great, because you develop a sense of self-confidence and an identity of “Hey, I know this pretty well. I know this better than the teachers. Let me try and see if I can understand at the next level. Maybe I'm pretty good at this stuff30.” And particularly with the computer where if your program is wrong, you know you try it and if it doesn't work and then you fix it and try it again. It is just fascinating to try and figure out the computer.
威廉（比尔）·H·盖茨是微软公司的董事长兼首席软件设计师。微软公司是全球软件、服务和因特网技术的佼佼者，服务对象包括个人和商务计算机用户。在截止到2002年6月的财政年度中，微软的收入高达283.7亿美元，在全球78个国家和地区的雇员超过50,000名。
2002年10月，比尔·盖茨蝉联第九届《福布斯》杂志排名的世界首富。依据微软目前的股票价格，比尔·盖茨身家为311.3亿美元。
盖茨还是1993年普莱士·沃特豪斯领导奖终身成就奖得主，并荣获电脑世界史密森大奖。
盖茨生于1955年10月28日，与姐妹们一起在西雅图长大。父亲老威廉·H·盖茨，是西雅图的一名律师。母亲玛丽·盖茨生前是教师，曾任华盛顿大学董事，是“联合之路国际组织”的主席。
盖茨上的是公立小学，中学就读于私立的湖滨中学。中学期间，他发现自己对软件极有兴趣，13岁就开始编写计算机程序。
1973年，盖茨成了哈佛大学的一名新生，与现任微软首席执行官（CEO）斯蒂夫·巴尔默比邻而居。在哈佛就读期间，盖茨为世界上最早的微机MITS Altair编写了一种BASIC程序语言。
三年级时，盖茨离开哈佛，把全部精力投入微软，这是他与儿时好友保罗·艾伦于1975年创办的公司。他们坚信计算机能够走上每张办公桌，走进每个家庭，成为一种有价值的工具，于是开始为个人电脑开发软件。盖茨对于个人计算机的远见卓识对微软乃至整个软件行业的成功至关重要。
在盖茨的领导下，微软一直视不断推动和改善软件技术为已任，让计算机用户感觉更得心应手，更物有所值，更乐在其中。该公司本财政年度的研究和开发经费超过40亿美元，其致力于长远规划之决心由此可见一斑。
1999年，盖茨撰写了《商业新思维》（又译《未来时速》）一书，向人们展示计算机技术能够用全新的方式来解决商业问题。该书被译成25种文字，畅销于60多个国家。它赢得了评论界的广泛赞誉，并一度名列《纽约时报》、《今日美国》、《华尔街日报》以及亚马逊网上书城的畅销排行榜。盖茨将该书的全部收益捐献给非赢利组织，以支持利用科技进行的教育和技能培训。
除了对计算机和软件情有独钟以外，盖茨还热衷于生物技术。他是几家生物技术公司的投资人。盖茨还建立了科比斯图片库，是全球最大的视觉信息资源之一。
对盖茨而言，慈善事业也很重要。他和妻子梅林达捐献了240多亿美元作为基金，支持在全球健康和教育方面的慈善活动，希望在迈入21世纪时，在这些重要领域的进展能造福全人类。到目前为止，“比尔—梅林达·盖茨基金”已经给致力于全球健康的组织提供了25亿多美元；捐献了14亿多美元改善学习条件，其中包括盖茨图书馆基金，为美国和加拿大的低收入社区公立图书馆购置计算机、提供因特网访问服务和相关培训；捐献了2.6亿多美元用于在西北太平洋区域的社区项目；3.8亿多美元用于特殊项目和每年的礼物馈赠活动。
1994年1月1日，盖茨与梅林达·弗伦奇·盖茨结婚，他们有三个孩子。
盖茨热衷阅读，还喜欢打高尔夫球和桥牌。
盖茨自述学校经历
我上湖滨中学时，大约12岁。中学生涯从7年级开始。对我而言，那是一个转折。湖滨中学是一所私立男校。管理很严。起初我很不喜欢那儿的环境。后来交了一帮志趣相投的朋友，喜欢阅读商业杂志，爱看《财富》。我们总在一起取些滑稽的公司名称，让人寄些产品说明给我们（笑），变着法儿揣摩商务运作，尤其爱盯着一些电脑公司，关注他们的进展。
有些课程我不用上，尤其是数学，因为我学到了前面。这样一来，我有大量时间花在课外兴趣上。
盖茨谈课外活动的重要性
自我探索是很了不起的事情，这样你可以培养自信，并且培养这样的品质：“嗨，这玩意我太了解了。比老师还内行。让我试试，看我下一步能否弄懂。也许我真擅长此道。”电脑程序出错时尤其需要这种自信。你知道自己试过，但如果行不通，你会再倒腾、再试。尝试和揣摩电脑就是这么让你着迷。
1. architect n． 建筑师
2． corporation n． 有限公司
3． revenue n． 收入
4． fiscal adj． 财政的
5． consecutive adj． 连续的
6． attorney n． 律师
7． regent n． 董事
8． elementary adj． 初步的，基本的
9． chief adj． 首席的
10． executive adj． 执行的
11． version n． 形式，版本
12． foresight n． 远见，深谋远虑
13． mission n． 使命，任务
14． reflect v． 反映，表现
15． critical adj． 评论的
16． acclaim n． 称赞，喝彩
17． donate v． 捐赠，赠予
18． profit n． 利益
19． biotechnology [?謣bai?藜utek?謖n?蘅l?藜d?廾i] n． 生物工程学
20． visual [?謖vi?廾ju?藜l] adj． 视觉的
21． philanthropy [fi?謖l?覸n?夼r?藜pi] n． 慈善事业
22． endow [in?謖dau] v． 捐赠
23． initiative [i?謖ni?蘩i?藜tiv] n． 创始；首创
24． opportunity [?蘅p?藜?謖tju?蘼niti] n． 机会，时机
25． avid [?謖?覸vid] adj． 热衷的
26． particular [p?藜?謖tikjul?藜] adj． 特别的
27． curriculum [k?藜?謖rikjul?藜m] n． 课程
28． curricular [k?藜?謖rikjul?藜] adj． 课程的
activities课外活动
29． exploration [?謣ekspl?藜?謖rei?蘩?藜n] n． 探测，开发
30． stuff [st?蘧f] n． 东西