For someone who is such a successful investor, Warren Buffett comes off as a pretty ordinary guy. He was born on August 30, 1930. _ He used to go door to door and sell soda water. When his family moved to Washington, Buffett became a paperboy for The Washington Post. Buffett ran his five paper routes and even added magazines to round out his product offerings. While still in school, he was making $175 a month, a full-time wage for many men.

_ He spent $1,200 on 40 acres of farmland in Nebraska. He and a friend also made $ 50 a week by placing pinball machines in barbershops. They called their venture Wilson Coin Operated Co. As a successful small-time businessman, Buffett wasn’t interested in going to college but ended up at the University of Pennsylvania—his father encouraged him to go. _ But he was turned down, which was one of the worst admission decisions in Harvard history. The outcome affected Buffett’s life, for he ended up attending Columbia Business School, where he studied under Professor Benjamin Graham, the father of securities analysis who provided the foundation for Buffett’s investment strategy.

From the beginning, Buffett made his fortune from investing. He started with all the money he had made from selling soda water, delivering papers, and operating pinball machines. Between 1950 and 1956 , he grew his $ 9800 to $ 14,000. _ And then he gradually drew in other investors through word of mouth and very attractive terms.

_ He doesn’t collect houses or cars or works of art, and he disdains (鄙视) companies that waste money on expensive cars, private dining rooms, and high-priced real villas. He is a creature of habit—same house, same office, same city, same soda water.

【语篇导读】本文是一篇传记，讲述了巴菲特自幼就对投资饱有兴趣，虽然他上学深造时不尽人意，但他自食其力，逐渐扩大了投资规模，成为著名的商人。