Stories about celebrity poverty

Fun under the fence There are many famous scientists in the world who come from poor families. They have all fought tenaciously against difficult circumstances on their way to success. Newton's situation in his boyhood is also very sympathetic. Newton was born in the family of an ordinary farmer in England in 1642. Shortly before Newton was born, his father died. His mother remarried when he was two years old. When Newton was fourteen years old, his stepfather unfortunately passed away and his mother returned to his hometown. Newton was forced to drop out of school and go home to help his mother farm. His mother wanted to train him to make an independent living and asked him to engage in the business of agricultural products. How unwilling a diligent and studious child is to leave his beloved school! He cried sadly several times, but his mother never changed her mind. In the end, he had to study business according to his mother's wishes. Every morning, he and an old servant went to a big town more than ten miles away to do business. Newton didn't like doing business very much. He entrusted all affairs to his old servants, while he secretly went to a place to study. As time went by, Newton became more and more disgusted with doing business, and all he liked in his heart was reading. Later, Newton simply stopped going to the town to do business and only asked the old servant to go alone. Afraid that his family would find out, he went out with his old servant every day, stopping halfway and reading under a fence. Whenever the old servant comes back in the afternoon, we go home together. In this way, day after day, the reading life under the fence is endlessly enjoyable. One day, he was reading happily under the fence when he happened to be seen by his uncle who was passing by. When his uncle saw this scene, he was very angry and scolded him loudly for not doing his job properly. He snatched Newton's book away. When his uncle saw that what he was reading was a mathematics book with various marks drawn on it, he was deeply moved. The uncle hugged Newton and said excitedly: "Son, just develop according to your ambition. Your right path should be to study." After returning home, his uncle tried his best to persuade Newton's mother to let Newton abandon business and study. With the help of his uncle, Newton returned to school as he wished

When Zhu Ziqing was in middle school, he loved reading very much. At that time, his family gave him one yuan of pocket money every month, and he gave most of it to a Guangyi Bookstore in his hometown, and he often owed money. The book "The Easy Interpretation of Buddhism" that sparked his interest in philosophy was obtained from this bookstore.

Later he went to Peking University to study philosophy, and Zhu Ziqing became more interested in Buddhist books. At that time, most of the Buddhist scriptures and other books were in the Jiufeng Temple area of ??the Reclining Buddha Temple in Xicheng. He once went to the temple and bought books such as "Yin Ming Zheng Theory", "Hundred Methods Mingmen Theory", "Translation Name Collection" and other books. It was a gloomy autumn afternoon, and Zhu Ziqing was the only one on the street. Later, when he recalled in the article, he said: "This stupidity is quite interesting to recall."

In 1920, it was Zhu Ziqing's last year in college. One year. Once, he went to Liulichang to visit a bookstore and saw a new edition of "Webster's Dictionary" in Huayang Bookstore, priced at 14 yuan. Although the money is not too expensive for this big book, it is really not a small amount for a student studying. I don’t have that much money on hand, but I really can’t bear to part with the book. After thinking about it, I think my fur coat is still worth some money.

This cloak was made for Zhu Ziqing by his father when he got married. It has an otter collar and sable fur. Although the cloak is made of cloth and the style is a bit rustic, and the collar is pieced together with two pairs of "horseshoe sleeves", it is a leather jacket after all, and my father put a lot of effort into making it. But at that time, I really couldn't bear to part with the "big dictionary", and I thought that I would be able to redeem the cloak in the future, so after hesitating for a long time, I resolutely took it to the pawn shop.

The pawn shop is at the back door of the school, just turn around and get there. Zhu Ziqing didn't think too much. Because I was thinking of redeeming it in the future, I used the book price as the price: 14 yuan. Of course, the price of the cloak was more than this, so the person at the pawn shop counter was not embarrassed at all and paid immediately.

After taking the money, Zhu Ziqing immediately went and brought back the "Webster's Dictionary". Unexpectedly, the cloak that cost my father a lot of effort was not redeemed in the end.

After graduating from university, Zhu Ziqing taught in middle schools in Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, and was later hired as a professor in the Chinese Department of Tsinghua University. One winter was particularly cold, and Zhu Ziqing did not have the strength to sew a cotton robe, so he went to the street and bought a felt cloak for horsemen. There are two types of cloaks. One is of better style and has soft fine hair, but it is expensive. Zhu Ziqing couldn't afford it, so he bought a rough but cheaper one.

Because this felt cloak was so conspicuous, it became a symbol of the professor's poverty, and it later appeared many times in the writings of friends who recalled Zhu Ziqing. But it protected Zhu Ziqing from the wind and cold when he went to the city to attend classes, and it was used as a mattress at night, although it is quite sad to say that. At this moment, thinking about the leather cloak that is ephemeral and cannot be redeemed makes people even more aware of the extent to which scholars are obsessed with books.