READING 1 Andrew Carnegie

Carnegie Hall, which opened in 1891, is a famous concert hall in New York City.

ANDREW CARNEGIE

Read the following article. Pay special attention to the words in bold. 8.1

Andrew Carnegie was one of the world’s richest men. He made a fortune1 in the oil and steel industries. Did he enjoy his wealth? Of course he did. But there is something he enjoyed even more: giving away his money.

Carnegie was born in Scotland in 1835 to a very poor family. When his father lost his job, his mother started working to support the family. When Andrew was 13 years old, his mother persuaded his father to leave Scotland for the “possibilities of America.” A year later, Andrew started to work in a factory in Pittsburgh, in the state of Pennsylvania. He met a man who let him and other working boys use his small library. Andrew was eager to read and learn as much as he could. He was intelligent and hardworking, and it didn’t take him long to become rich.

As Carnegie’s fortunes grew, he started to give his money away. One of his biggest desires was to build free public libraries so that everyone would have access to knowledge. He believed that education was the key to a successful life. In 1881, there were only a few public libraries. Carnegie started to build free libraries all over the U.S. and the world. Over the doors of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, carved in stone, are the words, “Free to the People.” By the time Carnegie died in 1919, there were more than 2,500 public libraries all over the world.

But building libraries was not his only contribution. In his book The Gospel of Wealth, he tried to persuade other wealthy people to give away their money. These are some of the ideas he wrote about in his book:

• To give away money is the best thing rich people can do. • It is the moral obligation of the wealthy to help others. • It is important for a rich person to set an example for others. • It is not good to have money if your spirit is poor. • It is a disgrace2 to die rich.

By the time he died in 1919, Carnegie had given away more than $350 million3 .

1 fortune: a very large quantity of money 2 disgrace: something that brings shame or dishonor 3 Today, this is equivalent to over 5 billion dollars.