Rags就是“破烂”，riches就是“财富”，这个词是什么意思呢？请看对话：

    A: Did you enjoy that book?

    B: Yeah, it’s a real rags to riches story about a boy who grows up in a poor neighborhood but becomes the CEO of a company.

    A: Sounds boring.

    Meaning: “From rags to riches” is an idiom that means to go “from being very poor to being very wealthy,” especially through one’s own efforts. Horatio Alger (1834-1899) popularized this theme in some 130 best-selling novels, in which the hero, through hard work and thrift, pulled himself out of poverty to wealth and happiness. The concept has been criticized by those who argue that only a handful of exceptionally capable and/or lucky persons are actually able to travel the “rags to riches” road. The great publicity given to such cases only helps keep the masses of the working poor in line, preventing them from agitating for an overall collective change in the direction of social equality.