散尽家财，慷慨解囊 Giving away your fortune

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Neil…
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语，我是尼尔。
And I’m Sophie…
我是苏菲。
Sophie, I can’t get out of my head what Mark Zuckerberg, you know, the guy who created Facebook, said recently.
苏菲，我一直在想扎克伯格最近所说的，你知道的，就是创建脸书的那个人。
Oh, I know, he pledged – or made a serious promise – to give away 99% of his shares in Facebook over the course of his lifetime.The shares are currently worth around $45bn.
我知道，他最近保证，也就是郑重承诺，要在有生之年将脸书99%的股份捐出。该股份目前价值450亿美元。
Why, oh why did he decide to give his fortune away?It’s puzzling to me.
为什么呢，为什么他决定捐出财产呢？这令我很不解。
It’s an act of philanthropy – which means helping others, especially by giving large amounts of money to good causes.
这是一种慈善行为，慈善是指帮助他人，尤其是好意捐出大量钱财。
And philanthropy is the subject of this show.
慈善也是今天节目的主题。
But don’t worry about Zuckerberg,it’s probably fair to say that he will remain extremely well off – or wealthy – even after giving away his fortune.
但是不用担心扎克伯格，可以说即便是捐出这些财富，他依然很富有。
Well, that’s true. Let me ask you then today’s quiz question: Who was the most generous philanthropist in the US last year?Was it…a) Bill Gatesb) Mark ZuckerbergOr c) Warren Buffett
确实如此。那就回答今天的问题吧：去年谁是美国最慷慨的慈善家？a) 比尔盖茨b) 马克扎克伯格还是 c) 沃伦巴菲特
I’m going to say… c) Warren Buffett.
我想选c) 沃伦巴菲特。
Well, we’ll find out if you were right or not later on in the show. Now, Zuckerberg was inspired to give away his fortune by the birth of his daughter Max. In a letter to Max – posted on Facebook. In his post, he talks about using the money to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation.Equality – in other words, with the same rights and opportunities.
节目最后我们再看你回答得是否正确。如今扎克伯格受女儿马克思出生的启发决定捐出财产。他在脸书上公开了写给女儿的信。信中他提到要用这些钱开发人类潜能，促进下一代孩子的平等。平等，换句话说就是拥有相同的权利和机会。
Zuckerberg is the latest in a long line of billionaire entrepreneurs to turn philanthropist and use his money for good causes.Did you know that some of the earliest American philanthropists were robber barons?
扎克伯格是最近一个变身慈善家的亿万富翁，将钱财投入到慈善事业中。你知道吗，早先一些美国慈善家都是强盗富翁。
Robber barons? What’s … ? Hang on, what’re robber barons?
强盗富翁？什么意思？什么是强盗富翁？
They’re business people who use unethical - or morally wrong - business tactics to gain large personal fortunes.Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs like Rockefeller, Carnegie and Ford were robber barons.They built up huge empires in industry – oil, steel, railways, and cars– and were largely responsible for transforming the United States from an agricultural nation into an industrial one.
他们都是采用不道德的商业手段攫取大量财富的商业人士。19世纪的企业家，像洛克菲勒、卡内基和福特都是强盗富翁。他们在各自行业建立起强大的产业帝国——如石油、钢铁、铁路和汽车，很大程度上他们推进了美国从农业国到工业国的转变。
Henry Ford – he’s the one who said you can have any colour you want as long as it’s black.I like that kind of thing.
亨利福特，他曾说过“不管顾客需要什么颜色，我们生产的汽车就是黑色的。”我喜欢他的风格。
Focus, Neil!
别扯远了，尼尔！
OK. OK.
好的，好的。
But as the barons got older, they decided they wanted to give back to society, and turned to philanthropy. Andrew Carnegie believed that wealth should be spent to make the world a better place.
但是当大佬们渐渐变老，他们决定回馈社会，于是变身慈善家。安德鲁卡内基相信财富需要被消费，世界也得以越来越好。
That sounds too warm and fuzzy for a ruthless – or cruel - robber baron.
这些话从冷酷无情的强盗大亨口中说出来简直太温暖了！
People change, Neil!When he died, Carnegie had given away a total of $350m to the state to spend on public works.That’s around $8bn in today’s money.
人是会变的，尼尔！卡内基去世时，他总共向政府捐出了3.5亿美元用于公共事业。这相当于现在的80亿美元。
Well, let’s listen to Hugh Cunningham, a Professor of History at the University of Kent here, in the UK.He talks about what the average Joe – that’s you and me, folks – thinks about big business and philanthropy today.
我们来听听英国肯特大学历史学教授Hugh Cunningham的看法。他谈到了平凡人，也就是你我这样的普通人如何看待大企业和慈善事业。
The very word philanthropy does not necessarily have 100% positive connotations for the publicat large given where we are in terms of the public’s attitude towards business or the banks and that kind of stuff.So I think it’s in everyone’s interests to try and broaden out the concept of philanthropy into a wider notion of giving, making a contribution, making a difference.
对公众来说，“慈善”一词并非是完全的褒义，这鉴于公众对企业、银行等机构的态度。所以我认为，为了每个人的利益，要尝试着扩大慈善的概念，扩大为给予、贡献和有所作为。
Yes, banks and big businesses can easily afford to give away millions of dollars for the public good if they choose to. It is not so easy when you’re an individual struggling to pay the rent.
是的，银行和大企业很容易为公众事业捐出几百万美元，只要他们想。但是对于还为房租苦苦奋斗的普通人来说，做慈善很不容易。
That’s right, Neil. But a lot of people in the UK are super-rich compared to those in the developing world. And we can make a big difference by donating – or giving – smaller amounts of money to help improve their lives.
没错。但是和发展中国家相比，英国很多人称得上是非常富有了。我们可以通过捐赠少额金钱来改善他们的生活，这也是力所能及的贡献。
And that’s what Professor Cunningham means when he says we should broaden out the notion – or idea – of philanthropy.It’s not only robber barons who can afford to be philanthropic.Let’s listen to Toby Ord, a graduate student from Oxford University talking about how he makes a difference.
这也是Cunningham教授的观点，拓宽慈善的概念。并不是只有强盗大亨才能做得起慈善。我们听听牛津大学的研究生Toby Ord讲述他如何做出力所能及的贡献。
I worked out that over my life I‘d be able to earn about 1.5mand that I could maintain my current standard of living as a graduate student and still donate about 1m of that.
我计算出我一生大概能赚150万英镑，我可以维持现在作为学生的生活水平，这样我仍然可以捐出100万英镑。
So Toby actually gives away any money that he earns above 18,000 a year.He feels that he doesn’t need more than this amount to maintain his standard of living.
所以Toby每年都会把他挣的钱当中超过1.8万英镑的部分捐出去。他觉得不需要这么多钱，他可以维持现有的生活水平。
I’m impressed by Toby’s pledge but I don’t think I could live like a student my whole life!
对Toby做出的承诺我很感动，但是我觉得我不能一辈子都像学生一样生活。
I thought that would suit you extremely well, Neil!Now why don’t you give us the answer to today’s quiz question?
我认为学生生活很适合你啊，尼尔！现在是不是该公布今天问题的答案啦？
I asked: Who was the most generous philanthropist in the US last year?Was it… a) Bill Gates? b) Mark Zuckerberg? Or c) Warren Buffett?
我问你：去年谁是美国最慷慨的慈善家？a) 比尔盖茨b)马克扎克伯格 还是 c) 沃伦巴菲特？
I said Warren Buffett.
我选的是沃伦巴菲特。
Good guess, Sophie! Well done!Buffett, who made his $73bn fortune from investments, donated $2.8bn to charity in 2014 bringing his lifetime total to almost $23bn, according to Forbes.That’s a tidy sum – and that means a large number! OK let’s hear those words again, Sophie.
猜得不错！做得好！巴菲特通过投资赚取了730亿美元，2014年捐出28亿用于慈善，据福布斯数据显示，目前他总共捐出了230亿美元。这是多么庞大的数字！好了，我们再来听听今天的单词吧！
Here they are:
今天听到的单词有：
pledged
保证
philanthropy
慈善
well off
富有
equality
平等
unethical
不道德的
ruthless
无情的
average Joe
普通人
donating
捐赠
a tidy sum
庞大金额
Well, that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. Please join us again soon!
好了，今天的六分钟英语就到这里。我们下期节目再会。
Bye.
再见！