EZCNN 易英网

Lesson in Giving 投资天王巴菲特教子女金钱的功课

 

课文朗读

 

课文讲解

 

繁體中文譯本

 

One of the richest men in the world gave each of his kids $1 billion and a chance to give it all away  富冠全球的巴菲特（译注：根据富比士杂志二００九年财富排行榜，比尔．盖兹为全球首富，而巴菲特位居第二）赠送每名子女十亿美元，让他们可以用来做公益

 

For all the talk of how Warren Buffett is a normal guy, we know he is not just like us. We don’t play bridge with Bill Gates. And these days, we certainly don’t get 10 percent dividends on our stocks.

尽管外界沸沸扬扬地尽说华伦．巴菲特是个平凡人；但我们却心知肚明，他绝对和我们不一样。首先，我们就不可能像巴菲特一样，能和比尔．盖兹打桥牌。此外，在最近景气这么差的期间，我们也绝对不可能拿到百分之十的高股息。

 

But ask Buffett about his kids – Susie, a knitting-shop owner; Howie, a farmer; and Peter, a musician – and he turns into your typical, gushing dad. “All three are smart. They have good judgment,” he says. “They’re just very decent human beings.”

不过，如果你去问巴菲特的孩子：编织店老板苏西、务农的霍伊，和音乐家彼得，就会发现，在孩子眼中，巴菲特又变成滔滔不绝的典型老爸。「我三个孩子都很聪明，判断力也很强，」巴菲特透露，「他们都是好人。」

 

So decent, he thinks, that three years ago, when he pledged $30 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he also promised each of his children $1 billion in shares for their charitable foundations.

没错，他们好到让爸爸答应送给每人十亿美元的等值股票，以供作他们的慈善基金会之用。巴菲特是在三年前允诺给比尔及玛琳达．盖兹基金会三百亿美元的同时，也答应要大手笔馈赠子女。

 

The gifts were by far the largest the Buffett kids had ever received – and ever expect to receive – from their father. He had made clear long ago that nearly all of his fortune would be going to charity.

这份礼物是巴菲特子女迄今从父亲之处收到最巨额的礼物，也应该是空前绝后的了，因为巴菲特很久以前就曾公开表明，在他身后，几乎所有财产都会捐做慈善之用。

 

In a letter that accompanied his pledges, Buffett wrote, “I consider myself lucky to have three children who want to spend much of their time and energy working on projects that will benefit others.”

巴菲特除了答应送给子女大礼之外，也发函写道：「我感到非常幸运，因为我的三个子女都愿意付出时间和心力来投注于帮助别人的计划。」

 

The risks of philanthropy  慈善事业的风险

 

Buffett’s gifts propelled his kids’ small foundations into the elite of philanthropy, immediately endowing them with new prestige and influence, but also introducing added risk. “You get a lot of people who have big hearts but don’t have business skills,” says Trevor Neilson, president of the Global Philanthropy Group. “That leads to a lot of ineffective nonprofits.”

巴菲特送的大礼使子女名下的小型基金会身价暴涨，他们也立即获得了全新的威望和影响力，也跻身慈善界重要人物的行列，只不过，加增的风险也随之而来。「有很多人都很有爱心，但却没有高明的商业手段，」全球慈善集团总裁特瑞福．尼尔森表示，「因而导致了一大堆没有效率的非营利机构一窝蜂出炉。」

 

Newer foundations tend to give to those who ask, rather than seek out the projects that need funding most. They end up giving to too many groups resulting in effectiveness for none. And they’re lax about monitoring the work of those groups, in part because they don’t know the groups well and in part because most foundations have small staffs.

新近成立的基金会倾向于捐钱给那些开口向他们要钱的团体，而非主动去寻求哪些方案最需钱孔急；结果就是，撒钱给一大堆团体，最后却不见成效。此外，这些基金会也疏于监督所资助团体的运作情形，而部份原因就出在，他们对团体原本就不熟悉，其他原因则是，大多数基金会人手并不多，所以没有多余的人力可以进行监督。

 

 

单词发音

 

More Information

bridge [brɪdʒ] n. 桥牌

dividend [ˋdɪvə͵dɛnd] n.【经】红利；股息

gushing [ˋgʌʃɪŋ] adj. 滔滔不绝的；装腔作势的

decent [ˋdisənt] adj.（人）正派的，正直的，规矩的

by far 到目前为止

propel [prəˋpɛl] v. 推动；驱策，激励   to cause someone to do an activity or be in a situation 

elite [ɪˋlit] n. 精英；上层集团

endow [ɪnˋdaʊ] v. 赋予[H][（+with）]

big heart 宽阔的胸怀，高尚的气度 If someone has a big heart, it just means that they are a very loving person. And are willing to share their love with others and do kind things.

in part 在某种程度上；部分地

 

 

 

课文朗读

 

课文讲解

 

Putting the money to work  把钱用在对的地方

 

Three years after they began receiving their gifts, all three Buffetts say they have struggled against those temptations. Yet they’ve also thrown themselves into their newfound roles. Each of them has carved out an area of specialty where they think they can have a huge effect.

巴菲特的三名子女从三年前开始收到爸爸的礼物，而每一位都表示，曾努力抵挡一些诱惑，但他们全都很认真投入扮演慈善家的新角色，而且各自都选定了一个自认能带来莫大影响的专业领域来开拓。

 

Howie Buffett, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation  霍伊．巴菲特的霍华．G．巴菲特基金会

 

Howie tells about how, in his foundation’s early days, he set out to save endangered cheetahs. He has seen some on safari in Africa, bought some land in South Africa, and set up a cheetah reserve.

霍伊表示，成立基金会之初，原本是打算拯救濒临绝种的猎豹，因为他在非洲探险之旅中有看过几只猎豹，后来便在南非买地，成立了猎豹保育区。

 

On one trip to Africa, Howie had an epiphany. Seeing the stunning poverty in the communities surrounding one wildlife reserve, he turned to his son, Howie Jr., and said that he realized he couldn’t keep investing in conservation “without levels of human needs being satisfied first.” He then decided that he could be most effective by investing in one of the fields he knows best: agriculture. Howie grows corn and soybeans on his spread in Illinois. “Farmers all over the world are the same. We care about the land.”

不过，霍伊在一次非洲之旅中，突然有了顿悟，当时他看到一处野生动物保育区外面周遭小区的极度贫困，于是转头告诉儿子小霍伊说，这才发现，在资助动物保育之前，必须「先满足人类的需求才行」。于是他便决定，要投资在自己最擅长的领域才能获得最大效益：也就是农业。霍伊本身在伊利诺伊州自家土地上种植玉米和黄豆，「全世界的农民都是一样的，我们都关心土地。」

 

In partnership with the Gates Foundation, Howie started by funding crop research into drought-resistant maize. But even miracle corn wouldn’t be enough to solve the problems of those farmers in Africa and Latin America who don’t have the basic tools and skills that American farmers have used for decades. So, he is funding a $1.6-million initiative to train farmers in northern Ghana in soil-management techniques. And a similar program in Central America will teach farmers low-tech methods that will enable them to diversify their crops and reduce spoilage after harvest.

霍伊和比尔．盖兹的基金会合作，资助谷物研究计划，致力于研究抗旱玉蜀黍。只不过，即使是不怕干旱的神奇玉米也不足以解决非洲和拉丁美洲农民的问题，因为他们根本就没有必需的基本工具和技术，而美国农民拥有这些必要的利器却已达数十年了。因此，霍伊又资助了一项一百六十万美元的新方案，目标是训练迦纳北部地区的农民有关土壤管理的技巧，此外，在中美洲进行的另一项类似计划，则教导农民使用一些低科技的方式，好让作物更多样化，并致力于减少收成后作物腐败的情形。

 

单词发音

 

More Information

temptation [tɛmpˋteʃən] n. 引诱，诱惑

throw oneself into 投身于; 积极从事 to do something with a lot of energy and enthusiasm

specialty [ˋspɛʃəltɪ] n. 专业；专长

set out 动身, 开始 to begin a journey; to begin a project

cheetah [ˋtʃitə] n.【动】印度豹

safari [səˋfɑrɪ] n. 非洲的（狩猎）旅行

reserve [rɪˋzɝv] n. 保留地；保护区；禁猎区

level [ˋlɛv!] n. （文化等的）水平，程度，标准

spread [sprɛd] n.（广阔的）一片区域

drought-resistant maize 抗旱玉蜀黍 a type of corn that survives better than others during periods of low rainfall

drought-resistant [d'raʊtrɪz'ɪstənt] adj. 抗旱的

maize [mez] n.【主英】玉蜀黍

spoilage [ˋspɔɪlɪdʒ] n. 损坏物; 糟蹋 waste resulting from decaying or damaged foodstuffs

 

 

 

 

 

课文朗读

 

课文讲解

 

Peter Buffett, the NoVo Foundation  彼得．巴菲特的诺瓦基金会

 

In the months after the announcement, Peter and his wife, Jennifer, [had] tons of people knocking on their door. “After the increase, we had people calling us and saying, ‘Can we get on a plane and come see you?’” Jennifer recalls. “No.”

巴菲特宣布送子女大礼的几个月之内，彼得和妻子珍妮弗就遇到无数民众上门求助。珍妮弗回忆说，「爸爸送给我们更多钱之后，我们就接到许多电话问我们说，『能不能搭机来亲自求见？』」珍妮弗记得他们回答：「不行」。

 

“No” is especially significant to Peter and Jennifer because it’s a common thread for one of the focuses of their giving: helpingadolescent girls in developing countries, who often don’t feel empowered to use that word and find themselves the victims of inequality.

「不行」对彼得和珍妮弗来说，还具有特别的意义，因为这是贯穿他们慈善志业众多关注项目的主要脉络：因为开发中国家的青少女往往没有足够的勇气去说「不行」这个词，而导致自己沦为社会不公的牺牲者。

 

NoVo is providing $60 million over four years toward Girl Effect, a project which builds on research suggesting that saying no to early marriage and unsafe sex and yes to education will have an outsize effect on economic growth and sustainable development.

诺瓦基金会（译注：novo的拉丁文含意是改变、更新、复苏…）将在四年内资助六千万美元给「女孩影响」计划，该计划是依据研究结果所成立的，因为研究显示，女孩如果能拒绝早婚和危险性行为，并接受教育，就能对经济成长和永续发展带来巨大的正面效应。

 

Having a clearly defined mission has allowed Peter and Jennifer a polite out when some cold callers come – “You can say, ‘That sounds good, but that’s not what we do,’” Jennifer says.

由于彼得和珍妮弗慈善工作的使命非常具体明确，因此每当有冷漠的来客上门，他们就有理由很客气地婉拒──「比方说，我们可以回答：『这点子听起来很不错，但这不是我们专注的范围』」，珍妮弗透露。

 

Susie Buffett, the Sherwood Foundation  苏西．巴菲特的雪伍德基金会

 

Warren Buffett’s gift roughly quintupled the amount of grant money that daughter Susie’s Sherwood Foundation – which focuses on public education – gives away every year.

巴菲特送的大礼约等于女儿苏西的雪伍德基金会每年捐出的补助金的五倍，该基金会的主要宗旨是公众教育。

 

Many of the projects view education holistically and address often-overlooked needs. For instance, one school district is receiving about $300,000 a year to help the poorest students and their families address critical needs, whether it’s paying a long-overdue electric bill or buying new winter coats.

基金会的许多方案都是透过全人教育的观点来对待教育，并致力于满足一些备受忽略的需求。例如，一处校区（译注：此指欧玛哈[Omaha]地区，也就是巴菲特的故乡，因此巴菲特也有欧玛哈的先知之称）每年会接获约三十万美元的捐助，以供贫困学生及其家庭救急之用，而支付项目可能包括了滞纳多时未缴的电费，或是添购冬衣。

 

In 2001, she began supporting Educare, an experimental program for at-risk infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. There’s one other fact about Susie’s giving that shows the power of the Buffett name and reminds us, perhaps, why her father is renowned as a master investment strategist. The $20 million a year that Susie is donating to Educare has had a multiplier effect, attracting millions more from new donors. That is a compounding effect that Dad would be proud of.

自二００一年起，她开始赞助教育关怀方案，这项实验性的计划，宗旨是协助高关怀婴幼儿和学龄前儿童。苏西的慷慨解囊还能展现出巴菲特这个姓氏的影响力不容小觑，而且或许能让我们恍然大悟，原来她父亲之所以被誉为投资策略大师其来有自，因为苏西每年捐赠给教育关怀的两千万美元，还具有招财效果（译注：直译为乘数效应），能吸引更多捐赠者投入数百万美元善款，而这种加乘效果（译注：直译为复合效应）理当会令爸爸引以为傲！

 

−by Jeff Bailey

 

单词发音

 

More Information

common thread 生命共同体 an idea or condition that exists in all the different parts of something and that connects them

empowered [ɪmˋpaʊɚd] adj. 授予权利的; 经过授权的

outsize [ˋaʊtˋsaɪd] adj. 超大型的；极大的

sustainable development 永续发展 economic development that can be maintained over time without damaging the environment

out [aʊt] n. 借口，托辞 a method of escape from a place, difficult situation, punishment, etc

quintuple [ˋkwɪntjʊp!] adj. 五倍的; v.（使）成五倍 to make something increase five times in size or amount

grant [grænt] n. 奖学金，助学金，补助金

holistically [hoˋlɪstɪkəlɪ] adv. 整体论地; 全面地;; 整体性地 emphasizing the organic or functional relation between parts and the whole

overlooked [͵ovɚˋlʊkt] adj. 受忽略的

overdue [ˋovɚˋdju] adj. 过期的

at-risk 处于危难状况的，处境危难的

toddler [ˋtɑdlɚ] n. 学步的小孩；蹒跚行走者

preschooler [ˌpriˈskulɚ] n.学龄前儿童

multiplier effect 乘数效应  the idea that increased spending in one area will lead to increased activity in other areas or increased spending from other resources

multiplier [ˋmʌltə͵plaɪɚ] n. 倍数；乘数

compound [kəmˋpaʊnd] v.【经】以复利计算

 

 

 

单词发音

 

 

Vocabulary Focus

pledge [plɛdʒ] v. 保证给予；许诺；发誓 to make a serious or formal promise to give or do something

philanthropy [fɪˋlænθrəpɪ] n.（常复数）慈善行为；慈善事业 the act of helping poor people, especially by giving them money

lax [læks] adj. 不严格的；马马虎虎的 lacking care, attention or control

carve out 开拓 to successfully create a career or niche by working for it

epiphany [ɪˋpɪfənɪ] n.（经义之）顿悟 a sudden feeling of understanding or awareness of something that is very important

initiative [ɪˋnɪʃətɪv] n. 积极的行动; 倡议 a new action or movement, often intended to solve a problem

thread [θrɛd] n. 主线; 思路; 脉络 the way that a theme develops, with one part connecting to another

strategist [ˋstrætɪdʒɪst] n. (尤指军事)战略家，善于策划的人  someone with a lot of skill and experience in planning, especially in military, political, or business matters

 

 

The Girl Effect: The Clock is Ticking