VOA慢速英语20060701a

IN THE NEWS - Buffett's Gift: Starting a New Page in the History of Giving to CharityBy Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 16:00:00 UTC

I'm Steve Ember with IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Americans gave an estimated¹ two hundred sixty thousand million dollars to charity last year. That was an increase of six percent over two thousand four. The Giving USA Foundation² says about half the increase resulted from giving after natural disasters. Hurricane Katrina and other severe storms hit the Gulf³ Coast. There was the earthquake in Pakistan, and the effects of the Indian Ocean tsunami⁴.

The United States has more than one million philanthropic organizations, including churches and other religious groups. Individual giving is the single biggest way American charities get money. More than three-fourths of their money last year came from individuals.




But no one has ever given more than Warren Buffett is about to give. The seventy-five-year-old investor⁵ is worth an estimated forty-four thousand million dollars. This week he announced he will give most of that away.

The majority is to go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve health and education around the world. In all, five organizations will receive shares in his Berkshire Hathaway holding company in Nebraska.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy calls Mister⁶ Buffett's gift the largest in philanthropic history. The newspaper says Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, held the record until now.

The word philanthropy comes from Greek and Latin⁷. It means a love of humankind, especially as shown through an act like giving to charity.

One early American philanthropist was Benjamin Franklin. When he died in seventeen ninety, he left some of his wealth to the cities of Philadelphia and Boston.

Another was Andrew Carnegie. The Carnegie Steel Company made him the world's richest man. But in the early nineteen hundreds he gave away most of his money. He gave money to build more than two thousand public libraries. He started organizations to further scientific research and other knowledge and to support international peace.

Today, American philanthropists include the Hungarian-born George Soros. His Open Society Institute supports activities in more than fifty countries. But he is also known for his activism in American politics.

Another modern-day philanthropist is the media personality Oprah Winfrey. Her Oprah's Angel Network supports non-profit groups.

Still another is Larry Ellison, chief of the software company Oracle⁸. He was in the news this week -- not for giving, but for taking back an offer.

Mister Ellison had offered one hundred fifteen million dollars to Harvard University to create a global health foundation. He has now cancelled the gift after the resignation⁹ of Harvard President Larry Summers. Reports say he is expected to make another offer in the near future.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Nancy Steinbach. To learn more about Warren Buffett's gift, go to voaspecialenglish.com and listen Monday at this time to the DEVELOPMENT REPORT. I'm Steve Ember.

1 estimated   

adj．根据估计的

参考例句：

• She estimated the breadth of the lake to be 500 metres. 她估计湖面大约有500米宽。
• The man estimated for the repair of the car. 那人估算了修理汽车的费用。

2 foundation   

n.[pl.]地基；基础；基金会；建立，创办

参考例句：

• The foundation of the university took place 600 years ago.这所大学是600年前创办的。
• The Foundation gives money to help artists.那家基金会捐款帮助艺术家。

3 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

4 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

5 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

6 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

7 Latin   

adj.拉丁的，拉丁语的，拉丁人的；n.拉丁语

参考例句：

• She learned Latin without a master.她无师自通学会了拉丁语。
• Please use only Latin characters.请仅使用拉丁文字符。

8 oracle   

n.神谕，神谕处，预言

参考例句：

• In times of difficulty,she pray for an oracle to guide her.在困难的时候，她祈祷神谕来指引她。
• It is a kind of oracle that often foretells things most important.它是一种内生性神谕，常常能预言最重要的事情。

9 resignation   

n.放弃，辞职，反抗

参考例句：

• He handed in his resignation right after the cabinet meeting.内阁会议一开完，他就提出了辞呈。
• They asked for his resignation with one voice.他们一致要求他辞职。