(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report.
American Bill Gates is known around the world as founder and former chairman of Microsoft Corporation. He now serves as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The private foundation is working to end deadly diseases and poverty.
Recently, Bill Gates spoke about the importance of philanthropy, the custom of giving time and money to help other people. He says philanthropy depends on innovation or new ideas for best results.
Mr Gates spoke during a visit to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. He said his philanthropic work centers on problems that governments cannot solve effectively.
"There are things in terms of trying out social programs in innovative ways that government is just -- because of the way the job incentives work - they are not going to try out new designs like philanthropy can, and they are not going to have volunteer hours coming in to leverage their resources like philanthropy can," said Gates.
Bill Gates said charitable giving is very important in America. One example is the university system. He said universities produce highly trained professionals who then give financial support to universities. He also said that in the United States, privately funded organizations create inventions that government cannot.
He also spoke about the March of Dimes Foundation and its campaign to end polio. The foundation he said, has paid for the development of two polio vaccines. Medical researcher Jonas Salk developed the first vaccine, Albert Sabin later created an oral vaccine.
At the event, Mr Gates held up one of the vaccines to show how small a treatment is.
"This is the oral polio vaccine. That's 10 doses and this thing costs $1.30, so 13 cents per kid ," said Gates.
In 2012, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave away 3.4 billion dollars. The money went to support health research, education and development programs in the United States and around the world.
But Mr Gates noted that philanthropy cannot provide the wider improvements in areas such as public health, education and employment. Governments he said, were designed to serve the whole population.
"When you want to give every child in America a good education, or make sure they are not starving, that's got to be [done by] government because philanthropy isn't there day in and day out serving the entire population. It's just not of the scale or the design to do that," said Gates.
Philanthropy Bill Gates said, needs research and innovation to seek answers to society's problems, but it is government's part to work for a better society.
And that's the Economics Report from VOA Learning English. I'm Mario Ritter.
文本来自51voa，译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.philanthropy n. 博爱，慈善；慈善事业
Such philanthropy is encouraged by government.
这样的慈善事业得到政府的鼓励。
2.leverage n. 手段，影响力；杠杆作用；杠杆效率 v. 利用；举债经营
His position as mayor gives him leverage to get things done.
他的市长身份使他有能力办成一些事情。
3.vaccine n. 疫苗；牛痘苗 adj. 疫苗的；牛痘的
Anti-malarial vaccines are now undergoing trials.
抗疟疾疫苗现在正处于试验阶段。
内容解析
1.There are things in terms of trying out social programs in innovative ways that government is just...
try out 试验；提炼；考验
I wanted to try the boat out next weekend.
我想下个周末去试一下这艘船。
Some owners wish they could try out the car in a race track.
一些车主希望他们能在一条跑道上试一下那辆车。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。
美国人比尔·盖茨作为微软公司的成立者和前总裁而全球知名，他如今是比尔&梅琳达·盖茨基金会联合主席，这家私人基金会致力于消除致命疾病和贫困。
最近，比尔·盖茨谈到慈善的重要性，也就是拿出时间和金钱来帮助他人。他说慈善要依靠创新或新创意来达到最好的结果。
盖茨在访问华盛顿美国企业研究所时发表讲话，他说自己的慈善工作的中心是解决政府无法有效解决的问题。
“在以创新方法解决社会问题方面，由于工作激励机制的方式，政府无法像慈善机构那样尝试新的机制，无法像慈善机构那样在义工时间来利用资源。”
比尔·盖茨说慈善在美国很重要，一个例子就是大学制度。他说大学能培养出训练有序的专业人员，他们能给大学提供资金支持。他说在美国，私人资助的组织能进行政府无法进行的创新。
他还谈到美国优生优育基金会及其消除小儿麻痹症运动，他说该基金会已为两个小儿麻痹疫苗的开发投入了资金。医学研究者乔纳斯·索尔克开发出第一种疫苗，艾伯特·沙宾后来开发出一种口服疫苗。
同时，盖茨拿起一支疫苗，让大家看治疗方法多么简单。
“这是口服的小儿麻痹疫苗，是10计量，价格1.3美元，所以每个孩子13美分。”
2012年，比尔&梅琳达·盖茨基金会捐出34亿美元，这些资金用于支持美国和全世界的医疗研究、教育和发展项目。
但盖茨指出，慈善无法在诸如公共卫生、教育和雇佣等领域提供更广泛的改善。他说政府的宗旨就是服务全体民众。
“如果想给每个美国孩子提供良好的教育，或者确保他们不挨饿，那就需要政府来发挥作用，因为慈善不可能每天都在那里服务全体民众，慈善的服务范围不在这里。”
比尔·盖茨说，慈善需要进行研究和创新来寻找解决社会问题的答案，但要建设更美好的社会则需要政府的努力。
这就是美国之音慢速英语经济报道，我是马里奥·利特。
