Letter from Bill and Melinda Gates

盖茨夫妇的一封信

More than a decade ago, the two of us read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that were long ago eliminated in this country. One disease we had never even heard of—rotavirus—was killing literally half a million kids each year. We thought: That's got to be a typo. If a single disease were killing that many kids, we would have heard about it, because it would have been front-page news. But it wasn’t a typo.

10多年前，我们俩看到一篇文章，说是在一些贫穷国家，每年有数百万儿童死于在美国早已绝迹的疾病。其中一种疾病我们从未听说过，它叫轮状病毒（注：一种可致新生儿患肠胃炎的病毒），不夸张地说，这种病毒正在造成每年50万儿童的死亡。我们原以为这一数字编印有误：如果仅仅一种疾病就能害死这样多的孩子，我们应该早就听说了，因为这肯定会成为头版的重要新闻。然而，这一数字并非是编印有误。

We couldn't escape the brutal conclusion that—in our world today—some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves: "This can’t be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving."

我们无法回避这样无情的说法，即在当今的世界上，有些生命被认为是值得拯救的，其他生命则不值得一救。我们告诉自己说：“不会真有其事的。但如果这是真事，那它应是我们施予援助的当务之急。”

We sent the article to Bill's father, Bill Gates Sr., with a note attached that said, "Dad, maybe we can do something about this." And he helped us get started.

我们将这篇文章发送给比尔的父亲老比尔·盖茨，附上一则短信说：“爸爸，也许我们能为此做些什么。”他帮助我们开始着手援助工作。

We created the Gates Foundation in 2000 because we believe in the principle that every human life has equal worth. The life of an impoverished child in a developing country is as precious as the life of a middle-class kid in a developed one. A family struggling to make ends meet in an American inner city matters as much as a family thriving in a safe, suburban neighborhood. Today, billions of people never even have the chance to live a healthy, productive life. We want to help all people get that opportunity.

2000 年，我们创建了盖茨夫妇基金会，因为我们原则上相信，每个人的生命都同样有价值。发展中国家穷苦儿童的生命与发达国家中层社会的孩子的生命同样宝贵。美国大城市贫民区里为收支平衡努力奋斗的家庭与城郊住宅区中安全富裕的家庭同样重要。在今天，数十亿人甚至从无机会过上健康富足的生活。我们应该帮助所有人获得这样的机会。

We know it can be done because this is a unique moment in history: Scientific and technological advances are making it possible to solve big, complicated problems like never before. If these advances are focused on the problems of the people with the most urgent needs and the fewest champions, then within this century billions of people will grow up healthier, get a better education, and gain the power to lift themselves out of poverty. Warren Buffett shares our sense of optimism, and we are deeply humbled by his decision to give a significant portion of his resources to the foundation.

我们认为这是可以做到的，因为现在是历史上少见的时机：科技的进步使我们能够解决前所未有的更大更复杂的一些问题。如果科技进步能够致力于解决有着最迫切需要又最缺乏支持的人们的那些问题，那么在本世纪内，数十亿人将会更健康地成长，获得更好的教育，并增加他们脱贫的能力。沃伦·巴菲特与我们一样对此感到乐观，我们深感荣幸的是，他决定把自己很大一份财产赠予我们这个基金会。

We're so hopeful about the potential for rapid progress that we've decided the foundation will spend all its money in the next 100 years. In this century, our world has the opportunity to fulfill the great human promise that all lives have equal value.

Bill and Melinda Gates' signature

Bill Gates and Melinda F. Gates

我们对有可能迅速取得进展的项目所抱的期望极大，所以决定在未来100年内将基金会所有资金用于这些项目。在本世纪，我们的世界就有机会实现人类的伟大承诺，即人人有同等的价值。

比尔•盖茨

梅林达•盖茨