亿万富翁的慈善宣言 Billionaires Pledge to Give It Away
语音:美式发音 适合精听
语速:150词/分钟
关键词:Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, billionaires, charity
新闻链接:《福布斯》全球亿万富豪前十位(数据公布于2010年3月)
1. Carlos Slim Helu (70岁) 墨西哥,电信
2. Bill Gates (54岁) 美国,IT
3. Warren Buffett (79岁) 美国,投资
4. Mukesh Ambani (52岁) 印度,石油
5. Lakshmi Mittal (59岁) 印度,钢铁 
6. Lawrence Ellison (65岁) 美国,IT
7. Bernard Arnault (61岁) 法国,奢侈品牌LVMH
8. Eike Batista (53岁) 巴西,煤矿石油
9. Amancio Ortega (74岁) 西班牙,连锁商店
10. Karl Albrecht (90岁) 德国,连锁商店
Persuaded by the 1)prodding of investor Warren Buffet and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, several dozen U.S. billionaires have 2)pledged to give away at least 50% of their wealth to charity.
Among the billionaires joining the 3)campaign are New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, energy 4)tycoon T. Boone Pickens, and media 5)mogul Ted Turner. Gates, the world’s second richest man, and Buffet, the third richest, launched the giving pledge in June to convince hundreds of American billionaires to give away most of their fortune either during their lifetime or after their death. Bill and Melinda Gates have so far given more than $28 billion of their fortune to their foundation.
According to Forbes magazine, the United States is home to 403 billionaires, the most of any country.
在投资家沃伦·巴菲特和微软创始人比尔·盖茨的推动和游说下,美国几十位亿万富豪已承诺将至少50%的个人财富捐赠给社会慈善事业。
参与此项活动的亿万富翁包括纽约市长迈克尔·布隆伯格、有“油神”之称的T·布恩·皮肯斯以及传媒大亨特德·特纳等。全球第二富豪比尔·盖茨以及名列第三的巴菲特在六月份发起捐赠动议,游说几百名美国亿万富翁在有生之年或去世后放弃自己的大部分财富。到目前为止,比尔·盖茨和米琳达·盖茨夫妇已为他们的基金会捐赠超过280亿美元。
根据《福布斯》杂志的数据显示,美国拥有403位亿万富翁,是全球最多亿万富翁的国家。
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寻找“蛙声”一片 Hunt for "Extinct" Frogs Begins
语音:英式发音 适合泛听
语速:170词/分钟
关键词:amphibians, extinction, expeditions
In many parts of the world, the characteristic 1)croaking has been suddenly stilled in recent years. 2)Amphibians are in serious trouble with one third of 3)species at risk of 4)extinction. Many have already apparently disappeared. But over the next two months 5)conservationists will 6)mount a series of 7)expeditions to see whether a few individuals may be hanging on.
Conservationist: We’ve 8)compiled a list of around 70 species that we know haven’t been seen in the last decade, so this is a large coordinated effort to basically go out and find or try and find a lot of these species.
The most iconic is the golden toad of Costa Rica. In 1979 it was thriving. A decade later it had vanished.
The biggest threat to amphibians is destruction of the places where they live, but in recent years a 9)lethal 10)fungal disease has 11)decimated frogs in many parts of the world. There’s no way to stop it.
The outlook for the world’s amphibians is not good, but it may look slightly better if the 12)forthcoming expeditions do find any survivors from species missing, presumed extinct.
在世界上许多地方,别具特色的蛙声最近几年突然沉寂了。两栖动物目前正处于水深火热之中,三分之一的物种面临灭绝。许多物种似乎已经完全消失了。然而,在接下来的两个月中,动物保护者会展开一系列远足探险科学考察活动,希望能找到一些依然存活的物种个体。
自然资源保护主义者:我们整理了一份清单,上面罗列了大约七十种两栖动物物种的名字,在过去十年,我们都没再发现它们的踪影。这次大规模科学考察的基本任务就是去寻找这张清单上的物种。
最备受关注的是哥斯达黎加金蟾蜍。1979年,金蟾蜍曾一度疯狂繁殖,然而十年以后,它们就消失了。
对两栖动物威胁最大的是它们栖息的环境遭到了破坏。然而最近几年,一种致命的真菌疾病使得全球许多地区各种蛙类大量死亡,一发不可收拾。
两栖动物的命运前景不容乐观。但如果即将展开的科学考察真能发现已经消失(被认为已经灭绝)了的物种,其结果就能让人稍感宽慰。
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谁来料理你的数字遗产？Entrustet Handles Online Assets After Death
语音:美式发音 适合讨论
语速:175词/分钟
关键词:Entrustet, digital assets, after death
Ever thought about what happens to your Facebook, MySpace or Flickr accounts once you’ve passed away? This year, 285,000 Facebook users will pass away. Barclay Pollock spoke to a Madison-based company that helps people manage their digital life from 1)beyond the grave.
Pollock: 2)Tucked away in a small office above a Wisconsin 3)veterans museum you’ll find Jesse Davis and Nathan Lustig, co-founders of Entrustet, one of the first companies dedicated to handling your digital assets after death.
Davis: You can literally go on and for free organize all of your digital assets.
Pollock: Davis says he got the idea a few years ago while reading The World Is Flat by Thomas Freidman. In the book, Freidman talks about Justin Ellsworth—a soldier who was killed in Iraq—and how his family had to fight for access to his Yahoo account after he died. Davis says that got him thinking and led to the discovery of Entrustet.
Davis: What if Justin didn’t want his parents reading every single e-mail correspondence he had ever had with anybody? Maybe he had wanted the account passed on to a girlfriend or, you know, somebody else, or maybe he had wanted it deleted altogether.
Pollock: According to Lustig, the software allows a person to either 4)assign an 5)heir or have their digital assets deleted. He says the company covers sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Flickr, that may just have sentimental value, but that they also cover sites with 6)monetary values.
Lustig: So if you have a blog that 7)generates money, or if you have an online business, or if you have domain names, and no one can get access to that, your survivors will 8)miss out on an economically valuable potential 9)windfall.
Pollock: The company launched its website last week. So far 550 people have signed up. That’s more than they expected, and they believe that number will go up.
有没有想过一旦你离开这个世界以后,你的Facebook、MySpace或者Flickr的个人账号将会怎样?今年,28.5万的Facebook用户会离开人世。巴克利·泊洛克采访了一家位于麦迪逊的公司,这家公司帮助人们在其离世后管理他们的数字生活。
泊洛克:在威斯康星退伍老兵博物馆楼上的一间小办公室里,我们见到了耶西·戴维斯和内森·拉士廷,他们是Entrustet网站的两位创办人。Entrustet是最早为逝世用户继续管理其数字资产的网站之一。
戴维斯:你可以真正免费地继续管理所有的数字资产。
泊洛克:戴维斯说他的灵感来自于数年前阅读的由托马斯·弗莱德曼所著的《世界是平的》一书。弗莱德曼在书中讲述了士兵贾斯廷·艾司沃斯战死于伊拉克后,其家人为了获得其雅虎网站账号而费尽周折的故事。戴维斯说这个故事让他掩卷沉思,而Entrustet网站随后应运而生。
戴维斯:如果实际情况是贾斯廷并不想让父母看到他生前与任何人有过的所有往来电子邮件,那又会怎样呢?也许他只是想把自己的账号转给一位女朋友,你知道,又或者是其他什么人,又或者是他想干脆将账号彻底删除呢。
泊洛克:据拉士廷介绍,软件可以让用户指定一名继承人,或者是将自己的数字资产完全清除。拉士廷说,他们公司涵盖的网站包括MySpace、Facebook以及Flickr等。这些数字资产里有的或许只是情感价值,但他们也涵盖一些具有金钱价值的网站。
拉士廷:所以,如果你有一个可以赚钱的博客、网络公司或者是域名等等,你去世以后,其他人无法使用你的账号,你的亲友很可能会错失一大笔潜在的横财。
泊洛克:该公司上周正式发布了他们的网站,目前为止已有550人注册了。这比他们预想中的要多,他们相信这个数字还会继续上升。
Comments 观点参考
★ The digital afterlife is becoming a more important issue everyday and will continue to do so as the Internet grows older.
★ Death is always a morbid[病态的,恐怖的] topic, but we’re mortal beings and it’s better to discuss this topic sooner rather than later.
★ Social networking sites have also equipped their sites for dealing with death. Facebook created a new feature allowing deceased users’ pages to be memorialized[纪念].
★ Why pay money for someone to keep your passwords for you, just write them down, put them in a sealed envelope and lock it in a safe.
★ If this is an issue for someone, they were spending WAY too much time in the virtual world and not enough time in the real world.