He is not the first multimillionaire to quit the world of commerce and vow to give his entire fortune to charity.
擁有千萬財產(chǎn)的布萊恩·伯尼并不是世界上第一個把所有財富都拿來做慈善的富人。

But few can have put their money where their mouth is with such conviction as Brian Burnie.
但很少人能像伯尼這樣對慈善事業(yè)有如此巨大的熱情。

Once the owner of a ￡16million mansion, the 70-year-old now lives off his pension in a small flat and drives a battered Ford Fiesta.
今年70歲的伯尼，曾經(jīng)擁有價值1600萬英鎊的豪宅，如今他住在一所小公寓里，開著一輛破舊的福特車，靠退休金生活。

The former recruitment firm boss pledged to dedicate his life to helping women with breast cancer after his wife was diagnosed with the disease.
在伯尼的妻子被診斷出乳腺癌后，這位前招聘公司的總裁就立誓要將畢生精力都投入到幫助罹患乳腺癌婦女的事業(yè)中。

But it emerged yesterday that the couple divorced after Shirley, his wife of almost 30 years, grew fed up with his addiction to parting with everything the family had worked for.
但是今年9月20日，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)這對結(jié)婚三十多年的夫妻已經(jīng)離婚了，原因是他的妻子雪莉受夠了多年來伯尼對慈善事業(yè)上癮般的熱忱。

‘I didn’t intend to have to beat cancer and then spend the rest of my life living in a house like this and doing everything for everyone else,’ said Mrs Burnie, 66, who made a full recovery. ‘I’m sick of bloody charity and the hard work – we all are. I didn’t want to give everything away. We needed a home and an income and we have three children. I wanted security for us and our family.’
從癌癥中痊愈的雪莉今年66歲，對于離婚一事她表示，“我從沒想過在戰(zhàn)勝癌癥之后，余生會住在這樣的小房子里，為別人的事業(yè)奮斗。我非常厭倦辛苦萬分又永無止境的慈善工作，我的孩子們也一樣。我不想捐出所有的財物，我們需要一棟房子和一份收入，我們有三個孩子要養(yǎng)活。我希望我們的家庭有保障?！?/div>

Born in a Newcastle bedsit, Mr Burnie grew up in a home without an indoor toilet and began working life as a grocery delivery boy aged 15.
伯尼出生在紐卡斯爾市一個并不富裕的家庭，從15歲起他就開始在一家食雜店擔(dān)任送貨員。

After building successful businesses in construction and recruitment, he turned his ten-acre Northumberland estate into a ￡16million luxury hotel and spa.
當(dāng)伯尼的事業(yè)在建筑和招聘領(lǐng)域獲得成功后，他利用自己在諾森伯蘭郡的10英畝（約60畝）土地建成了一個價值1600萬英鎊的豪華旅館。

But following his wife’s diagnosis a decade ago, Mr Burnie began to focus on charity. It was not a total surprise – at their wedding in 1981, he insisted they ask for donations to charity instead of presents.
但是10年前當(dāng)雪莉被診斷罹患乳腺癌后，伯尼開始將注意力轉(zhuǎn)移到慈善事業(yè)上。這對伯尼來說并不突兀，因為早在1981年他們的婚禮上，伯尼就堅持賓客們的禮物紅包等應(yīng)該發(fā)到慈善機構(gòu)而非新人們手里。

In 2009, he sold the hotel and used all the proceeds to fund a fleet of cars ferrying rural patients to hospital – as part of his charity, Daft As A Brush.
2009年，伯尼賣掉豪華旅館，并將賣得的所有錢都用于建立一支車隊，專門負責(zé)將居住在鄉(xiāng)村的病人們送往城里的醫(yī)院。而這僅僅是伯尼慈善事業(yè)的一小部分。

Announcing they needed somewhere more ‘modern and easy to look after’, he shocked friends and former employees by moving his family to a tiny rented terraced house opposite a council estate in nearby Morpeth, insisting: ‘I’ve no interest in bricks and mortar.’
伯尼認為，他們需要住在更加“現(xiàn)代化”和“容易打理”的地方，于是他做出了一個令朋友和員工們震驚的決定：舉家遷往莫佩思附近的一所狹小的出租房。

But there were signs his outwardly loyal wife was unhappy with the drastic change in lifestyle when he was persuaded to move them to a pretty stone house backing on to farmland.
當(dāng)時伯尼對家人說他們要搬到一個背對農(nóng)田的漂亮的石頭房子里了，那個時候表面上一向支持丈夫決定的雪莉?qū)@次重大的變化就已經(jīng)顯露出一些不滿的跡象了。

Mrs Burnie hoped her husband’s retirement would allow them to spend more time together, but she said the ‘madness’ of devoting his life to helping others meant he was working 12 hours a day and barely seeing his family.
雪莉希望伯尼退休后能多和家人在一起，但伯尼的“瘋狂”卻導(dǎo)致他一天里有12小時在為慈善事業(yè)工作，幾乎根本見不到家人。

‘It took over his life, becoming more important than anything else to him,’ she added yesterday.
“慈善完全占據(jù)了他的生活，變得比其他任何事情都重要?！毖├蛘f。

‘I had enough money to set them up for life, but I think that would be wrong,’ he said. ‘Your children have to make their own way.
伯尼說：“我原本有足夠的錢來安置他們的生活，但我覺得這種做法可能不對，孩子們應(yīng)該自食其力?！?/div>

Asked if he kept anything for himself he replies: ‘Nothing. I live off my pension – even that goes to the charity when I die.’
9月21日晚，伯尼在英國某電視節(jié)目中做客。當(dāng)被問及是否給自己留有部分財富時，伯尼的回答是否定的?！拔覜]給自己留下任何財富。我靠退休金生活，如果我離世的話，剩下的退休金也將全部捐給慈善機構(gòu)。”