紅十字會(huì)與紅新月會(huì)是當(dāng)今世界最富盛名的兩大慈善機(jī)構(gòu)，每當(dāng)人們限于自然災(zāi)害或是戰(zhàn)火困境之時(shí)，我們總能看見他們的身影。但是現(xiàn)在紅十字會(huì)的聲譽(yù)卻遭到了接連的損害，關(guān)于紅十字會(huì)挪用捐款的負(fù)面消息也是層出不窮。究竟我們還能相信紅十字會(huì)嗎？
911. Donations came pouring into the Red Cross Liberty Disaster Fund. When the public learned the Red Cross planned to divert victim funds for other purposes, there was outrage, forcing a change of plans.
"Regrettably, it took us some time, somewhat longer, than I think probably it should have to address that credibility gap."
Hurricane Katrina, the American Red Cross was blaimed for poor coordination of relief efforts.
"The Red Cross is not coming through like they are supposed to."
At local Red Cross chapters, there have been cases of embezzlement. Two years ago, the Red Cross had to turn to Congress for a $100 million infusion after its emergency fund was depleted.
"American philanthropy is built on trust, and it you undermine that trust, you don't just jeopardize the Red Cross, you jeopardize the whole infrastructure of philanthropy and charity in the United States."
So far, the Red Cross has raised more than $203 million for Haiti and spent or committed $67 million--$53 million for food and water, $12 million for shelter, $2 million for health and family services. These figures include the cost of coordination, transportation and distribution.
"So you can assure us right now that every dollar raised for Haiti will go to Haiti.""91 cents of every dollar that we raise. We have a bit of overhead. But 91 cents of every dollar we raise for Haiti will go to Haiti.""That 9 cents, that's for what?""That's for general operations, overhead, pays the salaries, keeps the lights on, ect."
That efficiency measured does rank with other top relief groups. To get there, the Red Cross has been cutting expenses. The government has imposed a salary freeze and employees, no longer get a 401(k) match from the Red Cross. No matter how efficient the operation, getting aid to Haiti is expensive, as we saw from some of the nonprofits' accounting.
"In Gibraltar, you purchased 10 Toyota Land Cruisers at a cost of $415,000. Ok, so, pretty pricy, another 41,000 bucks each. But that's what you got to pay.""Well, an SUV, that's what they cost. I don't know if you've been to Haiti, but it's a very tough countryside.""They've got to be loaded.""You've got to be loaded. You've got to have very heavy extra tires. So actually I think that's not so bad."
Expensive as the operation may be, the Red Cross says it's making sure the money goes exactly where it should, placing auditors on the ground in Haiti.
"There are desperate people there. Isn't there a great opportunity for fraud?""Fraud is certainly at the top of our minds. It's not just the obligation I have to may donors. It's the obligation I have to the people of Haiti. I don't want our dollars of assistance ending up in sticky fingers, if you will. I want it to get to the people who need it."
Red Cross is filled with very hard-working committed people who are doing their best to make sure that your donations indeed go to the people of Haiti. But for all its efforts, the Red Cross is still not rated four stars by Charity Navigator; it's a three-star charity. And Charity Navigator says that's because the Red Cross doesn't have a very big financial cushion. Red Cross has a debt of $600 million--100 million of that is due this year.
生詞匯總：
divert: to use money, materials, etc. for a different purpose from their original purpose 改變（資金、材料等）的用途credibility gap: the difference between what a person says or promises and what they actually think or do 政府言行不一致;由此造成的民眾不信任local chapter: a local branch of a society, club, etc. 地方分部embezzlement: the crime of taking money and using it illegally for own purposes 挪用，貪污 deplete: to reduce something by a large amount so that there is not enough left 耗盡；用完jeopardize: to risk harming or destroying something/somebody 危害，損害 overhead/overheads: regular costs that you have when you are running a business or an organization, such as rent, electricity, wages, etc. 營運(yùn)費(fèi)用，經(jīng)常性開支401(k): 401k計(jì)劃是指在美國，企業(yè)為員工設(shè)立專門的401K賬戶，員工每月從其工資中拿出一定比例的資金存入養(yǎng)老金賬戶，而企業(yè)一般也按一定的比例(不能超過員工存入的數(shù)額)往這一賬戶存入相應(yīng)資金。與此同時(shí)，企業(yè)向員工提供3到4種不同的證券組合投資計(jì)劃。員工可任選一種進(jìn)行投資。員工退休時(shí)，可以選擇一次性領(lǐng)取、分期領(lǐng)取和轉(zhuǎn)為存款等方式使用。 sticky fingers: 說一個(gè)人have sticky fingers，就是說這個(gè)人is likely to steal something。financial cushion: 這里的"財(cái)務(wù)緩沖"，就是說一個(gè)企業(yè)的流動(dòng)資金儲(chǔ)備。Charity Navigator: 慈善導(dǎo)航網(wǎng)，是美國最大的慈善團(tuán)體評(píng)估機(jī)構(gòu)。
?
2010年9月中級(jí)口譯春季班
商務(wù)英語BEC【初級(jí)春季班】
