礼节美语 097 Giving to a Charity 1

公司开会，讨论慈善捐款的问题，Michael说：

Michael: Ok, folks....It's been a tough year, but we're going to stick with our tradition and give our usual yearly amount. Any suggestions?

Frank: Perhaps we could donate to my church's missionary group. I know a couple other good Christian organizations that could use some help.

Jenny: Um....if I might interject. I don't have a problem with religious charities but I do object to any proselytizing.

虽然公司不景气，但还是打算依惯例捐款。 Frank建议捐给基督教团体，但是Jenny反对向特定宗教色彩的团体捐助，避免支持某一宗教之嫌。 Proselytize是劝人信教的意思。

Ok, that's a good point to think about. We want the donations to reflect the entire company so we should avoid anything controversial.

Gina: I was thinking perhaps we could give to more international causes. The victims of that horrible earthquake in China still need a lot of help.

F: How about the Red Cross? They have a pretty good track record, right?

G: Yeah, let's give them 10%.

M, G, J: Agreed.

Michael同意Jenny的看法，因为捐助代表整个公司，应该避免任何争议。 Gina提议捐给国际慈善事业，比如说中国地震灾民。 Frank提出，红十字会的记录就不错。大家同意把百分之十的钱捐给红十字会。

J: I was doing some research before this meeting and I found a great website called CharityWatch.org. They have lots of tips about avoiding fraud and giving to the right organizations. Did you know that nearly 70,000 new American charity groups were founded just last year?

F: Wow....that's a lot of choices. It's kind of daunting! So should we stick with the tried and proven groups or should we branch out?

Jenny说，有个叫"charitywatch.org"的网站，上面有不少如何选择慈善团体的建议。去年一年，美国就成立了七万个慈善团体。

G: A group called "Water-4-Africa" sponsors water-purifying kits that can help eliminate serious diseases.

I like it. All in favor?

G, F,: Yes.

J: It sounds good. But I think I should do a bit more research. The American Institute of Philanthropy suggests we check to see how much of the funds they use for direct charity work and how much goes to administration costs.

F: You know, Jenny has a point. All these groups look good on paper, but you never know.

Gina提到一个为非洲提供洁净水的团体。大家都觉得不错。但是Jenny表示，应该再调查一下，看看捐款有多少直接用于慈善项目，多少是给工作人员发工资的。