我们还能相信红十字会吗？（视频）

红十字会与红新月会是当今世界最富盛名的两大慈善机构，每当人们限于自然灾害或是战火困境之时，我们总能看见他们的身影。但是现在红十字会的声誉却遭到了接连的损害，关于红十字会挪用捐款的负面消息也是层出不穷。究竟我们还能相信红十字会吗？

911. Donations came pouring into the Red Cross Liberty Disaster Fund. When the public learned the Red Cross planned to divertvictim 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 jeopardizethe 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.

生词汇总：

divert: to use money, materials, etc. for a different purpose from their original purpose 改变（资金、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;由此造成的民众不信任
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，贪污
deplete: to reduce something by a large amount so that there is not enough left 耗尽；用完
jeopardize: to risk harming or destroying something/somebody 危害，损害
overhead/overheads: regular costs that you have when you are running a business or an organization, such as rent, electricity, wages, etc. 营运费用，经常性开支
401(k): 401k计划是指在美国，企业为员工设立专门的401K账户，员工每月从其工资中拿出一定比例的资金存入养老金账户，而企业一般也按一定的比例(不能超过员工存入的数额)往这一账户存入相应资金。与此同时，企业向员工提供3到4种不同的证券组合投资计划。员工可任选一种进行投资。员工退休时，可以选择一次性领取、分期领取和转为存款等方式使用。
sticky fingers: 说一个人have sticky fingers，就是说这个人is likely to steal something。
financial cushion: 这里的"财务缓冲"，就是说一个企业的流动资金储备。
Charity Navigator: 慈善导航网，是美国最大的慈善团体评估机构。

2010年9月中级口译春季班

商务英语BEC【初级春季班】