礼节美语 Business Etiquette 097
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 1 group. I know a couple other good Christian 2 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 3.
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 4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 5! 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 6 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。
- She taught in a missionary school for a couple of years.她在一所教会学校教了两年书。
- I hope every member understands the value of missionary work. 我希望教友都了解传教工作的价值。
- They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
- His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
- I assured him we didn't come here to proselytize.我向他保证我们并不是来改变他的信仰的。
- Christians were arrested for trying to convert people,to proselytise them.基督徒因为试图改变他人信仰而被捕。
- They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
- Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。