Letter from Bill and Melinda Gates

蓋茨夫婦的一封信

More than a decade ago, the two of us read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that were long ago eliminated in this country. One disease we had never even heard of—rotavirus—was killing literally half a million kids each year. We thought: That's got to be a typo. If a single disease were killing that many kids, we would have heard about it, because it would have been front-page news. But it wasn’t a typo.

10多年前，我們倆看到一篇文章，說是在一些貧窮國家，每年有數百萬兒童死于在美國早已絕跡的疾病。其中一種疾病我們從未聽說過，它叫輪狀病毒（注：一種可致新生兒患腸胃炎的病毒），不夸張地說，這種病毒正在造成每年50萬兒童的死亡。我們原以為這一數字編印有誤：如果僅僅一種疾病就能害死這樣多的孩子，我們應該早就聽說了，因為這肯定會成為頭版的重要新聞。然而，這一數字并非是編印有誤。

We couldn't escape the brutal conclusion that—in our world today—some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves: "This can’t be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving."

我們無法回避這樣無情的說法，即在當今的世界上，有些生命被認為是值得拯救的，其他生命則不值得一救。我們告訴自己說：“不會真有其事的。但如果這是真事，那它應是我們施予援助的當務之急。”

We sent the article to Bill's father, Bill Gates Sr., with a note attached that said, "Dad, maybe we can do something about this." And he helped us get started.

我們將這篇文章發送給比爾的父親老比爾·蓋茨，附上一則短信說：“爸爸，也許我們能為此做些什么。”他幫助我們開始著手援助工作。

We created the Gates Foundation in 2000 because we believe in the principle that every human life has equal worth. The life of an impoverished child in a developing country is as precious as the life of a middle-class kid in a developed one. A family struggling to make ends meet in an American inner city matters as much as a family thriving in a safe, suburban neighborhood. Today, billions of people never even have the chance to live a healthy, productive life. We want to help all people get that opportunity.

2000 年，我們創建了蓋茨夫婦基金會，因為我們原則上相信，每個人的生命都同樣有價值。發展中國家窮苦兒童的生命與發達國家中層社會的孩子的生命同樣寶貴。美國大城市貧民區里為收支平衡努力奮斗的家庭與城郊住宅區中安全富裕的家庭同樣重要。在今天，數十億人甚至從無機會過上健康富足的生活。我們應該幫助所有人獲得這樣的機會。

We know it can be done because this is a unique moment in history: Scientific and technological advances are making it possible to solve big, complicated problems like never before. If these advances are focused on the problems of the people with the most urgent needs and the fewest champions, then within this century billions of people will grow up healthier, get a better education, and gain the power to lift themselves out of poverty. Warren Buffett shares our sense of optimism, and we are deeply humbled by his decision to give a significant portion of his resources to the foundation.

我們認為這是可以做到的，因為現在是歷史上少見的時機：科技的進步使我們能夠解決前所未有的更大更復雜的一些問題。如果科技進步能夠致力于解決有著最迫切需要又最缺乏支持的人們的那些問題，那么在本世紀內，數十億人將會更健康地成長，獲得更好的教育，并增加他們脫貧的能力。沃倫·巴菲特與我們一樣對此感到樂觀，我們深感榮幸的是，他決定把自己很大一份財產贈予我們這個基金會。

We're so hopeful about the potential for rapid progress that we've decided the foundation will spend all its money in the next 100 years. In this century, our world has the opportunity to fulfill the great human promise that all lives have equal value.

Bill and Melinda Gates' signature

Bill Gates and Melinda F. Gates

我們對有可能迅速取得進展的項目所抱的期望極大，所以決定在未來100年內將基金會所有資金用于這些項目。在本世紀，我們的世界就有機會實現人類的偉大承諾，即人人有同等的價值。

比爾•蓋茨

梅林達•蓋茨