索斯拿出20亿做慈善

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced Thursday he was launching a philanthropic fund with a $2 billion initial commitment to help homeless families and launch preschools in low-income communities.

周四亚马逊的创始人杰夫·贝佐斯发起了一项投入20亿美元的慈善基金只在帮助无家可归之人，和为低收入社区提供幼儿园服务的活动。

The world's richest individual made the announcement a year after asking for ideas on how he could use his personal fortune -- now estimated at some $163 billion -- for charitable efforts.

这名世界首富一年前在推特上寻求怎样使用他的个人财富，如今已经在慈善方面捐款大约1630亿美元。

The 'Bezos Day One Fund' will contribute to 'existing nonprofits that help homeless families' and also fund 'a network of new, nonprofit, tier-one preschools in low-income communities,' he wrote.

“贝佐斯一日基金”( Bezos Day One Fund)，帮助无家可归之人的无偿捐款，同时还向低收入家庭的幼儿园提供捐款，这是一种新型、非营利的方式。

Amazon has been heavily criticized in recent months, however, for failing to help out with the housing crisis in its own hometown, Seattle.

在最近的几个月亚马逊因没有能够帮助自己的家乡西雅图走出住房危机而被严厉诟病。

The firm pushed back against a tax earlier this summer that would have raised money for affordable housing in the city.

今年夏天亚马逊拒绝了一项税收，该税收将帮助该城市居民买的起房。

While the so-called 'Amazon Tax' was unanimously approved by the city council back in May, it was quickly overturned just weeks later after pressure from the company - which recently hit $1 trillion in value.

五月的时候由城市议会匿名投票通过所谓的“亚马逊”税，不过迫于该公司方面的压力，几周以后又撤销了，目前估计该税达到了1万亿。

The $2 billion initiative, while significant, is far less than the philanthropic efforts of other billionaires including Microsoft's Bill Gates, who has donated tens of billions to his foundation, and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who has pledged to donate 99 percent of his shares to an organization focused on public good.

这20亿元的捐款，与亿万富翁比尔盖茨数百亿的慈善基金，以及小扎哥将自己百分之99的财富来做慈善相比，有些微不足道，但对于亚马逊来说却很重要。

Bezos's fortune comes mainly from his stake in Amazon, the diversified online firm which briefly hit $1 trillion in market value this month and is the second most valuable company after Apple.

贝佐斯的大部分财务来自亚马逊的股份，这个多样化的在线销售公司市场价值在1万亿美金，是仅次于苹果的第二大最有价值的公司。

He also operates the private space exploration firm Blue Origin and owns the Washington Post newspaper.

贝佐斯还运营一家私人太空旅行公司Blue Origin，和《华盛顿邮报》。

Despite his fortune, Bezos has not been a major philanthropic donor and Amazon has been criticized in its home of Seattle, Washington, for doing little to address problems of the growing homeless population.

尽管他有如此多的财富，但是他却不是一个主要的慈善家，亚马逊公司因未能在公司创始地华盛顿西雅图日益增长的人口多做贡献，而被诟病。

Last year, he donated $33 million to fund scholarship for 'dreamers,' the name given to undocumented children of immigrants who face legal obstacles in attending college or university.

去年，贝佐斯像那些没有入籍，上大学受到法律阻碍的移民子女提供总金额3300万美元的奖学金给这些“逐梦者”。

He has also made donations for cancer research and to Princeton University, his alma mater.

他还向自己的母校普林斯顿的癌症研究捐款。

（翻译：林浔鸥）