那些拒绝将财产留给子女的名人

 　　According to an interview with the Telegraph lately, Gordon Ramsay's three children won't be sharing much in the chef's $54m wealth once he's gone.

　　日前大厨戈登?拉姆齐在接受《每日电讯报》的采访时称，他过世后，三个子女将只能得到其遗产（5400万美元）的一小部分。

　　"It’s definitely not going to them, and that’s not in a mean way; it’s to not spoil them," he explained.

　　拉姆齐解释道：“这些钱肯定不会全给他们，不是我小气，而是不想宠坏他们。”

　　The remark sparked headlines around the world, but Ramsay isn't the only celebrity¹ multi-millionaire to have elected against leaving a pile of cash to his progeny².

　　这番言论登上了全球各地的新闻头条，但拉姆齐并不是那些著名的千万富翁中唯一拒绝给子女留下大笔财产的。

　　If you're thinking of finding a rich celebrity to adopt you, avoid this lot…

　　如果你想找一个有名的富豪来收养你，那么请避开以下几位……

　　“I don’t believe in passing on from one generation to another," Cowell once said. “Your legacy³ has to be that hopefully you gave enough people an opportunity, so that they could do well, and you gave them your time, taught them what you know.”

　　“我不信奉将财富一代代传下去的传统，”考威尔曾经这样说道，“可能的话，你的遗产应该能够给足够多的人提供机会，这样他们有可能取得成功，然后你再花时间把你知道的都教给他们。”

　　The pint-sized pop despot reportedly has a fortune in excess of ￡300m. But will lookalike son Eric see any of that sweet, sweet talent show moolah? Will he heck.

　　据称，这位身材矮小的流行音乐大亨拥有超过3亿英镑的资产。但是长相酷似他的儿子埃里克能从他父亲选秀节目的利润中分到一杯羹吗？他会大失所望的。

　　"I'm going to leave my money to somebody," he told Esquire. "A charity, probably kids and dogs."

　　“我会将遗产捐赠出去。”他这样告诉《时尚先生》杂志。“可能是慈善机构，也可能是资助孩子或帮助狗。”

　　For punching people really fast and kicking them in the head and jumping off stuff, Jackie Chan has built a fortune of around $130m.

　　以迅雷不及掩耳之势出拳、爆头、飞越障碍，凭借这些功夫招式，成龙已经创造了约1.3亿美元的财富。

　　His son, Jaycee, must feel pretty secure in his future then, yes?

　　那他的儿子房祖名想必可以高枕无忧了是吗？

　　No.

　　当然不是。

　　“If he is capable, he can make his own money. If he is not, then he will just be wasting my money," says Jackie, who plans to leave the lot to charity.

　　成龙说：“儿子有能力的话就会自己赚钱，没有能力就是浪费我的钱。”他打算把钱都捐给慈善机构。

　　The perfect amount to leave your children, billionaire Warren Buffet⁴ famously said in the 80s, is "enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing."

　　亿万富翁沃伦?巴菲特在二十世纪八十年代曾说过一句著名的话，他说留给子女最完美的财富数量是“可以让他们觉得自己无所不能，但又不至于让他们无所事事”。

　　He's reportedly doing just that, leaving a small amount of his $70bn wealth to his three grown-up children. The rest will go to charity.

　　据报道，巴菲特正是这样做的，他的三个成年子女只能分得他700亿美元财富的一小部分，其余的都将捐献给慈善机构。

　　Like fellow super-rich philanthropist Warren Buffet, Bill Gates is not going to be giving his ￡70bn fortune to his offspring. Or not all of it, anyway.

　　像超级富豪兼慈善家沃伦?巴菲特一样，比尔?盖茨不会将其700亿英镑的财富留给后代。或者说，不会全部留给他们。

　　"Our kids will receive a great education and some money so they are never going to be poorly off but they’ll go out and have their own career," he told Holly⁵ Willoughby last year.

　　“我们的孩子将接受优质的教育，并继承一部分财产，这样他们不至于生活得太潦倒。但他们需要自己去闯出一番事业。”比尔?盖茨去年这样告诉霍莉?威洛比。

　　"It’s not a favour to kids to have them have huge sums of wealth. It distorts anything they might do, creating their own path.

　　“让孩子们拥有巨额的财富不是一件好事，这会影响他们做的每一件事，妨碍他们走出自己的路。”

　　"This money is dedicated⁶ to helping⁷ the poorest. They know that, they are proud of that, they go on trips with us and see the work that’s being done."

　　“这笔钱致力于帮助最贫困的人。孩子们知道这件事，他们对此也很骄傲。他们会跟着我们去看看这些善款落实的怎么样了。”

　　The kids are apparently⁸ fine with it. All depends what he means by "poorly off"...

　　很明显，孩子们都接受了这件事情。遗产的数量都取决于比尔?盖茨对“潦倒”的定义了……

　　Despite 80 years in showbusiness, Mickey Rooney reportedly had less than $30,000 to leave when he died in 2014.

　　据报道，虽然米基?鲁尼身处演艺界80年之久，但2014年过世时，他仅有不到3万美元的财产。

　　His will disinherited all eight of his surviving children, all of whom were said to be wealthier than their father. Instead, the money was left to his stepson and carer before his death, Mark.

　　他的遗嘱里没有把财产留给他在世的8个孩子，因为据说他们都比自己的父亲富有。这些钱将会留给他的继子和过世前的看护人员迈克。

1 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

2 progeny   

n.后代，子孙；结果

参考例句：

• His numerous progeny are scattered all over the country.他为数众多的后代散布在全国各地。
• He was surrounded by his numerous progeny.众多的子孙簇拥着他。

3 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

4 buffet   

n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台

参考例句：

• Are you having a sit-down meal or a buffet at the wedding?你想在婚礼中摆桌宴还是搞自助餐？
• Could you tell me what specialties you have for the buffet?你能告诉我你们的自助餐有什么特色菜吗？

5 holly   

n.[植]冬青属灌木

参考例句：

• I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
• People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。

6 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。