Google's philanthropic arm has announced $25 million in new grants and investment to help "make the world a better place." The computer search engine is focusing on projects that include disease and disaster prevention, helping small and medium-sized enterprises, improving the flow of information to hold governments accountable, and developing renewable energy sources.
谷歌旗下的慈善机构宣布提供2千5百万美元作为新的捐款和投资，用来帮助“世界成为一个更美好的地方。”谷歌的注意力集中在一些项目上，其中包括疾病和灾难防御、帮助中小型企业、改善信息流通、使政府更加负责任以及发展可再生能源等。
The co-founders of Google (Sergey Brin and Larry Page) launched their unconventional business ten years ago under the motto "Don't Be Evil." In 2006, Google hired Larry Brilliant as executive director of its in-house philanthropy, known as Google DotOrg. Brilliant is an American physician who moved to India in the 1970's and played a major role in eradicating smallpox in the country. One of the five new grants goes to a project to use information technology to predict and prevent ecological disasters and the outbreak of disease. Brilliant says diseases that jump from animals to humans are a real threat.
谷歌的两位创建者在十年前创建了这家具有新意的公司。他们的信条是“不做坏事。”2006年，谷歌雇用布里莱恩特担任谷歌旗下的慈善机构Google DotOrg的执行总裁。布里莱恩特是一位美国医生。他在1970年代前往印度，在帮助印度根除天花方面发挥了重要作用。这5笔赠款中的一笔被用于发展一个项目，这个项目使用信息技术预测和防止生态方面的灾难和疾病的爆发。布里莱恩特说，疾病从动物身上转移到人身上是一个真正的威胁。
"We've pushed all the limits, we've cut down the rain forests, we've moved into the territory of animals, and these diseases which have always been there in the animal population are now jumping to human beings," he said.
他说：“我们挑战了所有的极限，我们砍掉了热带雨林，我们搬到动物住的地方。那些一直在动物种群中存在的疾病现在转移到人类当中。”
Brilliant says there are more than 35 major diseases which have jumped species, including SARS and bird flu, and that an early warning system would make a huge difference.
布里莱恩特说，跨种群传染的疾病大约有35种以上，其中包括萨斯和禽流感。早期预警系统将会让情况变得大为不同。
"There are now 50 million people living with HIV-AIDS," he added. "Had we been fortunate and been in that African jungle when that virus jumped from a chimpanzee to a human being, and had we been able to stop the disease, nip it in the bud, so to speak, then, look at the tragedy, human tragedy that could have been averted."
他说：“目前携带艾滋病病毒的人有5千万。要是我们很幸运，在那种病毒从黑猩猩传染给人类的时候到过非洲的丛林，制止这种疾病，把它消灭在萌芽状态。那么看看这些悲剧，人类的悲剧本来是可以避免的。”
The grant seeks to strengthen disease surveillance systems in the Mekong Basin, stretching from Vietnam and Burma to southwestern China.
谷歌的赠款致力于加强在湄公河盆地的疾病监控系统，这个盆地从越南和缅甸伸展到中国的西南部。
Aid from Google.org is different from other corporate giving because it allows investment in for-profit companies. Google also encourages its employees to participate directly in philanthropic projects on company time, and to lobby public officials for changes in policy. The foundation has pledged $10 million to eSolar, a California-based company that has developed a solar generator to replace traditional power plants. A number of the new grants are going to India, to improve urban and education planning there.
谷歌旗下的公益子公司提供的援助和其他公司的捐赠不同，因为它允许对盈利性的公司进行投资。谷歌还鼓励他们的员工在上班时间直接参与公益项目以及游说政府官员改变政策。谷歌的基金会承诺向总部设在加州的“eSolar”公司提供1千万美元，这家公司已经开发了用太阳能发电替代传统的发电厂的技术。许多新的赠款将流向印度，用于改进印度的城市和教育规划。
Google's new grants have generated both enthusiasm and criticism. Siva Vaidhyanathan is an associate professor of media studies and law at the University of Virginia. He welcomes Google's commitment but questions its approach.
谷歌新的赠款计划得到了公众的热烈欢迎，但也引发了批评。维吉尼亚大学从事媒体和法律研究的副教授维迪亚那桑说，他对谷歌的承诺表示欢迎，但是质疑他们的捐赠方式。
"Google's approach to every problem is technocratic," he said. "It is that they can impose a machine, or invent a machine, or invent a piece of software that can solve a major, complicated challenge, and that given enough bombast, people will converge on this machine as the answer to a problem. And I think that is a mistake."
维迪亚那桑说：“谷歌以技术官僚方式解决每一个问题。这就是，他们能通过一种机器、通过发明一种机器或者发明一种软件来解决一个重要的、复杂的挑战。经过大量的宣传，人们将把注意力集中在这台机器上，作为解决问题的答案。我认为这是错误的。”
Larry Brilliant admits that Google's philanthropic efforts are an "experiment", and says we will all just have to watch and see if they work.
布里莱恩特承认谷歌的公益项目是“试验性”的。他说，我们将拭目以待，看这个项目是否会起作用。 |